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CN will have to be with a secondhand UP as there is only 1 plastic tool for the SD40-2 body. 

Also announced are:

ACE 3000 - Modern Steam Demonstrator (Many Liveries Available)

Rock Island "Rocket"  TA Diesel + 4 Cars. 

B&O EL-3, EL-5 2-8-8-0

Always new production, new designs, new tools, sometimes never been done before.

Scott Mann

Swafford posted:

I'd be a buyer for the Frisco SD40-2's!

Regards,

Swafford

FRISCO SD40-2

All ya gotta do Frank is to put in your order, as they have a "suggestions" tab for the order.  Need three units, I think you are probably 15% there to getting what you want.  Start lobbying others to get on the band wagon.  Heck, there may be a dealer in the old Frisco territory that may take the balance.  Nice looking consist. 

Re the Canadian safety cab.  Scott does not believe there would be sufficient reservations to justify the additional tooling cost.

Canadian hobby shops guaranteed sufficient reservations to get the Canadian made so lobbying there is one possibility in addition to individuals. 

Another is Shapeways.  Ask the guys who are making them available in HO if they will upscale them to O.  I found a guy who is upscaling his HO GP39/40-2 dynamic brake sections for me.

PAUL ROMANO posted:

I am a long time 3rd Rail customer and their models are excellent. However, given the MSRP of $729.99 for a plastic diesel I'd have to give this one some thought.  

I have my share of detractors here on this forum, because of my comments about recent Lionel pricing.  But if we want to know where Lionel is headed with its 2017 pricing (and beyond), we can look no further than 3rd Rail.  Now before I infuriate more forum members, let me clearly state this is NOT a slur against 3rd Rail.  The models they produce are seldom second-to-none in the 3-rail O-Gauge community, and that category of product comes with a hefty price tag.  If you want the best, you knowingly shell out those hefty bucks... and never look back. 

What I AM saying though is this...  successful companies know how to MARKET their products well.  Because at the end of the day, they're competing for the same deep pockets of a limited number of enthusiasts who can afford this class of product.  And clearly, just from skimming this thread, we can clearly see there IS a decent degree of enthusiasm for these highly detailed products.  Indeed, just look at the number of folks in this thread alone who have already pre-ordered (or plan to pre-order) 2, 3 or 4 (or more) of these diesel locos at $730/each! 

While we're at it... Another interesting 3rd Rail price-point worth noting is the SP 0-6-0 switcher coming in at $1,450 MSRP.  Double-WOW!!!  But the detail level on this puppy appears to set a new benchmark for 3-rail O-Gauge detail standards.  So I guess this is why Lionel has no issue pricing its latest Legacy 0-8-0 switchers (due out later this year) at $900 MSRP, while less than 4 years ago the same switchers carried a $700 MSRP.  Although Lionel's product will likely have nowhere near the detail level of the 3rd Rail / Sunset Models product, I honestly believe Lionel is trying to court the SAME market 3rd Rail is trying to capture.  In some cases, they'll win.  And in others, they'll lose. 

There will always be somebody who wants the absolute best and is willing to pay for it.  While others may feel there's a point at which they'd be happy settling for a bit less (of a model) when they're spending considerably less dollars.  I honestly believe Lionel is hoping to grab a piece of the latter segment of "high end buyers".  So suddenly Lionel's $900 MRSP (avg street-price $750), may not seem too badly priced compared to 3rd Rail's $1,350-$1,450 street price.

Getting back to this particular topic at hand... i.e., the newly announced 3rd Rail $730 SD40-2 diesels.  It wasn't THAT long ago that Lionel offered their VisionLine ES44 diesels at $875-ish MSRP, and that got us one heck of a diesel locomotive with a ton of heft -- not to mention the die-cast shell.  To get a VisionLine diesel like that today, we'd probably be shelling out $1,600 easy.

So everything is relative... and perhaps $730 doesn't seem too bad for the detail level and high-quality product enthusiasts would be getting.    Never thought I'd hear myself saying that though!!!      And it's still a TON of money I wouldn't spend on impulse. 

David

Last edited by Rocky Mountaineer
Rocky Mountaineer posted:
PAUL ROMANO posted:

I am a long time 3rd Rail customer and their models are excellent. However, given the MSRP of $729.99 for a plastic diesel I'd have to give this one some thought.  

I have my share of detractors here on this forum, because of my comments about recent Lionel pricing.  But if we want to know where Lionel is headed with its 2017 pricing (and beyond), we can look no further than 3rd Rail.  Now before I infuriate more forum members, let me clearly state this is NOT a slur against 3rd Rail.  The models they produce are seldom second-to-none in the 3-rail O-Gauge community, and that category of product comes with a hefty price tag.  If you want the best, you knowingly shell out those hefty bucks... and never look back. 

