UPDATE ... March 2024: 3rd Rail SD40-2's

Matt Makens posted:

I know Matt, I'm being patient. I just let the dog off the chain there for a minute. I'm pretty excited to get em, they're my favorite engine. I'm also pretty stoked about the rest of the el cap coming too

I know. Just jerking your chain. I'm trying to figure out next years train budget as I'm leaning toward petitioning SD40-2's in CNW livery Zito "See it from Space" yellow would be nice, but I'll take 'em any way 3rd Rail does them if they get enough reservations. If next year's budget is bigger, I might order a pair in Santa Fe as well.

I like the traditional yellow especially the late versions with the Operation Life Saver logo. I'll take what I can get but since our hopes are hinged on the CNW matching some UP locos do Scott can use the same tooling I think late model versions and schemes are our best bet

Guys, on the E8/E9s we are good to go on most all roads listed as good to go. We will be negotiating the contract for this project next week. Also, will be discussing the possibility of SD40-2 high hood modifications to the tools.

Your enthusiasm and orders is what make these projects possible.

We've also been working with QSI on the 2 Rail sound system to have a dual speaker, true stereo Q3 system installed in the E8/E9s. For all models we will be using ball bearing supported journals for full transfer of power from the Canon motor and sprung as well in both 2 Rail and 3 Rail.

Once we have a contract signed we will send out reservation confirmations on the E8/E9s next week.

Cheers,

If you can do high hoods, you can do the "snoot" nose 

If I decide to request a SOO SD40-2 in the 1972 numbers and scheme, then Lionel and MTH will both finally have the SOO GP30s in their catalogs to order.

Andrew

I have no dog in this fight, yet, but if I decide to pull the trigger on these engines it will be for the traditional C&NW colors, (Apple Green and Stagecoach yellow) NOT the Zito Yellow.

I’m with Matt, its nice to get anything in C&NW, but the original yellow and green are so much nicer then the other options/variations that were used through the later years.

Obviously I only have a say if I pay.

Charlie

My SD9's would look awesome with a set of SD40-2s. I do have a dog, here she is but shes a lover not a fighter. Im lobbying cuz I really want these.

I have two, brass, 3rd Rail, Dash-9's in Santa Fe War bonnet colors; one of them used to reside in a display case in our condo living room until we sold the place; I wanted it where I could see it's beautiful paint scheme and details, every time I walked past it!  I am still in awe of both qualities but should have ordered the second one in BNSF lettering; oh well, guess I'm stuck with it/them!  I bought them because they were brass and super detailed; I am still on the fence about buying this new plastic-bodied diesel for about what I paid for each of my brass models. 

Ron Balderrama posted:

I have two, brass, 3rd Rail, Dash-9's in Santa Fe War bonnet colors; one of them used to reside in a display case in our condo living room until we sold the place; I wanted it where I could see it's beautiful paint scheme and details, every time I walked past it!  I am still in awe of both qualities but should have ordered the second one in BNSF lettering; oh well, guess I'm stuck with it/them!  I bought them because they were brass and super detailed; I am still on the fence about buying this new plastic-bodied diesel for about what I paid for each of my brass models. 

Scotts SD40-2s should be a very highly detailed model, JMO but the 3rd Rail GE-9s were a very plain model with minimal detail, the best thing about them was that they were built in brass and available in both 2 and 3 rail versions I don't know how well they run but I have seen them at shows over the years going for 400 +/-.

The SD40 that Lionel makes could be offered in two road numbers for the Soo Line in 2017, so I do not know what to choose until 2017.

Andrew

I've got two Lionel Legacy SD40-2s and I like em a lot but they're not sd40-2s, the porches aren't long enough they are really more SD40ish

$729.95! 

It has been over 3 years and 3rd Rail still has my GTW SD40-2 reservation in their system.

When will there be enough orders to start production on the SD40-2???

Can Scott and company add the GRAND TRUNK WESTERN blue and red scheme to the SD40-2 official list? 

Andrew

As I understand, the SD-40-2 project was put on hold, or replaced with the GP7/GP9 project which very quickly filled out enough reservations and has gone to final design and production this summer.   I have seen no word on the SD40 project.

Still listed on Sunsets website, this model had low reservations from the start. The newest GE-9 diesel has a near 25% price increase to account for a lower reservation count to produce, probably the trend for future models. JMO

Pretty much dead.   Less than half the minimum.   Because there are so many variations and so few reservations per variation it's pretty much not going to happen.

They have not entirely canceled it and erased the orders.

Andrew

It would be nice if it was just canceled and removed from the website. I have two reserved (MP and Frisco) but if canceled, I can redirect my $ (reservation/obligation) to another project to help reach a minimum. Many of us have only so much $ available. So many nice models offered but not all get to production thresholds. 

Then it appears that everybody who ordered an SD40-2 is going to have to order a second SD40-2 in order to get the order numbers to the desired level.

Andrew

@falconservice posted:

Then it appears that everybody who ordered an SD40-2 is going to have to order a second SD40-2 in order to get the order numbers to the desired level.

Andrew

I already ordered two!

x2 for me also.

