|
Post by snootie3257 on Jul 15, 2020 7:47:32 GMT -8
The Flexi-vans were neat and tempting but don't think they ran where I am insterested. The Jordan spread is pretty cool. I like the G86 and PS 60' flat cars. They did a nice SP bloody nose SD9 but didn't make nearly enough of them. If they rerun the GP35's and include D&RGW with the correct nose, I'll be interested. Road specific details from Walthers? There’s a stretch. I’d love to see it but... Steve
|
|
|
Post by riogrande on Jul 15, 2020 8:00:37 GMT -8
Road specific details from Walthers? There’s a stretch. I’d love to see it but... Steve Re: road specific details, they've done some already, but sure, maybe not to ScaleTrains level. - SP GP35 with the SP nose light package - D&RGW SD45 with nose lights (although I already had all nine Athearn SD45's so skipped the Walthers version - now that ScaleTrains is doing the SD45, I'll be interested in a Rio Grande version from them!). Those in particular are pretty major for those railroads. Don't recall if the plows were correct in every case but it's easier to add a plow than the light package.
|
|
|
Post by sd80mac on Jul 15, 2020 8:42:38 GMT -8
Their Proto releases going back at least to the last 5 years have all featured road-specific details.
|
|
|
Post by riogrande on Jul 15, 2020 8:49:04 GMT -8
Their Proto releases going back at least to the last 5 years have all featured road-specific details. That sounds about right.
|
|
|
Post by TBird1958 on Jul 15, 2020 9:04:48 GMT -8
The Flexi-vans were neat and tempting but don't think they ran where I am insterested. The Jordan spread is pretty cool. I like the G86 and PS 60' flat cars. They did a nice SP bloody nose SD9 but didn't make nearly enough of them. If they rerun the GP35's and include D&RGW with the correct nose, I'll be interested. If I recall the Walthers GP35 is a late phase unit with a straight sill,(amongst other detail differences) Rio Grande didn't own any. Kato is still your best bet, the Genesis short hood is easy to add if you don't want to cut in a gyralight.
|
|
|
Post by drolsen on Jul 15, 2020 9:05:58 GMT -8
This may be a letdown for some, but Walther’s probably had marketing research to back up their decision to release this set. You also have to figure the decision was made many months ago, way before Covid, and they may still be dealing with the delays created by the Affa closure. Santa Fe sells, they have existing tooling, so there ya go! Don’t get me wrong, I really like Santa Fe passenger trains, both from the common childhood memories of seeing them in books and magazines and watching Lionel Warbonnets run around a train garden. I used to love seeing the pictures of David Barrow’s Cat Mountain & Santa Fe mixed heavyweight and streamlined passenger trains in Model Railroader. I bought the original release of the Walthers Super Chief name train set through Caboose Hobbies’ subscription process. None of this has anything to do with my 1990s CSX modeling, but I wanted an example of one of those trains. Now I’m not sure what to do with it. The original painted set doesn’t look as nice as the later plated versions, and I have too many other modeling priorities to sit down and add all the grab irons to the dozen cars that I have. I may sell the cars and keep the A-B-B-A set of F7s for a display shelf and occasional running for fun. Dave
|
|
|
Post by riogrande on Jul 15, 2020 9:09:26 GMT -8
This may be a letdown for some, but Walther’s probably had marketing research to back up their decision to release this set. You also have to figure the decision was made many months ago, way before Covid, and they may still be dealing with the delays created by the Affa closure. Santa Fe sells, they have existing tooling, so there ya go! Don’t get me wrong, I really like Santa Fe passenger trains, both from the common childhood memories of seeing them in books and magazines and watching Lionel Warbonnets run around a train garden. I used to love seeing the pictures of David Barrow’s Cat Mountain & Santa Fe mixed heavyweight and streamlined passenger trains in Model Railroader. I bought the original release of the Walthers Super Chief name train set through Caboose Hobbies’ subscription process. None of this has anything to do with my 1990s CSX modeling, but I wanted an example of one of those trains. Now I’m not sure what to do with it. The original painted set doesn’t look as nice as the later plated versions, and I have too many other modeling priorities to sit down and add all the grab irons to the dozen cars that I have. I may sell the cars and keep the A-B-B-A set of F7s for a display shelf and occasional running for fun. Dave I agree, the Santa Fe passenger trains are very appealing but similarly, it has nothing to do with my modeling interests. But the appeal will probalby spur more "shiny things" purchases which is why Walthers runs Santa Fe.
