NTS Salt Lake Report

[James Costello]

I had the chance to spend today attending my first NTS at Salt Lake City. I concentrated on the manufacturers and vendors today and just grabbed a few quick iPhone photos. I'll be back tomorrow with my Nikon and I'll hit up the layouts and some of the new things on display. Here's a quick summary of my discussions and observations.

Generally speaking, I didn't waste time trying to take a lot of photos, most of the manufacturer's present and the press (Harry @ Model Railroad News) do a much better job than I ever could under show conditions.

First stop was ScaleTrains and I wasted no time adding my name to @scaletrains Shane's list of N Scaler's wanting the SD40T-2. I have hope! The C44-9Ws looked good. The 5188s and the containers continue to do very well for them, but no immediate plans for other intermodal items.





ExactRail - had a good chat to Chris. New retooled boxcars on display just like NSE Chicago. The long absent Gunderson 6033 boxcars will be retooled for body-mounts and it sounds like there will be quite a few new N announcements in the next 12-18 months.

Athearn - had the usual couple of 4427s, F89Fs and Autoracks on display for N. Sounds like late August for the new 4600 covered hoppers. I asked about other versions of the F89F flat and it was indicated that the Triple 28 (RTTX) would probably be next and a Long Runner version would be on the cards too. I grabbed a photo of the container poster because it was the first time I had seen it confirmed the 53' exterior post container is a Stoughton and looks like a sheet and post nose, different from the Kato version (Yay! - EMP Optimodals  ).   

[Mark5]

Thanks James! Great to see Athearn rolling out the containers!

[James Costello]

A couple of shots of the new NARC 5077 boxcar. Personally, I was a little underwhelmed on these, especially the printing - but it probably (unfortunately) stood out on the yellow Railboxes and the CNW cars. I don't think the ATSF or BN are too bad... But these won't be the model that forces me to deal with their sales model.

[James Costello]

Thanks James! Great to see Athearn rolling out the containers!

They had tooling samples of two of the new 20'ers too - I'll photo tomorrow.

[James Costello]

MTL just had a small display - some of their July releases and the DODX flat with the Humvees.

[James Costello]

Spent a lot of the day talking to the guys at JTC and I'm so excited to see the next year for these guys. They posted their new releases for July here a day or so ago.

The tanktainers look very sharp - look for differences on the walkways, the mechanical control units and placards (as seen on these DANA and Eurotainer units)





New 40' chassis (the start of the chassis line)



These guys are making the HO guys jealous about what's available in N so I hope they continue to be well supported.

[James Costello]

Not sure if this was announced in Chicago or not, but Walthers has some new houses coming later this year that are cool:



I had a good chat to the Rep and he was on message about their commitment to the Structures line and releases will piggyback the successful HO ones.

Speaking of, these new HO ones looked pretty good and would fill a void in N - especially the house:

[James Costello]

Continuing with Walthers, the samples of Merchants Row III looked good, and I was very impressed with the two concrete warehouses - apparently these have been designed to be kitbashable into bigger structures and the locations of the loading docks etc is customisable. I love the big footprint of these buildings!











UPS Version

[James Costello]

The new Grain Bins from Grain Belt Models (Iowa Scaled Engineering) looked great:





Dimensional Modelling Concepts also had a range of 3D printed detail parts in HO, that they will bring to N later this year - including HV powerlines, rooftop details etc.

[James Costello]

It's late...and I can't be bothered trying to work out how to rotate images on this software. Sorry not sorry.

[James Costello]

Finally, great to meet and have a quick chat with @ryan_wilkerson in the short time I looked at the layouts - a real treat to see him and his SP Swift road railer train.

Here's a couple of samples on the incredible N-land Pacific portion - love that Santa Ana bridge and warehouse.

[C855B]

Thanks for posting those anyway, James! Sideways, upside down or whatever, there's a lot of goodness in there.

[ryan_wilkerson]

Great to meet you too James! Glad you introduced yourself as it’s tough to pick anyone out of the crowd when we’ve only chatted online in the forums. See you tomorrow.
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[nkalanaga]

Those new grain bins look nice, and the 48 ft diameter one is getting towards grain elevator size.  A couple of those next to an old country elevator would look great on late 20th century railroads. 

Many of the old elevators disappeared in the last couple decades, even where the elevator company is still in business.  The Elevator in Wall, SD, tore their old one down shortly after we were there in 2011.  I'd been taking pictures of the complex since 1983.  A lot of changes in those 28 years.

[pdx1955]

Glad to hear that DimensionAL Modeling Concepts will do their line in N. The HO power poles looked extremely realistic.  I also found that JTC will over a range of loads for their flatracks  which look to be adaptable for other car types. The number of possible early container
 variations are quite extensive.  Also, I did get confirmation from Atlas that the SP SD9's will be run eventually  (the molds developed issues then the factory shutdown occurred so most of these were never produced leaving a lot of orders hanging).