Product news and photos from Springfield

[Puddington]

You made my point Brian; Atlas isn't in N scale passenger and it is unlikely they will jump in. (If that proves to be wrong then I'll be happy to be wrong....) That's ok; it's their business. By gobbling up the Branchline product line it limits either the Branchline compnay or others who might wish to build off it to bring more n scale passeger products to the market. Branchline has done wonderful research that will be now locked away from an n scaler perspective.

I don't think my position is silly; it may be selfish; but as a passenger modeler I reserver the right to be selfish..... ;D

[Bob Bufkin]

Someone needs to step up and do modern commuter coaches.  I mostly model transition era but my bruthern who do modern stuff sure do need some modern cars.  If course, is someone did Silverliners I'd been first in line for at least 6 of PRR and 4 of Reading. 

[bbussey]

Agree with you assessment on PRR models except for PRR steam.  As Dave said, early K4 and B6 were the only ones I can think of except for was expensive, don't run worth a crap brass models.  I do think Kato is missing out on not doing a K4 update with various tenders.  They would fly off the shelves just like the GG1.  Also a 2-8-0 in PRR would be a good seller.

Bob, I forgot about the Minitrix K4 in the list of Pennsy-specific models from the early years.  No argument that a new K4 would be popular.  I was just pointing out that Pennsy was one of the roads that was specifically referenced by the N scale toolmakers in the early years.

Who's making that again?  That looks sweet!

Oh, and I should caveat.  I entered N scale in 2002, so my impressions are based on that.  Yes, I found a lot of "stuff" lettered for Pennsy, but much of it was foobie.  About that time Bowser rolled out the Pennsy cabins and H21 hoppers in N, and I was in heaven.

The Lima cars and Minitrix locos are great, but they weren't recent tooling by 2002.  Although they're really not bad even by today's standards.

I still bemoan the fact that HO scalers have K4s from four different manufacturers to choose from plus brass, and we have but Minitix or brass.  That's frustrating, especially now with all this great PRR heavyweight equipment begging for something with a Bellpaire and 6 drivers to pull them.

GHQ.  They are supposed to release the reefers later this year.

You forgot about the Bowser GLa hoppers.

Ah, so you came to the party late!  The current practice of tooling specific esoteric prototypes is a recent development, due to most of the generic prototypes being replicated over the past 50 years.  But Pennsy prototypes definitely weren't ignored in the early years, which is what I thought you were referring to.  A good K4 in N definitely would be nice for the Pennsy lovers.  But there have been a plethora of Pennsy-specific products in recent years, in passenger and freight and motive power and structures.  Lots of New Haven stuff as well.  Good times.

You made my point Brian; Atlas isn't in N scale passenger and it is unlikely they will jump in. (If that proves to be wrong then I'll be happy to be wrong....) That's ok; it's their business. By gobbling up the Branchline product line it limits either the Branchline company or others who might wish to build off it to bring more n scale passenger products to the market. Branchline has done wonderful research that will be now locked away from an n scaler perspective.

I don't think my position is silly; it may be selfish; but as a passenger modeler I reserver the right to be selfish..... ;D

Atlas used to.  For two decades.  Can't fault them for not doing it now when they were the ones that launched that N scale product line back in 1969 and sustained it for years.

My understanding is that Branchline wants to be a distributor exclusively and is selling their product lines to facilitate that.  So this isn't a situation where Branchline would be "hindered" in releasing product due to the sale.  They are getting out of the manufacturing business entirely.  Given that, you have a far better chance that Atlas will migrate the line to N scale in the future than if Branchline had held onto it.

I don't believe I said your position was silly.  Nothing wrong with wanting a proven manufacturer to explore waters that haven't been navigated in a while.  But your dismay at the pending transaction is in this case misguided only because of the pending change in the Branchline business model.

And as an aside - is there any Atlas product introduced in one scale over the past 25 years that hasn't been replicated in the other two scales eventually?  Maybe a small handful on the O scale side, but between HO and N?  Just throwing that out there.

[bbussey]

Dave,

Understood.  I don't think you have to worry about them reusing the colors of the old E8, as they know those colors were off.

It's funny - you dislike the Congressional scheme and it's probably my favorite along with the single stripe DGLE.  I wasn't around in 1955 when the Congressional scheme briefly existed, but the single-stripe scheme in general is the one I grew up with and saw all the time.  Even in the late 1970s/early 1980s when the Gs were stored in the electrified yard along I-280 in Harrison NJ, many of them still had the single stripe scheme.

You're spot-on regarding the Congressional G numbers, as they were 12" high.

I'll pass along all this information to Kato on Wednesday, thanks.

[FrankCampagna]

And as an aside - is there any Atlas product introduced in one scale over the past 25 years that hasn't been replicated in the other two scales eventually?  Maybe a small handful on the O scale side, but between HO and N?  Just throwing that out there.

