Man oh man... you're not wrong but it's even worse than you think. The Intermountain F3 and F7's in Butterknife don't match the butterknife cars, nor do the butterknife cars match the butterknife observation! THEN, The Loewy FP7 and matching F7B are one set of colors. The F7 and F7B, F3 F3B sets released a couple years back in maddeningly limited quantity are YET another set of colors... NONE of which match the passenger cars' shades, and the Observation? Guess what. STILL ANOTHER SHADE!@??!#@@##$% For lovely cars and killer locos, they sure do "poo the bed" too often on colors. I pity anyone with UP stuff as well LOL
So when you did the paint job did you start with undecorated cars, strip the pain off some prepainted ones or just paint over an old design? If you stripped them what do you use?
I rarely pass-up on a Kato passenger consist set. I can't imagine at this time which way Kato will go since there are so many possibilities which would make sense. My preference is the NCL... only because it seems to be the nicest looking set yet to be created by Kato. I would like to see the Rock Island Rockets with the TA units... it was mentioned a couple of years ago and would fit a move to smaller consists. The creation of the E5A and the Silver Streak almost foretells the continuation of Burlington streamliners and still wonder why they didn't do the E5B from the beginning. The poll which indicates a desire for a Dreyfuss Hudson (4-6-4) throws the possibility of a NYC Twentieth Century Limited. There hasn't been a Hudson class locomotive produced since ConCor did some in the 1980's... with limited mechanical success. I hope we will hear something by the NTS in June/July 2018.
I hope you're right about he Burlington trains. Absent a good prototype to pull, I can somewhat understand their delay in the E5B. While there are photos of E5's in CZ trains, I've never seen one with an AB unit. This is in contrast to the Twin Cities Zephyrs, where photos of the 1947 consist being pulled by E5 AB units are easy to find well into the 1950s (I even mentioned earlier that one of the Morning Sun books has a rare photo of an E5 ABA consist pulling that very train). The Silver Streak Zephyr was a really nice release. Cheap, prototypical and a complete train for a small investment and small space requirement. In reality, the train was only pulled by a single E5 for a short time (replaced with older shovel nose units). I'm really hoping that the Twin Cities Zephyr will be a near term release. It is a nice medium size consist (E5 A/B power with a seven car base consist - complete with five dome cars). The fact that Kato sold so many California Zephyrs suggests that this train would likely sell very well. We'll see!
My question is off topic, but it seems like a good place to ask it. Can someone tell me tell me the approximate length of Kato's N Scale F40PH and a Kato Amfleet car (of the type seen below)? I might have space on my new railroad for a hidden stub-end track to hold an F40PH and three Amfleet cars to somewhat replicate the Pennsylvanian of the 1980s, but I'm uncertain of their length. Thank you. I'm old enough to remember when Amtrak was born and in all those years, I've never operated anything Amtrak on my railroad. Maybe with a new pike might come a new train ..... if I can find a place to stash it.
Thanks Point -- just what I need. Ends up that the locomotive and three cars will fit with 1-1/2" to spare. Cool.
Wow - exactly what everyone has been requesting. Do we need to apply negative psychology to Kato? Should we be telling them not to make an NP North Coast Limited, or a NYC 20th Century Ltd., etc?
COLA? I already have on of those. I guess I will keep working on my GHQ Morning Hiawatha. At least it has KATO trucks. Seven of the ten cars more or less built up. Still need roof details on three of them and paint and decals on all of them. Waiting on Jim at Richmond Controls for a mars light for the Beaver Tail observation car.
You're going to see an Armour Yellow Hiawatha and I'd bet another new short consist train like the Silver Streak before we get another new full length name train. Jason
Rereleases are a good sign. It means that Kato still sees a strong market, which should encourage development of more new sets. I wasn't sure the COLA sold that great, so was a bit concerned about Kato continuing to develop new releases. The CZs obviously sold great (five releases, and three reissues so far). Daylights, Super Chiefs and El Capitans all had multiple releases. With the reissue of the COLA, I think that just leaves the Broadway Limited (and the current Hiawatha) as the only one with a single release.
I did receive the Kato email. IIRC, one of the concerns with the original COLA release was that the eleven car consist was far to short. Fortunately, Kato is issuing new car names/numbers, so no duplicates. Question for the UP fans: if I buy the new release and just add some coaches and sleepers from one set to the other, will I then have a more correct consist? The new E units also should be very nice. I like that new nose herald. The Silver Streak Zephyr was a single locomotive and five cars. Would two locomotives and seven cars still be considered "short?"
I'd expect the Rock Island TA with an original consist of 3-4 cars. Hopefully not the Texas Rocket, but something more universal. Jason