What I AM saying though is this...  successful companies know how to MARKET their products well.  Because at the end of the day, they're competing for the same deep pockets of a limited number of enthusiasts who can afford this class of product.  And clearly, just from skimming this thread, we can clearly see there IS a decent degree of enthusiasm for these highly detailed products.  Indeed, just look at the number of folks in this thread alone who have already pre-ordered (or plan to pre-order) 2, 3 or 4 (or more) of these diesel locos at $730/each! 

While we're at it... Another interesting 3rd Rail price-point worth noting is the SP 0-6-0 switcher coming in at $1,450 MSRP.  Double-WOW!!!  But the detail level on this puppy appears to set a new benchmark for 3-rail O-Gauge detail standards.  So I guess this is why Lionel has no issue pricing its latest Legacy 0-8-0 switchers (due out later this year) at $900 MSRP, while less than 4 years ago the same switchers carried a $700 MSRP.  Although Lionel's product will likely have nowhere near the detail level of the 3rd Rail / Sunset Models product, I honestly believe Lionel is trying to court the SAME market 3rd Rail is trying to capture.  In some cases, they'll win.  And in others, they'll lose. 

There will always be somebody who wants the absolute best and is willing to pay for it.  While others may feel there's a point at which they'd be happy settling for a bit less (of a model) when they're spending considerably less dollars.  I honestly believe Lionel is hoping to grab a piece of the latter segment of "high end buyers".  So suddenly Lionel's $900 MRSP (avg street-price $750), may not seem too badly priced compared to 3rd Rail's $1,350-$1,450 street price.

Getting back to this particular topic at hand... i.e., the newly announced 3rd Rail $730 SD40-2 diesels.  It wasn't THAT long ago that Lionel offered their VisionLine ES44 diesels at $875-ish MSRP, and that got us one heck of a diesel locomotive with a ton of heft -- not to mention the die-cast shell.  To get a VisionLine diesel like that today, we'd probably be shelling out $1,600 easy.

So everything is relative... and perhaps $730 doesn't seem too bad for the detail level and high-quality product enthusiasts would be getting.    Never thought I'd hear myself saying that though!!!      And it's still a TON of money I wouldn't spend on impulse. 

David

Bear in mind Sunset is building for a much smaller market, 400-450 piece run seems to be the norm and a largely 2 rail market for many of their products, Atlas I believe and this has been pointed out by others has to stay in line with MTH and Lionel in the motive power market Sunset not so much. add shipping to that price and you are paying 1500+ for a pair of SD40-2s still a quarter of what you would have to pay for a pair of brass models [ if or when such become available] JMO

Matt01 posted:
Hot Water posted:
 

To be fair, ONLY the body is "plastic". Don't forget that the underframe, truck assemblies, and that fantastic single motor drive system are all metal (NOT diecast, either).

"... fantastic single motor drive system ...."

How do they perform compared to Legacy diesels?

From what I've seen, and read, they perform better at slow speeds, have prototypically correct fixed pilots with full length vertical hand rails, and are painted and lettered CORRECTLY.

I wish I could say I had the same success as Doug in the running department. I have video of the Lionel up f3's (pre legacy) that demonstrate smoother operation then my sunset f7's. With that said, neither set of engines or single engine for that matter has the slow speed smoothness of my Lionel s2. But that is not really an apples to apples comparison. I think the bottom line is now is if there is a big difference, than there is probably something wrong with the units your running.

And my 2 lionel TMCC Lionel F3s have torn out 2 idler gears because they don't like each other... so I made them work together. They run much better without the idler gears now with only 1 drive axle... just like the F7s.

I had a Sunset F7B running really slow and hot vs the other three, but I found the screw heads on the motor mount were rubbing on the flywheel. When it was assembled, the flywheel just got pushed on too far.

My Sunset FP7s have been flawless from day one. 

Honestly I was going to send my F7s back because of some of the inaccuaracies... why did I keep them??

The horizontal drives! I can't wait to get my SD7 Tiger Stripes.

The markings on the CR/NS 6764 would be what I'd be interested in - specifically the classic intertwined 'PRR' logo (minus keystone) that showed up on both Conrail and Norfolk Southern locomotives. I can't seem to find whether any of the SD40-2s acquired from CR by NS had either of the possibilities rather than the normal text 'PRR'/'NS' markings.

I'm actually shocked that over the years that none of the manufacturers (none that I've recalled seeing, anyways) have bothered to implement such a transition paint scheme to the SPFs that don't mind modern power... There have been very few with just the regular font (only one Atlas SD35 and a Lionel SD80MAC to my memory)...

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