I saw that. Surprising that there was no formal announcement. I'm wondering about any variations he might offer.
I have one #1002, and another on the way. It has a superficial resemblance to a Forney, but is really an 0-4-0 with small four wheel tender. It is designed to go around 9" curves; my curves are 15" min, so I was able to shorten the drawbar quite a bit, and on tangent track it does indeed look like a Forney ... I call it a "flexible Forney". :funny: I was about to start working on converting one to a genuine rigid frame Forney with a Kato caboose truck wired to the motor ... but I might just run 'em as they are and wait for the illustrated pilot model to hit the street. It appears from the picture that it will have the same vertical motor with flywheel as the 1000 series ... and if it does, it will probably run like a jewel; mine does, even with only the four drivers picking up track current. Resp'y, Bob S.
Bob S- Wow. You must have acquired one immediately! Do you have any photos, or even video of it in action?
These guys now do a powered MT truck for their track cleaners. I believe they make the trucks available individually as well. MNP Inc. http://www.mnpinc.com/ Andy Tetsu Uma
Walthers still doesn't even list it, although they have some stuff listed for advance reservations. Caboose Hobbies lists them as "Special Order" The MiniTrains 1000 series seem to be quite common in the UK; I found two places that will ship to the US, but between the exchange rate and shipping, I thought it was cost-prohibitive. I found mine on "that auction site" a few months ago. The same seller has several currently listed: I don't know if it is Kosher to list a link or not: but you can just search on MiniTrains and find them easily. In fact if you do a Google search for MiniTrains, you find the auction links, and the UK shops that have them in stock. I don't have anything "photo-ready" at the current time; the "Flexible Forny" is currently disassmbled for the upgrade that I mentioned above; the second one should be here by Wednesday. I have one 2-6-0 based on the Model Power N scale that is up and running very well, but not yet photo-ready. I have been running stuff on what was my former N scale standard gauge test loop that has 12" radius curves. I quickly discovered that 40' HOn30 coaches will just flop over on their sides ... the 28' MiniTrains coaches do just fine, but they are designed for the MiniTrains set track with 9" curves, so no surprise there. I set up a temporary loop with Kato Unitrack and 15" curves, and all was well with mixed 40', 30' and 28' cars ... which is how I decided that 15" would be my minimum radius. But I might have to re-think that one if I start running rigid frame forneys. Eagerly awaiting the one shown in the link at the top of this thread ... Stay tuned .... Resp'y, Bob S.
Searching that auction site I find some of the little diesels, and several of the F&C steamers. But nothing Forney.