|
|
|
Post by riogrande on Jul 15, 2020 9:13:54 GMT -8
If I recall the Walthers GP35 is a late phase unit with a straight sill,(amongst other detail differences) Rio Grande didn't own any. Kato is still your best bet, the Genesis short hood is easy to add if you don't want to cut in a gyralight. Since Walthers never ran the GP35 in D&RGW, I never looked at the model that closely; but your sill observatoin among others may be why that road was never offered and Walther, as is often the case, didn't want to spend money on more tooling. Shame because from all my observatoins, Walthers would sell Rio Grande as it tends to be a good seller in general as roads go. I do have two Kato D&RGW GP35's but didn't know the noses were separate parts. If a Genesis short hood with the molded on nose signal light is a fairly easy swap, that may be a good option for me. I suppose the trick would be nose stripes that match the paint maybe.
|
|
|
Post by thebessemerkid on Jul 15, 2020 9:23:04 GMT -8
Behold! I think it needs just one thing: Ed The NYC RDC-jet was about as chest-thumpin 'Merica! as one could imagine. Like the apocryphal Arizona JATO car. I *may* have a Rapido NYC RDC stored away awaiting a pair of HO scale GE J79 jet engines. Not sure if LokSound has the correct sound file. May have to regear for scale speed. Then there's that "where the heck do I find a layout long enough to run it" thing... The M-497 Experimental Jet Train: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-497_Black_Beetleen.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/JATO_Rocket_CarImagine a jet-powered Ingalls 4-S 8-o
|
|
|
Post by gevohogger on Jul 15, 2020 9:24:45 GMT -8
This may be a letdown for some, but Walther’s probably had marketing research to back up their decision to release this set. You also have to figure the decision was made many months ago, way before Covid, and they may still be dealing with the delays created by the Affa closure. Santa Fe sells, they have existing tooling, so there ya go! Don’t get me wrong, I really like Santa Fe passenger trains, both from the common childhood memories of seeing them in books and magazines and watching Lionel Warbonnets run around a train garden. I used to love seeing the pictures of David Barrow’s Cat Mountain & Santa Fe mixed heavyweight and streamlined passenger trains in Model Railroader. I bought the original release of the Walthers Super Chief name train set through Caboose Hobbies’ subscription process. None of this has anything to do with my 1990s CSX modeling, but I wanted an example of one of those trains. Now I’m not sure what to do with it. The original painted set doesn’t look as nice as the later plated versions, and I have too many other modeling priorities to sit down and add all the grab irons to the dozen cars that I have. I may sell the cars and keep the A-B-B-A set of F7s for a display shelf and occasional running for fun. Dave What's funny about this whole situation is how many people predicted it would be Santa Fe right from the beginning. I think it was Valenciajim who said "Walthers has a habit of going to the Santa Fe well for more water, every couple of years". In other words, Walthers has become predictable. Stale. If it wasn't Santa Fe, it would have been UP or Milwaukee or some other road they've done before.
