AZL Releases CHTT, BNSF, UP Coal Porters!

ztrack Nov 29, 2007

  1. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    This is what I'm after, a train of Bethgons pulled with power like this:
    [​IMG]
     
  2. SJ Z-man

    SJ Z-man TrainBoard Member

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    Yeah, and one of those SP A-B-B's is mine. Whoowaa ! Trains for Anaheim !!

    And they look so nice:
    [​IMG]
     
  3. daniel_leavitt2000

    daniel_leavitt2000 TrainBoard Member

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    Joe,
    I was a little taken aback by this statement. MTL is the ONLY N scale manufacturer that is currently using "pizza cutter" non-NMRA wheel sets in their equipment. Even lowly Bachmann has lo pros and knuckle couplers now.

    Come to think of it, MTL is also the ONLY manufacturer of trucks that use only 33" wheels. I have converted many MTL cars to Accumates (with minor modifications) because they use 36" wheels in their 100T trucks. Even the IMRC dumby trucks have lo-pros and 36" wheels. (Boy do I wish they make a coupler for those trucks, they were great!).

    I understand your brand loyalty, but MTL has a history of walking away from scale realism and prototypical accuracy for years. Even the recent N scale tooling has suffered a bit. The ACF 3 bay hopper released over 10 years ago is a work of art. Small handrails, opening hatched. Compare that to the FMC hopper released two years ago and the roof walk is part of the body; no opening hatches and the end railing is thicker. I'm not saying I don't appreciate the new models, I do (well except for grain hoppers... yawn).

    With the new heavyweights due out this year, I hope MTL has found an opportunity to recommit to scale modelers. We need smaller couplers, trucks that actually feature 36" wheels and cars that don't say "happy birthday", "State", "Territory", "Province", "District", "Possession", "Annexation", "Occupation", "Colony" etc. We need lo pros standard (let the collector have the pizza cutters in the non-prototypical cars). We need Micro Trains be about micro trains and not about micro collections.

    Oh and we need Comet II cars as well!


     
  4. bambuko

    bambuko TrainBoard Member

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    Daniel, it would have been preferable for you to start new thread (still quoting Joe's comments and referring to this thread) rather than hijack this one! and distract everybody from AZL and their new excellent cars (regardless of how valid your points are!!). The issues you are talking about are equally applicable to both Z and N, but are unlikely to find much resonance in Z where the prevailing attitude remains "anything is still better than nothing", although it is beginning to change...
    Chris
     
  5. daniel_leavitt2000

    daniel_leavitt2000 TrainBoard Member

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    Chris, wasn't this thread hijacked already... certain people were talking about kitbashing SD60's. This has to do with coal porters how?
     
  6. bambuko

    bambuko TrainBoard Member

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    yeah... however,
    [SIZE=-1] - two wrongs don’t make a right
    - your questions deserve their own thread
    Chris
    [/SIZE]
     
  7. Joe D'Amato

    Joe D'Amato TrainBoard Member

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    Quickly, and then we need to get back to the important and deserved work of fawning over these Coal Porters...Too new for my road, but a good sign of things to come.

    1. We tried LPW...over 80% response was to go back to HPW.
    2. Folks complain about our prices, tried something else to stay competitive even though we don't compete on an even playing field. Actually the New Evans Hopper is out-performing most of our newer cars. Price is an issue.
    3. I'm not a fan of fantasy or non prototype cars, but they sell and in almost every case sell more than our prototype cars in the same catagory by a very, very large percentage. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get the first batch of Daffy Duck Pullman Heavyweight Passenger cars.

    Money talks which is why you are seeing AZL move towards mass produced motive power and freight cars, which is a great thing for us all. In our defense I think we have done a great job at pushing the bar forward with limited resources especially with Z Scale.

    So with that said, I'm looking forward to AZL doing some stuff I can drag around with my Bloody Nose GP's and SD's...hurry up! Robert Ray is beating me in the Car Count Contest :eek:)

    Joe
    MTL


     
  8. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    haha! So far I have 24 Coal Porters Joe! I want even more, and am thinking a 50 car train of them will be fun to run! So I have to think about a flood loader, and a dumper to model, as well as the motive power.
     
  9. Joe D'Amato

    Joe D'Amato TrainBoard Member

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    Sounds like I'm going to have to take over a production run here or something....

    :eek:)

    Joe
     
  10. Don A

    Don A TrainBoard Supporter

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    I thought this item a friend sent to me might be of interest to explain why Bethgons all face the same direction. "THE UNDERSIDE CYLINDERS ARE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MAIN FRAME TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF COAL THAT CAN BE CARRIED. THE CARS ARE LIMITED TO ABOUT 100 TONS. THEY ARE ROTATED TO EMPTY. ONE COUPLER ON EACH CAR HAS THE ABILITY TO ROTATE IN THE DRAFT GEAR. IT IS COUPLED TO A NON-ROTATING COUPLER ON THE NEXT CAR."

    ...don
     
  11. zmaner

    zmaner TrainBoard Member

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    Can't wait!!!

    I bought four UP. I am excited to receive them. I am drooling big time. This is a great addition the Z scale community!!!

    Cheers
     
  12. RobertAllbritton

    RobertAllbritton TrainBoard Member

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    Cool drawings

    Correct - see the manufacture web site for detailed drawings of the prototype....

    http://www.freightcaramerica.com/parts/prt_bethgoniso.htm

    Best,
    -Rob
     

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