RTR Steam

[Flagler]

Are  we about to get bombed with Ready to Run staem?

Intermountain   Cab Forward    Now
Athern Challanger                     December
            Big Boy                          january
 Kato FEF 4-8-4                           ???

           What to Buy?

[victor miranda]

I can guess you don't plan to buy the other two due real soon now.
the b-mann 2-6-0 and atlas 4-4-0?

the n-scale steam world is getting bigger.

victor

[delamaize]

Are  we about to get bombed with Ready to Run staem?

Intermountain   Cab Forward    Now
Athern Challanger                     December
            Big Boy                          january
 Kato FEF 4-8-4                           ???

           What to Buy?

did anyone ever 100% confirm the Kato FEF? last I heard it was a rumor still......

[C855B]

[whimper]

Yeah. I guess my wallet is more or less relieved that the Big Boy is in January... my pre-order notes had it for November. Heaven help me if my GP60 order hits at the same time, however. If the FEF comes in the same timeframe, it'll be Ramen noodles for a while. 

Speaking of pre-order surprise, the shipping notice just arrived for a dozen Intermountain PFE mech reefers I completely forgot about that were ordered in January. Oops.

> rumor

A rumor, yes, but stoked multiple times by Kato.

[peteski]

did anyone ever 100% confirm the Kato FEF? last I heard it was a rumor still......

I thought that was debunked as a creative joke (back on the Atlas forum).

[victor miranda]

it was clearly labeled a rumor that kato was making a big steam engine.

rumors are mostly wishful thinking. In this case
the rumor has some merit, in that Kato has a loco frame
of very similar dimensions and also have not bias against steam engines.
the inclination towards making western roads helps
flesh out the rumor.

so I am expecting that Kato will make one
simply because the rumor has legs.

now if some one said "kato  prr k4"
I have claimed 'bunk'

funny what one believes is true
victor

[peteski]

I was thinking more about the supposed photo of the prototype N scale model. It was debunked as being an H0 model (made by another company)

[victor miranda]

! Cool !

I missed that photo.

maybe Kato did it to throw us off the trail.

[peteski]

! Cool !

I missed that photo.

maybe Kato did it to throw us off the trail.

Here you go - enjoy the read!
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=70309

[victor miranda]

oh that thread.
yeah that was an april fools joke.
when I first saw that photo,  I was pretty confident it was an ho model.

the rumor of Kato and an FEF have been floating for a loooong time
I recall hearing it about a year-ish after the gs-4 came out.

well who knows?  It may be a total fabrication by us
and Kato might be doing it anyway.

Given the way Con-Cor has done things in the past
I have wondered why they never combined the s2 and gs4
and made a pseudo  FEF.
... they'd have needed a new tender I suppose...

victor

[Nato]

     Recieved word my two Bachmann 2-6-0 locos "boston & Maine ,UP are shipping tomorrow. I have two Atlas 4-4-0's on order to pull MT Civil War cars. Challengers expected late December, Big Boys in January 2013,IM Cab Forwards (some with sound) expected late November or in December. Two Kato Reps at the"Worlds Greatest Hobby"show in Salt Lake City in March all ,but confirmed that a Union Pacific FEF 4-8-4 was in the works, but no dates were ever given. Thats all I know about those. I would order a Cab Forward ,if you want big steam,they will be here soon, or if into smaller & medium steam Bachmann DCC locos like 2-10-2,  4-6-0,2-6-0,2-8-0. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[Cajonpassfan]

Nato, the Challengers are supposedly in....

[robert3985]

As to the Kato FEF-3 (844).  I talked personally to the Kato rep at the SLC World's Greatest Hobby Show, and he said that Kato was introducing a new "western" passenger train in the first quarter of 2013 and that it "wouldn't be SP" and would be steam powered.  I dug a little deeper and he admitted it was going to be the 844 with "appropriate" cars, some new and some which are already being manufactured.

Two other N-scale friends of mine also talked to him, and they received similar info with the exception that my friend Jared was told that it was going to be the modern 844 pulling the present excursion train.  That still leaves a few questions, including "will this consist also have the auxilliary water tender?", etc.

A modern U.P. excursion train doesn't interest me, but an excellent running, well-detailed Kato model of an FEF-3 REALLY interests me even though I have several brass FEF's. In my chosen time-period, several trains per day ran through Echo and Weber Canyons pulled by FEF's...some double-headed going East.  I'm really looking forward to mo' FEF's on the Ogden to Wahsatch Helper District.

I hope it'll be available in both oil and coal, and in two-toned gray along with the traditional black.  I also hope Kato doesn't include some of the weak points of their delicate GS-4 and makes them (at least) DCC ready.

Personallly, I'm very happy that Kato is doing these instead of Athearn...who would utilize the Big Boy/Challenger tender, which is incorrect for the FEF-3.

Nope...it doesn't qualify as a mere "rumor"...but it doesn't qualify as a "done-deal" either...but the word came from a Kato rep, which makes it at least a "very strong rumor".

I'm betting on it being announced in January...then on the shelves 30 days later as is the new Kato policy.

[Cajonpassfan]

Nato, the Challengers are supposedly in....

Duh, disregard please, got bum information
It's the cabforwards that are supposedly in...
Otto

[Cajonpassfan]

Bob, I'm with you, hope the rumor is right. I'm not interested in the excursion engine either, but suspect it will sell well and it if that makes the FEF-3 model more commercially successful, great. For you, modeling the Wasatch grade, this has to be an awesome news/rumor; CSA's, Big Boys, and now FEF's, maybe. Wow!  The FEF's ran on Cajon for a very short time, but I'll have to get some. I'm particularly interested in the TTG "Greyhound" versions...
Otto