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When we work with purchased tooling we generally try to run it one time relatively untouched to help offset the purchase cost.
From the catalog thread:which goes towards explaining some of the model's shortcomings. On the fence about this one, I'd have liked to see the FVM 60's make a comeback. Maybe in the 2030s. Plows - as mentioned repeatedly - would be nice. Perhaps their next run can feature correct trucks, with enough of a surplus that we can swap them around.
Thank you for preordering the Fox Valley Models N Scale ES44 GEVO and/or SD70ACe. We apologize for the long delay as we worked through the chassis changes to accommodate DCC & sound as well as the tooling tests. Through these processes, we've learned several key molds are missing and cannot be located. Unfortunately, the cost to redesign and tool these parts again is about 1/3 of what creating all-new locomotives would cost. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue the development and production of the Fox Valley Models N Scale ES44 and SD70ACe.Since a definitive ES44 and SD70ACe do not exist in N Scale, we have started the process to create all-new tooling for both locomotives in our Rivet Counter line with all of the railroad, road number, and era specific details you've come to expect. New ES44 and SD70ACe features will include front AND rear ditch lights that flash where appropriate, separately controlled LED lighted number boards, and more. The ES44 and SD70ACe are being tooled in hardened steel instead of aluminum. Hardened steel will last for decades to come and the crispness of the details will not deteriorate with prolonged use like aluminum does.
If they do it. I'm not holding my breathe, ST has more or less abandoned N scale development, from what I see. Keep re-running what they've got, but very little new. They've become Kato... Even Rapido "we're not going to do any more N because it doesn't sell" is doing way more in N scale that ScaleTrains these days.
Geez, and here I'm thinking ST is out there killing it with releases. We just got tunnel motors and now they're coming out with GP30's.
Sure, but beyond that release, they have nothing new in N scale coming. A glance at their ETA page confirms that they have nothing for N scale beyond a proposed summer 25 ETA. Where as HO is already out to late 2025. I’m not saying they’re not doing N scale, but they’re just not doing new stuff at the rate they used to
Scaletrains has more or less made it clear they have no intention to run the FVM stuff. They had announced SD70ACe’s, but then cancelled it. They had some BS reason, my feeling on it was that they couldn’t produce the FVM mechanism nearly as cheap as their own design, and decided they didn’t have the profit margin to make it work. Which is a shame, because the FVM mechanism is still miles better than the ST offerings.
Stepping back to the topic of this thread — Atlas announced the ex-Walthers GP60 in 2020, and are now about to finally ship a model five years later that still has no ditch lights, no headlight variations, and incorrect trucks. I don't think Scale Trains are the ones who need to work on their announcement and delivery pipeline here.
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Topic: New Atlas Master GP60 (Read 13445 times)
