Whats up with N Steam?

I must have misunderstood something when Precision Craft Models made their original debut. I thought they were going to be the saviors for N Scale Steamheads in the manner that Broadway was for HO. PCM did just announced 2 more steamers: Y6b and Cab forward...but in HO! Intermountain also just announced a CabForward in HO. The lack of N scale steamers (1 or 2 per year, with long delays and questionable out of box performance) is enough to make one buy brass and/or old Rivarossi steamers.

Dave "Thinking of starting his own company"

 

SuperSteam: What is wrong with buying old Rivarossi Steam?

Kidding aside, when I look at the Broadway ads for HO I get somewhat envious.

Now, the HO market is clearly larger than N, but my uneducated guess is that even considering the smaller market size N gets proportionally less steamers.

My sinking feeling is that we need to live with some underlying facts:
1. It becomes (exponentially?) more difficult to build a reliable steamer meeting everybody's expectation when the scale gets smaller.

2. N-Scale is noted (and loved) for enabling longer tracks, larger layouts and a well-established show format (N-Track). All of that means longer trains and in turn lead to a preference for multiple (diesel?) units.

3. The recent disappointments with some steam releases (take your pick, any will do) have been costly (reputation, loss in sales, sending stuff back to China) to the manufacturer. So it appears that the risk offering a steam engine is inherently larger than oddering a diesel.

4. All diesels looks the same (well, all Diesel of the same type like F3 or PA1 etc), so doing the expensive bit (developing the molds) only once will enable the manufacturer to build cheap (paint and print) copies for multiple roadnames. Steam is more road-specific and we consumers are knowlegable enough to understand that and demand road specific steam. This coupled with the smaller overall market for N makes it a much higher risk for the manufacturer.


I am very much in favour of steam (in fact I love it), but looking at the differences between HO and N it might be a wile before we can enjoy the same number of releases.

Now, how about manufacturing a nice NP Z3 2882 in N? Anybody?

Cheers
Dirk

 

I knew it would

There were rumors that GHQ would make a conversion kit based on the Life-Like 2882, but they confirmed that it was just a rumor..

So I am currently (slowly) rebuilding my fleet to resemble the Z3s.

Cheers
Dirk

 

Dirk,
Good to hear from you.

Nothing is wrong with Rivi steam! I just meant thats all I am going to buy for awhile! I am up to 4 2-8-8-2s, 2 Challengers, and 2 BigBoys.

I agree with your market analysis but something still troubles me. You know, as well as I, that Minitrix and Fleischmann can make good N scale steamers. I even have a couple (lots!) but then i dont care about modeling a specific road (or country!). So it would seem that something else lies at the bottom of the N Steam problem.

As for the Z3, the quote i added at the bottom of my 1st message is semi serious. I think a group of us ought to think about making our own steam!

Dave

 

While it first appeared that Precision Craft Models would be the N scale sister of Broadway Limited Imports, the real differentiation is that PCM uses the LokSound system where BLI uses QSI.

I'm guessing that when BLI was formed that they made a contractual arrangement with QSI that later prevented them from using LokSound... so a new entity was needed.

Though I eagerly look forward to their E7 and M1a/b releases (and unofficially announced E8), I join those who feel a bit betrayed... especially with the delays now being voiced. Yes, I want them to be right, but they obviously are putting the emphasis on HO scale.

 

Also will be interesting to see how PCM's new announcement -- the SP AC-12 pans out -- as InterMountain is also doing the AC-12 and has already been showing their prototypes at shows.

 

It's not as easy as it looks to make a good working N Scale steamer. You don't only have a rather hard problem with the electrical contacts, but you have the problem with a large unspring driver spans. If the drivers are not PERFECTLY flat, you have an engine that can't pull itself. Add to that very tiny rods that have to be held in place without the use of any lubrication, and so they can wear out, but still must be rugged enough to resist the odd finger or two.

I really like the idea of the motor in the tender with a drive train to the engine. Unfortunately, Roundhouse chose an engine that is too small and the tender is oversized as a result. I'd love to see a cab forward made the same way, allowing a light and lacy look to the engine.

