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Post by wmrdgfan on Feb 14, 2023 11:31:29 GMT -8
I do wonder about that. Some of Scaletrain's road name choices do leave me scratching my heads. I get wanting to save some popular road names to spread out over other runs, but who would do 2 runs of SD45s and NOT include Wisconsin Central? What paint shemes would be good sellers? Suggestions?
Reading, with the correct cab! D&H ATSF Pinstripe EMD demos |
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Post by Baikal on Feb 14, 2023 11:36:37 GMT -8
What paint shemes would be good sellers? Suggestions?
Great Northern #400. Oh, yes, and Portland & Western.
You illustrate my point about regionalism bias. But I know you're being sarcastic, which is cool. |
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Post by gevohogger on Feb 14, 2023 11:46:07 GMT -8
How about Soo Line? Ohio Central? Let's name them all.
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Post by NYSW3614 on Feb 14, 2023 12:18:16 GMT -8
NYSW- some subtle paint scheme variations but running since the late 1980s- two are still living. They ran out to the TP&W and on D&H, NS, CR, CSX. MRL guys could patch some out too.
And some further info:
D&H- lightning stripe and the blue band EL
WC- original, pine tree, Operation Lifesaver (anything else?)
Joshua
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2023 12:20:53 GMT -8
I think the version that is done matters for sales. I'm one of the people who are looking specifically for early to mid 1970's ATSF yellow warbonnets, and most manufacturers at least lately have been doing the 1980's and 1990's rebuilds. ST did the 1970's versions after just the first renumbering (some SD45 units wore no less than 5 ATSF road numbers before BNSF) and they didn't sell quickly like some other models.
I have two of the ST ATSF units, one with dcc/sound and one without. Wish I had gotten more but money is tight.
Wisconsin Central freight cars and motive power seemed to go everywhere at one point. I think they would sell.
The lone IC/ICG SD45 would sell but has a unique larger air intake behind the cab. I still think it would make a great choice.
Reading usually sells very well, literally almost as well as PRR (for some importers).
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Post by sd80mac on Feb 14, 2023 13:33:51 GMT -8
Rio Grande would outsell Wisconsin Central by a wide margin. 99% of modelers would agree. Many people (especially those who haven't traveled much or think the world simply must revolve around their turf) have a hard time separating personal favorites from reality. Not pointing fingers, WC is a fine road. It's just not in the same league as DRGW. Disclosure: I'm not a DRGW fan. You'd be very surprised. |
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Post by edwardsutorik on Feb 14, 2023 13:49:24 GMT -8
I'm pretty sure later versions of the BN SD45's would sell. The ones ST ran the first time are, strictly speaking, only good until about 1977.
As I've said a number of times before, I'd be in for some.
BN, by the way, owned the first SD45 and the last SD45.
And I could use some UP ones--the ones with the RCU stuff on top of the cab, to be accurate.
Ed
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Post by riogrande on Feb 14, 2023 14:18:57 GMT -8
I'd guess a number of people would be surprised, including the fans of some of the last runs slow sellers. What surprised me a bit, is that one of the four founders of ScaleTrains is Paul Ellis, a big SP fan. So I'd have expected SP SD45's with the L windshield already offered. |
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Post by nstophat on Feb 14, 2023 15:41:46 GMT -8
NYSW- some subtle paint scheme variations but running since the late 1980s- two are still living. They ran out to the TP&W and on D&H, NS, CR, CSX. MRL guys could patch some out too. And some further info: D&H- lightning stripe and the blue band EL WC- original, pine tree, Operation Lifesaver (anything else?) Joshua MRL also bought some of the WC units, and at least one of them, #1718 or #1721, an ex-NW with a chopped high short hood, ran around the southeast for a few months in full WC paint with a small MRL reporting mark under the cab window. |
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Post by arandall70 on Feb 14, 2023 16:38:27 GMT -8
Do I think DRGW is more popular than WC or MRL? Yes.
Could I see WC and MRL SD45's outselling DRGW? Also yes.
I have no doubt there are more DRGW modelers than either WC or MRL, but WC and MRL units covered pretty much all of the continental US during their existence. Even 90s era SP/Rio Grande modelers could use some WC SD45s.
I don't know that it has to be an either/or, I just don't want to hear them complain about soft sales when they won't branch out and do something that hasn't been done before. The fact that the last run didn't sell well doesn't mean that modelers don't want SD45s, it just means we didn't want the ones that they made. To me the logic is flawed.
