Well, i've been holding off on doing special runs of engines, mostly cause of the money outlay involved. But with the future production of some MTH diesels still uncertain, when an opportunity to add on to some of the MTH 2021 production came along, I took the leap.
Considerations were the accuracy of the engine in being 1/4" scale, the detail of the engine, the price, and finding railroads with a a following that had the engines. As some of u know, the detail in engines of every manufacturer has increased greatly since about 2000. So I was looking for a later tooling engine, with good detail. As it turns out, the later "Railking Scale" has more detail than the early Premier engines. In fact, they are quite nice. (same is true of later Atlas Trainman....the last made GE Dash8-40C's are really well done ) The railking scale engines are also 100 bucks cheaper than Premier, for a nice full scale , well detailed engine, with P3.0 . The engines in that Category are The RS-1, SW1500, MP15, SW1, and probably a few others I'm forgetting.
As for railroads, I went with shortlines that I know are popular (from the east coast, cause thats where I'm from, and we still have a lot of east coast cutomers), and the belt line railroads in the midwest, that i used to love to photograph, with their lashups of lower HP diesels.
So here's what I went with....
Morristown and Erie RS-1, in the later red scheme.
Black River and Western RS-1, in the "classic" scheme
Indiana Harbor Belt SW-1500, in the 1990's black (or is it dark gray) and orange scheme (Honestly, I wanted to do them in the 1970's NYC scheme, but think this would be a better compromise, between the old NYC black scheme, and the new bright orange scheme) These were very commonly doubleheaded on the IHB
Terminal Railroad Assn of St Louis. They were SO famous for their large EMD switcher fleet, and commonly ran up to 4 switchers together at a line. IDK if anyone did them in O gauge before.
I hope you all like my choices. You cant please everyone, but I didnt want to do any more of the BIG rr's, as they have been done so much... There will be 2 different road numbers for each engine. There will only be 15 pieces of each engine produced. They will be available for pre-order on our website shortly.
FWIW..(not that u asked)..Im working 12 hour days down in LA now, in the TV biz. After a year of production at a minimum, and the Covid rampant in LA, things are calming down, and production is picking up. Im trying to get trains out too..but please be patient, I even brought trains down to LA with me, so that I can get them shipped if i have a light day.
Thanks, everyone, for your orders. Its really appreciated, and ill get everything shipped as soon as possible.
beth
Unbelievable! I never thought I'd see TRRA in O. Thank you!
But I sold the TIU.
