Idea for Williams by Bachmann.......

The former K-LINE F7 A-B diesels could be made in accurate SOO LINE paint schemes from the 1950's and the 1960's. The SOO LINE schemes can be found at www.sooline.org .

Andrew

I wish they would also dump the old F7 molds and use the much more accurate K line model for these.  They should probably do the same with the FM trainmaster and stop using the old post war body.  Williams by Bachmann  produce a lot less road names than the former Williams used to. I have been looking for the Scale Alco FA's in Reading but no one has any. I think if the Produced Alco FA's in Wabash ,Reading, and Boston and Maine they would probably have brisk sales?

What I would love to see Bachmann/Williams do is produce something other then the N5C caboose. It has been way over produced. Let's see more caboose styles like H.O. has; work caboose, bay window caboose or extended vision caboose.

Let's have some more realistic engines being made, not every railroad ran a GP-38 or GP-9. 

Lee Fritz

Sounds like a good idea to me, why not use the tooling to make a better product?  

I will say the Williams, from  Kusan tooling, are "really nice with their odd windshield shape and off nose couture", but for the nostalgic aspect.

I remember as a very young boy, maybe 6-7 years old, visiting a neighbor's basement play room up the street and they had a fairly intricate "O" layout(which in that day was probably about 4' x 16') integrated with a slot car setup that really stood out in my mind... and I could not find any of the track or equipment in any of my Lionel catalogs despite a lot of it really looking very similar to some of our Lionel equipment. It was 2 rail for starters... and I had no idea what that stuff was until I found out about Kusan/KMT/AMT in my college years.

And then some very familiar looking engines were introduced by Williams that I jumped on. I still run those early F7 diesels(UP & WP) for hours on end on the Christmas putz layout. I learned early on in the late 80's / early 90's that with a big honkin' capacitor and the motors wired in series that these diesels are great for hauling long drag freights at very slow speed for long periods of time. I added traction tires to the front & rear power trucks and some extra weight to minimize the "open differential" effect of the series wiring.

The former K-Line American Car & Foundry ACF Center Flow 2-bay 2971 Cu Ft, 3-bay 4650 Cu Ft, and 4-bay 5250 Cu Ft Covered Hoppers in authentic RAILROAD paint schemes missed by K-Line.

One example would be FRISCO, BN, D&RGW, SP 2971 Cu Ft 2-bay covered hoppers.

Another example would be SCL Family Lines  and Wisconsin Central 5250 Cu Ft 4-bay covered hoppers.

Andrew

Milwaukee SDL39, please.

Dick

Is the SDL-9 a K-Line item????

I do not see WbB cutting a lot of new tools. With so much tooling out there floating around and sales flat......no one is going to invest in anything unusual.  

That's why I suggested reusing items on hand, maybe new paint, to create a 'new' item with very little capital expense.  I know I'd like another set of the K-Line F-7 ABA sets and WbB running gear would be just fine.

CBQer posted:

Milwaukee SDL39, please.

Dick

Lionel would be the first to make it using their SD38/SD39/SD40 frame and body parts.

Andrew

I think most people are NOT talking about new tooling but re-use of K line tooling. I think most of k lines is superior to the old Williams.  With out a doubt the F7 tooling and FM train master tooling is better. I would even say the semi scale Pacific from k line is better

...except the SDL39 was significantly shorter than the 38/39/40-series units.  They could use elements of the SD39 carbody, but the frame and trucks would be totally different.

The SDL39 could be make by putting new trucks on the former K-Line GP38-2 diesel locomotive.

Andrew

falconservice posted:

The SDL39 could be make by putting new trucks on the former K-Line GP38-2 diesel locomotive.

Andrew

Different carbody, with longer radiators, wider fan spacing, turbo exhaust, air intake, etc.  The rivet counters wouldn't go for it, and anyone who wants an SDL39 wants an accurate one.  Plus it's 4 feet shorter than a GP38.

The Williams Grand Trunk Western GP38 might not have sold very well because they somehow managed to get the paint scheme for it close, but still made a few mistakes. The yellow stripe was added by somebody during the recent CN yellow striping frenzy.

The old K-Line GP38-2 diesel loco should get an accurate Grand Trunk Western paint scheme for GP38-2s that were in the 5800 series. The details are much finer on the old K-Line GP38-2 models than the WBB GP38.

Andrew

Idk why you have to match the K-line body with the Williams Chassis. The K-line chassis is good as it is.... just add the current Williams electronics and sound board.  But really there is s Players of f units. The gp-7 I'd a different story and I would go for that! Even the door line had the fp-7!

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Idk why you have to match the K-line body with the Williams Chassis. The K-line chassis is good as it is.... just add the current Williams electronics and sound board.  But really there is s Players of f units. The gp-7 I'd a different story and I would go for that! Even the door line had the fp-7!

I suggested the WbB chassis as who knows the state of the K-Line mechanicals......also manufacturing and stocking  components needed for just one item is costly. The analyst coming out in me.....trying to make it sound economical.