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Post by elsdp45 on Feb 14, 2023 17:04:21 GMT -8
I think what slowed down sales of the Erie Lackawanna SD45's was two fold. First, they were repaints. After that, it was the gray that was too light. The replacement shells with the darker gray fixed that problem. If they had offered them in as delivered with black roofs and the correct shade of gray, I believe they would have sold much better. Now the bicentennial unit looked great. It matched up nicely with the Athearn SDP45. All we need now is for Tangent Scale Models to make some EL cabooses.
Chris
PS Someday in the future, I plan on painting the roofs black on my SD45's.
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Post by Baikal on Feb 14, 2023 17:05:39 GMT -8
No I would not.
DRGW would obviously outsell WC.
It doesn't have to be either / or, but offering more popular paint schemes makes business sense vs focusing on secondary, lesser-known roads like WC, Sesquehanna...
Americans (esp) and Canadians like to imagine that their favorite team, town, food, etc is equally popular all over the country world. |
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Post by lvrr325 on Feb 14, 2023 17:59:17 GMT -8
I even saw Wisconsin Central SD45s here in New York. For a while Fort Drum near Watertown NY was getting their coal from somewhere on the WC or through them so once a month or so the train would come in with either all WC power or mixed with Conrail. Somewhere I even have a slide with an F45. Hoppers were ex-Soo.
Then when CN took over some of them came through on CNSE/SECN.
In theory it was possible to get a NYS&W SD45 and a WC SD45 in one shot if you could get a Susquehanna coming out of Dewitt or working Belle Isle as it passed one of these coal trains.
Probably the best answer to this question would be to go to eBay and search sold listings for HO SD45 listing price high to low. Ignore the outliers and look for consistent numbers. Both Proto and Athearn have covered a lot of this ground before.
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Post by cera2254 on Feb 14, 2023 18:17:45 GMT -8
No I would not.
DRGW would obviously outsell WC.
It doesn't have to be either / or, but offering more popular paint schemes makes business sense vs focusing on secondary, lesser-known roads like WC, Sesquehanna...
Americans (esp) and Canadians like to imagine that their favorite team, town, food, etc is equally popular all over the country world. I’d respectfully disagree. Anyone who models any of the modern class 1s could conceivably purchase WC SD45s because they went all over the place. I don’t think the same is true for the DRGW units. I don’t think the same is true for the Suzy Q units though. |
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Post by csxt8400 on Feb 14, 2023 20:38:36 GMT -8
NYSW- some subtle paint scheme variations but running since the late 1980s- two are still living. They ran out to the TP&W and on D&H, NS, CR, CSX. MRL guys could patch some out too. And some further info: D&H- lightning stripe and the blue band EL WC- original, pine tree, Operation Lifesaver (anything else?) Joshua The WC had so many variations over their initial six years or so. For instance, before 1995, they had painted pine trees on no less than four seperate scheme variations on only SD45's. The lettering, cream/yellow/gold band, and ends all had their own idiosyncracies. I have a gigantic headache, err project, about wrapped up related to this. I have also been in contact for years with Scaletrains and as of now it seems we WC fans will be waiting. Unfortunately the tooling as it sits seems to be at odds for the bulk of the fleet. Ex BN's often exhibited a mix of aluminum cab doors, plated over four window cab sides, and plated over class lights/rear numberboards. Pilots also need holes for correct ditchlight location. Those are the big tooling points, with a minor emphasis on grab irons on the engineer side numberboard overhang, Q-Tron on axles, winterization hatches, and new ECAFB's behind the firemans side. The ex ATSF's all had their class lights and rear numberboards removed prior to paint, and leftover remnants of air conditioner plates and high mounted horns. These were slower to receive Q-Tron and perhaps would make a more straightforward rendition, but to my knowledge SXT doesn't have the blanked nose tooling yet. For those that would roll your own, you should be excited! |
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Post by csxt8400 on Feb 14, 2023 20:42:28 GMT -8
And if we are starting up a collection, my money is on WC for units sold. Every FB post that Scaletrains makes regarding tooling, or EMD's at all, seems to have a high likelihood of WC requests.
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Post by 690 on Feb 15, 2023 0:16:05 GMT -8
I even saw Wisconsin Central SD45s here in New York. For a while Fort Drum near Watertown NY was getting their coal from somewhere on the WC or through them so once a month or so the train would come in with either all WC power or mixed with Conrail. Somewhere I even have a slide with an F45. Hoppers were ex-Soo. Then when CN took over some of them came through on CNSE/SECN. In theory it was possible to get a NYS&W SD45 and a WC SD45 in one shot if you could get a Susquehanna coming out of Dewitt or working Belle Isle as it passed one of these coal trains. Probably the best answer to this question would be to go to eBay and search sold listings for HO SD45 listing price high to low. Ignore the outliers and look for consistent numbers. Both Proto and Athearn have covered a lot of this ground before. There’s a picture on Flickr of a WC SD45 leading an IC SD40 and a NYSW SD45 on SU-100. I’ve also seen pictures of NYSW painted SD45s on BNSF in Kansas City. |
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Post by gevohogger on Feb 15, 2023 5:40:24 GMT -8
No I would not.
