MTL May 2017 Releases

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Of interesting note is the announcement of the RBB&B advertising cars.  The first two are scheduled for September.  I've seen historical color pics of the parlor in a book so that one is legit for sure.

Bryan... where are you seeing this.  Searched MT's website but came up empty.

[Point353]

... where are you seeing this.  Searched MT's website but came up empty.

http://www.micro-trains.com/nscale/npreorders/14300200
http://www.micro-trains.com/nscale/npreorders/14800200

[James Costello]

I probably would have picked up the CRLE Husky Stacks this month - I always thought the white lettering on the MDCs was too translucent and obtaining the TTXs were more of a priority at the time, but I'm going to have to pass. These cars should be red, not brown.

Model:
http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/2017/1705/1705-13500041-800x800-0.jpg

Here's the proto-photo MTL used:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=500398
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1188267

Unfortunately these photos show 20+ years of fade, grime and bad light - here's some better ones showing the red

Same car - 5533
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=10228
Similar
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=10227

CRLE series 5400-5549, originally from GBRX series 2400-2549 built by Gunderson, Lot 19435, Jun-Jul 1991. To CRLE in 1992, to NOKL in 1999 and then rebuilt to 40' well.

Looking at the proto-photos used I understand how MTL got to where they did, but if they weren't TTX yellow, "most" other Huskys were red - BN, GBRX, CRLE etc.

Shame, could have been both a good regular release and an awesome weathered release too.

 

[James Costello]

I was also excited when I saw the Santa Fe scheme on the 48' X-Post container - I need heap for my era and probably would have picked up a dozen or so of each number.

But like last months CSX release, MTL has chosen a number series and paint scheme that doesn't match their prototype.

Here's the proto-photo for one of the SFTUs that MTL is releasing - it's a Stoughton with the sheet and post nose and different post arrangement:
http://www.matts-place.com/intermodal/part3/images/sftu281366.jpg

Here's a proto-photo showing the difference between the two container styles and how it effects the SFTU lettering, meaning it's not just a simple re-numbering exercise (not that I really wanted to do that for 20 containers anyway)


The frustration here is two fold. For starters, both CSX and ATSF have schemes that match the MTL model. We've shown them here before:
http://www.matts-place.com/intermodal/part3/images/sftu280741.jpg

Secondly, this is how model duplication affects modellers. In my 90s era, the majority of domestic containers were white with coloured logos. With so much white, body style subtlety is important and the details between the different containers is noticeable and important to me. Now the 90s are long gone and the 48' container has had its day, so there is unlikely to ever be enough demand again to get another model of a 48' X-Post container, so we're stuck with two models of the same prototype, when we could have had one of each. The popular names like EMP, CSX, ATSF, NACS etc all had both, so there's not much of a roadname incentive to choose one over the other. It's just frustrating...

Anyway, a pass for me on the cans too. Hopefully both the CSX and the ATSF are really popular and next time they get run, we can have correct schemes on them - then I will buy a bunch. I'm still available Joe to help at any time!

Here's the thread where we discussed the prototype for the Walthers and MTL containers too:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=41544

[bbussey]

Bryan... where are you seeing this.  Searched MT's website but came up empty.

They are on page 5 of the newsletter.
https://www.micro-trains.com/publicfiles/monthly/MN1705.pdf

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Thanks!!!

[jagged ben]

I wish they wouldn't call TTX 'Trailer Train'.

[nkalanaga]

Considering that it WAS "Trailer Train" for decades, I imagine that a lot of people in the railroad industry still call it that.

Some folks in the Northwest, including BNSF employees, still refer to the railroads there by their original names...

[Xmtrman]

...and BNSF stands for Burlington Northern Santa Fe no matter what present management says.

[jagged ben]

Considering that it WAS "Trailer Train" for decades, I imagine that a lot of people in the railroad industry still call it that.

Some folks in the Northwest, including BNSF employees, still refer to the railroads there by their original names...

Yes, and how do you think one of those old timers would feel if someone said to them 'hey, I've got some old Burlington Northern memorabilia to show you' and then it turned out to be BNSF stuff from the late 90s?

I'm aware of the history, which is precisely why it bothers me.     Thank goodness for the picture to set straight what the actual paint scheme is.  Husky-Stacks were delivered with the old Trailer Train 'TT' logo before the corporate identity changed.  So it matters.

[nscaler711]

Yes, and how do you think one of those old timers would feel if someone said to them 'hey, I've got some old Burlington Northern memorabilia to show you' and then it turned out to be BNSF stuff from the late 90s?

I'm aware of the history, which is precisely why it bothers me.     Thank goodness for the picture to set straight what the actual paint scheme is.  Husky-Stacks were delivered with the old Trailer Train 'TT' logo before the corporate identity changed.  So it matters.

Technically Speaking, BNSF wasnt BNSF till Berkshire Hathaway took it over in 2005. So it really doesnt matter that much since it was Burlington Northern Santa Fe... and alot of stuff took a little while to be repainted at that.  So 

[jagged ben]

Technically Speaking, BNSF wasnt BNSF till Berkshire Hathaway took it over in 2005. So it really doesnt matter that much since it was Burlington Northern Santa Fe... and alot of stuff took a little while to be repainted at that.  So 

And Trailer Train did become TTX in 1991 when they adopted the logo on the MT runner pack.  So, what's your point?   

If MT released a car with the early BNSF shield and advertised it as a Santa Fe car everyone would agree that would be a mistake.

[Missaberoad]

If MT released a car with the early BNSF shield and advertised it as a Santa Fe car everyone would agree that would be a mistake.

That's not a fair parallel tho... More like if you call a car with the "swoosh" logo a Burlington Northern Santa Fe car. Would everyone agree that is a mistake?

You're absolutely correct in you're original statement however, It's getting into semantics but you are correct. 



Personally I would like to see more Trailer Train era equipment, but I'm not sure how much demand there would be...

[jagged ben]

That's not a fair parallel tho... More like if you call a car with the "swoosh" logo a Burlington Northern Santa Fe car. Would everyone agree that is a mistake?
...

If you bought the car without knowing it was a swoosh and you didn't want a swoosh, you'd call it a mistake.  As I said, thank goodness nowadays the internet almost always has pictures.  (Except if you block cookies with Firefox, then you don't see any pictures on MT's website.   )   

If you were trying to find this runner pack using Google and you were searching for 'TTX', you'd have greater difficulty.  That's not good for MT.

This is not the most egregious case of MT doing this either.   They've repeated called the 'moving forward' logo 'Trailer Train', too. 

The point for me is that the logos and paint schemes changed, and that stuff represents different eras, and that's important to many modelers.

[Catt]

I always liked Big New Santa Fe myself