For this model, my interest would be locomotive #529 in its (I suspect) original scheme, meaning non-blue. I photographed the locomotive in Windsor, Ontario in 1971 and since the locomotive had the same number as the LST (Landing Ship Tank) my father served on, I've always wanted a model of that locomotive. I don't have the photograph nearby at the moment, but memory tells me the color was not blue.
PRODUCTS YOU WANT AND CAN'T GET.
- Thread starter George
- Start date
A correction to a previous posting of mine:
Photographs of Southern GP30's in the June 2001 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman show the bell mounted on the short hood.
Photographs of Southern GP30's in the June 2001 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman show the bell mounted on the short hood.
Speaking of LST's, How about a model of the Canadian LRC?
I'd also like to see a decent E-44 electric locomotive in New Haven and Pennsylvania on the market in PLASTIC.
George.
I'd also like to see a decent E-44 electric locomotive in New Haven and Pennsylvania on the market in PLASTIC.
George.
Woodie,
I've been searching the net for a photo I can use, and I can't even find a photo! You can see a builder's diagram at this site;
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=e44.gif&sel=ele&sz=sm&fr=ge
The engine has C trucks and is electric with a pantograph for service on the Pennsylvania and New Haven railroads. Freight service only as far as I know. They were built between 1960-1963 by I believe General Electric.
Very unique engine. If I can find a decent shot anywhere I can show here, I will.
George.
I've been searching the net for a photo I can use, and I can't even find a photo! You can see a builder's diagram at this site;
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=e44.gif&sel=ele&sz=sm&fr=ge
The engine has C trucks and is electric with a pantograph for service on the Pennsylvania and New Haven railroads. Freight service only as far as I know. They were built between 1960-1963 by I believe General Electric.
Very unique engine. If I can find a decent shot anywhere I can show here, I will.
George.
Woodie, these motors were used by the Pennsylvania RR, the New Haven and finally by Amtrak. Amtrak painted them in their ghastly safety orange MOW scheme.
In the early 90's they went to the scrap heap. Some controversy about PCB's in the rectifiers or some such during the process. I don't recall the details. I'm told there's still one at the PRR museum in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
I found many sites where you couldn't get permission to post pictures. If I can find a decent shot, I'll send a jpg of it to you as an attachment in a mailnote if I can't post it here for all to see.
George.
In the early 90's they went to the scrap heap. Some controversy about PCB's in the rectifiers or some such during the process. I don't recall the details. I'm told there's still one at the PRR museum in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
I found many sites where you couldn't get permission to post pictures. If I can find a decent shot, I'll send a jpg of it to you as an attachment in a mailnote if I can't post it here for all to see.
George.
To get the pic, just "right click" on the pic and there should appear a menu with: save as. save as wallpaer, email etc etc...
Tha t make it a bit easier?
TOOT!
Tha t make it a bit easier?
TOOT!
Hm.
How about an internet order system that's comprehensive- ie you select the locomotive, go through a page of check boxes that allow you to select any of the available superdetails, have a pulldown menu for paint schemes and another pulldown for scale. Then hit enter and see a mockup of the loco you've chosen! Shouldn't be terribly difficult to program, I'd think, and it would be nice for the visually-oriented (such as yours truly) to be able to see what the new snowplow kit would look like, for example, before buying it.
How about an internet order system that's comprehensive- ie you select the locomotive, go through a page of check boxes that allow you to select any of the available superdetails, have a pulldown menu for paint schemes and another pulldown for scale. Then hit enter and see a mockup of the loco you've chosen! Shouldn't be terribly difficult to program, I'd think, and it would be nice for the visually-oriented (such as yours truly) to be able to see what the new snowplow kit would look like, for example, before buying it.
That's a fantastic idea, provided cost effectiveness for the manufacturer while maintaining affordability to the consumer are possible. I speculate that this would initially be an expensive option.
Instead of throwing that idea to Walthers to make a mint off of us with, take that idea to Athearn. If it can be done affordably, they can pull it off.
The custom painting idea is great, and a custom detail service is something I never thought of before, and is sorely needed in the industry. If this were possible, one could probably provide software for individual's railroads to be painted professionally as well!
George.
[This message has been edited by George (edited 05-09-2001).]
Instead of throwing that idea to Walthers to make a mint off of us with, take that idea to Athearn. If it can be done affordably, they can pull it off.
The custom painting idea is great, and a custom detail service is something I never thought of before, and is sorely needed in the industry. If this were possible, one could probably provide software for individual's railroads to be painted professionally as well!
