For All You California Zephyr Fans...

I also received that email. Atlas O has a lot of nerve. Some of us have been since 2009 putting this consist together. I wonder what the sale price will be including locomotives. Being a true train guy. There is no value I can put on the excitement and frustration of putting my consist together. Also use this link for some details and history on that train.

California Zephyr History 1http://www.wplives.com/operations/passenger/cz/index.html

If you get it through the GSC do you get a print of that painting?  I like it.  My guess on the price will be between $3000 and $3500 for the 12 cars and the 3 locomotives.  Actually, probably $2999.95 through the GSC,  because that is so much better than $3K.  

I am glad to hear they continue to make the cars. A real winning product in my mind. I just received the latest releases and really enjoy running them.

I am very happy with my CZ cars, Atlas has done a wonderful job on these.  Now that said it will be interesting to see the price for these sets.

At least they'll all match. Maybe.

CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR (R).  Who has the rights to this name?  UP?  BNSF?  Amtrak?

I want its predecessor, the "Exposition Flyer", in steam with heavyweights.

There were F units built for the Q for use on the CZ.  The usual power were the E units.  Why did the Q buy them?  Possible run through to the Grande and the WP?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

There were F units built for the Q for use on the CZ.  The usual power were the E units.  Why did the Q buy them?  Possible run through to the Grande and the WP?

The "original plan" for the CZ was that each of the three railroads would purchase the necessary sets of passenger equipment AND motive power for Chicago to Oakland CZ service. Apparently each railroad assumed that motive power would be "run through". However, when the CZ finally went into service, the D&RGW and the WP were insistent that their, and ONLY their diesel would be handling their portion of the service. Thus, the CB&Q wasted their money on the three A-B-A F3 unit sets, as the Burlington did NOT have any mountain grades, and thus had NO USE for F Units in their passenger fleet.

Subsequently, the silver painted CB&Q A-B-A F3 sets lasted well short of a year in CZ service, as the CB&Q quickly purchased E7A units for the CZ service. The silver painted F3 A-B-A units had their steam generators removed, traction motor gearing changed, and placed in the freight pool. They did however retain their original 9900 series "passenger service" road numbers. 

Okay...what do you guys guess the "price-point" will be???

Hot Water posted:

Dominic Mazoch posted:

There were F units built for the Q for use on the CZ.  The usual power were the E units.  Why did the Q buy them?  Possible run through to the Grande and the WP?

The "original plan" for the CZ was that each of the three railroads would purchase the necessary sets of passenger equipment AND motive power for Chicago to Oakland CZ service. Apparently each railroad assumed that motive power would be "run through". However, when the CZ finally went into service, the D&RGW and the WP were insistent that their, and ONLY their diesel would be handling their portion of the service. Thus, the CB&Q wasted their money on the three A-B-A F3 unit sets, as the Burlington did NOT have any mountain grades, and thus had NO USE for F Units in their passenger fleet.

Subsequently, the silver painted CB&Q A-B-A F3 sets lasted well short of a year in CZ service, as the CB&Q quickly purchased E7A units for the CZ service. The silver painted F3 A-B-A units had their steam generators removed, traction motor gearing changed, and placed in the freight pool. They did however retain their original 9900 series "passenger service" road numbers. 

The Katy and FRISCO "solved" that problem with the E&'s for the TEXAS SPECIAL.  However, that became an operational headache for those units could only be used on that train.  SP-UP=CNW learned about that on the CITY OF LA?SF trainsets.

Was there any consideration to have those units run through on the EMPIRE BUILDER?  Or GN wanted their units up front?

Looking forward to hearing what the price will be for the whole set. This will be hard to pass up now that I have the dome observation in my possession and have been very impressed with the beauty of this model.

SD60M posted:

Okay...what do you guys guess the "price-point" will be???

I've done my share of speculating for this week over in the VisionLine GG-1 pricing thread, so I'll sit this one out.   But I'll leave you guys and gals with a couple of questions to ponder...

Since all the individual parts of the train have already been announced by Atlas-O (i.e., passenger cars and motive power), there's no real mystery there.  So the missing factor revolves around, "What value (if any) is Atlas-O gonna place on offering the entire set as a whole offering?" 

For example... if each car carries a $160 MSRP, and 3 powered locomotives are $500/each (MSRP).  That's a grand total of $3,420 right there for your starting point.  Staggering to think those of us who built this train over the past 7 years have spent that much money on it!!!    So does Atlas-O go a bit higher or a shade lower for providing everything as a complete set?  Secondly, will the dealer sets be priced the same as the Golden Spike Club set?  Presumably, dealers will have the leeway to discount as they see fit to move the merchandise at whatever profit they want/need at the moment.  Whereas the Golden Spike Club set from Atlas-O directly will likely be a "take-it or leave-it" MSRP.

Bottom line... as these prices push into the stratosphere for top-dollar offerings, importers seem to like the idea of "previewing" the offering... then letting the idea simmer in our minds for a few months... then bang... here's the price!!!  We're in the midst of both Lionel (Vision Line GG-1) and Atlas-O (CZ complete sets) doing exactly that.

Not sure how all you folks view this approach.  I have no problem admitting that I for one can't afford all these goodies... nor do I even have the space for them if I could.  But I do have a limited budget that I could allocate across a subset of items, and having a bunch of these $1.5K-$3.5K items dancing in the air simultaneously is a bit mind-boggling.  I'd hate to pre-order one item at $2K (which might be the one pre-order for the year at that price-point for me) only to find out the next month that another "really-nice-to-have" item comes in at $2,200.      I can't be the only one that feels this way. 

David

While everyone speculates, we are in revenue service and well on our way to making back original capital investment.  We do charge a high premium on all bar tabs; thus  far few complaints.  The last segment is powered by Atlas WP F7s, and none of the engine sounds have been dubbed, although there are some special sound effects in the video.

http://www.railsforfun.com/woo..._zephyr_fantasy.html

Only 75 easy payments of $39.99!

In all seriousness, these are wonderful cars, but when could on reasonably expect delivery given Atlas recent track record? 2020?

Realistically Atlas is speculating on this preproduction project to see if sufficient reservations can justify the set being produced,once pricing and potential delivery schedule are posted along with a reservation cut off date only then will we know if this gets built.

It appears that the locomotives are offered separately. Are three powered units necessary? I am using Lionel locomotive power.

Maybe  we are are looking at $1920.00 for the set of cars. It is a complicated idea. Do you offer all of one road name (which is what I purchased) or as historical documents show actually ran the first day. Which offering will invite the most customers? Also how do they know that the market is not already saturated?

Again, I am glad I got in when I did and got it done especially after the Lionel fiasco. I missed the silver roof Silver Rapids but I have the other. Why not another road name with those cars? That way, it is likely that more sets are sold (CZ owners and new buyers). Just my thoughts as a happy customer.