DRGW would obviously outsell WC.
It doesn't have to be either / or, but offering more popular paint schemes makes business sense vs focusing on secondary, lesser-known roads like WC, Sesquehanna...
Americans (esp) and Canadians like to imagine that their favorite team, town, food, etc is equally popular all over the country world. Well, for SD45s there are only so many choices to pick from. I was going to ask for SNCF, Turkish State Ry. or Zimbabwe National SD45s but they just didn't have any. |
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Post by sd80mac on Feb 15, 2023 6:20:59 GMT -8
No I would not.
DRGW would obviously outsell WC.
It doesn't have to be either / or, but offering more popular paint schemes makes business sense vs focusing on secondary, lesser-known roads like WC, Sesquehanna...
Americans (esp) and Canadians like to imagine that their favorite team, town, food, etc is equally popular all over the country world. Yes, you would. Outside of the ARF echo chamber, Rio Grande is not a very popular road name. Like it or not, most modelers are now modeling 1990-present, a time period that the Rio Grande only exists as a fallen flag. We don't see it here, but look at any social media platform and you will see there is a huge, ever-growing chunk of modelers who are under 40, people who remember seeing WC units more than they ever saw a "boomer" road like DRGW. |
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Post by riogrande on Feb 15, 2023 6:21:58 GMT -8
I was going to ask for SNCF, Turkish State Ry. or Zimbabwe National SD45s but they just didn't have any. You never know, they might be big sellers! |
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Post by Colin 't Hart on Feb 15, 2023 7:36:58 GMT -8
How about Soo Line? Ohio Central? Let's name them all. You forgot New York Central, Rock Island, Seabord Air Line, Western Pacific, Amtrak. |
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Post by gevohogger on Feb 15, 2023 8:01:17 GMT -8
How about Soo Line? Ohio Central? Let's name them all. You forgot New York Central, Rock Island, Seabord Air Line, Western Pacific, Amtrak. I don't get it. |
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Post by unittrain on Feb 15, 2023 8:33:09 GMT -8
I don't think NYC had SD45s.
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Post by Colin 't Hart on Feb 15, 2023 8:50:21 GMT -8
You forgot New York Central, Rock Island, Seabord Air Line, Western Pacific, Amtrak. I don't get it. I don't think NYC had SD45s. Well the Soo Line didn't have them orignally either. They got some hand-me-downs eventually, but none ever got more than patches. |
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Post by el3625 on Feb 15, 2023 8:50:36 GMT -8
Just like elsdp45 said, I think if Scaletrains would have gotten the correct color of gray and did them "as delivered" on the Erie Lackawanna SD45's they probably would have sold out faster. I do think the wrong color of gray did sell out anyway, but it took a little longer. I contacted them on this, but they were going to do what they wanted anyhow. I am pretty sure they had more contact about these units also.
Bruce
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Post by gevohogger on Feb 15, 2023 8:55:26 GMT -8
I don't think NYC had SD45s. Well the Soo Line didn't have them orignally either. They got some hand-me-downs eventually, but none ever got more than patches. They had them though, that's the point. So did Ohio Central but I see you already edited your post. |
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Post by Colin 't Hart on Feb 15, 2023 9:17:07 GMT -8
Well the Soo Line didn't have them orignally either. They got some hand-me-downs eventually, but none ever got more than patches. They had them though, that's the point. So did Ohio Central but I see you already edited your post. Yeah, my bad. When I think of Soo Line I think of the pre-MILW-merger road with "white"/red/black... no SD45s there :-) But yes, they did get a few. And when I first searched on Ohio Central SD45 I only found an SD45-2... so I thought you were making a quip listing some roads that didn't own any. So I added a few more. So again, my bad. |
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Post by gevohogger on Feb 15, 2023 9:22:47 GMT -8
An Amtrak one would be pretty interesting though! I'd buy it.
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Post by NYSW3614 on Feb 15, 2023 9:37:55 GMT -8
Just wait for a Broadway Amtrak etc flare- they like the foobies.
Joshua
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Post by csxt8400 on Feb 15, 2023 10:46:44 GMT -8
If you build it, they will preorder. (Dumb kid couldn't walk to the sunny side back in 2004.)  |
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