George.
[This message has been edited by George (edited 05-09-2001).]
Here's one I'd really love to see-
Forget #4 turnouts. Make a commercial, prebuilt turnout with flex track! That way, modelers who want a custom turnout, either exceptionally sharp turns or a turnout on a curve that isn't the same radius as the ridgid curved turnouts that are available, would just buy this flex turnout, bend it into shape just as they've already bent all the rest of their track, tack it down and have a turnout which perfectly fits, instead of kinking the road to fit the turnout!
(This is the voice of a man who now has six turnouts- every last one of them a #4 from straight track- and wants to put in some shallow turnouts, plus at least one on a curve)
Forget #4 turnouts. Make a commercial, prebuilt turnout with flex track! That way, modelers who want a custom turnout, either exceptionally sharp turns or a turnout on a curve that isn't the same radius as the ridgid curved turnouts that are available, would just buy this flex turnout, bend it into shape just as they've already bent all the rest of their track, tack it down and have a turnout which perfectly fits, instead of kinking the road to fit the turnout!
(This is the voice of a man who now has six turnouts- every last one of them a #4 from straight track- and wants to put in some shallow turnouts, plus at least one on a curve)
I like the idea, except I don't think we have the technology for a flexible frog yet.
HOWEVER, you could make a flexible frog from rubber or soft plastic for use on a catenary fed layout??
George.
[This message has been edited by George (edited 05-22-2001).]
HOWEVER, you could make a flexible frog from rubber or soft plastic for use on a catenary fed layout??
George.
[This message has been edited by George (edited 05-22-2001).]
I'd also like to see another run of United Aircraft Turbotrains in n-scale but hopefully some manufacturer like Kato would produce them rather than Bachmann. I have several Bachmann sets and the quality - albeit they were made circa 1970 - is crap. Then again, I love the train and still pay big money for them when I can find them. A fool and his money.....
UACTURBO!
Greetings to another Hoser!
I want one of these turbos in CN so bad, but I won't pay for a bum mechanism and crappy mold job just like you.
The only people I can think of who would do the job with enough prodding from Canadian and "Hoserphile" modellers alike, might be BACHMANN. Yes, KATO would be ideal, yet like you in your hidden pessimistic thoughts, I seriously doubt if they would ever undertake the task.
Have you seen the "HO" version from the fellow in Kingston, Ontario, ith his own plastic molding factory, who has attempted to market a version?
I thought it was overpriced, and with the cost, would be most reluctant to attempt the decal job even if I were capable of finishing the paint job correctly.
English from Quebec,
George.
Greetings to another Hoser!
I want one of these turbos in CN so bad, but I won't pay for a bum mechanism and crappy mold job just like you.
The only people I can think of who would do the job with enough prodding from Canadian and "Hoserphile" modellers alike, might be BACHMANN. Yes, KATO would be ideal, yet like you in your hidden pessimistic thoughts, I seriously doubt if they would ever undertake the task.
Have you seen the "HO" version from the fellow in Kingston, Ontario, ith his own plastic molding factory, who has attempted to market a version?
I thought it was overpriced, and with the cost, would be most reluctant to attempt the decal job even if I were capable of finishing the paint job correctly.
English from Quebec,
George.
Hey George...I have only seen the promo photos on stuff the guy at Novatech sent me and they didn't look too bad, but I'd read elsewhere on the Net that they were difficult to put together. Too much filing. Then he started offering assembled ones but went out of business shortly thereafter. I would hope, if another n-scale version becomes available, that's it's done correctly with flush windows, a coupling system that makes the difference between cars prototypically correct and a motor that doesn't make it run at either 0 mph or 250 scale mph. There has to be a market when used sets are selling for $200 US on eBay. I know someone who's in the process of fitting his Bachmann set with a Kato motor and making modifications to the "gap" between cars. I've asked Bachmann about a re-issue with improvements and the answer I get: Don't know if we still have the tooling.
Thanks for refreshing my memory that the company was Novatech. I'm sorry to hear he went out of business, he was a diversified plastics distributor, so I wonder what went wrong.
I heard as well that it was a difficult model to put together, and the price for a finished one was out of reason as far as I was concerned. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think that model even had window glazing, just black squares for windows! One advantage to the Novatech model though, you could add on as many coaches as you wanted with add-on kits.
