3rd Rail Wishlist Request Future Engines

CSX Troy posted:

I would still LOVE to see Scott make an accurate N&W hopper - either HL / H9 2 bays or H2 / H2a 3 bay in plastic to go along with the Y6's from a few years ago:  

       

You can find the mondo-heavy Atlas HL/H9 cars, likely on ebay, or elsewhere. The 3-bay cars are only available in brass, from (my experience) Precision and KTM. If you're really lucky you may find one of these painted and decaled...why, you ask? Because only Champ made decals for them (H2a).
If someone had produced the cars in plastique I would have bought several..I'm filled up, after years of looking & bidding.

rex desilets posted:

CSX Troy posted:

I would still LOVE to see Scott make an accurate N&W hopper - either HL / H9 2 bays or H2 / H2a 3 bay in plastic to go along with the Y6's from a few years ago:  

       

You can find the mondo-heavy Atlas HL/H9 cars, likely on ebay, or elsewhere. The 3-bay cars are only available in brass, from (my experience) Precision and KTM. If you're really lucky you may find one of these painted and decaled...why, you ask? Because only Champ made decals for them (H2a).
If someone had produced the cars in plastique I would have bought several..I'm filled up, after years of looking & bidding.

And the H2 were leased to the PRR as well. I am surprised that Atlas O and/ or Weaver models and/ or MTH didn't make an accurate H2.

Jonathan;

Speaking of being knee deep (btw my favorite brewery) in E6s, is there any chance they will be ready for delivery at O Scale West?

Allan

Rich Yoder made some nice N&W hoppers in brass about 10 years ago.  They were quite expensive and never show up for sale.

Norm

Norm posted:

Rich Yoder made some nice N&W hoppers in brass about 10 years ago.  They were quite expensive and never show up for sale.

Norm

I forgot about these. As I told Rich a few moons ago, his products are indeed exquisite models, but the price (for me) rules out anything more than a one-off or rare prototype...

Instead of making a  locomotive that was built for only one railroad, I would like to see manufacturers build a compliment of USRA locos that all the rail lines owned.  Maybe a stock 0-6-0, 0-8-0, 2-8-0, 2-10-0, OR 2-8-2. It would nice to have these also done in undecorated so we can decal them for our own favorite line. Then a larger number of us can have these on our layouts in the road we model instead of having to deal with unwanted road names. The HO people have been doing this for years that's why HO is so big. You can model your favorite road and get a locomotive livery without having to settle.

Allan E posted:

Jonathan;

Speaking of being knee deep (btw my favorite brewery) in E6s, is there any chance they will be ready for delivery at O Scale West?

Allan

Allan,

When I last spoke to Scott just before he left for York, he told me that it looks like the E5/6 run will leave the factory in May.  Give it a month on the water along with customs and it sounds like a June delivery for these.  Wish I could make O Scale West!  Not in the cards this year. 

I've enjoyed a few Knee Deep brews myself!

I have no interest personally, but how about Battleship Gondolas built for the Virginian and Norfolk & Western?  Would look great behind the EL2b.  Order them by the 100 for a prototypical consist!

GG1 4877 posted:

Allan E posted:

Jonathan;

Speaking of being knee deep (btw my favorite brewery) in E6s, is there any chance they will be ready for delivery at O Scale West?

Allan

Allan,

When I last spoke to Scott just before he left for York, he told me that it looks like the E5/6 run will leave the factory in May.  Give it a month on the water along with customs and it sounds like a June delivery for these.  Wish I could make O Scale West!  Not in the cards this year. 

I've enjoyed a few Knee Deep brews myself!

Jonathan;

Cheers!

Allan

I would be very interested in Southern 4501, especially in the present day appearance, but I'm sure there would be a lot of demand for the excursion green version.

 Here is another beautiful train

Canadian Pacific F2a Jubilee and 5 car tuscan colour consist

  Al

third rail posted:

Instead of making a  locomotive that was built for only one railroad, I would like to see manufacturers build a compliment of USRA locos that all the rail lines owned.  Maybe a stock 0-6-0, 0-8-0, 2-8-0, 2-10-0, OR 2-8-2. It would nice to have these also done in undecorated so we can decal them for our own favorite line. Then a larger number of us can have these on our layouts in the road we model instead of having to deal with unwanted road names. The HO people have been doing this for years that's why HO is so big. You can model your favorite road and get a locomotive livery without having to settle.

