Last Christmas I happened to check my email and saw that Rapido was bringing out HO scale Rohr Turboliner trains. Without thinking (as is my wont) I ordered a set right away. I first picked the "late" Phase III painted set #2, but later switched my reservation to set #4 because I liked the car numbers better (petty to be sure).
However, one thing I struggled to find online was information about when the roofs of the cars were painted black. Most of the pictures online show the trains when new, and at that time their roof's were painted white. I asked online at Railroad.net and the answers pointed to around 1987, which is a bit later than my 1984 time period. But that is okay. I rode them in the late 1980s, and likely at that point they had black roofs. Plus, I think they look sharper with the contrasting color (and it hid the exhaust grime too, something I am sure they took into account).
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I have been searching EBay for a while now for slides showing the black roofs and kept coming up empty. When they first came out people took lots of pictures of them, but I guess a decade later the magic had worn off and they were just another train to ride. Luckily, I found these two images for sale. They were taken in Albany on May 5, 1988 at Amtrak's dedicated Turboliner repair facility. It still exists today, some 30+ years later, and I see it all the time from across the Hudson River on my way in to work. Amtrak still uses it, but sadly the Turboliners are gone. The date is just a few days before my 6th birthday. I don't remember exactly when I rode them, but perhaps it was this day? Who knows?
Well, one year down, another year to wait. I can make it... I think.
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