There was some chatter about new product announcements, the end of last week and over the weekend: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine...-from-Minneapolis-(or-Milwaukee-or-somewhere)
You mean this? http://www.micro-trains.com/cs-N_14xx_SW1500.php. Unfortunately for those wishing for working lights at both ends I believe the statement working headlight as in singular says it all. However the awaited Civil War extra cars are finally on the way, well maybe.
I've been waiting for an Atlas Amtrak Dash 8-32BWH, the intermountain F3's in NP in sept., those atlas cabeese whenever they get released, and an atlas hurricane sandy hopper that I ordered months ago and have yet to see. the atlas track shortage is why I cut the 4' x 6' layout and went with an L shaped one, now to find something else to wait for.
I'm more worried about the wait for ones with flexicoil trucks. MT would make a mint if the side frames can be ordered separately and are compatible with the Life Like SW-9.
And I'd be in that line as well if I can get an S2 in WP orange and a SW1500 in Perlman Green. I can always paint my own if need be. Both were easy schemes.
I have been in communication with a Micro-Trains rep on Facebook, and I have discovered that there will be issues......
I don't know if the question has been asked but they're not using the Life Like mechanism are they? In the year 2014 only a front head light, no mention of DCC capabilty, sounds suspiciously like they might be.
No can do with the LL SW mechanism...it's too wide for the SW1500 (the prototype SW1200 has a wider hood than the SW1500). Like Daniel Leavitt did with his, I tried to come up with a way to use the LL drive in my bashed SW1500 below but it just could not be done without somehow fabricating a whole new frame. Instead, I had to use the Con-Cor (post can motor) switcher drive. Yep, found yet another shameless opportunity to post a picture of this model, which will remain unique for only a little longer.
Between the SW1500, the U25C and the new Atlas PS3 hopper cars, there's a lot of purchasing in my future. Hoping MTL gets to those Flexicoil trucks sooner rather than later, wonder which of these items will hit the stores first?
It would be a very odd choice if they did. Has MT ever done a custom locomotive shell for an existing mech? Not saying it's a totally implausible scenario, but it does seem a bit unlikely (based on previous history). Then again.... Cheers, -Mark