Thanks for your thoughts Matt , this comment has nothing to do with my or any other shop. I am waiting on my own favorite locomotives. As for the rest of your comments , facts are facts . Mike
You're right. Facts are facts. The China mess has every backed up. No manufacturer has been immune to it, except Kato and MTL. It is what it is. I won't defend FVM on their lack of updates, but sometimes, when there's nothing to update....well, there's nothing to update. I will say that the pre production painted models (which are now hanging out in the Des Plaines Hobbies display case), are impressive. Like you, I'm waiting for a Warbonnet version. Yummy!
Just received my new CNW -2's. Have to say I'm excited to see them. Kato has been pretty good to us CNW fans. Anyway, first impressions. There have been deserving complaints about the color matching on the WSOR units, but the color-matching of the handrails on the CNW model is very well done, as you can see from the photos. Definitely an improvement from the earlier "falcon service" SD40-2 release which featured black running boards and handrails (in pic for comparison). The ball and bar script, unfortunately, is still "chicago, system", instead of the wider era applicable "employee owned". Not a hard fix, but still have been nice to have. Kato's new low-pro wheels are also on these models, they will run on ME code 40 without hitting the spike heads. Very nice.
The SD40-2 is really getting long in the tooth, but to me they still look like the epitome of modern railroading. The SD40-2 probably saved a lot of railroads in the 70s-early 80s.
I'm not sure why but SD40-2's are my favorite loco design. Don't get me wrong, I love me some modern locos and old steamers, but there's something amazing about the SD40-2. I have 2 (waiting on NS Maersk to make it 3), but I plan on building quite a collection one of these years.
The nose should also have a bell on it. I won't even go into how off the paint is on the WSOR units, colors off, colors missing from spots. I'm glad Kato made the undecs....
UP SD40s were used as pool power in WP trains during the 70s in large numbers according to books that I have. I might renumber it as someone has said that it's a former CNW unit. It'll look nice in a train with my Atlas GP30 and SD24.
However they won't have the right trucks on them...as Conrail ordered all of theirs with Flexicoil trucks instead of HTCs.
Cnw mike, one thing I disliked when I bought the CNW SD40-2 is that the top of the nose is not colored green the the old falcon service
Limited run N SD40-2's in Milwaukee bicentennial paint were just announced at the N Scale Collectors meet... http://www.katousa.com/Zcart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=157&products_id=1340 http://www.katousa.com/Zcart/images/176-4830-KB.jpg
