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Post by wagnersteve on Jun 28, 2024 6:28:48 GMT -8
Friday, June 28, starting about 10 a.m., EDT
I'll leave it to someone more adept with a computer to post a link to Athearn's website. Video announcements of the HO runs are now (10:35) on YouTube, having been put there while I wrote this post. I'll just summarize here.
At least so far, seven new HO runs have been posted, only one N scale one. For each, "Orders Due: 07.26.24. ETA: November 2025". As usual, prices shown on PDF pages are higher than those on individual listings you get to by clicking on "VIEW ALL". I still don't understand this. PDF pages for Genesis series runs state "These items are subject to Horizon's MAP policy."
Genesis series
EMD SD50 Diesel Locomotive "Brand New Tooling -- First Time in Genesis"
Chessie (B&O)
Chicago & NorthWestern
CSX
Denver & Rio Grande Western
Kansas City Southern
Missouri Pacific
EMD GP38-2 Diesel Locomotive
Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay
Burlington Northern
Cleveland Electric
Illinois Central
Southern Pacific
ICC Caboose -- "Brand New Model"
Denver & Rio Grande Western in two versions: 01500, 01503 & 01507 from 1966 order, with two windows in side shown in renderings, first livery with multicolor "through the rockies herald"; 01517 & 01522 from mid-1970s order with no rooftop running board, only one window in side shown, black logo in parallelogram, etc.
Athearn series
40 ft pickle cars, with four vertical wood tanks visible on each, all indicated as fitting an "era" starting in 1940s: Hot Ones Pickled Jalapeños, JB's Extra Fancy Pickle Chips,, Oregon Pickle Company, Particular Pickles Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA), Sanchez Snack Pickles, Western Food Products. I'm nearly certain these are all new paint schemes.
1950s Sedan/Taxi Car [sic]: Civil Defense, Diamond Cab, Fire Chief, Metallic orange, United States Army, Yellow Cab
62 ft. tank cars: Alberta Gas, Burlington Northern, Packerland Packing Company, Procor, Standard Chlorine (of Delaware), White House (apple cider vinegar). I'm sure Athearn has done the last-mentioned scheme before; that may be true of all the others.
20 ft corrugated containers, in 3-pack each: COSCO, Jay Container Service, K-Line, P&O, Site Box (storage), Trident. These are also to be done in N scale.
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Post by Frank on Jun 28, 2024 7:00:58 GMT -8
Bay Line locomotives making a return, awesome. Those will go well with the recently announced Walthers woodchip hoppers.
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Post by ambluco on Jun 28, 2024 7:28:18 GMT -8
Ever since there was a Genesis GP38-2, I've emailed Athearn yearly for Cleveland Electric to be done. Finally.
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Post by cpr4200 on Jun 28, 2024 9:36:59 GMT -8
I'd like to see a good quality CN GP38-2 in the noodle scheme with 5500 series numbers. I'd be in for four.
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Post by hudsonyard on Jun 28, 2024 16:00:29 GMT -8
Alright lets add Cleveland Electric to the list of roads done before LIRR or NYA 38-2's
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Post by unittrain on Jun 28, 2024 16:54:37 GMT -8
The Cleveland Electric units are a must have since I model the Cleveland Pittsburgh line of the Pennsy.
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Post by wagnersteve on Jun 28, 2024 18:21:22 GMT -8
Friday, June 28, close to 7:45 p.m., EDT
I've been doing some looking on the Internet in an attempt to see which of the new paint schemes Athearn plans to put on its classic open-sided 40ft. pickle cars are prototypical. So far I think the most conservative of the paint schemes, for Western Food Productds of Hutchinson, Kansas, is the most plausible one, since there was a substantial pickle works there. Based on the penchant some of Athearn's staff have for making up attractive but fictional liveries and my lack of success in finding info on the other shippers represented in this run, I'm skeptical about the others, including the only one for a firm in the northeastern US, "Particular Pickles Inc." of Pittsburgh, PA, which I do find attractive. There are now at least two outfits named JB's that produce pickles, but not in Waukena, California, as marked on one of paint schemes Athearn is doing. One is in Carroll County, Maryland, the other in Katy, Texas. Waukena is a very small place on a Santa Fe line in Tulare County.
At present I have the following on my roster. An old Athearn kit for an open-sided Heinz pickle car. Two closed-sided Athearn cars built up, one painted by that firm for Heinz, which had many such cars in various billboard schemes many decades ago, plus one I repainted for the fictitious White Eagle Polish Pickle Company on my layout, featuring a white eagle on a red background cut from the US postage stamp commemorating Poland's Millennium, which I also used on a building flat on my layout and on an old Mainline wooden kit for a double-sheathed boxcar that I haven't yet finished. (By the way, while Poland was run by Communists, its post office would not deliver mail my mother sent to relatives there with that stamp on it, because there was a Latin cross above the eagle indicating that the anniversary being celebrated was that of Poland's becoming Roman Catholic, not simply that of Poland as a nation-state.) Two other open pickle cars I bought built up are an Athearn one lettered for Richter Vinegar and a later Athearn Roundhouse one lettered for Bloch & Guggenheimer (located in New Jersey). I also have a Northeastern wooden kit for a vinegar tank car with two tanks and a Sunshine Models resin kit for a vinegar tank car with one large horizontal tank. I don't like the old AHM horizontal vinegar tank cars because their bodies have no representation of the separate boards used to sheath them. Vinegar and brine probably would not travel well in metal tanks.
I do like both fresh cucumbers and various kinds of pickles.
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Post by lvrr325 on Jun 29, 2024 12:29:46 GMT -8
The Athearn "1950s sedan" is a 1956 Checker. It differs from the 1959-81 car primarily by having just dual headlights, and the bumpers change in 1973. The cab versions are plausible, the others less so although if you had it facing away from view the orange one might be okay as a civilian car. The Army had Chevrolets in 1956, I happened across one many years ago.
"Pickel" is misspelled twice on the announcements listing. This is a prototype car, although it may be "adjusted" a bit to share components with other Athearn cars; it appears in the 1940 Car Builder's Cyclopedia. It's probably only correct for Heinz. But novelty cars sell well for guys just having fun and lets them get more miles out of this 65-ish year old tooling.
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Post by wagnersteve on Jun 29, 2024 12:41:25 GMT -8
June 29, about 4:40 p.m., EDT
lvrr325, thanks for your latest post, well informed and sensible, as usual.
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jun 29, 2024 13:43:37 GMT -8
"Pickel" is misspelled twice on the announcements listing. This is a prototype car, although it may be "adjusted" a bit to share components with other Athearn cars; it appears in the 1940 Car Builder's Cyclopedia. It's probably only correct for Heinz. "I did not know that." It (the CLOSED SIDE version) also shows in the 1937 edition. It does look like a match, though the Athearn cars should have the ladders and associated vertical members removed, as the sides had grabs instead of ladders--a relatively easy task. In 1939, Heinz had 10 cars in the series. The ORER doesn't give any dimensions for the cars. There were 3 left in 1965. I'm not sure to what extent the cars in the "series" matched--the gallonages didn't for these three. The Athearn model goes way back to around 1959-1960. Note that Athearn did both an "open" car and a closed-side car--this being the latter. Ed |
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Jun 29, 2024 14:49:34 GMT -8
Just curious, what was the “mission” of the pickle cars? They’re a fun distraction on a layout, just wondered what they did with them?
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jun 29, 2024 16:02:30 GMT -8
Just curious, what was the “mission” of the pickle cars? They’re a fun distraction on a layout, just wondered what they did with them? Shipping pickles. In this case, from production facilities to canning/bottling factories. It's not clear to me whether they dumped untreated cucumbers into the tanks, or "pre-pickled" ones. It does seem a clever idea to use the transit time for the cars to do at least some of the pickling. They COULD, of course, park the cars outside the plant until the pickles were Just Right. And then unload them. Ed |
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Post by milgentrains on Jun 29, 2024 17:48:54 GMT -8
I bought a Richter Vinegar car years ago because it's the last name of a good friend of mine.
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jun 29, 2024 19:19:14 GMT -8
Note that vinegar cars are not pickle cars.
You don't find pickles in the former.
You DO in the latter. Unless they've been unloaded. Then you don't. Might still could be some vinegar, though.
Ed
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Post by lvrr325 on Jun 30, 2024 23:53:19 GMT -8
Just curious, what was the “mission” of the pickle cars? They’re a fun distraction on a layout, just wondered what they did with them? Shipping pickles. In this case, from production facilities to canning/bottling factories. It's not clear to me whether they dumped untreated cucumbers into the tanks, or "pre-pickled" ones. It does seem a clever idea to use the transit time for the cars to do at least some of the pickling. They COULD, of course, park the cars outside the plant until the pickles were Just Right. And then unload them. Ed They were used to haul the vinegar to make the pickles. Vinegar requires a wood (or plastic) tank, it will etch into and eat a metal one. I see a mix of open and closed cars in this new run. |
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Post by loco8107 on Jul 1, 2024 5:07:09 GMT -8
Ever since there was a Genesis GP38-2, I've emailed Athearn yearly for Cleveland Electric to be done. Finally. I’m surprised it took them this long but it was also a while until they did the early 38-2’s in CR and PC despite the fact that they both had one of the largest fleets of them go figure. |
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 1, 2024 5:27:51 GMT -8
They were used to haul the vinegar to make the pickles. Vinegar requires a wood (or plastic) tank, it will etch into and eat a metal one. I see a mix of open and closed cars in this new run. Well, yes. They go out with only vinegar; they come back with vinegar and pickles/cucumbers. The doors on top are for loading and unloading the pickles. You wouldn't need the doors if you only hauled vinegar. Ed |
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Post by wagnersteve on Jul 1, 2024 12:11:42 GMT -8
July 1, a little after 4 p.m., EDT
I see only "open" pickle cars in the renderings of models in the new run Athearn announced June 28. You can see the simulated wooden "vats" or tanks in each rendering.
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Post by lvrr325 on Jul 1, 2024 12:28:04 GMT -8
2192-3-4 OPCX and 2195-6-7 PPCX appear to be closed side cars.
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 1, 2024 12:40:16 GMT -8
2192-3-4 OPCX and 2195-6-7 PPCX appear to be closed side cars. They give that same impression to me, but closer inspection shows they're all open sided. Note, on the closed-side one below, the five vertical steel supports, and the lack of the diagonal steel rods--all lacking on the artwork from Athearn.  Ed |
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Post by wagnersteve on Jul 1, 2024 17:13:17 GMT -8
July 1, 9:11 p.m.
In case anyone may be interested, the photo that Ed posted about 4 hours ago is the kind of Athearn car I repainted and decorated for my fictional White Eagle Polish Pickles producer.
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