# KATO CN Transcontinental



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Just picked this up from my LHS, excellent detail and craftsmanship! Also grabbed the 2 loco set of KATO ‘F‘ units to go with it, but I am going to get a couple of Rapido CN F9A’s to do the pulling when they come out....

CN Transcontinental


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Nice set of cars. Good looking locos too, I like the stripes on the sides. Did CN do that on just passenger trains?


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

No, they did it on freight engines as well.....FA1, FA2, F3, F7.....they used the lazy 3 on their hood units though (GMD1, GP7, GP9, RS3, etc).....


























Later, they went to a less angled strip on the sides of all locos.....


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Beautiful observation car.....


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

Old_Hobo said:


> Beautiful observation car.....
> 
> View attachment 546681


Old_Hobo;

Aside from the paint scheme,that looks exactly like a Milwaukee Road 'Skytop" observation car. I was under the impression that the skytops were unique to the Milwaukee. Did Canadian National order some too? Or did they inherit them with the demise of the Milwaukee? Or is this just a case of a manufacturer offering the same model in a different paint scheme? My Milwaukee Road "Olympian Hiawatha" passenger car set, which includes a skytop, was made by Kato, and they generally don't make unusual cars like this in the livery any road that didn't have them. You're right though, it is a beautiful observation car, in either paint scheme.
Well,duh! I just went back in this thread and opened up your link to the CN Transcontinental. It shows the set is made by Kato, and that many of the cars are "EX MILW. " That answers my questions. 

Traction Fan


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Yes, CN bought a lot of used passenger cars to outfit the Transcontinental.....

The six observation cars that they bought were the ex-Hiawatha Skytop sleepers.....Milwaukee also had Four Skytop lounge cars, but CN did not buy the lounge versions.....

CN also bought six Superdome cars from the Milwaukee for the Transcontinental....


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## Sunsanvil (Jan 25, 2017)

Did you get the set with or without lighting? I'm really thinking hard about pickup up this set but I'm wondering is Kato's lighting is good enough, or if I should save money on the unlighted set and install something 3rd party myself.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I got the unlit set......lighting does nothing for me, so I didn’t need to pay the extra for it.....


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Old_Hobo said:


> Beautiful observation car.....
> 
> View attachment 546681



That looks like it could be a control car. Good looker.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

Sunsanvil said:


> Did you get the set with or without lighting? I'm really thinking hard about pickup up this set but I'm wondering is Kato's lighting is good enough, or if I should save money on the unlighted set and install something 3rd party myself.


I think gimme30, or someone else here had lots of trouble installing the Kato lighting kits. Maybe they will chime in with the info.

Traction Fan 🙂


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## gimme30 (Jul 26, 2018)

Chiming in: Kato coach lighting vs. 3rd party


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## Sunsanvil (Jan 25, 2017)

Old_Hobo said:


> I got the unlit set......lighting does nothing for me, so I didn’t need to pay the extra for it.....


Apparently the loung/end cars all come with the desk-lamp lights, even the ones which are in the unlit sets. Can you confirm?


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I think you are correct, the one running at my LHS has a lighted Lounge/end car.....

Actually, the Kato CN Transcontinental set cars have the brass wipers pre-installed, even on the un-lit cars.....


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## Sunsanvil (Jan 25, 2017)

Does the Superdome have any interior detail/seats?


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Yes it does....in fact, all the cars in this set (except the baggage car), have complete interiors....


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## Sunsanvil (Jan 25, 2017)

I just noticed something: the couplers are truck mounted. Is there any provision for changing that to chassis?


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Not sure, but I’m also not sure why you would want to do that, as truck mounted couplers in N scale are not as problematic as they are in H.O. scale.....in fact, they seem to help in N scale.....


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## Sunsanvil (Jan 25, 2017)

Old_Hobo said:


> (...) not sure why you would want to do that (...)


Realism...


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

A fine line between realism and good operation.....personally, I’d rather have good operating equipment than realistic shelf queens.....but maybe that’s just me..... 

Plus the fact that the smaller the scale, the harder it is to see, or notice, the “realism”.....


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## Wooky_Choo_Bacca (Nov 13, 2020)

And you could go a step or two farther and add passengers to the lighting kits, a small addition but it IS noticeable when the train rolls past


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Especially if you leave the body off!


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## Wooky_Choo_Bacca (Nov 13, 2020)

Old_Hobo said:


> Especially if you leave the body off!


LOL, nah, too breezy for the business Ladies onboard


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