They could've proven us all wrong and done something totally unexpected, but they didn't.
|
|
|
Post by stevewagner on Jul 15, 2020 9:47:00 GMT -8
The Walthers August-September New Product Express has now (c. 1:45 p.m. EDT, July 15) been e-mailed to those on the firm's list. In addition to announcements noted above, there are new or rerun paint schemes for the 56' Thrall-Door boxcars. Those were most interesting and colorful cars; too bad the full-sized ones didn't last all that long in service! I think fork-lifts tended to damage all those doors. The earliest "new" date on the paint schemes in the new run is 3-67 for a US Plywood car. All the other full-size cars represented were painted in the 1970's, with the latest (by nearly four full years, being a Potlatch car marked "new" in 3-78.
At least some of the paint schemes are reruns: I have the olive Weyerhaeuser (LUNX) one marked 6-71 and the white Boise Cascade (MD&W) 4-71 from an earlier run, plus five others, plus one of the earlier Life-LIke cars that someone painted and decaled for Delaware Otsego.
The Walthers models of the cars were a considerable improvement over the earlier Life-Like versions when first produced.
|
|
|
Post by cp6027 on Jul 15, 2020 9:51:47 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by trainguy99 on Jul 15, 2020 10:17:59 GMT -8
Something that no one has mentioned is that this is the first reissue of the high level El Cap, which is not an easy train to get these days, plus all of the Super except the obs and the two new cars. That SG car is pretty interesting.
As far as road-specific detail, I could be wrong but I thought Walthers was the first to do that.
|
|
|
Post by marknycfan on Jul 15, 2020 15:06:24 GMT -8
I know the ACL/SAL crowd are still shaking their heads as well as many others, for all of the named trains they could do they di ANOTHER ATSF
|
|
|
Post by trainworm on Jul 15, 2020 15:19:58 GMT -8
I had just tracked down the last 3 cars I needed to finish my El Cap last week. Those things had gotten near impossible to find.
|
|
|
Post by slowfreight on Jul 15, 2020 17:54:10 GMT -8
If I recall the Walthers GP35 is a late phase unit with a straight sill,(amongst other detail differences) Rio Grande didn't own any. Kato is still your best bet, the Genesis short hood is easy to add if you don't want to cut in a gyralight. Since Walthers never ran the GP35 in D&RGW, I never looked at the model that closely; but your sill observatoin among others may be why that road was never offered and Walther, as is often the case, didn't want to spend money on more tooling. Shame because from all my observatoins, Walthers would sell Rio Grande as it tends to be a good seller in general as roads go. I do have two Kato D&RGW GP35's but didn't know the noses were separate parts. If a Genesis short hood with the molded on nose signal light is a fairly easy swap, that may be a good option for me. I suppose the trick would be nose stripes that match the paint maybe. The nose is attached to the long hood by a pair of runners, immediately obvious once you pull the cab and sub base castings. Removing the nose is quick work with a razor saw, and then you could cement the front end back together. I'd bet that you could have the Genesis nose on there in an evening if you could get the nose.
|
|
|
Post by lajrmdlr on Jul 15, 2020 19:30:01 GMT -8
It' a Santa Fe El Capitan!
|
|
|
Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 15, 2020 19:58:40 GMT -8
It' a Santa Fe El Capitan! Please curb your enthusiasm. Thank you, Ed
|
|
|
Post by thebessemerkid on Jul 15, 2020 20:03:34 GMT -8
It' a Santa Fe El Capitan! ¡Ay, caramba! el Santa Fe ¿Costa norte limitada? ¡Sería glorioso!
|
|
|
Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 15, 2020 20:19:50 GMT -8
Geez. The guy's good!
Ed
|
|
|
Post by mdvle on Jul 16, 2020 6:39:04 GMT -8
I know the ACL/SAL crowd are still shaking their heads as well as many others, for all of the named trains they could do they di ANOTHER ATSF
I suspect what Walthers has learned is that there is a very small market for these named trains, and that market doesn't unfortunately extend much beyond SF/UP/SP/NYC/Pennsy - and certainly not to those smaller railroads if a lot of new tooling would be required.
|
|
|
Post by Paul Cutler III on Jul 16, 2020 7:49:32 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by carrman on Jul 16, 2020 9:27:54 GMT -8
I know the ACL/SAL crowd are still shaking their heads as well as many others, for all of the named trains they could do they di ANOTHER ATSF I suspect what Walthers has learned is that there is a very small market for these named trains, and that market doesn't unfortunately extend much beyond SF/UP/SP/NYC/Pennsy - and certainly not to those smaller railroads if a lot of new tooling would be required.