I'm surprised to hear how much the old Bachmann set is going for on E-bay, and I've seen them for spit at shows, but God knows how much carpet fuzz is in the brushes. I also wrote them asking them to re-issue this model, as well as their Amtrak Metroliner in "HO" from about 1971. They told me they were considering it. I'd like the UACTurbo in CN. Originally it came in CN and the r/w/b scheme that Penn Central ran between New York and Boston.
I can't figure out why this model isn't available AT ALL from any domestic or foreign manufacturer.
George.
I heard as well that it was a difficult model to put together, and the price for a finished one was out of reason as far as I was concerned. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think that model even had window glazing, just black squares for windows! One advantage to the Novatech model though, you could add on as many coaches as you wanted with add-on kits.
I'm surprised to hear how much the old Bachmann set is going for on E-bay, and I've seen them for spit at shows, but God knows how much carpet fuzz is in the brushes. I also wrote them asking them to re-issue this model, as well as their Amtrak Metroliner in "HO" from about 1971. They told me they were considering it. I'd like the UACTurbo in CN. Originally it came in CN and the r/w/b scheme that Penn Central ran between New York and Boston.
I can't figure out why this model isn't available AT ALL from any domestic or foreign manufacturer.
George.
I've got six Bachmann Turbo sets (four CN and two grey/purple/black/red) PCand some extra cars. Just building my n-scale layout now (late 1960s/70s/early 1980s). It's a combination CN & VIA (Turbos, RDCs, F-units, etc) and Amtrak (Turbos, RDCs, Metroliners). Maybe after the layout is done I'll get around to tinkering with the sets. Do you currently have any Metroliners in HO?
in o scale... in general.. plastic steam engines... come on guys.. (manufacturers)look what they are doing in HO? you cannot tell me that there is not a market for O gauge plastic steam from say, bachman.
i own a number of brass locos, but i just cannot fathom a person not buying a plastic 4-8-4 for 600.00 vs spending 2900 for a brass piece... some HO plastic is infinitly better than some O scale brass i have seen..
i own a number of brass locos, but i just cannot fathom a person not buying a plastic 4-8-4 for 600.00 vs spending 2900 for a brass piece... some HO plastic is infinitly better than some O scale brass i have seen..
Hello Michael I.
Market for those big steamers? Sure there is. Perhaps there's little plastic because most of the people who go for BIG trains have BIG bucks to pay for them too. Hence, metal.
I've seen the metal Mohawk to scale and let me tell you something. I'd feel better that if there's a crash, it's metal instead of plastic that could shatter. For cost effectivity to broaden the market? That's another issue.
Hi UACTurbo!
No unfortunately I never got one of those Bachmann Metroliner sets. The four or five car "HO" set was only $25 at the time and had lit interiors too! Most people don't remember that the REAL Metroliner wasn't a string of Amfleet cars pulled by two AEM-7 locomotives. I recall that the "N" Metroliner was silver with red window stripes and the "PC Worm" on the front. I think that even briefly it was available in that scale in Pennsylvania, as it was a Pennsylvania Railroad innovation.
So, it sounds like over the past 25 years you've scrounged yourself a nice little turbo fleet! On the layout I'm trying to build while juggling everything else now, I'm doing one end Canadian and the other side the states. Are you going to do something like that as well? Are you going to install catenary for the Metroliner? If so, how are you going to do it without it looking too "Euro"?
ATB, Guys!
Market for those big steamers? Sure there is. Perhaps there's little plastic because most of the people who go for BIG trains have BIG bucks to pay for them too. Hence, metal.
I've seen the metal Mohawk to scale and let me tell you something. I'd feel better that if there's a crash, it's metal instead of plastic that could shatter. For cost effectivity to broaden the market? That's another issue.
Hi UACTurbo!
No
unfortunately I never got one of those Bachmann Metroliner sets. The four or five car "HO" set was only $25 at the time and had lit interiors too! Most people don't remember that the REAL Metroliner wasn't a string of Amfleet cars pulled by two AEM-7 locomotives. I recall that the "N" Metroliner was silver with red window stripes and the "PC Worm" on the front. I think that even briefly it was available in that scale in Pennsylvania, as it was a Pennsylvania Railroad innovation. So, it sounds like over the past 25 years you've scrounged yourself a nice little turbo fleet!
On the layout I'm trying to build while juggling everything else now, I'm doing one end Canadian and the other side the states. Are you going to do something like that as well? Are you going to install catenary for the Metroliner? If so, how are you going to do it without it looking too "Euro"?ATB, Guys!