I made a similar suggestion melgar_comment  earlier in this thread but no one has expressed agreement. It seems to me that everyone wants their favorite locomotive to be selected but, unless it's from a major railroad, it doesn't generate enough support. There were 12 USRA locomotive designs ranging from switchers to articulateds, to which 1856 locomotives were built while USRA was in existence and 3251 copies were made afterwards. USRA and USRA-derived designs ran on 97 railroads. It should be possible to build basic tooling to produce brass or die cast models with accurate prototypical details for many actual locomotives. This approach would also be more likely to generate sufficient orders for cost-effective production. And, for me, models of smaller locomotives would be just as welcome as larger ones.

MELGAR

E1A'S would be awesome

At my club EVERYONE has a 4-8-4 because all the manufacturers made tons of them, but no one has or runs switch engines. It's one thing to run a long train with a big engine at the point. But it's just as satisfying to break up that train and make a new one for the next run. IMO switching a yard or industrial sidings can be more fun than watching a train chase its caboose . If manufacturers could bring to market a reasonably priced switch engine and continue to produce it over the years, there would be enough interest amongst us hobbyists that they would not have to resort to "built to order" sales. I would rather buy 4 switchers for the price of one $2000 built to order road engine that I have no use for. What I'm  saying is I think built to order stifles the hobby because if not enough preorders are received the company does not manufacture the product. 

third rail posted:

At my club EVERYONE has a 4-8-4 because all the manufacturers made tons of them, but no one has or runs switch engines. It's one thing to run a long train with a big engine at the point. But it's just as satisfying to break up that train and make a new one for the next run. IMO switching a yard or industrial sidings can be more fun than watching a train chase its caboose . If manufacturers could bring to market a reasonably priced switch engine and continue to produce it over the years, there would be enough interest amongst us hobbyists that they would not have to resort to "built to order" sales. I would rather buy 4 switchers for the price of one $2000 built to order road engine that I have no use for. What I'm  saying is I think built to order stifles the hobby because if not enough preorders are received the company does not manufacture the product. 

I would say that the odds of 3rd Rail making a $500 switch engine, multiple times, is probably close to Nil.  LOL, I think I have better odds (maybe not by much! ) of seeing a Reading K-1 or even a Reading I-10 2-8-0 made.

Maybe at $700 - $800, Lionel or MTH could make a decent die-cast switch engine. I don't see this happening in brass.

Jim

There are tons of 0-6-0 switch engines on ebay, ranging from $200+ on up. Mostly the ubiquitous PRR B-6 and the USRA version. Some have command, some don't. It is hard to see why a manufacturer would spring for another.

Lionel also has the reasonably priced 0-8-0. You can also find the Atlas 0-6-0 from time to time. 

The issue a lot of us have is our layouts are geared more towards mainline operations than switching. Mine is relatively small (17 by 17) so I just have one passing siding. A switcher wouldn't really fit in. 

No diecast engine is worth $700-800. I think manufacturers go for unique locomotives to cater to the pure collector market. If you sold 5000 $500 engines, you gross $2.5 mil. Do you think you can convince 1250 people to order a one of a kind locomotive to generate the same sales?

Based upon the size of O scale and the  tight curves and turnouts,  a switcher is more  appropriate.  Also a reasonably priced small engine is a perfect introductory model for new hobbyists. 

A very large number of steam engine model types has already been produced in die cast and brass. Many of the less common types suggested here do not seem to get enough of a response to be cost-effective for production. Maybe the question to ask is - is production of the types of engines proposed in this thread feasible at anything like current pricing or has it just become too expensive even for the small number of relatively affluent buyers who are active in the high-end O scale/gauge market?

For many years, I would have liked to buy a New Haven I-5 4-8-4, although I already own the nice model that was made by Weaver. But, at likely current prices, I would not buy.

Just my thoughts...

MELGAR