Interesting @Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4. I had a different idea in my head of how it all worked. That was informative.
A Vision Line Triplex would be pretty awesome. The thought hadn't crossed my mind.
I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens at York!
Here's the thing. If you know what engines they have produced, and produced consistently, you can sort of get a pretty good idea of what engines will be produced in the coming years. I think I had said before the catalog had come out one of the diesels that had not been produced in some time, I think SD35 or something like that. Well, I got lucky on that one.
So, that being said, that means that whatever engines they have toolings for are easy projects that don't need a lot of work to them other than maybe minor alterations if they can. When it comes to Vision Line Engines, they could possibly use old toolings, or not very old toolings to pop out a Vision Line Engine. They could also go forth and get new tooling to produce that, which of course costs a heck of a lot of money. Either way they have easier work with what they have, and hard work with what they don't have.
When they have done something new like Brass hybrids, it has been just like making a Vision Line Engine in that they have had to do quite a bit to get things right from the start. Yeah, they have to get license for whatever they are building, but also figuring out how things come together. When they were talking about the American 4-4-0's in that catalog, Dave was talking about how hard it was to get what they could in there. Ryan had also talked about going down to the wire on what the actual colors were on the 119 and Jupiter as they had a few different paint schemes on the real reproductions out in Utah. That was not the correct color according to Ryan research team, historians, etc., etc. They finally got the real color right before the cutoff to the catalog, which made Ryan pretty happy as he wanted the color right(yeah, color).
Now, about what they bought from MTH, this is the difficult part of the equation. Right now we only know what has been released, but again, you can sort of get maybe an idea or two of what would be money makers. We all know the 3 engines that were the big lawsuit engines, Dreyfuss Hudson, PRR T1, and the N&W Class A. Most of us are hoping they got those, if not that would be maybe a disappointment. However, also consider something else to this. In 2019 when the NJ HiRailers were hosting OGR's 50th Anniversary, Lionel and MTH were there. During that celebration, everyone had come up to speak(meaning Ryan and Andy) and it was said how they are on the road together representing their perspective companies. This would also mean Mike as well. So, perhaps, and this is a big perhaps it was already know that Mike would be retiring a year or two beforehand. That could mean that Lionel would have already had a good idea of what they wanted to see if they could buy from Mike.
Also consider though that it possible that Lionel has already been working on some of these other projects, maybe a Dreyfuss, maybe a PRR T1, and maybe the N&W Class A. It is a heck of a lot to digest, that much is certain. Why do I say this? For the same reason that most of the community is always telling the manufacturers what they want. Since I first went to York, I have said to Ryan on almost every occasion, that I would like to see a J3 Hudson, a Dreyfuss, a PRR T1, the Class A, and even the 4-4-0's. I had said the 4-4-0's mainly because I am a big steam engine fan, and had seen the Heisler that they produced, and thought it would be interesting to have a 4-4-0 that had smoke and be to scale. Well, little did I know that they already were working on it.
There are many other engines in the long list of engines that I don't think have ever been produced, and may not ever be produced because they would require new tooling or be made of brass. The other factor is of course would they sell. If it is not Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, Pennsylvania, New York Central, and a few others they don't seem likely to be produced. Now of course I can't list all that is popular because heck, I don't know what the list is. Reason why is because it could be regional sales. You would imagine East Coast Lines sell better on the East, West Coast out there, Middle of the Country, you get the idea.
With all that being said, lets hope for somethings, not just one, but quite a few that will be making their way into the newest catalog when it comes out, and what we don't see in that, in the next. Here's hoping.