American Z Line bi-level autoracks are here! AZL is excited to announce the release of these stand out cars. The release is Southern Pacific. The cars are highly detailed and feature etched stainless steel sides, intricate pad printing, truck mounted couplers with 17.5mm arm, blackened metal wheels features a new prototypical wheel profile, and AZL's AutoLatchSM couplers. Cars will negotiate 195mm curves, but 220mm and above is recommended. The sets are available in a runner pack of four cars and as singles. The sets and roadnumbers are: 91201-1 - TTGX 962210 90201-1 - TTGX 160187, TTGX 255701, TTGX 603595, TTGX 963265 This is a very limited addition run. Form more information see www.AmericanZLine.com (Please note that the picture posted in the previous message is a pre-production model. The production models is as shown above in this message)
Hi Folks, We really messed up on the Autoracks. We had no idea that they would be this popular, and should have produced more of them. In fact, we sold out of the Southern Pacific singles and sets in under a week. If you are interested in the Southern Pacific Autoracks, I encourage you to talk to your dealer to see if you can still get them because they are going very fast. The production quantities for the other road names (UP, BNSF, ATSF, CSX) are the same or less than the SP, so you might want to pre-order these as well. UP will be released in October with other road names to follow. Next time we will make more Autoracks, but it could be a year or more before we re-stock. In addition, the next run is currently scheduled to be other road names and liveries, so it could be even longer before these particular ones come again. There are too many other new projects in the pipeline and we only have so many production days at the factory to allocate across the entire AZL product line. Best, -Rob(A) AZL
Rob, Is there any schedule for PRR or Conrail on the schedule? Different subject, what is the status of the SBB commuter train? Robert Zo Cal
Here are the AZL Autoracks compared to an AZL High Cube: And to well cars (MTL on left, FR on right): A view on the 14, 15, 16 and 17" radius. 9 cars make a semi-circle on the 14" and 11 are needed on the 17" radius. Coupling between cars. Just under 5 feet when pulled, 4 feet when pushed. .
Got my AZL Autoracks ! They look great and roll really well !! Here is a shot of their new home on the 3x6 end module at the future unloading site. There is room for 25 here but I will have about 8 or 10 on the triple tracks with the others running on a train. (note the bags and box of hundreds of 'We Honest' cars: Here is a side view that shows more of the track length: And an end shot showing how tall and SCALE 9 foot 4 inches wide on 1" centered tracks ! Here is an side view of the great etching detail !!! (this looks really fabulous with your actual eyes ! ) More . . .
Jeff, What is the building in the photo? Looks modular. Where did you get it from? Details?? John Bartolotto
I was scratching my head on that one for a while too until I finally figured it out. Sure fools the eye.
John, the mock up is N scale Walthers Cornerstone Modulars. Trying to figure out trailer loading docks, general loading, offices, windows, etc. The back corner will be a concrete platform where autos will unload then turn 90 degrees into the building. They will then exit the opposite end or maybe the same end. .
AutoRack development I must say, that we had our share of hurdles developing the AutoRack. The main obstacle is the fact that the car is 89' foot long and the trucks are far from the ends. That is not a good starting point in a world that uses 195mm and 220mm curves. We started out by placing the trucks closer to the ends, like ConCor did with their N scale AutoRack. That just did not look good and we moved the trucks where they should be. Then our factory developed a body mounted coupler that could move according to the curves. In principle a good design which worked fine with our pre production mules. The first production samples had this design, but it had been slightly altered and caused massive derailings. We quickly decided to modify the body slightly and use trucks with a 17mm coupler arms instead. Another benefit from this change is that the cars now couple closer. The first SP batch will be followed by 5 other roadnames. In the future we will add several other roadnames and paint combinations as well. My last spin on this goes back to Z scale operations. This is truly the scale where most can afford (due to the small scale) to build prototypical curves and I hope that more and more layouts will seriously consider this. Hope someone starts a blog on this very interesting subject! Yours Sincerely,
Jeff, I thought it did look like a N scale Walthers Cornerstone Modular. Interesting. Let us know with more photos how this N scale building works for Z. Thanks! John
I won't use the Walthers stuff at all, as it is N scale. It's just being used as a placeholder and concept. It will be replaced by a fairly mundane warehouse building with a loading docks. Kinda like this: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/533-161001 but more of this construction: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/541-8017 (only a lot larger ! ). .
Hi Hans, congratulations for the awesome work! I was far from ever thinking about Z scale autoracks only a few years ago! Too bad I missed this first batch, but I'm looking forward for the next roads. A question about coupler arms: are these hinged, in order to allow smooth operations on cross-over for example? Dom
Hi, The coupler arms are like all other coupler arms that we previously have brought to the market, only longer. Best,
Simulated bi-level ramps. Hobo Tim posted some ramps he's making for me on ZCentralStation. I simulated a 50' ramp x 7' wide (about the inside width of the Autoracks). "We Honest" cars look like they'll fit !!! Need to fill in the area with a concrete surface lower level height. On the other end of the area, I'll concrete or pave it and set a ramp or two there. .
OK, some time to work for a few minutes. Actually, Hobo Tim posted pix of loader ramps so I had to show them where to use them I cut the ends to remount the doors in the open position. Easy enough but the plastic is thick so use a #11 blade (thinner than #24). The lower corners are thicker so a little deeper here. Note the lower corners are thicker so cut a little deeper but use a thin blade so you don't split the plastic (distort). To get the bottom of te door free, you can either cut the lower end of door or the entire door by cutting on the bottom. The plastic is thick AND AN ARC so cut accordingly. Deeper in the corners. Not to worry, this will be covered by the ramp and/or a car !!! More . . . .
