Golden Gate Depot 1951-53 Super Chief

Nice, but shouldn't the black diaphragms be silver?

Well, OK. 

Man those cars look good. I still haven't picked my sets up yet. The only thing I see right off the bat that I will change is painting the diaphragms black.

Eric, these things would not be available at all if it were not for 3- rail purchasers.  That fact drives cost and detailing.  The reason PRB and Wasatch were so expensive is that the market simply is not there.  You can plead, but it will not happen - 2- rail is an extremely sparse market.

Sort of opinion.

Bob

For some Sunset/GGD models 2 rail sales equal or exceed 3 rail.  O scale is indeed a small market.  A slightly different view is that 3 railers wouldn't have the scale models they are seeing from Sunset and GGD without the orders and technical data coming from the 2 railers.  It takes both communities to make the numbers work for Scott. 

We'd likely agree that one of the biggest changes in O gauge is the increasing number of 3 railers who want scale detailed rolling stock.  A frequent comment by 3 rail OGR posters is that they don't have the space for 2 rail due to our broad radius curves.  I wonder if there would be a market for an outfit like MTH to produce a line of near scale 2 rail track with 42" (O-84) curves to go along with their 2/3 rail convertible locomotives running with DC/DCC capable PS3 electronics. 

Ed Rappe

Ha Ha Ha.  Good one, Laidoffsick.

I'll send Scott an email right now for sky blue pink for the El Capitan cars  Seriously though, mine will be coming off and sprayed bright silver.

The last couple of runs of SS/GGD lightweight cars are exceptional buys for the money and from the looks of the Super Chief set, SS/GGD is getting better and better at building these. I have their last two Union Pacific sets and they look great. Maybe now we'll see some UP domes. 

Are they as detailed and as correct as the Wasatch train I once owned.....no.....but the SS/GGD's can be played with, run and handled without fear of something breaking that drops the value to half. Something to be said about peace of mind. 

A lot of bang for the buck in my opinion.  Thanks for posting Erik!

Butch

Erik, thanks for taking the time to review the GGD SC.  I enjoyed reading your comments.  

Wow, those are nice!  Some of the nicest passenger cars I've ever saw...

Thanks for the Pics Erik.  I've actually never seen the cars as I have a PRB set.  I really tried to get Scott to do the PS Regals rather than the ACF ones so I could use them with my PRB cars but...

The reality is the 2-railers drive up the detail and the 3-railers drive down the price.  That is the compromise Scott has to deal with.  $100 more per car would not bother me all that much for the additional fidelity and detail it would add but the 3-rail folks would just walk away and say the MTH and Weaver cars are fine for their price. For me the MTH and Weaver cars are worth zero, I would prefer nothing to having them.

Even now the 3-rail participation is dropping like a rock while the 2-rail participation is flat or only slightly increasing.  This is why the quantities situation is such a big deal.

The underframe is not negotiable at this price point. He couldn't even get a different underframe for the dome considered.

The dome itself was a big deal and the builders went though several iterations getting it down.  The why is simple, a lower version was used on the Columbian dome and the same full height dome will be used on the Train of Tomorrow cars.

The Accucraft built GGD Canadian cars will have different underframes for the domes only because that was negotiated 4 or so years ago to compete with the Atlas cars.

On a tangent,

Delta Models is working on an accurate interior for PRB ACF Regal cars that should work for these ACF Regals if someone is so inclined.

I think the interior for the GGD '38 Broadway diner moved their bar higher.  Bob Heil must have done some great upfront work cause it's awesome. 

Richard works with me on a lot of these projects, but things go down differently in the design meeting than in our data gathering sessions. Here is an update to what Richard said.

We are not doing the same dome on the UP Train of Tomorrow that we did on the Columbian unless the design drawings show this to be true, although the design height is the same, there seem to be subtle differences. We make these projects 1 by 1 and don't look to reusing designs from one to another unless it is warranted to be accurate. There is no tooling on the domes, they are made from etched brass, so the designs change from project to project with ease.

The Canadian underbodies are spectacular and very unique to that train. True we negotiated these 4 years ago, but that is not why it was done. It was done to be accurate to that train. I worked with Jason of Rapido Trains to get the underbody designs for plastic tooling since he had just made the same train. I am not sure these underbodies apply to any other models except these specific Budd Cars.  I may make them available for separate purchase once these cars are delivered. Again, thinking outloud.

As for 3 Rail orders dropping like a rock, that depends on what project. Our Aluminum projects are fine. Diesels are great, unless we are making something that has just been made by others. Steam engines are in steady decline of demand in 3 Rail. Everyone importing sees that.

Scott - China

Hood units in the future[ preferbly SDs]?

Nice.  I hope that GGD will do another run of this set with the original full skirting on all of the cars.

The cars featured in this set are the earliest variation of the 1951 SC. Many of the cars still feature the skirting that was indeed later removed as featured in the PRB set that really typifies 1955-1957 era. I prefer the earlier look with skirts as I will also use them in a War Time SC and possible 1941-1949 Chief consist. Even though the names are not right I still can fudge the "early" look far better with GGD cars than the later PRB cars.

RPO as follows

GGD

PRB

As you can see both PRB and GGD did an exceptional job with this project. I am amazed how terrific the GGD cars are. It is exactly what we need in the O scale hobby. Authentic, accurate models. Granted not as detailed as a brass car but any competent modeler can add to his or her taste. Lest we not forget the days of Midland Reproduction's kits, albeit wonderful in their time; a degree in engineering helps in the construction process. 

NICE WORK SCOTT!

I agree Bob the brass plated PRB fluted panels are a "toooooooooooo- MUCH" exaggerated is the word I am looking for. Cool concept and carried out right is OHH SO COOL! DVP's Budd RDC was profound in this arena. WBM rocked with this project!

Look at those rain gutters! 

Thanks.  I agree -those are well done.  Your photos are as close as I will be able to get to those beauties.

You always provide the most extensive coverage of these passenger trains Erik!

Thank you for that and the professional pictures of the models!

I appreciate it.

Rick

Great looking cars.

Erik,

Thanks for the ATSF comparisons and great pix! 

"Look at those rain gutters"....

Bill

Erik excellent photos as always.  Thanks for taking the time to post them and for the comparison, they are indeed beautiful cars.

Charlie has - https://ogrforum.com/t...36#29305391641846836

Also, if you look at the interior colors of the PRB and GGD dome seating, they are different.  PRB red, GGD (I'm too lazy to go downstairs) is another color.  Which is correct, or is it something else?  I can't find a photo of an in service 500 series dome, it's either a B&W photo or an artists drawing for a brochure.  

A couple of things other than color are to add people and improve the lighting.  The two LED's don't do it for me.  I'm going to check how Atlas lighted the CZ domes, which has a more pleasing effect.  Otherwise there are tiny SMD Chip LED's I've used for cab lighting in the past.

Evan Designs has these chips.  I've use theirs but also used others.

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/smd-chip-leds.html

Good luck!

Hi Erik

Excellent photos, to show us these passenger cars, at a lot of cool angles.

Cheers from Michigan

Looks Super!