Scale-Trains doing Tier-4 Gevos....

[Glenn Poole]

If you are running D.C., will these mu with Katos  or do they have the "slow" motors in them?

[learmoia]

I ordered 2 1970s carbon black cars but honestly never have noticed any that I can recall on the many many trains I've watched 40 years.They can't be that common but oh well they are going to do what they feel is best for there N scale line but I agree they are super nice cars well done indeed.

I'm going to get a couple at some point for through freights.. and agreed, I don't recall ever seeing them on a train or in a yard.. I do remember seeing them at a Goodyear(?) Plant in Des Moines, IA.. Likely 20 or so at the plant.. But I never noticed them on trains in/out of Des Moines..

They are pretty blah cars that could be easily to missed in mixed freights.. but I'm sure they are there..

Something to consider.. (and maybe a good analogy for the N scale market.. )
Micro Trains could put the same paint schemes on an Airslide hopper and people would buy it..

   ~Ian

[jereising]

The choice of the carbon black cars does seem strange.  If they wanted a car that would sell, a 53' well car is so obviously needed but is ignored by Scale Trains and Atlas and M-T. 

Yes, Deluxe has (had) the three unit cars, but they were flawed.   They could be made to be good runners with a bit of work.

Yes, FVM would appear to be working on an individual 53 footer - but Matt's got an awful lot on his plate right now.

Meanwhile, there is a cry for these cars.  Now, not in five years.  Look at the prototype today - most all domestic containers seem to be 53 foot.  Maybe not, but when I see videos or watch the webcams, I see an absolute ton of those three car 53s.  So we get a carbon black car, and the manufacturer wonders why no sales.

I MIGHT buy a couple of carbon black cars, then again I have a lot of cars now so maybe not.

But I would go broke buying 53 footers.

Give us what we want.  Maybe check out the boards and understand what is wanted.

[pedro]

FWIW, single carbon black cars appear regularly on mixed freights on the former BN in Chicago. I see them passing through Eola. No idea where they come from or where they're headed,  but they're definitely out there. I'll try to pull a list next time I see one to see where it's billed to.

[mu26aeh]

FWIW, single carbon black cars appear regularly on mixed freights on the former BN in Chicago. I see them passing through Eola. No idea where they come from or where they're headed,  but they're definitely out there. I'll try to pull a list next time I see one to see where it's billed to.

EDIT: Ha !  When reading this, I immediately stuck an N into Eola because I'm near Enola Yard outside of Harrisburg, PA.  But my comments still apply for Enola

From Enola, they head over to Camp Hill/Shiremanstown , then onto Carlisle Syntec in Carlisle.  I think they have 6-8 car spots on siding. Plus a storage siding for any extras that don't fit.  Can see everything from Rt 11

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Carlisle+SynTec+Inc/@40.2009087,-77.2187037,337a,35y,270h/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c91e37d0384953:0xdba4b82b3b917f5!8m2!3d40.2003093!4d-77.2170731

[C855B]

View of the nearby tire plant. Carbon black cars are received and unloaded at the middle and bottom spurs off the main:

  https://binged.it/2u0heAQ

I never see carbon black cars in our town because this plant is on the UP/ex-C&EI line 12 miles east of us. Maybe I should spend a little more time railfanning that line to see if I can bag one in the wild.

[basementcalling]

FWIW, single carbon black cars appear regularly on mixed freights on the former BN in Chicago. I see them passing through Eola. No idea where they come from or where they're headed,  but they're definitely out there. I'll try to pull a list next time I see one to see where it's billed to.

A single car vs fleets of 3 car sets of 53ft well cars. Surprising N scale manufacturers can not do the math about which would sell better.

[jdcolombo]

I just went back and looked. The boards in the IM units do have full Aux1-4 functionality. I do not know which lights are on which functions, but I would bet all that is needed is to set the grade-crossing bit in the CVs for the two rear ditch lights. Unless IM did something stupid on the NS units and used a split light pipe from the rear ditch lights to a single LED.

Hi Rick.

They did the stupid thing (well, at least they did this on my unit, which isn't an NS one).  To make the ditch lights alternating, you have to physically cut the light pipe and wire in new LED's (one to each light).  The board WILL accommodate this - it actually has SIX function outputs available (head light, rear light and four more), so it is possible to have alternating front and rear ditch lights plus headlight and rear light, but it takes a bit more effort than just programming.

The board itself has six LEDs on it; three in the front and three in the back, but two of them are covered up by black tape.  In order to do alternating ditch lights, you have to cut the two LEDs off the board, then wire up separate LED's attached to the individual pipes, then program the auxiliary outputs for ditch light operation.  It's doable, but given the capabilities of the board, I'm not sure why IM didn't manufacture it with separate ditch lights, which you could then enable as alternating (or not) by simple programming.

John C.

[pdx1955]

View of the nearby tire plant. Carbon black cars are received and unloaded at the middle and bottom spurs off the main:

  https://binged.it/2u0heAQ

I never see carbon black cars in our town because this plant is on the UP/ex-C&EI line 12 miles east of us. Maybe I should spend a little more time railfanning that line to see if I can bag one in the wild.

I did some digging on this subject and it appears the typical appearance of these cars is small shipments (1-2 cars) to specific destinations on routine routes. While it appears that carbon black plants are scattered all over, these cars will will only be in small numbers on any given train even on the routes that they use. It's not surprising that they are difficult to see one in the wild. Carbon black is also used in paints, inks, wire insulation, rubber products (other than tires) so they could show up almost anywhere where heavy industry is prevalent. A lot of CB goes a long way so the average layout owner wouldn't need more than a couple unless they have one of the tire plants. It's too bad that they aren't doing the early version of these cars (1934-late 60's; one of earliest covered hoppers; available in resin in HO) which seemed to be more common back then just because heavy industry was more common (but covered hoppers of any kind were uncommon before the mid-1950's which leads us back to the single car sightings). 

[Scottl]

I actually saw a carbon black car this morning in a CN manifest heading to Toronto.  First I can recall, ever.  It was a bizarre pick for Scale Trains but probably easier as they had invested in the CAD and design work, so I am sure there is a business case for it.  I felt much the same about the turbine release:  iconic and glorious, but not how you make a lot of money selling to the masses, at least in n scale.

The T4 will sell well and continue to if they add road names and numbers.  It is the SD-40 of the 2010+ era and they look to have put the money in to make the detail differences and the level of overall detail very high.   I would expect a similar effort with the SD-40-2 would be welcome, even if IM is sort of doing it too.

I must admit I don't get the 53' well car gap frequently mentioned.  Deluxe did Maxi-IV and those are 53' wells.  Is there another model in particular people are looking for?  I'd be pleased to get some variety in stack trains but I am already happy with the Deluxe model (it needed washers added to fix it).

[bnsfdash8]

A prototypically correct NS model in N scale.... Be still my heart.

[Glenn Poole]

Deluxe well cars are available at intermountian. I liked these and have serveral. On the first run, some needed washers and some did not. I don't think any on the 2nd run needed washers.

[ljudice]

The Kato well cars are 53' also....

[John]

FWIW, single carbon black cars appear regularly on mixed freights on the former BN in Chicago. I see them passing through Eola. No idea where they come from or where they're headed,  but they're definitely out there. I'll try to pull a list next time I see one to see where it's billed to.

I've seen them on trains in Altoona ..

[wcfn100]

CABX in Topeka 2013.





Jason