For sale, one R31000 Santa Fe “Super Chief” Observation - Stainless Steel $275 o.b.o. plus shipping.
I was looking for an observation for my NYC consist, but as you may know, USAT is out of stock and has been promising a new shipment for several years. I stumbled on this picture of the NYC 'Twentieth Century" with the back-up observation, “Wingate Brook”, a Budd stainless car:
I also found an adv at the UK’s Garden Railway Specialists, for a ‘like new’ Santa Fe Observation. In the UK, VAT is 20% unless you are exporting, so I enquired and the shipping was handily covered by the refunded VAT. The delivered cost to me in Florida was about $325, roughly the same as buying and shipping a new coach.
It turned out to be in excellent condition, despite traveling half-way around the world!
But I wanted a NYC observation, so I printed up some new names and letterboards on photo paper, cut them out and blackened the edges, and glued them lightly on the coach.
Here’s a close-up of the lettering. (The drumhead is below.)
I am pretty sure they will come back off without damage, returning the car to the Santa Fe “Super Chief” state. Your choice, and my problem if they don’t come off easily!
Here’s some photos taken on the TARR track in Ft Lauderdale:
The current drumhead is an Empire State Express version, which is all I could fit in the round space:
As you can see from the photos, it comes with the original box and shipping carton. Shipping seems to run around $30 in the US.
Oh yes - as soon as it arrived, I did find a streamlined smoothside NYC observation for sale. So this one is no longer needed.