I think it is safe to say that Kato will NEVER tool a prototypical ARR or CNW passenger train. Too limited of a market to ever recoup the tooling costs. Plus, when we think of popular "name" trains, the CNW 400 just doesn't rise to the top of the list. To me, the CNW name train was the Kate Shelley. Anybody else remember her? CNW was my home town railroad. I could see the trains come and go from my front porch and the Kate Shelley rolled through town near sunset each weekday on the way to Clinton. All that said, I would rather Kato release the foobs for CNW and save the tooling dollars for the NCL, EB or 20th Century Limited.
I talked to the Centralia guy at Des Plaines about a year ago. I think he said the problem had to do with making the air scoop at the end of the car. They were still intending to release it, eventually.
I think Kato has proven they are committed to releasing proto accurate sets. That being said they are also being smart in using existing tooling on sets that are very close. I wonder if they are using these types of releases to fill gaps in a market segment if say, they are having issues or delays on their next "name train" offering. As I said somewhere before the C&NW set should have come with two coaches or two sleepers in the 4 car set instead of the dome. I also still feel that these offerings are not going to prevent a further offering that is accurate. I would be more bummed out if it was the Empire Builder or NCL or something that has big demand. This means an accurate one can still be done and may be in the works. Also by buying the foobies or close enough sets companies get a confirmation of demand may bring additional sets that are more accurate.
Brian... I agree with most of your comments and certainly hope that the current release of these 'imposter' sets are just a way for Kato to get some more utility out of existing tooling. But... knowing that the sets are perhaps only 50% accurate for a C&NW 400 train makes me a bit reticent about buying it. Unlike the much more accurate famous 'named' passenger sets Kato puts out... these are not as compelling now. It's kind-of odd though... with as many different passenger cars that Kato has produced thus-far... one would have expected them to make this set closer than 50% accurate. As Brian stated... just adding another coach and ditching the Vista-dome would have been a closer match. I guess the big C&NW fans will have to hope for more releases by Centralia Car Shops to fill in the voids of an accurate C&NW 400. So... given the timing of this announcement... I guess us 'Katoholics' looking for new 'named' passenger sets can put away our wallets until next year.
Did any of those 44-seat ACF coaches ever get the green and yellow treatment? I haven't been able to find any pictures. Thanks, -Mark
Although I have had no luck in finding a shot of these cars after the UP switched to MILW I would suspect that they did, in fact, get repainted into the CNW's yellow and green before being sold to the Espee in 1961. The ex-C&O 52-serat coaches that the CNW got in trade for the three RDCs received this paint and I have seen one shot of these cars in CNW yellow and green (above the corrugation) with Espee lettering so it is reasonable to believe that the leg-rest coaches did as well... http://www.trainweb.org/fredatsf/protopass4_files/image018.jpg
It would sure increase the usability of the sets if those old pool coaches did get repainted - then only the dome and obs cars would be completely out of line. I wonder if there are production issues (vis'a'vis the packaging, printing, etc) that prevent Kato from changing the roster of cars included in these old sets? 400-wise, it would make sense to punt the obvious fantasy cars in favor of more coaches. -Mark
It looks like "The Coach Yard" (HO brass, I assume) did #3480 in G&Y. I should ask them where they got their info... -Mark
I agree, two coaches would have made this a lot more appealing. The coaches are close enough, that dome is ridiculous.
I sent Kato an email suggesting that they punt the dome in favor of a second coach. What the hey, can't hurt right? -Mark
Aren't there any other Observation cars Kato has already tooled... which could be substituted for the Observation car in this earlier set... that would improve the set further?
My theory is that they found a stash of undecorated sets in a corner of the factory that they could paint up which is why there is no variation from the consist of the original sets.
