MTL 60' RPO looks great

[up1950s]

Chris posted this shot on Atlas's thread . I love this car and will use it for MOW , perhaps payroll or engineering . MTL deserves credit for doing such a unique car .

[Chris333]

That is Joe's photo and his site. He posted it in the Portland thread.

[tom mann]

That is Joe's photo and his site. He posted it in the Portland thread.

But Joe was just linking to Chris' post on Atlas, right? ;D

[Puddington]

The pre production model looks great but I still have to wonder why the first HW out of the gate would be a somewhat oddball car - Jerry Laboda, an extremely knowledgable passenger car resource posted this on A board with regard to the prototype....

The prototype is very limited and it is not at all a common car. The rather the car represents a USRA prototype with only a few being built to this design. Owners are:

C&O 103, 104 (ex-PM 105, 106) ACF 1917
GTW 9683 - 9685, 9695, 9696. 9699 (three windows on both sides on one end, two windows on both sides on the other end)
GN 23 - 36 (three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)
M&StL 750, 751 PCM 1914
MKT 31, 32 (ex-2901, 2900) (three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)
N&W 1100-series (number series unclear; three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)
RF&P 102, 103 (only road with more USRA RPOs than other, 105 being the other type)

Now; harkining back to discussion we had here about how companies choose their offerings, I can't understand why MT would choose such an obscure prototype for their first car; othern than to wonder if someone on the product development team 'personally wanted" this model....

If they were bent on an RPO (in and of itself an odd choice - express baggage or coach would have been a safer bet) then why an obscure one ?

I don't get it....... I appreciate any HW's and will buy one in GN and one to bash but the limited appeal of this car in it's as delivered liveries make me wonder......

[oakcreekco]

Good thing it's Monday ;D

[SkipGear]

I'm pretty sure Joe stated that there will be other versions of the car with different window/door patterns down the road. Something about modular mold inserts?

A full baggage and a coach/chair car are what I am waiting for. I need some cars for local service. You wouldn't get on a sleeper for a 2 hour trip downtown.

[wm3798]

Is the mailbag rack molded on?  Yeesh!

Lee

[tom mann]

MT can get away with molded-on detail (sometimes).  Their tooling is very sharp, and it often looks like it is added on.  For example, look at the curved grabs on the new cab.

[wm3798]

But the mailbag rack?  You'd think that would be a separate part since it crosses the doorway...  that's pretty thick to try to disguise.  Also, with all their sliding doors and posable treadplates, you'd think that a swinging mailbag rack would be a no brainer.

I mean, who doesn't like a nice swinging rack? ;D

Lee

[tom mann]

But the mailbag rack?  You'd think that would be a separate part since it crosses the doorway...  that's pretty thick to try to disguise.  Also, with all their sliding doors and posable treadplates, you'd think that a swinging mailbag rack would be a no brainer.

Lee

true, true.

[Mark5]

The pre production model looks great but I still have to wonder why the first HW out of the gate would be a somewhat oddball car - Jerry Laboda, an extremely knowledgable passenger car resource posted this on A board with regard to the prototype....

The prototype is very limited and it is not at all a common car. The rather the car represents a USRA prototype with only a few being built to this design. Owners are:

N&W 1100-series (number series unclear; three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)

I'm not so sure about this, gotta check this out when home ...

1100 for example, is a much longer car running on six wheel trucks.

Mark

[Sokramiketes]

The pre production model looks great but I still have to wonder why the first HW out of the gate would be a somewhat oddball car - Jerry Laboda, an extremely knowledgable passenger car resource posted this on A board with regard to the prototype....

The prototype is very limited and it is not at all a common car. The rather the car represents a USRA prototype with only a few being built to this design. Owners are:

N&W 1100-series (number series unclear; three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)

I'm not so sure about this, gotta check this out when home ...

1100 for example, is a much longer car running on six wheel trucks.

Mark

Yeah, I mentioned to Jerry on the passenger car list that the N&W car, which he also posted a photo of, is longer...

What I didn't know was whether or not there was another N&W series that did match, or if his info was wrong.

[JoeD]

Honestly, I had no special need or personal interest in developing this car.   I thought doing a short RPO in a version that really hasn't been offered before would help fill out existing consists and offer conversion possibilities.  The core gives me the ability to do different side slides (which are planned) as time allows.  We have three more cars in tooling now, all full size and while a Mail Baggage isn't one of them, I have every hope that if the line is popular, can get it designed and tooled in short order.  Like the RPO...few have much in the way of depth management requires with regards to road names, (when you start counting windows and door locations) so picking one to do can be a difficult task.  What I've learned over the past two years is that no matter which car I choose, half will embrace it and the other half will scratch their heads.  Hopefully most will find a place for these cars, it's been fun working on the designs.   Now...where's my jug of SP MOW Grey  ;D ;D ;D

Joe

The pre production model looks great but I still have to wonder why the first HW out of the gate would be a somewhat oddball car - Jerry Laboda, an extremely knowledgable passenger car resource posted this on A board with regard to the prototype....

The prototype is very limited and it is not at all a common car. The rather the car represents a USRA prototype with only a few being built to this design. Owners are:

C&O 103, 104 (ex-PM 105, 106) ACF 1917
GTW 9683 - 9685, 9695, 9696. 9699 (three windows on both sides on one end, two windows on both sides on the other end)
GN 23 - 36 (three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)
M&StL 750, 751 PCM 1914
MKT 31, 32 (ex-2901, 2900) (three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)
N&W 1100-series (number series unclear; three windows on both sides of the car, two sets of windows adjacent to the doors)
RF&P 102, 103 (only road with more USRA RPOs than other, 105 being the other type)

Now; harkining back to discussion we had here about how companies choose their offerings, I can't understand why MT would choose such an obscure prototype for their first car; othern than to wonder if someone on the product development team 'personally wanted" this model....

If they were bent on an RPO (in and of itself an odd choice - express baggage or coach would have been a safer bet) then why an obscure one ?

I don't get it....... I appreciate any HW's and will buy one in GN and one to bash but the limited appeal of this car in it's as delivered liveries make me wonder......

[Mark5]

Personally, I have no probs with MT doing the RPO. ;D

I'll look at my "stuff" tonight and see what N&W car(s) might come close to the MT RPO.


And the 12-1 Pullman is next right?

Will you be making A/C versions of the sleepers as well? (this is actually kind of important).

Mark

[Puddington]

Thanks Joe - I appreciate your response and had not considered that the base would be a deciding issue in car production; true, it gives you a starting place for many cars ( See, when mfg answer questions, good things happen !!!!!!)

I'm excited about any and all HW's.... keep em comin !