Yet we still cant get a Sunset.
|
|
|
Post by thebessemerkid on Jul 16, 2020 10:43:28 GMT -8
Interesting Although it appears the Russians have upped the ante... Imagine a rocket-powered Норт-Кост Лимитед Было бы великолепно!
|
|
|
Post by gevohogger on Jul 16, 2020 10:58:12 GMT -8
Scrolling around that guy's site, I see he also does the Ingalls. Or at least has the files to print one...
|
|
|
Post by thebessemerkid on Jul 16, 2020 11:30:51 GMT -8
Scrolling around that guy's site, I see he also does the Ingalls. Or at least has the files to print one... Since it's a 3D .stl file, it can be scaled up or down at will (indeed Shapeway offers multiple scales of most if not all models) So theoretically, if one had a printer with sufficient build volume, one could recreate a 1:1 Ingalls 4-S. The underlying powertrain could be anything that ca ride on AAR Type-B trucks, a geep, an Alco roadswitcher, a GE U-boat, even the vaunted Genset. A marriage made in heaven! Ce serait glorieux!
|
|
|
Post by lvrr325 on Jul 17, 2020 13:51:55 GMT -8
markfj, I don't buy that they had any market research. And you can tell on ebay which already-tooled, already-decorated models are in high demand--that would be more market research than most model train manufacturers seem to employ. Releasing single cars in high demand at $100-$120 each, or single cars that just require new paint masks, would seem a way safer bet than a $1400 train. If they used eBay as market research the stuff that gets bid out of sight would get a re-run more often. Of course the problem you run into there is sometimes the demand fades before you can get the new product out. I've seen stuff that was consistently high for a long time fade just before a new run shows up and then the new run is slow to sell.
|
|
|
Post by marknycfan on Jul 18, 2020 7:19:01 GMT -8
I know the ACL/SAL crowd are still shaking their heads as well as many others, for all of the named trains they could do they di ANOTHER ATSF I suspect what Walthers has learned is that there is a very small market for these named trains, and that market doesn't unfortunately extend much beyond SF/UP/SP/NYC/Pennsy - and certainly not to those smaller railroads if a lot of new tooling would be required.
The bane of all smaller/regional rail fans in the hobby
|
|
|
Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 18, 2020 7:49:37 GMT -8
As 1971 gets farther and farther away, I expect the market for trains preceding that date might well fall. What would have sold in 2005 won't sell as well in 2025. As an example of the "way back" problem, note the near complete lack of interest in running wood and truss-rod passenger cars lettered Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. And WHO models the passenger trains running on the transcontinental route in 1870? However. While you quite likely are going to have a tougher time getting Walthers to make much of anything Pre-Amtrak, you can go the model-building route: unionstationproducts.comEd Edward Sutorik
|
|
|
Post by thunderhawk on Jul 18, 2020 9:21:40 GMT -8
markfj, I don't buy that they had any market research. And you can tell on ebay which already-tooled, already-decorated models are in high demand--that would be more market research than most model train manufacturers seem to employ. Releasing single cars in high demand at $100-$120 each, or single cars that just require new paint masks, would seem a way safer bet than a $1400 train. If they used eBay as market research the stuff that gets bid out of sight would get a re-run more often. Of course the problem you run into there is sometimes the demand fades before you can get the new product out. I've seen stuff that was consistently high for a long time fade just before a new run shows up and then the new run is slow to sell. "Demand" may well be two guys that want a car at that particular time.
|
|