Kato N Great Northern Empire Builder streamlinerThe prototype Empire Builder ran between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest cities of Seattle and Portland; the Chicago to St. Paul segment operated with E units on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
The train’s matched consist included assigned signature cars with the Empire Builder name on their letter boards and cars that carried Great Northern lettering. The GN cars rotated through other assignments in a pool of similar cars. A few cars were also owned by the Burlington and GN’s Spokane, Portland & Seattle subsidiary.
Kato offers its Empire Builder in sets that include some of the Great Northern cars. These sets allow the modeler to assemble a GN streamliner that’ll look good on any size layout. An eight-car train made up of sets A and B pulled by an F7 A-B consist will look great on a smaller layout, or you could add more equipment to make a prototypical 15-car train with an A-B-A locomotive.
Motive power. The EMD F7s are sold in a two-unit set (including an F7A and F7B) and as a single F7A. All of the locomotives are powered.
These locomotives have individual road numbers and steam generators. In GN’s typical A-B-A locomotive consist, they can pull the entire 15-car train on level track.
The passenger cars are available in four-car sets and depict the train as upgraded with Budd dome cars. Set A includes a 6-section, 6-roomette, 4-double bedroom sleeper; a dome coach; diner; and observation; set B features a Railway Post Office, baggage car, coach, and dome coach; and set C includes a coach, dome coach, and two 6-6-4 sleepers. Kato also offers a coach, a dome coach, and a sleeper separately.
All the passenger cars have properly gauged metal wheelsets and can be lighted using optional Kato lighting kits (sold separately).
Kato’s Empire Builder cars and locomotives are neatly decorated and detailed, although the antenna supports on the observation roof are a bit heavy.
The cars are repaints of previously offered smooth-side models that are mostly Union Pacific prototypes. Only the Railway Post Office is an accurate reproduction of a GN car, following the design of the American Car & Foundry RPOs built for the railroad in 1950 and 1951. Also of note, the set doesn’t include a Budd full-dome lounge car (GN’s Great Dome), that was also added to the Empire Builder in October 1955.
Though the non-GN carbodies detract from the train’s realism, the overall effect of the matched GN streamliner is still quite good.
Prices: EMD F7 A-B set, $170; single A unit, $85; four-car sets, $100; individual cars, $25 each
Manufacturer
Kato U.S.A.
100 Remington Rd.
Schaumburg, IL 60173
www.katousa.com
Description
Ready-to-run passenger train with either Empire Builder (EB) or Great Northern (GN) lettering.
Locomotives: EMD F7 A-B set nos. 364A and 364B, single unit is F7 A no. 364C
Passenger car set A: EB sleeper no. 1376 Hart Pass, EB dome no. 1321, EB diner no. 1251, and EB observation no. 1197 Grand Coulee
Set B: GN Railway Post Office no. 41, GN baggage no. 279, GN coach no. 1215, and EB dome no. 1325
Set C: GN coach no. 1230, EB dome no. 1330, EB sleepers nos. 1379 Big Horn Pass and 1384 Lewis & Clark Pass
Single cars: GN coach no. 1218, EB dome 1320, and EB sleeper no. 1370 Rogers Pass
After owning most of Kato passenger lines, I just got the "Empire Builder" with the matching locos so now my reviews are this…….ITS KATO!!!!!, yep thats the review
With regards to the recent review of the Kato GN Empire Builder passenger sets, I would like to congratulate the reviewer, David Popp, on being very frank and even with his comments. I respect the fact that he points out some of the, admitedly small, detracting features of the models.
By this I refer to the prototype cars being of Union Pacific origin and the fact that the lack of a full length dome is a notable ommission.
I think it is important for the integrity of the MR reviews that they are seen to be totally objective and not unfairly influenced by the manufacturers' postion as an advertiser with your publication.
I recently purchased the complete set (A-B-A) and 12 passenger cars and tried them on my current layout. The three engines pulled the train on the 2% mainline around the 11 inch curves without a problem and even look good on the curves. I may have to change my line from the Easton & Northern to the Easton and "Great" Northern with this train as the flagship.
I have purchased the entire set & while I haven't had the opportunity to run it (other than a short test), I certainly admire Kato's attention to detail.
It may not be 100% prototypical, but it is a very nice looking trainset. On a related note, a few weeks
ago I rode the current Empire Builder (Amtrak) from
East Glacier National Park to Seattle. A nice train ride, nothing serious to complain about, but I would have paid many times the fare to have rode the version that the Kato model represents. Yes,I even paid the 522.00 US$ premium over the coach fare to get a deluxe sleeper.
Bob
The Budd built stainless cars VIA Rail Canada's "Canadian" have been in service for over 50 years. Walthers produced a beautiful HO replica of the dome car and other Budd cars in the colour scheme – but now almost impossile to find. People travel from all over the world to ride the prototype, yet there is no ready to run HO models available. This is well known train needs to be produced in miniature.
I purchased 2 as I have a 5 passenger train schedule and I love them. They handled my 22" radius curves like a dream and ran up my 2.75% grade with ease. Also, I install my own decoders and sounds for the engines so you experience may be different. Thank you MRR.