The 2002 release Walthers Budd 46-seat Coach 6305 is a model of ATSF 2816-2860 leg rest chair cars (Budd, 1953). These were built fo the El Capitan. These were the last equipment purchased before the change to Hilevel equipment. After the Hilevel cars arrived, they saw service on The Chief and San Francisco Chief. Most of these went to Amtrak November 1, 1971, becoming 4810-4828 (2816-2836), 4850-4872 (2837-2860).

How well do these cars shape up? The attached photos are of the car straight out of the box. The metal grabs have not yet been added. They come with a quality molded plastic interior. The interior has 48 seats, as do the plans in Randall's Budd book, Frailey's book, and a Santa Fe Circular. Stagner's ATSF Color Guide has a color photo on page 8 and calls it a 46 passenger car. The Railway Passenger Car Annual Vol. 1 & 2 and the Amtrak Car Spotter Vol. 1 & 2 , lists them as 48 passenger. Walthers' says, " While the prototypes were fitted with 48 seats, two were usually reserved for the train crew, so that 46 paying passengers were carried."

Tom Cockle reports, "Regular usage of 2816 class chair cars prior to the combined Super Chief and El Capitan (Jan. 12, 1958) included:
1) on the Chief after that train got chair cars (and lost its transcontinental Pullmans to the Super Chief) on Jan. 10, 1954. 2) on the San Francisco Chief from its inauguration in the Spring of 1954 until it got Hi-Levels in 1964. 3) on the Texas Chief beginning Winter 1955, until it also got Hi-Levels (off-season) in Spring 1968. 4) and, of course, these cars had been built for the El Capitan, and lasted until it went Hi-Level July 15, 1956."

Click any of the above for enlargements.

These are the finest plastic coaches I have ever seen. However there are some shortcomings (I hate to criticize such an excellent model).

• The windows are divided by an upright support into two portions. The divider is cast into the glass windows, but is not painted silver. Tom Cockle suggests using silver decal strips to color that support. Microscale 124-4 has the decals for this purpose.