The Most Wanted List

[freescopesdad]

1. Kato Alaska Railroad smooth side passenger car sets. I have been waiting for used sets to show up on Trainz for 6 months or so. I finally have the SD70MAC DCC/sound but no passenger cars yet.
2. Reliable blinking crossing signals with sound that don't cost an arm and a leg and don't require sensors buried between the rails. I've tried the WeHonest product and 1/2 of them stopped working after a few days (wouldn't go on, wouldn't go off, etc. etc.).
3. More pre-built industrial buildings that, again, don't cost a fortune. Some of the Woodland Scenics offerings are nice, with light and all, I just cannot afford them. There are some fine artisans on Etsy that offer some in 3D resin ready-to-paint, but I have not seen anything new there in at least a year.

Enough for now.

[MetroRedLine]

- SD70ACe-T4
- Spine cars that can actually have 53' containers securely placed on them
- Non-Gunderson articulated well car sets

[Jimbo]

- SD70ACe-T4

Glad to see YOU want them… apparently the railroads don’t!!   

[Jbub]

Glad to see YOU want them… apparently the railroads don’t!!   

Why buy a new locomotive with T4 standards when it's cheaper to rebuild a Tier 0 loco as a T4 credit loco?

[JoeD]

A day off with a broken cell phone.   

Joe

[peteski]

A day off with a broken cell phone.   

Joe

There is a power-off button on every phone which can accidentally be deployed. "Oops, I didn't realize the phone shut itself off" would be your excuse later.   

[160Carl]

AT&SF 2-10-4

[lock4244]

Why buy a new locomotive with T4 standards when it's cheaper to rebuild a Tier 0 loco as a T4 credit loco?

This.

[thomasjmdavis]

Why buy a new locomotive with T4 standards when it's cheaper to rebuild a Tier 0 loco as a T4 credit loco?

I've been modeling the 1950s for so long that I had to look up what that means. 

[Jimbo]

Why buy a new locomotive with T4 standards when it's cheaper to rebuild a Tier 0 loco as a T4 credit loco?

Technically, the rebuilds aren’t “credit” for Tier-4; rather, they’re “grandfathered” in to their lesser emissions requirement.

So the rebuilds wouldn’t be able to operate if a region (California?) required locomotives to meet tier-4 to operate there.

The biggest puzzle to me, though, is why no manufacturers seem to have any interest in modeling the rebuilds.  Only ScaleTrains has announced one, and only the NS ones, and only in HO scale.  There are THOUSANDS of them out there on all major railroads!

(OK - I guess I’ve just added the GE/Wabtec rebuilds to the “most wanted list!!)

Jim

[sundowner]

Technically, the rebuilds aren’t “credit” for Tier-4; rather, they’re “grandfathered” in to their lesser emissions requirement.

So the rebuilds wouldn’t be able to operate if a region (California?) required locomotives to meet tier-4 to operate there.

The biggest puzzle to me, though, is why no manufacturers seem to have any interest in modeling the rebuilds.  Only ScaleTrains has announced one, and only the NS ones, and only in HO scale.  There are THOUSANDS of them out there on all major railroads!

(OK - I guess I’ve just added the GE/Wabtec rebuilds to the “most wanted list!!)

Jim

The GE -9, AC44 and ac60 rebuilds are mostly internal so current tooling with ptc antennas work.
When the RR get around to re-building the SD’s it will probably be more complicated since the Two-Strokes might have to go..
I read somewhere that Wabtec is repowering maybe a Sd40-2’s with GEVO engines.

[Jbub]

The GE -9, AC44 and ac60 rebuilds are mostly internal so current tooling with ptc antennas work.
When the RR get around to re-building the SD’s it will probably be more complicated since the Two-Strokes might have to go..
I read somewhere that Wabtec is repowering maybe a Sd40-2’s with GEVO engines.

I think another reason the railroads don't want the tier 4 loco's is due to fuel economy. The tier 4 standard reduces nox emissions substantially but at a cost of around 5-7 percent worse fuel economy. That adds up to a lot of dollars over the years.

[Scottl]

GE claims that T4 GEVOs get ~6% better fuel economy (compared to EMD counterparts).  Not sure if that comparison means they are improved from prior generation GEVOs.  They claim a loco can move 1 ton of freight 500 miles.  That is pretty impressive efficency.

[spookshow]

My big wish is for "somebody" to write a spookshow-style review of their Sakatsu brass Big Boy and send it to me, cuz I've flat out given up ever finding one on eBay 

http://www.spookshow.net/loco/sakbigboy.html

-Mark

[peteski]

My big wish is for "somebody" to write a spookshow-style review of their Sakatsu brass Big Boy and send it to me, cuz I've flat out given up ever finding one on eBay 

http://www.spookshow.net/loco/sakbigboy.html

-Mark

I see what you did there.     Maybe now that I'm unemployed (hopefully not for long). . .