Gordon, the main thing I don't like is the new locos are wayyyy faster than the older Katos. So much so I can't mu them with my older Katos - and the irony is I can mu the Athearn SD70M. (I'm not going to go to DCC just for this, so this is a real objection for moi.) They're also much, much fussier and harder to take apart and put together. I was fortunate in that none of mine suffered the shipment damage others encountered, but the thought that may happen on future purchases makes me leery. My older Katos are pure joy - solid, simple, reliable, smooth, strong - the perfect N scale diesels. I also like the working ditch lights on the bigger locos. So I'm most definitely not anti-Kato - just wanted to get that clear. Maybe I just got spoiled with them But the last batch of 40-2's just kind of took the wind out of those sails, so to speak... Does that answer the question??
I don't know if there were any other vendors at the Bakersfield show that had SP SD70M's (I never got away from my tables), but I did have some...and still do have them - I was also a vendor at the show. As soon as I get my inventory re-sorted they'll be available from me online. Just in case you are shopping for these - $69.95 is my standard price for the Athearn SD70M's.
KATO had to change the manner by which the trucks attactch in order to add ditch lights right? I heard that this was a problem causing issue (the trucks now detatch very easily) ... As for their speed ... I was ghoing to say DCC can fix that problem ... but as you said you're not going to convert just for that. I wonder ifyou can easily put older motor in the new models or vice versa ... that might work ...
Ah so that's you!! I also happened to ask if you had any Atlas MP-15 in UP or SP but apparently you or the other person there told me the last one is gone. I think the other guy by the back wall had some SD70Ms but sold them at $82 or something like that. I also wanted to pick up a Kato Maxi IV but didn't have the time Sunday. Do you also have any Phase IV Kato Superliners? Where's your website?
Athearn F45 and FP45 are allegedly due in August 2007... per AAT I would imagine that there will be some samples at the Amherst Show. Here's a couple of pix of the handmade shells shown on the ATT site: FP45 without D/B: FP45 with D/B: with D/B Various styles of F45:
The original and the new versions both use the same motor. They had to re-gear the trucks to enable them to self release.
Nope, I too would want 844 running around my layout...And I'm even a modern era modeler! I got to see one up close several years ago at Los Angeles Union Station's 50th anniversary back in '89. They had this on the tracks; the whistle sounded like a steamship! Wow...
No Hemi you are not the only one who wants an FEF3. Even though I have riden in the Challenger I have a little more personal attachment the the 800. Good Lord willing I will have an 844 if Athearn decides to make one.
First of all, Wig Wag, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND???? That said, there is not a decent DD40 out there, and I refuse to shell out 600 for one from overland. I will be all over these if Athearn does them, and I don't even model that era, but I will find a place for them, somewhere, somehow....someday. As for the FEF-3, sign me up for one of them as well as a challneger, all of them will pull my full length N scale OMI business train just fine. As for diesels...another SD70MAC?? Why?? Get a jump on Kato for once, do the 70ace. Better yet, do a GEVO. And for Gods sake, someone do the California cars...please????
Thanks for the shell pictures. made me glad i bought my f45's from SAR. The detail is ten times better. Wire stirrups, windshield wipers, see thru grills, 3 part fans etc. And it isn't a athearn drive, we have one guy in the club with sd75's and they don't work as well as the KAto's at all. Pulling power, start speeds, etc are off.
FEF-3 is pretty much a UP 'signatiure' engine... right??? Even though it is basically a "Northern" class engine and several railroads had 4-8-4 configurations... it will probably not be offered in other NON UP versions more than likely... that's a guess btw . NOW... if they have other railroad 4-8-4 class engines along with the FEF-3... then I might be interested. The only UP type engine I'd get is the 4-8-8-4 Big-Boy since it is strictly a UP engine... and I might wince in pain if it actually is made any time soon. I still hold a grudge against UP for assimilating DRGW/SP/WP roads.
I know the 844 has your handiwork all over it! I dunno about a signature engine, but the 800's were renowned engines. They rode well, could attain great speed with varnish trains, and steamed very well. The 80" drivers made them ideal for the fast freight and passenger service they were in.
Back then, passenger engines had steam generators, not electrical HEP. And no, they're not the same. The FP45 is longer to fit the steam generator. F45s: http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=170741 FP45: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=162702 EDIT: Oh, this has already been answered.
A lot certainly did have electric HEP back then. The Twin Zephyrs had electric HEP from 1936. UP had electric HEP on its early streamliners, but reverted to axle-driven generators during WW2. The de facto national HEP standard voltage and jumper cables was first used on CNW's bilevel commuter cars in the 1950s. Milwaukee Road had E9As factory fitted with Cummins VT1710 HEP units in 1961. PRR's Keystone Tubular, New Haven Talgo, Pullman Standard Train X, Rock Island Talgo Jet Rocket, GM Aerotrain. I could go on. Cheers David
With the exception of the PRR Keystone, which had its own power car, all the other trains you mention required special motive power not capable of powering other passenger trains. There were possibly 100 cars with HEP at the time of Amtrak's inception, as opposed to over 4000 with steam heat, batteries, and generators. :cat:
