ESM G26 65' Mill Gons - I likes!!!!!

[James Costello]

Cheaper than my benchmark - the Red Caboose autoracks....

The RC auto racks are absolutely beautiful cars, and hands-down the best N scale auto racks ever made.  Past and present.

Agreed, and worth every penny IMO. Others are content with their ConCor racks.

There is a market for both, just like the ESM and Trainman gons.

[wm3798]

Fortunately, my era calls for open racks, so I've been depending on the very nice MT cars... and believe it or not, I paid over $20 for a few of them...Of course, that was back when revenues outpaced expenses... but I have a fleet of 9 cars now due to diligent bottom feeding on e-bay, and one car that was clearly mismarked at a hobby store. ($14.99!)

You guys almost have me convinced... we'll see if the equipment department doesn't find some way to get one into the fleet (to make the rest of my stuff look bad!)

Lee

[Mr. G]

I'm really glad I have no use for the G26, because being a broke unemployed schmuck would sting even worse if I had to miss out on a car this nice and long unrepresented.

I wonder if N scalers are just cheaper as a group.  Manufacturers have repeatedly cited the lack of N sales to justify only doing models in HO or larger scales but N scale fans counter that there are plenty of us so sales should be reasonably substantial.  Of course, this issue has been hashed out here before.

It just seems that HO modelers will Hoover up anything without blinking at the price tag.  Look at how fast those Blackstone K-27s sold out.  See how quickly do FSM kits get scooped up.  There can't be that many HO layouts in dire need of another ludicrously expensive ramshackle New England feed store.  But they still sell out.  Maybe HO scale is just has more people with loads of disposable income.

[Philip H]

I don't think its that N scalers are cheap - its that we're not trained to have good quality stuff.  Think about it - we've only seen real qulaity in the last 15 years or so.  But when I was a kid in the early 80's you could get Athearn Blue Box stuff in HO that was quality, reasonable price, and easy to upgrade.  So the HO guys got conditioned early for quality, and then rode the price scale up.

I think if we keep supporting Exactrail, BLMA, Traincat, and others, the products will be there.  And I will have no problem shelling for an FVM GEVO in the right paint shceme (Hint - it starts with a K).

[GonzoCRFan]

Where does ESM get the nerve to charge a premium price for a premium product? HOW DARE THEY?

Bryan, I DEMAND you pacify the masses by taking a complete bath on your next run of these models by offering them at $10 MSRP, $7 street price. Sure, it will put you out of business and render countless hours of your work and effort meaningless, but that's what modelers seem to want these days...

[christoph]

I am happy with the announcement of future runs.  Pennsylvania CK and SK please, all others are too new for me.
The fact that they are sold via Intermoutain is helpful, since now my local (German) dealer can get them without problems.

Will order some of the new box cars, too.

[Dave V]

I'm curious as to why the G26 and not the G26A or G26C that lasted in much greater numbers into PC and CR.  Just wondering.

I've got a PC G26 on the way from Chuck and a circle keystone coming from MBK.

[Frank Amato]

Or how about the G31 and sub-classes?  Don't get me wrong, I have pre-ordered the new LV gons, but my 1960 ORER shows over 12,000 of the G31 class cars.

  Frank

[Mark5]

I'm curious as to why the G26 and not the G26A or G26C that lasted in much greater numbers into PC and CR.  Just wondering.

I'm gonna guess that it's cuz the G26 covers more era (back to 1930) and was a much bigger class (1600 vs 700 for G26A).

G26C was just rebuilds right?

http://prr.railfan.net/freight/classpage.html?class=G26

[towl1996]

Being a PRR modeler, I have both the CK and SK versions and they are very well done. I was wondering about the trucks. There are two different types being used, what classes are represented? I couldn't find out which class from going to Rob's PRR site.
Thanks

[Dave V]

I'm curious as to why the G26 and not the G26A or G26C that lasted in much greater numbers into PC and CR.  Just wondering.

I'm gonna guess that it's cuz the G26 covers more era (back to 1930) and was a much bigger class (1600 vs 700 for G26A).

G26C was just rebuilds right?

http://prr.railfan.net/freight/classpage.html?class=G26

They were rebuilds, but with extended side stakes...  Those are very hard to add without screwing up the very nice paint jobs on these.

[ljudice]

Or those even later corrugated side gons that are still floating around?

Were they built by Greenville?? Or Altoona?



http://www.mountainrails.com

[bbussey]

I'm curious as to why the G26 and not the G26A or G26C that lasted in much greater numbers into PC and CR.  Just wondering.

The G26 was far more plentiful and is more of a signature Pennsy car than the other two classes - which is not to say that the A and C were not signature cars, only that the G26 is more recognized.  And if all three had been tooled, people really would be rioting because the MSRP would have exceeded $30.  I really would have liked to do the Pennsy PK, N&W and assorted PC variations on the A and C, but it just wasn't feasible at this time.

There are other Pennsy 65' gons that also could have been tooled, with welded instead of riveted sides and with solid instead of drop ends, but the limited prototypical schemes just didn't justify it.

With the 65' length and LPWs, along with the inside detail and body-mounted couplers necessitating extensive labor time - the envelope was already being pushed.  I had no idea how the cars would be received, so I didn't feel adventurous enough to take a chance and tool the sides for the A and C simultaneously.  In hindsight, I probably should have.  However, I've already received the quote to modify the existing tool for new slides, so it's something that can be revisited down the road.  There are three new bodystyles definitely ahead of that possibility however (the XIH being the first), so it will be a few years before that could happen.

In the mean time, at the least the Pennsy CK will be rerun from time to time as the demand warrants.  There are new truck frames I wish to explore, such as the Coil Elliptic, as well as cars that have been serviced in the `40s and `50s.  If the demand is there for the Pennsy SK, PC, CR and LV, we wil rerun them as well.

[bbussey]

... There are two different types being used, what classes are represented? I couldn't find out which class from going to Rob's PRR site...

This is all G26 class.  Various truck frames were used throughout the class.  The two represented here are Dalman (on the first two CK cars) and National B-1 (on the third CK and SK cars).

[Dave V]

Okay, I received my Penn Central G26.  A few observations:

1.  The detail is just fantastic.  Everything is crisp and to scale.  I know it adds to the cost but having the rivets on the inside walls is just a great touch that suddenly makes every other empty gon on my layout seem inferior.

2.  Body mounted couplers...  No problem so far operating with my truck-mounts.  My minimum radius is 13.5" so I don't anticipate any problems.

3.  Ride height is awesome.  I love how it looks like the belly is going to scrape the grade crossing.

4.  Paint:  Very crisp, nice choice of a darker PC green for the later stuff.  One note, and I think I know the answer...  Since ACI labels were used 1967-1977, any PC car should have one.  I don't see one here, but I suspect the extra colors would add to the screen printing cost.  I'll be adding my own.

5.  Drop ends on mine have problems staying upright; they flop inwards pretty easily.

6.  The car is pretty light.  I have a Hay Brothers Garage scrap metal load inbound to help that out.  But my trackwork is good enough that the weight is not a problem.

7.  The low-pro wheels, although plastic, are quite free-rolling and so will not need to be replaced any time soon.  The couplers are also very nice.

Overall, this is a fantastic piece of N scale engineering and really raises the bar.  I'm looking forward to getting my circle keystone version.  I also hope ESM has more Pennsy-specific prototypes in mind.

Might I recommend:

G36c
G44
X58 (a,b,c)