# What High Speed train would you buy and why?



## Kenjuro4449 (Oct 14, 2013)

Good evening everyone,

So if you have seen my videos you would see that I have a Lima HO shinkansen, I really like high speed trains and I am considering purchasing the ACELA.

Does anyone else here like high speed trains?
if so, which one and why?

If you have a set please post pictures.

The new KATO Hayabusa is also calling my name..


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## stereo_luver (Jul 6, 2014)

I have these all in brass. I just liked this model and it took me a while to acquire a set.


Chuck


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## iltKid (Jul 5, 2014)

I picked these up at a local train store back in December:









They're not in great shape nor running at the moment, and their kind of cheap plastic. However I bought them for next to nothing and I plan to convert them to overhead by replacing the plastic pantographs with working ones. Some may consider it blaspheme but after I overhaul them to look more realistic, I'm going to paint them up with a PRR paint scheme and give them a nice metallic finish.

I've always been a huge fan of the series 0 Shinkansen. They enthralled me as a child and continue today.


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## DCHO (Dec 3, 2013)

I came really close to picking up an ACELA set several years ago,I used to live in CT less than a mile off the NE Corridor NY-Boston line so they ran not too far from my old house.

It would fit well for me as I already have a Superliner Set (that I got just before the ACELA stuff started coming out); I could continue to go with an Amtrak theme. I was out of the hobby for a few years and since getting back into things, I've taken a little more modern freight and passenger steam interest. 

Notice a lot of this comes off of things we like and ties to our own lives, if you like it; it's your railroad, go ahead and add it.


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## Kenjuro4449 (Oct 14, 2013)

Great pictures and set iltKID.


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## iltKid (Jul 5, 2014)

Thanks!
I have to admit, I'm hugely jealous of stereo_luver's brass set though. I have been toying with these for a while trying to conceive what I wanted to do with them. Just this week I found the pantograph that pretty closely match the originals used. Plus someone in my slab track thread gave me a great idea that will also help me fix up the interior on these. The current plan is to rebuild the interior as much as the model will allow and add some passengers for a little realism. (_minor edit:_) Also replace the couplers with something a littler nicer that will also close that gap quite a bit and allow for more believable gangways. Then rip out the old wiring, rewire with some SMD strips to simulate the actual lighting used on the train, plus build a plastic cockpit for the engineer and replace the stock bulbs with much nicer leds for more even lighting. I've wanted these for a long time but I don't want to spend what a nice one is commanding, so I'm going to kitbash this into the next best thing. 


That said, wish me luck :laugh:


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## mikek (Dec 29, 2013)

Geez, I was just gonna say a Hudson, that's fast for me. To really show these speeders, you would need to bank your tracks in the curves.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

I bought a complete Trix Thalys set (HO) - mostly because I took a trip on the real thing.


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## Kenjuro4449 (Oct 14, 2013)

fcwilt said:


> I bought a complete Trix Thalys set (HO) - mostly because I took a trip on the real thing.


Pictures!!!!


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

Kenjuro4449 said:


> Pictures!!!!


Will do - just have to take some.


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## golfermd (Apr 19, 2013)

One of the guys at the club has an Acela set. It really flies around the track. He runs it during our club open houses.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

Here is a link to a short movie of the Trix Thalys set:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66399228/Thalys 1.MP4

If it is not satisfactory let me know.


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## iltKid (Jul 5, 2014)

That's a pretty sweet movie. :appl:
Though it would be a ton of fun to have a few shots at speed as well. Nice model though, well worthy of a youtube video. 


Which cab forward is that in the mid-ground? She's pretty too.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

iltKid said:


> That's a pretty sweet movie. :appl:
> Though it would be a ton of fun to have a few shots at speed as well. Nice model though, well worthy of a youtube video.
> 
> 
> Which cab forward is that in the mid-ground? She's pretty too.


I can take some at full speed - but at that speed it makes the layout seem real small! So I have set the top speed to 50 just to make a full trip on the main line take a bit of time.

The CF is from BLI. While I am modeling the B&O I choose to think of it as in an alternate universe where most anything goes - so the CF is unlettered for now but I have the decals. 

The biggest problem with the Trix unit is that it doesn't like my Peco Streamline Code 83 turnouts. The flanges hit the bottom of the frog flangeways. It doesn't derail or anything like that - it just bumps it's way through the frogs. It's fixable but I've got other things I rather work on.


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## Kenjuro4449 (Oct 14, 2013)

fcwilt said:


> Here is a link to a short movie of the Trix Thalys set:
> 
> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66399228/Thalys 1.MP4
> 
> If it is not satisfactory let me know.


Nice video, I kept waiting for the high speed pass and it never came.
I enjoyed it.

