Weatherers look out! MTL to offer preweathered cars.

[3rdrail]

Yeah, how about that. Ben sent out an email this afternoon showing two preweathered 40 ft. boxcars.

Here's one:


The rest of the information is at:

http://www.micro-trains.com:80/wc-Sept08.php

[FrankCampagna]

Isn't that graffiti too modern for a 40' car with roofwalk?

Frank

[up1950s]

Good , it's all past my era MOW stuff .

[bicknell]

At least the photos the rust looks really good to me.  As for the tagging, it does look a tad odd on a roofwalk car to me, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti) seems to think that sort of tagging was not widespread until the late 60's early 70's.  IIRC roofwalks had to be removed by 1974 in general, so that would seem to put these cars in a narrow, but possible window.

I think I'd like more pre-rusted, and save the Graffiti for aftermarket decals.

[up1950s]

They are stuck on farting around , instead of upgrading their practices . Body mounted Z couplers and lo pros as the norm would go a long way to improving N scale and putting them on the leading edge . Instead they are second class to Atlas .

[Chris333]

Yeah put money into improvements not fluff.

I'm Chris333 and I approved this message  :

[John]

They are stuck on farting around , instead of upgrading their practices . Body mounted Z couplers and lo pros as the norm would go a long way to improving N scale and putting them on the leading edge . Instead they are second class to Atlas .

They are targeting the outcome based modeler

[wcfn100]

After years wasted caring about stuff like this, I have come to realize the rolling stock and locomotives needn't be any better detailed, painted or weathered than the layouts they will run on.

I would guess that a majority of these cars will end up being packed away for years only to come out with the 'test track'.  Another large portion will be subjected to 'N-Trak' standard quality layouts, and still many more will ride the rails of some sort of prefabricated track like Unitrack and soon Atlas.

So there certainly is a place for items like this.


Jason

[John]

subjected to 'N-Trak' standard quality layouts,

Jason .. what is that "standard quality" .. the spaceship landing, or the mothra and godzilla modules? Just curious.

[Mark5]

I have no interest in this crap.

Unless ... it eats into the proto production. >

[wcfn100]

Jason .. what is that "standard quality" .. the spaceship landing, or the mothra and godzilla modules? Just curious.

Not the ones that would be immediately pointed out if I just said N-Trak. 


Jason

[tom mann]

Well, based on the fact that the images are a paltry 300px wide, I doubt that they look good up close. :-\

I would have liked to have seen faded lettering and paint instead of bold rust and graf.

[asarge]

Relax. What this really is is the same thing Athearn did with EXCESS inventory. I seriously doubt that MTL is going to be running new releases pre-weatherd. These cars were released in March and they were not huge sellers. This is a somewhat unique way to move excess inventory, nothing more.

[ljudice]

In their defense (which I don't usually come to) - they look pretty good - and MOW cars are often the most badly tagged cars out there.

Problem is they have other bodies that would be closer matches - I think UP has a lot of 50' boxcars in MOW Service - UP, some MP, DRGW, etc...  while the 40 footers may not have survived into the tagging era...

Someone correct me if I am wrong!

[Iain]

After years wasted caring about stuff like this, I have come to realize the rolling stock and locomotives needn't be any better detailed, painted or weathered than the layouts they will run on.

I would guess that a majority of these cars will end up being packed away for years only to come out with the 'test track'.  Another large portion will be subjected to 'N-Trak' standard quality layouts, and still many more will ride the rails of some sort of prefabricated track like Unitrack and soon Atlas.

So there certainly is a place for items like this.


Jason

Hey, I take offense to that.  I have the prefab stuff because I can't do the permanent layout at the moment.

In their defense (which I don't usually come to) - they look pretty good - and MOW cars are often the most badly tagged cars out there.

Problem is they have other bodies that would be closer matches - I think UP has a lot of 50' boxcars in MOW Service - UP, some MP, DRGW, etc...  while the 40 footers may not have survived into the tagging era...

Someone correct me if I am wrong!

NS took delivery of 100 welded exterior post 40' boxcars without roofwalks in 1971.  However, I doubt they still exist.