Atlas has had Alco switchers and U-boats in HO for a very long time. Only a couple U-boats have made it to N.

Frank

[SecretWeapon]

That was Hudson Yard.

[Dave V]

@Bryan, my favorite scheme is also the single-stripe DGLE also!  But, unfortunately, being a younger man, the only Gs I saw in service were black and crappy.  But hey, at least I saw them in the wild as a very young man.

[bbussey]

@Bryan, my favorite scheme is also the single-stripe DGLE also!  But, unfortunately, being a younger man, the only Gs I saw in service were black and crappy.  But hey, at least I saw them in the wild as a very young man.

I was in Manalapan NJ for the "Last Run of the GG1" event that NJ Transit ran, I believe, in 1983.  The "last G" was an all-black road-number-marked-only NJT unit and it crapped out during the run, so they had another diesel on stand-by to pull the train the rest of the way.  A sad day, seeing the G being pulled by an NJT diesel as the consist arrived in Manalapan.  I took pics, but I'd have to search for them.  But yeah, I got to see them "in the wild" also in better days during the 1960s and 1970s in all sorts of paint schemes.  I did see BlackJack and BigRed in action after they had been restored to PRR livery, and BigRed was housed in Hoboken along with the two restored Pennsy E8A units for years back then.  That was cool.

I also got to see New Haven FL9s and EP5s cross over the Harlem River from the Bronx to Manhattan onto the Park Avenue viaduct back in the mid to late 1960s.  I wish I remembered seeing the other New Haven electrics (the "motors"), but I was too young.

[bbussey]

Originally there were no motors thin enough to make an N scale RS-1 or S2 in the Atlas/Kato style.  Once they figured it out, the RS-1 made it to N fairly quickly.  During that time period when the S2 and S4 were made in HO, Arnold had the S2 in N already on the market.  Atlas doesn't replicate units that already exist from another manufacturer and are up to current standards.

Regarding the U Boats, the Trix B-Boats were still a viable unit when the Atlas HO units appeared so it took 20 years before we saw the Atlas N versions.

[Ryan87]

perhaps silly was the wrong word I just see no evidence for your conclusion... yes Atlas hasn't released passenger equipment but that doesn't mean they never will... Also I don't think Branchline had plans to expand into N scale...

Although I can see your frustration Atlas made passenger cars would be sweet...

[asarge]

You made my point Brian; Atlas isn't in N scale passenger and it is unlikely they will jump in. (If that proves to be wrong then I'll be happy to be wrong....) That's ok; it's their business. By gobbling up the Branchline product line it limits either the Branchline compnay or others who might wish to build off it to bring more n scale passeger products to the market. Branchline has done wonderful research that will be now locked away from an n scaler perspective.

Your opinion is not silly Pud, but you miss the point. That is if Branchline held onto the tooling, there would have been no chance of it coming in N scale. No ifs. ands or buts. I asked them twice if they would do the HW's in N scale. The first time I got "never sday never. But it's not palnned"(which means no). The second was a flat out NO. That was as bad as when I asked John Engstrom of Athearn if they would do the SD40-2 line in N like they did in HO.repsonse was "Kato has already done it in N so there is no need for us to do it". Between the lines, "don't waste my time with the request. We're not doing it."

[jmlaboda - RIP]

"Also I don't think Branchline had plans to expand into N scale..."

Something folks need to take into consideration... even the HO line has been stalled for a number of years, even though they were better detailed and slightly cheaper than the Walthers cars.

As far as what is left as far as planned releases by MicroTrains there is a coach, diner and observation car yet to come, with the obsy possibly being released by May (hinted to by a custom painter who will be using it for one of their custom painted runs).  Details would be very welcome but MT so far has been quite.

"Regarding the U Boats, the Trix B-Boats were still a viable unit when the Atlas HO units appeared so it took 20 years before we saw the Atlas N versions."

Trix had B-Boats?  Not that I have ever seen.  The only thing that Minitrix offered were the U28C (appropriate for late-U28Cs and early-U30Cs) and the U30CG.

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Now, about all this trash talk.

"Are you guys kidding? This is coming to N?"

This was posted to the A forum...
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_gUPKtwlXCVU/TUSdSnSR0ZI/AAAAAAAABN4/vcvwdtMQBmU/s640/1-29-11%20001.jpg

[TiVoPrince]

I asked John Engstrom of Athearn if they would do the SD40-2 line in N like they did in HO.repsonse was "Kato has already done it in N so there is no need for us to do it". Between the lines, "don't waste my time with the request. We're not doing it."

Realistically  
I would love to see a list of what Athearn might consider worthy.  PC&F boxcars were a hit in HO but never came to N because, why?  Never done before, but still we wait for the day...

[Mark5]

The excuse that Kato already does SD40-2's in N scale borders on the moronic.