Originally Posted by Passenger Train Collector:
I have a train friend that purchased the various issues of the Atlas 21" CZ cars and when he noticed the obvious difference in the finish between releases, they went away quickly. This has an impact for me in terms of how I feel about them.
That's certainly one of the tremendous risks when spreading the development and production of a passenger train over the course of 5+ years. Yes indeed, ladies and gents... Hard to believe Atlas-O first announced their CZ way back on July 2, 2009.
We've heard a switch in manufacturer/subcontractor was the primary cause for the difference in finish. Doesn't make it acceptable though. Nonetheless, some of us will just be glad to finally see the domed observation come to fruition -- hopefully in another month or two (since it's already delayed from the earlier estimate of March/April 2014).
David
P.S. Whoa!!! I just double-checked the Atlas-O website shipping schedule, and the domed observation cars have a new ETA of 4Q2014. In all likelihood, that really implies an actual 2015 delivery to consumers if we're being realistic... which puts us a WHOPPING 6 years after initial announcement to create a reasonably complete passenger train. (And technically, that's still not the full CZ, as we've yet to even see a baggage car announced -- much less delivered.) Only two words to say: TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.
I can say without question that the Atlas-O CZ is the last purchase arrangement I will ever enter where passenger cars are issued piecemeal like this. I've already walked away from GGD/Sunset for taking forever to produce finish sets for select road-names. So if importers can't get the message, they're in for a tough future: either produce complete passenger trains for delivery within a "reasonable" time-frame, (i.e. 12-18 months from product announcement). Or don't bother.