Amtrak F40?

I've been poking around on the internet for awhile, but haven't seen any Amtrak F40s available for Z scale. I know that AZL is working on some more modern Amtrak commuter locos and cars, but I always had a fondness for the 1980's versions. (I could always take or leave the ditch lights. )

Anyone know of something I may be missing?

 

For Amtrak, Märklin made on F7A, MTL made an F7A and dummy F7B and a GP9, all out of production. AZL has the E8A and F59 and a P42 for release later this year (hopefully).

 

FR out of Germany offered F40s in a number of different paint schemes. I don't currently see it on their site though.

 

Freudenreich was going to produce another run, due to poor per-orders he just made a handful from left-over parts and that's it. Maybe the release of the Superliner will trigger some demand. As I remember correctly he needs at least 25 fixed orders just to think about another run. And remember FR pricing, because of small series, is more then double of an AZL plastic loco. But you get by far the best drive train of any Z scale loco.

 

Geez. I'd buy 3 alone. I guess I'll play the waiting game.

 

I would send Harsld Freudenreich an email, he might have a waiting list already

 

That's certainly a good idea. It can't hurt, anyway. Thanks!

 

I thought I'd post my response from Harald here so you could all keep abreast of the news:

Michael,

thanks for your interest. The initial release of the F40PH has been in 2004/2005.
I made several re-releases over the years but always small quantity batches

due to the low customer's desire. I have the impression that American customers
rather buy cheeper locos with poor running performance instead of pay a bit more for
first rate quality. The last re-release has been in September 2015 with total 9 units
only. I now plan to sell the complete loco tooling and production rights to another
company with better business contacts to the States. There is one applicant but
there is still no final decission.

Best Regards,

Harald

Interesting, no? Thanks, everyone.

 

I'd buy one for sure too, especially now that AZL has Superliners coming. I grew up with F40PH's and Superliners running around!

 

Me too - in fact the only train I've actually been on that wasn't in a theme park was Amtrak's Empire Builder in the late 80's.

 

Acknowledging Harald's response at Altenbeken last weekend.

 

Now we can speculate who is going to buy the tooling and rights from Harald? Trucks are modified MTL and for sure they wouldn't mind another engines the lineup...and they have bought tooling in the past (Marsilius)

 

Quoting Harald :

"I have the impression that American customers
rather buy cheeper locos with poor running performance instead of pay a bit more for
first rate quality",

I guess that's not the only reason. In my opinion Amtrak F40PH are "too specialized" units. Like Marklin GG1s for example.

I know there are a few shortlines that caught up some spare F40PH to run freight trains (not speaking of those hauling stacks on the Panama Railway) after Amtrak phased them out.

Maybe Harald would improve his sales figures while offering some of these.

Dom

 

Over the years he made many other road names, not only Amtrak and an undec too. The point is there are (currently) too many offerings in the $100-250 range , there is hardly any demand for small series with the price tag attached

 

Chatted with stony smith the other night, he's been asked to make F40ph shells 3-d printed. Seems he may do so soon.

 

I was thinking of doing a metal shell, well, maybe I should do a FP45 instead....

 

RP has its place, but not for everything! When the strength of RP becomes that or greater than plastic injection and is smooth without sanding, then I will agree it is for everything!

Personally I dislike RP because it is brittle and smooth sides are NOT smooth.

I would go with scratch building then RTV molding and finally cast copies in resin for multiples!

Just my belief!

Tim

 

Tim, I don't disagree with you too much on that, but in my mind if it CAN function as a workable model, it's nice to try. I mean, even if it isn't easy, having a Shapeways version is a good option to have if other options are either to expensive or not practical.

I think of it sort of like the old "Progressive JPEG" images that would load as a rough image, then gradually increase their resolution as the file downloaded. We don't want step one, but if we can get to step 6 or 7 of 10 then it's probably gonna be worthwhile to have until an injection or resin version comes along. And, on ocassion they're actually up in the 8 range. That's worth a sand/primer/sand/paint job for sure.

I do agree they are fragile and not for the faint of heart. But I do think after the sanding primer and some paint they are somewhat more durable. Anyway, hopefully some folks can take Stony's efforts and have an F40PH to run for the near future. I will probably buy an NPCU just for the heck of it.