Twenty-first Annual N Scale Vehicle of the Year Awards

[cfritschle]

The early/absentee voting for the Twenty-first Annual N Scale Vehicle of the Year Awards is now open.  A sample ballot is shown below.
 


You can vote online at the N Scale Enthusiast's website: https://www.nscaleenthusiast.com/

[James Costello]

I'd like to vote for that new Athearn trailer but I can't bring myself to do it when they've duplicated a prototype we already had in N.....

A 45' Stoughton would have been great.

[cfritschle]

I'd like to vote for that new Athearn trailer but I can't bring myself to do it when they've duplicated a prototype we already had in N.....

A 45' Stoughton would have been great.

James,

The Athearn 45-ft trailer appears to be based on a 96-inch wide Z-Van, while the Micro-Trains 45-ft trailer appears to be based on a 102-inch wide Z-Van. 

However, the "road numbers" for the Athearn 45-ft trailers include both 96-inch prototypes and 102-inch prototypes. 

[Rivet Miscounter]

Wow, I had no idea the Athearn 45's had been delivered.  I had some pre-ordered--but after the official deadline had passed--so I guess I missed out.

EDIT: Turns out the dealer had not received this shipment yet from Athearn.  I contacted them and just got confirmation.   Since I haven't been following N quite as close I assumed they'd come and gone.  Especially since I found a video from Athearn two months ago that stated they were already in stores.   Weird times, I guess.

[James Costello]

James,

The Athearn 45-ft trailer appears to be based on a 96-inch wide Z-Van, while the Micro-Trains 45-ft trailer appears to be based on a 102-inch wide Z-Van. 

However, the "road numbers" for the Athearn 45-ft trailers include both 96-inch prototypes and 102-inch prototypes. 

I hear you Carter but that Fruehauf nose bulkhead is SO distinctive. I can live with stand-in paint schemes on a proto that's 6-inches too wide or narrow.

I'd rather have a new, visibly different 45' trailer style (with both new proto and stand-in paint schemes) than a duplicate that "slightly' improves proto fidelity. I don't think N scale is at that point yet, particularly with vehicles or intermodal loads, where we need the overlap.

But stand-in paint schemes on the wrong proto trailer are foobies used to justify bad investment decisions. The scale would have been better served with a different 45' trailer prototype rather than the one that we have had for 30 years, that has arguably the most distinctive features (that nose bulkhead).

[cfritschle]

James,

I hear you too, and I probably should not even bring this up, but the previous "new tooling" trailer Athearn released in N scale was the UPS 40-ft drop frame parcel van, in which we already had one from Trainworx. 

Here are some comparison photos I took years ago (but I don't think I ever posted) of the Athearn trailer on the left and the Trainworx trailer on the right.

[pmpexpress]

James,

I hear you too, and I probably should not even bring this up, but the previous "new tooling" trailer Athearn released in N scale was the UPS 40-ft drop frame parcel van, in which we already had one from Trainworx. 

Here are some comparison photos I took years ago (but I don't think I ever posted) of the Athearn trailer on the left and the Trainworx trailer on the right.

Although (i.e., in my humble opinion) the Trainworx forty foot drop frame parcel trailers were better products, I added some Athearn models to my collection because the UPS large logo livery was only produced by them.