And could be offered as Uncle Pete as well... UP bought the train after it demoed for EMD and used at least some of the cars in the Pacific Left Coast area. Would definitely be an iconic train to offer, and, like pdx1955 says, it demoed all over the place.
My preferences: NCL Twin CIties Zephyr Rocky Mountain Rocket MoPac Eagle Most likely to be made by Kato: UP version of Hiawatha Twin CIties Zephyr
I'd buy a couple NCL's today. My Hiawatha completely cinched in my mind that they NEED to run the NCL. It's a cost thing, though, so they would have to presell a BUNCH. So, Kato, yeah I'll send you a check today for a couple sets just get the ball rolling!! Of course, they could do the 1947 NP scheme (no dome cars yet) and most of the car types are existing Kato styles or similar!
As has been pointed out many times before, existing tooling does not really have much influence on what Kato will produce. If they believe they can sell a train, they will do all new tooling if they have to. Their biggest market is in Japan itself. The trains that sell there in Japan are complete matched trainsets from stem to stern. If they can produce a complete homogeneous trainset that they believe will sell, they will do all new tooling including locomotives to bring it to market. If they only sell 10% to the north American market but sell like gang busters in Japan, they believe they have a winner.
One of the members of Central Ohio N-TRAK pointed out to me that Katousa recently updated their face book page and if you look closely, you see a 20th Century Limited NYC passenger car.
So, will it be the 1938 version with the Dryfuss Hudson or the 1950s era train with the Es and the Creek series observation cars? Although I have ridden in the Sandy Creek when it was in service on the American Orient Express, I would like the Steam version.
Just checked. Unfortunately, it looks like they are just a couple of the old Kato smoothside releases.
While this is true, I believe that existing tooling may influence if/when some trains are made. I'll go back to the 1947 Twin Cities Zephyr. They have up to date tooling for the E5A, the Budd dome coaches and the Budd diner. Also, for the Budd flat top coaches if those were to be included. That would only leave the E5B, baggage/café and dome observation. Kato has probably sold more California Zephyrs than any other train, and I think it is reasonable that many of those buyers might be interested in the Twin Cities Zephyr. I don't know how many CZ buyers were WP fans vs. DRGW fans vs. CBQ fans vs. passenger train fans. Many, myself included, are "all of the above." I think dome cars have a special appeal to many buyers, and here we have a train with five domes in a standard consist. That said, they may just keep re-re-re-releasing the CZ's as long as they sell.
Real dome cars are in great demand also. You can get some of them cheap enough but you'll need to dump a couple million into them. I would like to buy one of the low profile C&O domes for my company.
Oh, yes, if they have existing tooling that will work in a train they are sure to use it. For instance the UP business/excursion train. But look how much new tooling went into the Hiawatha, El Capitan, Super Chief, Broadway Limited and Daylight. When they want to produce a train, lack of existing tooling does not hold them back.
Personally I'd like the GN 1955 Empire Builder, I'd end up buying one just to use some of the cars as BN business cars
Rumors I heard 5+ years ago were that the next train from Kato was going to be either the Olympian Hiawatha or the Empire Builder. Now that Kato has determined how best to construct a model of a super/great dome type car, maybe there is an EB in the queue.
A 1955 Empire Builder would be great! It may wait a while, since the Olympian Hiawatha was just released which covered the same basic geographical area (hopefully that is not a factor, but it could be). I was hoping we would see the EB before the Hiawatha, but couldn't be more pleased with the job Kato did on the Hiawatha. Keep on buying these so Kato will keep going!!
You're kidding, right? There's only one car that I can think of that Kato has already done that can be included in an accurate NCL and that is the Slumbercoach. The original smooth sided observation car could be used as a reasonable stand-in but little else is of much use without a great deal of work. Everything else, aside from possibly some dome - coach windows would have to be new tooling!!! There's a lot that can be done to yield an accurate NCL if a person is willing and able to build a train... plenty of car sides and the like that are available makes building such at least a step closer but doing such in N-scale is best described as being "very difficult" to say the least... our beloved scale's size works against any who would want to "build" cars for one train or another. Some of my own "highly desired" projects seems to far from ever being able to be done simply because it will not be an "easy thing" to do and my age sure does not help in this matter... will be 61 later this month. Lord knows, I want to see my projects getting done but honestly the difficulty with even some of the simplest projects really leaves me facing some real challenges if I am ever to get any of them done. It is simply a part of the challenges a person faces trying to work in our beloved scale. And it isn't going to get much better anytime soon...
I think you're right. They would also likely retool an F3B or F7B shell to provide a flat surface to accommodate the "Northern Pacific" lettering that was along the tops of the B units. That said, I am confident that it would be a big seller. Hopefully the Hiawatha sales are very strong.
They would also likely retool an F3B or F7B shell to provide a flat surface to accommodate the "Northern Pacific" lettering that was along the tops of the B units. Actually, I think they could reasonably do this with an etched metal part which would be far more accurate! I wish they would also/first get their game up with grab irons and rails, though..... Seeing as they tooled almost an entire new train for the Hiawatha, I am sure they'd do it with the car sides as necessary for the NCL... wouldn't that also translate into a few nearly accurate new GN and SP&S cars?
I highly doubt Kato would go the etched metal route. Yes, it could yield superior results, but the extra labor and manufacturing costs likely would far exceed the cost of a slight modification to the B unit shell. A few years ago, I would have agreed with you on the grab irons and rails, although at this point I'm just fine with how they are doing things. The Kato F units are currently the best value out there in N scale locomotives (quality, cost, prototypical appearance). Since we often have to buy these things 3 or 4 at a time, I would leave well enough alone. You do have me now wondering about any prototypical overlaps between NCL and EB cars. I may have to do a bit of research. I have a shelf full of books that likely has all the answers! Other than the B unit mechanism, was any other existing tooling reutilized for the Hiawatha??