New products at Springfield 2018

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Bargains:
There was a lot of bargains if you liked around. $35 MP Pacifics and mikes that needed a little work. $65 MP 4-4-0 and 2-6-0 from a previous run.

I think these are being sold by the guy who used to repair MP engines for the company. Lots of spare parts too.

Talked to the owner of Badger Airbrush at length. Pretty interesting guy and very good show or pricing. I got a $200 Sotar 20/20 with small and medium needles plus 28 bottles of paint for only $140.

Bachmann GP40 seems to be hitting the streets at around $40. Review upcoming.

[unittrain]

Those MT trucks are seriously good news , like what I'm seeing this year. Did you see any signs of the Intermountain PS2 4785 covered hoppers? Or the Athearn 4600s? Thanks for all this coverage!!

[Scottl]

Into Scale Trains T4 GEVO...

Those T4 units look excellent.  They are almost bristling with cab detail, especially the roof.  The thickness of the grabs and handrails also looks better than the previous versions we saw, but perhaps that is just my imagination.

[ek2000]

Daniel, thanks for posting these updates. Any word from ST on the delivery date for the T4 GEVO?

[thomasjmdavis]

Daniel,

Thanks for all the numerous photos and updates.

Seems like the manufacturers are shifting focus into the 60s and 70s (and later) from the 50s.   

Any hints from Rapido on what their 3 N scale locomotives will be?

On the passenger car front, the Atlas shorties look like a huge improvement over the old Bachmann cars.

 Anything in the MT booth regarding the single window coach?  I assume if there were a pre-production sample, the internet would have lit up. But hints, brochure, whispered rumor, petition to sign?

[sd45elect2000]

Daniel, was that you I met with Brian Bussey and Peteski ?

[Scottl]

Daniel, thanks for posting these updates. Any word from ST on the delivery date for the T4 GEVO?

On their website it is still not indicating "on the boat" as of yesterday.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Spoke with my Matt at some length. Things at home are improving enough for him to get back to work. He has orders starting after Chinese new year for the next year and a half.

RC items will continue to be upgraded as they are brought out. I believe the next cars are the X29. He wants to body mount covers to all future cars, though the auto racks might present a problem. Finally he would like to add etched walkway posts to the coil cars, so don't expect those to come out for a few years.

ESM will be entering HO scale. This is actually did for us as the profits will help subsidize n scale projects.

[Bendtracker1]

Thanks for posting all the photos and updates for those of us not able to make it!

[ek2000]

On their website it is still not indicating "on the boat" as of yesterday.

Yeah and when I asked them sometime back they indicated it would be known after the new year. I had hoped that they would have a clear idea by Springfield.

[dougnelson]

Spoke with my Matt at some length. Things at home are improving enough for him to get back to work. He has orders starting after Chinese new year for the next year and a half.

RC items will continue to be upgraded as they are brought out. I believe the next cars are the X29. He wants to body mount covers to all future cars, though the auto racks might present a problem. Finally he would like to add etched walkway posts to the coil cars, so don't expect those to come out for a few years.

ESM will be entering HO scale. This is actually did for us as the profits will help subsidize n scale projects.

Thanks for the reports, but please translate:

Matt = Matt G. of Fox Valley or Matthew Y. of Wheels of time?
RC = ??
X29 as in PRR X29?

Thanks.

[dougnelson]

Atlas:
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Not really my era or interest, but I think it is very cool that Atlas is doing the New Jersey Transit equipment.  These locomotives are monsters!  They glide into Newark Penn, drop their pantograph and turn on their massive prime mover and you can feel their presence in the station.  These would be a natural for a sound decoder.

[GhengisKong]

Is BLI using brass castings for horns? Maybe they'll bring out a Nathan P5 finally.

Also looking forward to how the Red Caboose PRR X-29 is going to look. I like the Fine N Scale resin kits a lot, but maybe these will keep me from having to seek those out any longer.  While we're at it, I'd like to see an X-23 in the future from someone.

[brokemoto]

When are those shorty passenger cars set to hit the streets?

The word on Atlas' website is "First quarter, 2018".  I guess that gives them until 31 March.

The cars do look better than the B-mann cars.  The only cars that I saw were the coach, combine and open deck observation.  I did not see the baggage or RPO. 

I had thought that you might be able to butt together two vestibule ends of the open deck observation to make a single window coach, but the windows look too small for that.  It appears that Atlas shrunk all the dimensions.

[ljudice]

Not really my era or interest, but I think it is very cool that Atlas is doing the New Jersey Transit equipment.  These locomotives are monsters!  They glide into Newark Penn, drop their pantograph and turn on their massive prime mover and you can feel their presence in the station.  These would be a natural for a sound decoder.

Actually, - two prime movers -  two twelve-cylinder Caterpillar 3512HD diesel engines rated at 2,100 hp!!!