So, I figured might as well kick off the next round of speculations, rumors, and so forth. What is the next Kato Passenger train going to be? My suspicions 1. UP City of LA 2. NYC 20th Century Limited 3. CB&Q (insert name) Zephyr Any rumors or speculations? Its about that time of the year to get a thread started so lets let the rumor mill start churning out some fresh baked ideas. Edit: I wanted to state, that I am aware of the Cal Zephyr is coming out, but hey we might as well start thinking about the next one
Out of those three I'd put money on the 20th Century Ltd. The last new train (El Cap) and latest re-run (CZ) were western trains, so I'm betting they will swing back east for the next new train and the 20th Century would be the next most well known train after the Broadway.
I doubt it will be UP, they have done a lot of UP already. Of the named trains: California Zephyr - 4 releases Super Chief - 2 releases El Capitan - 1 release Morning Daylight - 1 release Broadway Limited - 1 release Missing Named trains 20th Century Limited North Coast Limited Empire Builder (true consist) Crescent City of New Orleans So if I was a betting man, I would place my money on a repeat of the Daylight. After all, they had new rounds of PA's and E9's plus the GS-4's so there is an excess of motive power.... plus I doubt there will be any new tooling for a while, so we may continue to see re-releases of the existing passenger trains. They have said in other forums that Kato is not even considering the North Coast Limited. They may re-tool for the proper car consists on the Great Northern Empire Builder, but then again they may not. I am not sure about sales on the Broadway Limited, or that could also be a contender for a repeat. The SRR Crescent is probably lower on the list than the North Coast Limited as may be the Illinois Central City of New Orleans. So for new tooling, I would place my money on the 20th Century Limited at 227-1 odds. After all, they can just as easily run another release of PA and E8 units in NYC............
Well it's going be Western. Form what i recall the Broadway Limited sold worst out of all of them. Also it will have to be a train that was pulled by PA-1's, E8's, or F3/F7(which doesn't leave out to many) My thought being is that steam(or just loco) tooling is costly and no single steam engine will sell as well as the GS-4.
I would love to see the Golden State come out in the original colors. But that means they will have to make E7's & I don't think that will happen. Maybe redo the Lark with the correct consist. Who knows????? But they need to do a deskirted GS-4.
Any shot of an Olympian Hi? Or is that tooling just too expensive of a project? Wouldn't surprise me if they do it just to keep down Fox Valley. From what Kato has said in the past, the lead time is so long on these, the next train has already been decided, and is being tooled now. If they haven't already decided on the one after that, they're close. They could have decided on a 20th Century Ltd 2 years ago, and we could get it. But with the economy the way it is, we may very well see a proper UP train. Most of the cars are already tooled. As for a correct Builder, they would probably have to retool almost every car in that train, so that is almost a complete re-do.
How about the Canadian? Both editions could be used, Via Rail, and Canadian Pacific. They already have the locomotives for both, and the cars some from other railroads are pretty close! I hope that is what's next.
Or what about an eastern train like the Federal Express? You can use de GG-1, de PA (in NH colors, finally!), and a mix of equipment. Well, keep dreaming...
Well I, for one, wouldn't waste my time with a NCL consist- my ConCor cars are close enough to the Kato in detail, I have 9 and I love them but am not "in love" with them. I want to step up in a BIG way! So much so, that earlier today I placed a pre-order for three Centralia coaches. Sleepers will be preordered next month. I'll also likely pick up all the Rapido cars. I'd feel like I was only settling with those Kato cars, they just don't make me drool like the Rapidos What's an extra $9 a car, anyway? (which is about right after buying a light board for the Kato!)
I know I'm thinking too modern here but... PACIFIC SURFLINER! Hey, it's the most popular Amtrak train outside the NEC...
I'd say something different from waht has already been done!!! Surfliner or ViaRail Renaissance !:thumbs_up::thumbs_up:
As much as I want a Surfliner or Amtrak California units, I doubt Kato would build one as they are typically powered by F59PHIs. The only ones out there is Athearn's. It would be nice though. Probably just see re-releases of past sets for now.
Would love to see a VIA train from KATO , they have the FP40ph and the stainless steel cars , but is there enough demand to justify a run of these , I don't know , I would be first in line to get a set like that . After all it might be the last place in the world where you can see a combination like that on a class 1 railroad . If they backdate to the Canadian Pacific time they would need FP units up front and KATO never did them , we could get it from other manufacturers but I don't think KATO want that . They did in the past the E8/9 in Canadian Pacific color but it's not really what "The Canadian" had up front . As for the "Renaissance" car I doubt KATO would ever do it , so our P42 are there sitting pulling nothing ... But since the prototype cars were bought in England I am pretty shure KATO is already doing something very close to these cars for the European market .
The funny thing about Kato saying they won't do the North Coast Limited, is it seems the NP cars that Walthers puts out sells the best of any roads - go figure! I still think Kato is tooling up a Milwaukee Road train, keeping it under wraps until the show this year in Milwaukee.
If they did the Canadian, I would so go broke. If they did the CP version hope it would be the red stripe. But then again Kato would have to produce a pacman FP9.:tb-err:
