Great photos Russell! I do know about the 400's and the City Trains. As somebody else mentioned, I didn't include the City Trains as they were primarily UP trains that just needed some way to get from Omaha the rest of the way to Chicago. We do have the City of Los Angeles release, albeit in a truncated consist. I just don't see a Twin Cities 400 or City of Miami generating the same level of interest as the Super Chief, El Capitan, California Zephyr, etc. Apparently Kato sees the market the same way, but still saw fit to give some reasonable options to those interested. I was on the fence on both, wanting to buy them but allowing them to pass by so as not to further inflate my inventory/investment in trains.
This is great... as I see some more black widows in my future. (I will be adding sound to these) Wolf
Wolf, looks like I'll FINALLY be able to paint MY Black Widows AND use those beautiful Sunrise plows! Thanks again! Bruce
I really applaud Kato for this, but just a tad disappointed. Unless I'm not seeing it, I don't see single headlight A units offered in undec. Bob
One can only hope that they're holding out the single headlight A unit shells so they can make some of these: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nyc/nyc1789alr.jpg ...and a few more of these: http://www.godfatherrails.com/photos/pv.asp?pid=262
Centralia Car Shops already offers the coaches for the Twin Cities 400, Des Plaines Hobbies offers some of the other cars (but not the observation) as kits. Off the top of my head, I don't know if NP used any of their ex-CNW coaches on the North Coast Limited.
Intermountain/Centralia Car Shops has put a major dent into some potential Kato 'named train' releases by offering several pieces of passenger rolling stock which appear to be exact or pretty close to the prototype cars used on several named trains. I have a somewhat close consist for the Illinois Central's Panama Limited using IM/CCS and Walthers cars. I did get the Illinois Central ABA set of E8's from Kato... but not the IC passenger cars. I have many Northern Pacific passenger cars from IM/CCS, Wheels of Time, Rapido and Walthers... BUT... all of these makers are lacking the absolutely necessary Domed Coach & Domed Sleeper. The ConCor Budd cars can be repainted and 'act' as a stand-in for the Domed Sleeper... but the corrugated versus slabbed siding would be an easily noted 'foobie alert'.
Yes... I know... but if I read the information on them correctly... the ConCor cars are too long. The sides were made as a direct replacement for the Rowa passenger cars which are slightly shorter.
If you scroll down to the bottom, the "CD" overlays are for the Con-Cor Budd dome coach: http://www.brasscarsides.com/ The Rowa dome was based on a P-S prototype, maybe they offered a different set of sides for a P-S dome to fit this model?
3 more for the Twin Cities 400 from Centralia Car Shops Baggage-Tavern-Lunch Counter http://www.intermountain-railway.com/distrib/ccs/html/ccs6600.htm Coach w/Nurse Room http://www.intermountain-railway.com/distrib/ccs/html/ccs6620.htm 22 seat parlor http://www.intermountain-railway.com/distrib/ccs/html/ccs6640.htm
And then there was the Panama Limited. Never understood that one as it stopped in New Orleans before it ever got to Panama.
I don't think Kato will tool up any CNW, MILW, MON, MOPAC, SOU, ACL or SAL ect. cars. I do model SCL - but I don't belive Kato would tool up a, let's say, a Silver Meteor. Kato did always look for new tooling for passenger trains known outside the USA - particularly Japan -thus the Zephyr's, ATSF streamliners, Orient Express, PRR GG1's (the PRR cars were imho made to go with the GG1, not vise versa) and the Daylight. There is one famous (US) train left, known by almost everyone everywhere (even non-railroaders, because of it's styling): the 20Th Century Limited- Dreyfuss Style, of corse.
A Kato rep once hinted that HQ likes passenger trains with distinctive or "signature" cars. The skytop obs and full-length super dome on the post-war Olympian Hiawatha certainly qualify, so I wouldn't bet against them making an MILW trainset. Likewise, it wouldn't be surprising to see them produce a model of this train that shared a platform with the Santa Fe at Dearborn:
