Next Loblaws/PC Trainset?

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RobertInOntario

Active Member
Mar 22, 2006
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Just wondering if anyone has heard if Loblaws/Present's Choice will be releasing a new Canadian train set this Christmas? I haven't heard a thing about this and haven't seen any ads, so maybe they've stopped doing this for awhile?

I ask this question every year but I'm still curious! Recent ones, especially the last one about 2 years ago, had quite a few improvements.

Thanks,
Rob
 
I haven't heard yet, but it usually comes out with the Christmas/winter Insider's Report. I can't recall when that comes out though. Should be interesting to see what they do, if they do one this year. The 2-10-2 was an excellent loco!
 
Don't quote me on this bit of bad news - but I believe there won't be a set this year. This is second hand (via another forum)info, so try not to get your hopes up. Perhaps an 'insider' can clear things up.
 
Here is a photo of it from another forum.

6012_4a_800.jpg

6012_1a_800.jpg
 
It's what I figured it would be - the Bachmann ATSF Northern with a vandy tender.

Apart from the wheel arrangment and the paint scheme, it bears no resemblance to a CN Northern (Class U1-U4). The drivers are too large (80" vs 73" and 77"), and the wheelbase of the loco is too long (50' vs 43').

Nitpicking aside, if it has the newer Bachmann drive, it should be a smooth runner, although to judge from the photos, there're no wires from the loco to the tender, so all the power pickup will be from the loco's drivers, and maybe the pilot and trailing truck.
 
It's a great looking loco but it's annoying that it's a ATSF loco masquerading as a CNR one. :cry: I guess it's because of the market they're selling this in (Costco, therefore to kids and not-so-serious modellers) that they can get away with such discrepancies?

Rob
 
RobertInOntario said:
It's a great looking loco but it's annoying that it's a ATSF loco masquerading as a CNR one. :cry: I guess it's because of the market they're selling this in (Costco, therefore to kids and not-so-serious modellers) that they can get away with such discrepancies?

Rob
Click to expand...

That, and it's much cheaper to slap paint on an existing model than to make the tooling for a prototypically correct one that will have limited appeal.

A (stupid, IMHO) alternative, is to do a small production run, doll it up with worthless kitsch (wood "collectors box", brass plates, etc) and charge $900 for what should be a $300 loco (if it had been done by Broadway Ltd or PrecisionCraft or someone who wasn't out to gouge the consumer).
 
This Costco loco makes me feel pretty good about a recent project of mine. I had kitbashed a ATSF Pacific into a CNR Pacific. While my kitbashed CNR Pacific is loaded with discrepancies, I think it might be a far more accurate model of a CNR loco than this Costco one is! :mrgreen:
 
Chooch,

Good eye! Yes, there's some bits misssing from #6200... one of the problems when a group is in the process of stuffing and mounting a loco. #6213 was (is?) at the CNE grounds in Toronto. Same class, but all the bits are in place.
 
It is common for model manufacturers to make a locomotive shell and put whatever road name they want to on it. I think that is why the most common steam prototypes to model are USRA. A USRA light pacific, becomes a light Mikado with a mechanism change. Also the USRA models were used by a number of US roads so they can do a USRA and have it close to correct for a handful of railroads and then go ahead and decorate it for the rest of the railroads they want to do whether they had USRA prototypes or not. That northern is a Santa Fe 2900 or 37xx series (both were identical externally) I don't remember when the Santa Fe went to the larger design northern compared to the 3751 which was smaller with a 6 axle tender instead of an 8 axle one. Bachmann hung some "elephant ears" on the front of the Santa Fe northern and decorated it as a U.P. 844 and as a NYC Niagara.
 
Russ Bellinis said:
It is common for model manufacturers to make a locomotive shell and put whatever road name they want to on it. I think that is why the most common steam prototypes to model are USRA. ... Bachmann hung some "elephant ears" on the front of the Santa Fe northern and decorated it as a U.P. 844 and as a NYC Niagara.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Russ. This is interesting but I find the practice annoying. I'm not a rivet counter by any means, but I like to be at least somewhat accurate & realistic!

My wife & I went to Costco today and actually saw this Northern train set. It was a fine-looking loco, but still (of course) a Santa Fe steamer dressed up as a CNR Northern. There were also several incorrect freight cars with the set. They were good-looking/detailed freight cars but most were too modern -- some even looked present day, while the caboose looked like it was from the '70s or '80s. I think only one freight car was a correctly modeled 1940s/50s car.

It sold for $99 so it would be a good deal. The whole concept is similar to the Loblaws/PC trains made by IHC, except that the latter were far more accurate (even though they had several errors).

Thanks,
Rob
 
The problem for manufacturers is the cost of dies to make models. Once the dies are cut, making a plastic casting is cheap. Diesels are easy. EMD, GE, previously Alco would make a standard model and sell it to the railroads on an almost take it or leave it basis. There might be a few detail differences like type of horn selected or bell location. For a while EMD offered high short hoods to some railroads that wanted them on models that were usually built with low short hoods, but then they even phased that practice out.

With steam it was totally different. Every railroad seemed to have the idea that they knew better than anyone else what the ideal steam engine was for the job at hand, so there was virtually no commonality from one railroad to anotheron the various classes of steam engine. It would not surprise me if there were 20 different designs for a Northern type locomotive alone. To try to make a prototype based model for every railroad would be incredibly expensive. That is one reason why we have brass for those so inclined. With brass the cost is in the labor to fabricate the model. With plastic the cost is in the tooling. I would have to agree with you about the choice of freight cars for the train. With all of the steam engines Bachmann makes in their Spectrum line, they should have some period correct cars to go with the locomotive.
 
Russ Bellinis said:
The problem for manufacturers is the cost of dies to make models. Once the dies are cut, making a plastic casting is cheap. Diesels are easy. EMD, GE, previously Alco would make a standard model and sell it to the railroads on an almost take it or leave it basis. There might be a few detail differences like type of horn selected or bell location. For a while EMD offered high short hoods to some railroads that wanted them on models that were usually built with low short hoods, but then they even phased that practice out.

With steam it was totally different. Every railroad seemed to have the idea that they knew better than anyone else what the ideal steam engine was for the job at hand, so there was virtually no commonality from one railroad to anotheron the various classes of steam engine. It would not surprise me if there were 20 different designs for a Northern type locomotive alone. To try to make a prototype based model for every railroad would be incredibly expensive. That is one reason why we have brass for those so inclined. With brass the cost is in the labor to fabricate the model. With plastic the cost is in the tooling. I would have to agree with you about the choice of freight cars for the train. With all of the steam engines Bachmann makes in their Spectrum line, they should have some period correct cars to go with the locomotive.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Russ. Good points, especially about the diesel/steam difference. Yes, I've noticed that each railroad seemed to have their own version of a Northern or Pacific, etc.

I think there was only one period-correct one out of 6-8 cars that came with the set! Maybe you could pretend it was a heritage train, running in the '70s or '80s! :mrgreen:

Rob
 
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