Wheels of Time - 11004 - Passenger Car, 1957 ACF Bi Level Design - Caltrain - 3701

Specific Item Information: During the late 1970s, the Southern Pacific was contemplating abandoning their commute operation between San Francisco and San Jose. SP considered this operation to be a public service and ultimately one that deserved some public subsidy to offset it's losses.* Starting in 1978, the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) entered into agreement to help and later assisted in growing the operation. In 1982, CalTrans, leased GP9P 3187 and three 1955 Pullman-Standard SP Bilevels which were repainted in this early Caltrain "rainbow" scheme. Interestingly, the three sets of cars and matching locomotive were rarely seen together, but always mixed with sets of the original SP grays. In the summer of 1985, Caltrain started to receive new push-pull bilevel equipment and F40PH locomotives to replace the aging SP rolling stock. Stay tuned for pics on Wheels of Time of this transition period where you will see the old SP "subs" with new Nippon Sharyo cars and as well as F40PH pulling ACF & PS bilevels. *July 1970 Modern Railroads magazine

Road Name History: Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The northern terminus of the line is in San Francisco at 4th and King streets; its southern terminus is in Gilroy. Trains leave San Francisco and San Jose about hourly on weekdays, or more frequently during commute hours and for special events such as sporting events. Service between San Jose and Gilroy is limited to three weekday commute-time round trips. Weekday ridership in February 2015 averaged 58,245, up 10.7% from February 2014 and up 71% since 2010.

Caltrain is governed by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (PCJPB) which consists of agencies from the three counties served by Caltrain: San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara. Each member agency has three representatives on a nine-member Board of Directors. The member agencies are the City and County of San Francisco, SamTrans and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

Caltrain has 29 regular stops, one football-only stop (Stanford Stadium), and two weekend-only stops (Broadway and Atherton). As of October 2012 Caltrain runs 92 weekday trains (22 Baby Bullet), 36 Saturday (4 Baby Bullet), and 32 Sunday (4 Baby Bullet).

Brand/Importer Information: Wheels of Time was founded by Matthew Young in the fall of 1995. From an early age, Matthew has had a passion for trains, both in full-size and in miniature. His family frequently went out of their way so he could ride the train, or simply watch the action on the tracks. "On one occasion mom took us to San Francisco along the waterfront. Spotting a State Belt ALCo S-2 locomotive switching the wharves, I persuading my mom to follow it. I watched in wonder as I saw and heard the hit-cup sputtering of the ALCo engine as it revved-up to move railroad cars on and off the car float at Pier 43." Other early family experiences included watching Southern Pacific freight and Amtrak's San Joaquin Amfleet trains roll by as his family waited to be seated at Spenger's in Berkeley, which sat happily right next to the tracks. "My brother and I would shoot pictures of the trains with our Instantmatic 110 cameras, sometimes only getting the wheels or worse yet ... getting a real good close up of my big thumb."

Matthew and his brother built models of all kinds, but their model train career began in elementary school when they started making 3-D cardboard miniature trains from pictures found in the pages of Trains Magazine and Model Railroader Magazine. On a visit, many years later, with the late Richard Buike of Trackside Trains in Burlingame, California, the conversation turned to the lack of N-Scale passenger trains and how the few that existed didn't look right. "I told him right then and there that I was going to produce high quality, historically accurate passenger railroad cars. Even I was a little surprised when I said this." The first product was a 1950 Pullman-Standard "10-6" sleeping car made of brass. Wheels of Time became one of the first makers of historically accurate and realisticly detailed passenger train cars. At Wheels of Time, we research original equipment and recreate it with CAD software for production. We're lovers of history and sticklers for detail. On our line of Transit Motor Coaches (a fancy way of saying "buses"), even the destination *roll* signs are historically accurate. Be sure to check out all our beautiful and accurate products. We hope you'll come to share our passion for trains, here recreated in miniature. At Wheels of Time, you get to take home a piece of a fascinating history.

Wheels of Time manufactures historically accurate model trains, vehicles, and model railroad accessories with a real *wow* factor. Our obsession with detail and historical accuracy is reflected in our exceptional design and production: hold a Wheels of Time model in your hand and you'll be tempted to say, 'It's the real thing!'