Yeah, anyone who only reserved one, please do.  Those of you already reserved 3-4, you're good.

I would be willing to get a different road name if it would help push one over the limit.

I ordered the Wheeling and Lake Erie in 3-rail, but I’d also be interested in  Conrail, CSX, and BN in that order, with a strong preference for Conrail.

It really surprises me these aren’t more popular since to my knowledge an accurate -2 has never been done in O scale.

Conrail is on the reserve list.

-Crank

@Eccentric Crank posted:

Conrail is on the reserve list.

-Crank

Where did you see which roads are on reserve and which aren’t?

@rplst8 posted:

Where did you see which roads are on reserve and which aren’t?

Go to bottom of page, it's in the dropbox:

http://www.3rdrail.com/reservation.htm

I’m not following... All of the roads I mentioned are in that box.  I was saying that if it would help get a specific road made, I would change my existing reservation from W&LE to Conrail.

Do you want W&LE or Conrail?  Both are in that list.

Grand Trunk Western and SOO LINE are the roads I would buy. I had to choose WRITE IN then list Grand Trunk Western for the first and SOO LINE for the second SD40-2 ordered. Then I will have wait and see if either of them can be produced.

Andrew

@SPSF posted:

Do you want W&LE or Conrail?  Both are in that list.

I want W&LE.  However, someone mentioned that not enough reservations were received for some roads to trigger Scott to actually do the run of -2s.

I was offering to change my reservation if say W&LE already had more than enough orders, and say Conrail, CSX, and/or GN did not.  I'm not sure where that person got the info about which roads do not have enough orders, but if it was made known to everyone, maybe we could get them made by adjusting the orders with peoples 2nd or 3rd choices.

This has been on offer for quite some time and Is obviously stalled. I’m guessing there’s a Total Number Needed but Also a total number of each road needed.
Help us Scott !!! What are the laggards that can be dropped ???? The laggards get counted to the total but if we can switch to a “passing” road then the  number can stay level. It a number juggle thing. Others can double their single res.
I’ve MP and Frisco reserved. If Frisco is a laggard, let me know and I’ll switch that reservation to a second MP.

Sounds like ranked choice ordering...

I wouldn't be as concerned with number of reservations per road quite yet.  Reserve the road you want.  The ultimate question is the total number of units.  Scott makes a call on how low he is willing to go on a specific road name to make the total project go.

It took 5 years to get the Amfleet project to go forward, so don't give up hope.  If you are on the fence to order a unit go ahead and place your pre-order.  Once the reservations start to show a sign of life, the project can then go into formal design.  

Perhaps an announcement by 3rd Rail on the regular 3R forum will help.

-Crank

I have 2 reserved. If the price was $900 (same as the Dash 9) I would still be in for 2. If the price increased, would that mean fewer reservations would be required? Of course, some may back out of their original reservation(s)if the price increased $150 per model. I think it’s currently at $750.

@catnap posted:

I have 2 reserved. If the price was $900 (same as the Dash 9) I would still be in for 2. If the price increased, would that mean fewer reservations would be required? Of course, some may back out of their original reservation(s)if the price increased $150 per model. I think it’s currently at $750.

It’s currently at 730. I bet when priced, it was a bit higher than other models as it was anticipated to not draw that many reservations. A modest bump to 750 might help, prob won’t loose many subscribers, but won’t help those already watching their budgets. And Price increases don’t attract new buyers.

The problem is, with fewer models at a higher price, as demonstrated above, is that there are too many variations with insufficient reservations for each.  If there were 75+ reservations each for ATSF, UP, and BN then it would be very doable for ~$800 each.  But there are no more than about 10 reservations for any variation, most are about 5.  At 5-10 models per variation you probably looking at $1200-$1500 per model.

@rdunniii posted:

The problem is, with fewer models at a higher price, as demonstrated above, is that there are too many variations with insufficient reservations for each.  If there were 75+ reservations each for ATSF, UP, and BN then it would be very doable for ~$800 each.  But there are no more than about 10 reservations for any variation, most are about 5.  At 5-10 models per variation you probably looking at $1200-$1500 per model.

Well this is looking more and more like “Mission Impossible” with an unhappy ending. Perhaps there is just to many of these models out there for buyers to belly up with some serious bucks. Even for what for sure would be a superbly crafted model- it’s stalled and not even close to being launched. I’m not even sure it could launch after a 5 year waiting time frame.  
I’d love to see it but I don’t think it’s going to fly.  ☹️

So it's 20 reservations short and that is going to cancel the model?

It's really a shame that everything in O needs to be 50 years old and older in order to be made and be made Correctly.

@rdunniii posted:

The problem is, with fewer models at a higher price, as demonstrated above, is that there are too many variations with insufficient reservations for each.  If there were 75+ reservations each for ATSF, UP, and BN then it would be very doable for ~$800 each.  But there are no more than about 10 reservations for any variation, most are about 5.  At 5-10 models per variation you probably looking at $1200-$1500 per model.

I'd drop $2,500 for a pair of Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2's (2-rail DCC with ESU LokSound). Of course, I don't think anybody else would. 🤣