Does Kato have something against N scale? It's been at least 6 months since they've done any new tooling. Why do they hate us so? All they ever do anymore is reruns in Eastern roads. I mean, do we really need 20+ NS schemes? Why are they ignoring us Western guys?
Try being an NP modeler and asking why they dont do the F units, SD 45, or a North Coast Limited set. Kato feels that they cant get the yellow right and for that reason they wont do NP. But wait, they did the NW2 in N scale. Other than the RDC, the only other peice of rolling stock that Kato has done in NP was the slumber coaches. I totally hear you about the NS schemes. It seems like every mfg announces a product there is almost always a NS or CSX somewhere in the mix. Oh yeah and lets not forget Utterly Pathetic too.
I used to like Utterly Pathetic until (I feel) they went overboard with the whole trademarking BS. When that happened I got rid of ALL my Utterly Pathetic rolling stock. Now if a F-E-F does come to fruitation, I MIGHT (and that is a BIG MIGHT) buy one just because it is such a cool looking loco.
You know, I used to hate UP because of that and also the fact that they took away my Southern Pacific. But they settled the whole licensing thing (I believe it was with MTH initially) and I got over the whole SP thing. Now my layout is waving flags and Building America. This modern diesel dude TOTALLY wants an 844.
I tried to make a Bman 4-8-4 w/vandy tender look UP worthy ... my spouse said " really , you think that looks like the 844 ?" Somebody paaaaalllleeeeaaassseeeeee make an 844 in UP .... other wise my favorite is :
What do you mean somebody please make 844? All the engine shown are FEF castings on GS4 frames. Jason Smith Tomball Locomotive Works
Hopefully testing the water with the NP NW2 has proven successful and will open the discussion for future NP runs and passenger sets.
Custome built ? spendy ? Not everyone that would like a FEF series has the $ 516 to pay for one of your custome engines ?
While waiting for some things to set up I went digging a little in Trainboard. The FEF rumor started back on April 3, 2010 or just about one month shy of three years ago. And it could have been running even before that in another thread. And while I would welcome any new 4-8-4 that could be used as the basis for a number of big steamers the FEF as itself is not something I could use except perhaps the mechanism and other parts. But until there is some form of official release from Kato it is just a rumor that I don't think will happen this year or even next. And with a large number of people in this country about to be financially affected unless our congress gets off thier butts, I just don't see a lot coming that the consumer can't afford. And when times get tough this type of spending will be the first to go. And the folks at Kato did not get where they are today without being astute business people. So I would look for them to stay in a safe mode and go where the market is sure. Of course I've been wrong before, once or twice, and I can be again.
Its still cheaper than brass! Runs a lot better too. If I were wanting an FEF, one of Jason's castings would be the way to go as the brass ones are getting hard to find, and when you do find one they go for a lot more than $500.
How about some macro shots of the castings with out paint and paint to see what they are like and where and how much are they?
We all know the reason Kato doesn't do much with Northern Pacific is that they have a prejudice against the Monad symbol. I wonder if the logo for Northern Pacific had been similar to the Southern Pacific 'Rising Sun' style... perhaps we would have already had several releases of NCL and other NP equipment. :closedmouth:
