New Kato Freight Car Tooling

[w neal]

Yeah, where's the BIG announcement, Kato? My beer is getting warm.

Automotive?

Hmm... me thinks he's not using his head...

[ljudice]

If it turns out to be Autoracks, everyone better chip in and buy me a set of four....   

[Rossford Yard]

Well, this just blows. Total BS.  It stinks. And, up til now, my life had been perfect.......

Oh well, back to guessing.  Its fun, and a buck less for an evening of suspenseful entertainment than a lotto ticket.

That said, Kato has gone for the unit train type stuff in the past, apparently figuring why sell onesies twosies when you can sell bulk packs.  So, what does that leave us?  Some kind of tanker, hopper, covered hopper.

But, they also have leaned to the iconic, at least in passenger trains and locos.  Not sure there are many iconic frieght cars that everyone knows well. No, wait, its the N Scale version of the Lionel Cattle Car or Missle Launcher!

[jmlaboda]

"If it turns out to be Autoracks, everyone better chip in and buy me a set of four....   "

IF it is autoracks I guarantee you that I will give you "MY two-cents worth"!!!

[Denver Road Doug]

OK so my bonus day dark horse guess is BN and BNSF COIL CARe and COIL CARe XL cars.   Unit trains, (and also individuals) found in the "hep" spots like el Cajon, Tehachapi, Chicago, et al.

Could also be a "thrall-style" hi-side steel or aluminum coal gon, or another type of aluminum gon or hopper.

Those are the "long-shots" on my list that I said I doubt we'll see but that I would buy.  If I was a bettin' man, I would say a 5161-ish (whatever the latest CF model is) grain covered hopper, or possibly a crude oil tank car.   Honestly, I would not be surprised at all if it were Autoracks, either.

[GaryHinshaw]

Agreed DRD.  The coil car is still on my top 5 list,  but that's a real long shot for Kato.  I think auto racks are too since Red Caboose and Athearn have that market pretty well covered and, IIRC, Kato has never done anything with etched metal.

I'd really like to see them do another style of 53' well car with JB Hunt and/or Schneider containers.  Those would certainly sell en masse.  I'd also love to see a triple-57 spine set with some 53' trailers, but that's less likely because they could only sell 3 trailers per set instead of 6 containers, and spine cars are tough to detail.

Alas, the fact that their announcement says freight car sets still makes me think of something more train set like than unit train like.  As I said on p.1, I'm not really on pins & needles about this, but I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

-gfh

[mike in bc]

Doesn't anybody here work at the NSA
mike

[TiVoPrince]

Placing
my half the rent money bet on, Rail train.  Mostly because I saw one pass by the other day...

[delamaize]

You're all wrong. It's going to be the BN trough train! 







lol

[w neal]

Now THAT would be cool!!!!, but eeets... 

[Ike the BN Freak]

You're all wrong. It's going to be the BN trough train! 

Well if this is the case, I have to get a job in Saudi as an instructor...otherwise unemployment isn't gonna cover it.

[w neal]

Automotive?

Hmm... me thinks he's not using his head...

Naw, couldn't be...

[nkalanaga]

With the interest shown in other modern coal cars, the Trough Train sounds like a good idea, but did anyone other than the BN/BNSF use it?

[asarge]

Placing
my half the rent money bet on, Rail train.  Mostly because I saw one pass by the other day...

Better be careful JJ. Chatfield might wear off on you. I'm still thinking Modern Oil Train.

[Rossford Yard]

You know what, a rail train might actually sell pretty well.  Who doesn't like some MOW equipment out there on the layout?

I actually have one dead main line (couldn't get them all connected to the helix, so it is really just for show, or storage)  As such, I planned to place some kind of MOW equipment out there to justify the lack of traffic.....