:appl:


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## stereo_luver (Jul 6, 2014)

iltKid said:


> Thanks!
> I have to admit, I'm hugely jealous of stereo_luver's brass set though. I have been toying with these for a while trying to conceive what I wanted to do with them. Just this week I found the pantograph that pretty closely match the originals used. Plus someone in my slab track thread gave me a great idea that will also help me fix up the interior on these. The current plan is to rebuild the interior as much as the model will allow and add some passengers for a little realism. (_minor edit:_) Also replace the couplers with something a littler nicer that will also close that gap quite a bit and allow for more believable gangways. Then rip out the old wiring, rewire with some SMD strips to simulate the actual lighting used on the train, plus build a plastic cockpit for the engineer and replace the stock bulbs with much nicer leds for more even lighting. I've wanted these for a long time but I don't want to spend what a nice one is commanding, so I'm going to kitbash this into the next best thing.
> 
> 
> That said, wish me luck :laugh:


That said remember that the head end unit has a white nose and the trailing end unit will have a red nose. Good luck with your search. Mine will be going up for sale since I'm moving to a logging and shortline RR.

Chuck


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## RobyC302 (Jan 21, 2014)

*TGV Duplex (by Mehano)*

I picked up the Mehano TGV Duplex set and love it! I hope to ride the real thing next time I'm in France. 















Here's the real thing: 
















Some interesting TGV facts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF_TGV_Duplex


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## Kenjuro4449 (Oct 14, 2013)

A TGV ride the main thing I want to do whenever I go to Europe for more than 3 hours (Layover).


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## 400E Blue Comet (Jul 11, 2014)

Pictures? Oh you asked for it  .
First, I have a Lego Emerald Night. It doesn't really go that fast but it seems to be designed after a Pacific which could go fast.
Second, a Marx Marlines freight train set. It's streamlined and is possibly the fastest O Scale train I have; A Lionel KW helps boost the speed 
Third of all, last but never least, the moment you've been waiting for, the second prize of my collection! A Broadway Limited HO DCC Sound 4-4-4-4 T1 Duplex!


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## Kenjuro4449 (Oct 14, 2013)

This is what I have.
Shinkansen O series.
Lima HO scale


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## deedub35 (Jan 29, 2014)

I converted my old Lima InterCity 125 HST to DCC, modified the powered car with 8 wheel pick up, installed directional LED lights to both the powered car and dummy.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

A Pennsylvania RR Acela. Gasp! Whatever will the
rivet counters do and say? Oh the pain, the horror. 

What would be next, a Big Boy flying Florida East Coast RR. Colors?

But that's what it's all about. Great fun. Go for it.

Don


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I once had a model of the original TGV Sud-Est in orange and gray. I ran it even though it's an anachronism on my layout (late 50's setting). Unfortunately, one evening the cat, which up to that time had never bothered my layout, took an experimental poke at the TGV as it ripped by. The resulting wobble was enough to send it careening off the table towards the floor. I made a wild grab for it, and succeeded in snagging the 4th car, the one just ahead of the dummy loco. But it was not to be. The couplers failed, leaving me holding a slightly damaged coach while the other two coaches and both locos smashed to pieces on the floor.


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## BeardedLumberjack (Sep 9, 2014)

I have a Piko ICE 2 bullet train. The motor is awesome, needs little maintenance and just keeps running smoothly!

Wish I could get my hands on a Kato Hayabusa set. I've been getting into Japanese trains lately.

Sorry to bump this thread! I'm new here

John


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

All very nice trains. I'm a fan of the high speed train but a couple days ago I watched some videos on YT about Maglev trains. Now these are really high speed and probably the train of the future. These things could give airplanes a real run for their money. pete


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

norgale said:


> All very nice trains. I'm a fan of the high speed train but a couple days ago I watched some videos on YT about Maglev trains. Now these are really high speed and probably the train of the future. These things could give airplanes a real run for their money. pete


Yes, the techology is amazing. But there 's one huge problem with the MagLev concept: it doesn't use standard rails, and would therefore require trillions of dollars in infrastructure investment to install a rail network. Other high speed trains use conventional rails, which at least allows the option for dual use (passenger and freight). This is a huge barrier to adoption on this technology. Yes, most European high speed trains uses dedicated rails, but it would still involve susupending high speed service (or diverting it to mixed rails) while the new track was installed.

FWIW, there is an operating MagLev train about a mile long at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.


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## Kenjuro4449 (Oct 14, 2013)

deedub35 said:


> I converted my old Lima InterCity 125 HST to DCC, modified the powered car with 8 wheel pick up, installed directional LED lights to both the powered car and dummy.


Great picture!

I remember when I was little I always wanted that INTER-CITY SET.

Nice job!


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