3rd Rail Wishlist Request Future Engines

TM Terry posted:

I was excited about the upcoming L&N FA-2 offering by 3rd Rail. Ordered one, then they announced the L&N FA-2 would be L&N's 1960's paint scheme. So much for a transition era L&N FA-2 offering.

That project is well into next year at this point.  Nothing has been set in stone for the FA-2 project.  I would think it is likely we will do the early scheme for L&N.  Scott takes his best guess with photos or other artwork to start.  Send him an email on your interest as others would likely prefer the same scheme. 

Right now 3rd Rail is knee deep in finishing E5 & E6s while also getting heavily into the F3 project.  Geeps will be next.  FA's likely after that if orders come through.

E1A and E1B.

So GG1 4877 posted:

TM Terry posted:

I was excited about the upcoming L&N FA-2 offering by 3rd Rail. Ordered one, then they announced the L&N FA-2 would be L&N's 1960's paint scheme. So much for a transition era L&N FA-2 offering.

That project is well into next year at this point.  Nothing has been set in stone for the FA-2 project.  I would think it is likely we will do the early scheme for L&N.  Scott takes his best guess with photos or other artwork to start.  Send him an email on your interest as others would likely prefer the same scheme. 

Right now 3rd Rail is knee deep in finishing E5 & E6s while also getting heavily into the F3 project.  Geeps will be next.  FA's likely after that if orders come through.

So the GP7 and GP9 will be produced before Alco FA’s?

MR-150 posted:

So the GP7 and GP9 will be produced before Alco FA’s?

That is my current understanding based on the rate of orders coming in.  Sales are doing well on the GP7/9s while the FAs are a little behind.  They'll both happen.  It just always depends on when orders at any given time. 

Jonathan/GG1 4877,

Any update on your current plans for the change in F3 Phase production.  I've ordered a full PRR ABA set based on your email stating they are going to be Ph II.  Thanks.

Ron,

Yes, the PRR F3 will be phase II.  We will be reviewing the first round of factory drawings this weekend at Scott's office just after he gets back from his latest trip to China.  There is a lot to review!  I have my order in for an AB in PRR myself.

GG1 4877 posted:

TM Terry posted:

I was excited about the upcoming L&N FA-2 offering by 3rd Rail. Ordered one, then they announced the L&N FA-2 would be L&N's 1960's paint scheme. So much for a transition era L&N FA-2 offering.

That project is well into next year at this point.  Nothing has been set in stone for the FA-2 project.  I would think it is likely we will do the early scheme for L&N.  Scott takes his best guess with photos or other artwork to start.  Send him an email on your interest as others would likely prefer the same scheme. 

I had ordered the L&N FA-2 when the initial announcement was made. The drawing on their website showed the transition era colors. A couple months later the drawing was replaced with a photo of the 1960’s paint scheme. I called and canceled my order.

I will get back on board when I feel assured that the transition era paint scheme is one of the L&N FA-2’s being offered.

GG1 4877 posted:

Ron,

Yes, the PRR F3 will be phase II.  We will be reviewing the first round of factory drawings this weekend at Scott's office just after he gets back from his latest trip to China.  There is a lot to review!  I have my order in for an AB in PRR myself.

I have some F3’s in order when will we see delivery,thanks

My wish list (for now):

Steam: Erie K5

Diesels: GP30 and SW1

GGD passenger cars: Erie Stillwell coaches

Who wouldn't want one of the beauties :-)

MR-150 posted:

I have some F3’s in order when will we see delivery,thanks

Scott will know more than I would.  E6s are in progress so I'm just guessing that the end of the year is a reasonable time frame. 

jonnyspeed posted:

GGD passenger cars: Erie Stillwell coaches

Hmmm.... I just bought a book that has the plans for those along with all the mid Atlantic RR suburban coaches except for the CNJ standard coach which was the one I was looking for!   

I would guess a hard sell to get the numbers for such a unique car in anything but brass, but who knows?

GG1 4877 posted:

MR-150 posted:

I have some F3’s in order when will we see delivery,thanks

Scott will know more than I would.  E6s are in progress so I'm just guessing that the end of the year is a reasonable time frame. 

jonnyspeed posted:

GGD passenger cars: Erie Stillwell coaches

Hmmm.... I just bought a book that has the plans for those along with all the mid Atlantic RR suburban coaches except for the CNJ standard coach which was the one I was looking for!   

I would guess a hard sell to get the numbers for such a unique car in anything but brass, but who knows?

Scott liked the Stillwell idea AND I posted a poll on the 2 rail Facebook group and after just 2 days 11 people would purchase 1-9 cars and 2 would purchase 10+.

Cool!  Modernized or as delivered?

Hozabout Reading standard suburban coaches to go behind the Weaver G1/G2 or the SGL G3?

E1a E1b yes defiantly       but Kim Jong-un's bullet proof train ????? its current history 

Cotton Belt 819 also Santa Fe TK tankcars like the PRB series from years ago.

Agree!  E1 and E1b..... and later E2....  Would be nice to be possible for having an example of each in the line of E series motive power.

As for the Frisco and connecting line, the QA&P:   Many lines ran the same engines in that period of the early 20th century.  To have some available in a choice of lines, such as....   4-4-0 Americans in correct detail and paint for the QA&P...……. 4-6-0  in correct for QA&P/Frisco/T&P        2-10-0  Decapods for the same lines as mentioned.    In fact, to have a choice of popular and often used engines on Short Line Rails, and anyone produce passenger/freight cars also correct for such, even undecorated so they can be detailed specific to any Short Line.

I know, it can be a tall order for any company.  But, to allow modelers to have representation of the many Short Lines in our country.  Many of the large, and too often modeled, major railroads were at times dependent upon the Short Lines.

Jesse   TCA   12-68275

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:  

GG1 4877 posted:

Cool!  Modernized or as delivered?

Either, or both

FYI, The count on FB is now 15 votes for 1-9 cars and 3 votes for 10+ cars in 2R.

A scale transfer caboose

I would definitely be in for a couple of E1A’s. 

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