Here is the info on some rare and not quite as rare beasts. The Arnold car were the first American commuter cars produced. They were produced in the 70's. They produced both coach and cab cars. Some of the cab cars had functioning headlights and rear markers. This was done with diodes and light bulbs with power from the trucks.....................Continues next post
Continued from previous post Unlike the ConCor cars the base is held to the one piece body with the screws that hold the trucks on. As far as I know they only came painted for the Chicago and North Western and the Southern Pacific. Some of the last C&NW cars produced did not have the doors painted silver. The quickest spotting feature is the the ConCors fave vent fans on the roofs, Arnold cars do not...........................................................NGI in next post
The Arnold cars can be found quite often on the auction sites. The rarest of the out of production gallery cars are the ones from N Guage International (NGI). These kits contain etched brass sides and ends, a ConCor plastic roof, plastic or wooden floor, metal under floor details, clear plastic sheet for lower level windows, decals and etched metal vent grills. The odd thing about several of the kits I have bought is that they have a upper and lower end door. I am fortunate that I have found an equal number of El Capitan Hi-Level car kits and have exchanged ends between kits. The kits do not include doors or diaphrams..............................Continued in next post
Continued from previous post NGI only made coaches. They came in unpainted, C&NW and Southern Pacific smooth side versions. The roof, sides and ends are pre-painted on the C&NW and SP versions. The painting on the C&NW versions are well done. The kits are simple but can use a lot more detail added. I am not sure but I think these were produced in between the production of the Arnold and ConCor versions. The car in the pictures below we assembled by the previous owner who added the diaphrams. Quality of the assemble cars will vary with the skills of the previous owner. You may have to rebuild.
As you can see the Arnold cars were very nice and their detail was only eclipsed by today's Look Models version. The Athearn is very well detailed but is a different car all together. Many agencys across the U.S. have started out with the older Metra/R.T.A. equipment. With a partial or full repaint you could have your local commuter line. That is enough talk about the cars that could be pulled by the MPXpress locomotive. Remember to contact True Line Trains to request An N scale version of the MPXpress. Here is there contact information: True Line Trains 445 Edgeley Blvd Unit #1 L4K 4G1 Canada info@hobbycraft.com 905-738-6556 http://www.truelinetrains.ca
Manufacturers, realize that the MP36X has been the ONLY N. American diesel passenger loco being built for some years now. And orders continue for more. Modelers keep in mind the overall engine population is fairly small, but as more engines are used, the likelihood they will be made in N increases. Manufacturers, since they are primarily commute service engines, realize that with MARC, METRA, Metrolink and even CalTrain, you have quite a large potential market, even in N. But what kind of cars are they pulling? If it's Bombardiers, then the ball is in Athearn's court, so they can dust off the Bombardier car tooling and make another run alongside an MP36X release.
Oh boy oh boy, keep it up!! Hi Richard, Thanks for the encouragement and survey results. I just responded to a gentleman about this exact topic before your e-mail arrived. A little pressure in the right direction always help….. please keep it up;-). We are seriously considering do an MP36/40 in ‘n’ scale, and do look toward encouragement for a potential product. Lets hope. Cheers, Mark mark@hobbycraft.com
If I read your post right, I saw a little bit of movement. I think we need to keep pushing. Please ask you friends in N scale to help with our cause. We just need to keep pushing. If there are enough requests they will proceed to the next step and look at it from the engineering department. We need to send more email to True Line Trains requesting a MPXpress for N scale.
Here is the response I just got: True Lines trains is listening, so please contact them to get this locomotive built in N scale. Maybe we can do better than the HOers.
