Kato USA - 106-9010-1 - Passenger Car, Siemens SC-44, Surfliner - Amtrak - 8-Car Set

Specific Item Information: This Set Includes - SC-44 Amtrak Pacific Surfliner #2118 (San Diego) - Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Business Class #6803 - Amtrak Superliner I Coach Phase VI #34095 - Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Coach #6400 - Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Coach-Cafe #6304 - Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Coach #6410 - Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Superliner I Coach #34960 - Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Cab Coach #6904

Model Information: The Pacific Surfliner is a 350-mile passenger train the serves coastal communities in Southern California between San Luis Obispo and San Diego, with notable stops in Los Angeles and Anaheim. Since there are no wyes at the terminus of the corridor the Pacific Surfliner runs in Push-Pull service with a locomotive at one end and a cab car at the other end.

The route is the successor the San Diegan a service between Los Angeles and San Diego that had been operated by the Santa Fe since 1938. It was one of the premier routes for Santa Fe until Amtrak took over operations in 1971. In 1988 the service was extended to Santa Barbara, and in 1995 the line was extended to San Luis Obispo. To reflect the nature of the route which follows the coastline for much of its journey the San Diegan service was renamed “Pacific Surfliner” in 2000.

The trainsets used for regular service are composed from a fleet of 52 Bi-Level Surfliner coaches, and 9 Amtrak Superliners modified for push-pull Operation. First introduced in 2000 the Surfliner coaches were designed specifically to handle the demand for the rail corridor by including 2 sets of doors on each coach. The Pacific Surfliner runs with a dedicated fleet of SC-44 Siemens Charger locomotives with a unique cowl to streamline the locomotives and coaches. Unique to the Pacific Surfliner is a special blue and silver livery resembling its namesake of the Pacific Ocean.

Road Name History: The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium- and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States. Founded in 1971 through the government-sponsored consolidation of most of the remaining U.S. passenger rail companies, it is partially government-funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation.

Amtrak operates more than 300 trains each day on 21,300 miles (34,000 km) of track with select segments having civil operating speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and connecting more than 500 destinations in 46 states in addition to three Canadian provinces. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, while employing more than 20,000 people. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas; 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The name "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "trak", the latter itself a sensational spelling of "track".

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: KATO U.S.A. was established in 1986, with the first U.S. locomotive model (the GP38-2, in N-Scale) released in 1987. Since that time, KATO has come to be known as one of the leading manufacturers of precision railroad products for the modeling community. KATO's parent company, Sekisui Kinzoku Co., Ltd., is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to producing ready-to-run HO and N scale models that are universally hailed for their high level of detail, craftsmanship and operation, KATO also manufactures UNITRACK. UNITRACK is the finest rail & roadbed modular track system available to modelers today. With the track and roadbed integrated into a single piece, UNITRACK features a nickel-silver rail and a realistic-looking roadbed. Patented UNIJOINERS allow sections to be snapped together quickly and securely, time after time if necessary.

The Kato U.S.A. office and warehouse facility is located in Schaumburg, Illinois, approximately 30 miles northwest of Chicago. All research & development of new North American products is performed here, in addition to the sales and distribution of merchandise to a vast network of wholesale representatives and retail dealers. Models requiring service sent in by hobbyists are usually attended to at this location as well. The manufacturing of all KATO products is performed in Japan.

Supporters of KATO should note that there is currently no showroom or operating exhibit of models at the Schaumburg facility. Furthermore, model parts are the only merchandise sold directly to consumers. (Please view the Parts Catalog of this website for more specific information.)