The cab forward is of course the Holy Grail of N Steam, and a plastic model would sell thousands of copies, just like the tunnel motor was the great untapped diesel engine.

 

Patience is a virtue.
We are reviewing the first drawings on the PCM M1a 4-8-2. The design specification parameters take into account all desired features and all the faults of of existing steam locomotives.
The drawings are looking very good and I am confident that this first PCM N Scale steam engine, when released, will just be the first of many.
Start saving your money....2006 is going to be a rough year on the pocketbook!!!!
Charlie Vlk
Railroad Model Resources/
Precision Craft Models

 

reliable n scale steam is doable but they arent cheap look at the german n scale steam they run like clocksand pull hard also kato steam is good they have a japanese hudson that pulls the crap out of anything else i used to have sold that little guy earlier in the yr. but it pulled 30 40 ft an 500ftt cars mixed and 12 heaveyweight passengercars with out a hesitation. kato has the mechanisims if they would do some us chassies for them we would be screaming for more.

 

Jerry,are you talking an N scale AC12 here?
Pppleaaassseee tell me your talking about an N scale AC.......
Just one wish from me regarding all future steamers,gear all the axels!!!!

 

Jason,

Unfortunately, the PCM and Intermountain AC12s are HO. Even the Z gauge folks get an AC12. But the N folks? Noooooooooooooo.

Dave

 

Charlie:

What happened to PCM initial release of the E-7?

That seems to have disappeared form radar.

When is the PRR M1A's 4-8-2 supposed to be released. Originally it was February.... now???

Stay cool and run steam.....

 

The E7s have been delayed because PCM is pulling their tooling from Ajiin to their own factory. The tooling is state of the art but there were too many delays and production start-up problems; now production and quality will be under PCM's control. I am guessing the E7 will hit early 2nd Q 2006.
PCM is not rushing anything to production; we want to get it right the first time. We are still reviewing the drawings on the M1a...I haven't heard an ETA on the release yet but I'm guessing mid-2006.
I think once you guys see the quality built into the product everyone will be surprised at the sales and the N Scale program will take off like a rocket....
PCM will be making their announcements for 2006 and there are a bunch of exciting items that will follow the previously announed E7, PRR Mia Mountain and N&W H2a Hopper Cars.
It is going to be an exciting year for N Scale!!!
Charlie Vlk
Railroad Model Resources/
Precision Craft Models

 

Charlie:

You said that about 2003, 2004, & 2005.

 

Charlie:

I believe you said the same thing in early 2005. What happened to the pre-production models of the E-7 that were shown at shows this past summer. Were those models scrapped along with the original sound system?

Why did you change the original sound system that was planned in the E-7?

I had E-7's on pre-order, but I withdrew the order based on all the delays in production. Needless to say I'm vacillating whether to even re-order the E-7's when the production does start.

Stay cool and run steam......

 

Yup, Kato, Tomix, Microace all have nice running N steamers. The old Rivarossi stuff runs fine when a good motor is installed as does the Minitrix. Good running steam in N can be done.

 

HO-N Steam??

I believe the answer is rather obvious although I have no clue as to the real numbers involved, nor how many N scalers there are vs. HO people.

Assume it costs approximately the same amount to produce the first 10000 steam engines in HO and N.

If it is a dud, it will take a much longer period of time for the manufacturer to dispose of the remainder of the engines in N scale since there are fewer potential purchasers out there.

 

One of the big things to prevent a dud in N steam seems to be not to release a product until its ready to go and do some simple testing before a model is put into large scale production. Some of the big complaints about recent steam has been pulling power - if the manufacturer would just have traction tires installed at the factory, it would solve a lot of problems and make the model far more saleable. Its somewhat amazing to me that a new loco might be a model of a fairly large prototype but only be able to pull 2 or 3 cars. Did someone not test the locos before they were produced in large quantity? As long as traction tire drivers are manufactured anyway, it will cost no more to assemble a loco with traction tires at the factory as to assemble one without traction tires. And you will be more likely to get repeat customers.