Wherefore art thou, Northern Pacific?

I hear your cries O' fellow NP brother from another Mother.

I was a die hard modeler of the NP in HO scale and I put it all on the shelf to model in O scale high rail... 

There are a few modelers here that have fantastic GN and NP locomotives and cars but they are mostly all 3rd rail brass. Way outside my wallet.

One of these days our cries will be heard, until then my HO brass stays on the shelves.

There was a peak of Northern Pacific O Scale freight cars about 5 to 10 years ago. Then they seem to have run low on freight cars to produce.

Lionel's latest catalog has an O Sale NP Pig Palace Live Stock car and the N.P. 40' flat car.

What Northern Pacific freight cars have been missed?

Andrew

I remember the days that MTH produced Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac and a club friend bought every RFP Item he saw becasue that was the Railroad he grew up near... Now that he has passed MTH has not produce any cars just the Berkshire and F units 

MTH Premier Line Northern Pacific releases:

http://mthtrains.com/search/No..._product_line%3A3934

Those are the Northern Pacific locos and cars that MTH has produced over the past 20 years.

Andrew

The N.P. PS-2 2-bay covered hopper and N.P. ACF CenterFlow 2-bay covered hopper can not be found on the MTH product listing.

Andrew

You guys know you can custom make stickers and decals... right?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MicroS...2:g:5owAAOSw9r1V-unu

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micros...c:g:8oEAAOxyOlhStbRC

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Walthe...yAf0PVLKEH7tzAfyQ4tw

etc

Little bit of elbow grease and maybe a repaint, and you have as many NP units as you want.

Atlas O has offered some VERY nice NP freight cars and NP diesel models, while Sunset/3rd Rail has produced three or four different NP steam locomotive models (2-8-8-4 Z5, 4-6-6-4 Z6/Z8, 4-8-4 A3, A4 & A5 plus 2626).

MTH did some boxcars for NP.I am not sure but I think MTH did some steam locomotives.Not sure what types thou.As for my self I have a gondola car for NP.I am sure lionel has some boxcars for the NP.Thing is not to give up keep looking.You might go to a train show.I was at a train show and it was closing time.I walked by a table that had a wasbash gon but there was no price.So I asked the guy would he take $10.00 for it.He said yes I was so happy.And my guess he did not want to take some of that stuff back home.So keep at it.

Good Question - I wouldn't mind a Northern Pacific to add to my collection. I don't favor one RR over the other - I buy what I like - Don't have one and surely purchase one from Lionel / MTH if available.

There is so much NP stuff out there I am surprised you complain.  K- Line did a really nice NP train.  I cannot think of a majorNP locomotive that has not been done.  In fact, I believe I have a couple in my collection.

Here you go

I have an NW-2 as well, but haven't figured out iPad to OGR transfers yet.  Is there a simple way to do that?

Well a quick search from MTH says 40 diesels, 16 steam, etc (in all scales):

http://mthtrains.com/prod-sear...ield_roadname%3A3962

steam:

http://mthtrains.com/prod-search/%20?f[0]=field_roadname%3A3962&f[1]=field_product_classification%3A7042

diesel:

http://mthtrains.com/prod-search/%20?f[0]=field_roadname%3A3962&f[1]=field_product_classification%3A7037

I got these F7 A-As in G scale:

http://mthtrains.com/70-2042-1

Engineer Joe

Yeah, you can find a bit of stuff from the past (much of it O Modern), but actually finding stuff TODAY that is scale and period and actually AVAILABLE is rather difficult.  Believe me, I scour the forums and eBay for stuff all the time when I am actually supposed to be working and earning money to pay for trains.

Bob2

Please send me your K-Line NP train, post haste.  I can't find one.  Appreciate it! 

Steamwolf:

Yes, agreed.  One can create one's own NP devices.  But this requires three distinct skill sets.  Airbrushing, careful decal application and consumption of copious amounts of good bourbon.  Alas, I am only good at one of those things.

- timbo

FWIW, wherefore = Why.

Here is some for ya. 

Northern Pacific Z-8 hustles a manifest freight thru Wellmanville. 

Northern Pacific W class mikado ready to depart the yard.

Z-8 hustles through Cooters Corners. 

A-3 on the Alaskan thru Cooters Corners.

Northern Pacific GP9s through Sherwin cut. 

Hope you enjoyed.

Regards,

Jerry

An etymology notation - all right! "Wherefore" is often used incorrectly as a result of a misunderstanding of the famous line in Romeo and Juliet.

 In Romeo and Juliet, the meaning of “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” (Act 2, scene 2, line 33) is not “Where are you, Romeo?” but “Why are you Romeo?” (i.e. “Why did you have to be a Montague?").

But we know what Timbo means: Wherefore is there a paucity of Northern Pacific? 

Agreed! Here are two favorites (Z-8 and Z-5)

I 2- railed a complete set of NP passenger cars - 21" K-Line - for the local museum.  I am quite sure a sizable donation would spring them free, but I cannot believe they are all that rare.  Just get a set of something else and have them repainted.

I'm pretty sure Timbo was referencing the etymological version of "wherefore" as espoused by Andy Griffith at the 2:23 mark.  So no confusion here!

I too am a big fan of Northern Pacific, and I'm satisfied with what the manufacturers have offered over the years.  I have two NP articulateds, two sets of FTs, two sets of F3s, a set of F7s, GP-9s, a RS-1, RS-11, and a RS-3, all MTH.  I have the postwar pullman green / light green passenger cars, the famous two-tone green passenger cars that came in the early 50s (including a streamlined RPO, several dome cars, and an observation car), multiple 40 ft reefers from IMT, Lionel, and MTH, 50 ft mechanical reefers from Weaver, multiple 40 ft boxcars from Weaver, MTH, Atlas (both pre-"Route of the Vista Dome North Coast Limited" and the mid-50s large nomad scheme), 40 ft Hy-Cubes from Atlas, 50 ft O.B. boxcars from Atlas, 2-bay covered hoppers from Atlas, 2-bay open hoppers from MTH (available in two sets of different numbers), multiple stock cars from Weaver and Crown, drop bottom gons from MTH, flatcars from Weaver, Lionel, and Atlas, and TOFC from MTH.  Atlas made a particularly nice modern caboose.

When they were active, both Champs and MicroScale made a large number of different O scale NP decals for freight and passenger cars.

Of course, the above have been purchased over a number of years and might be difficult to come by at York, ebay, etc.  But at least in terms of recognition vis-a-vis NP, I can't complain.  What is "needed" (from MTH) is a NP SD45 and U25C / U28C.  But after all, amazingly IMO, MTH has yet to do a gray "bloody nose" SP SD45!

But when I "run NP in the Pacific Northwest" on CONUS Lines, I do not have any problem filling out the roster on the layout.

A lot of my family worked for the NP from its early days up to the formation of the BN, so I do buy NP stuff when it is offered by the manufactures, here are a few.

      Bill T.

 I was stunned when I came into O scale. I thought I'd walk into a hobby shop, and grab a couple of modern CSX engines. They must be popular. I was shown the MTH catalog of the latest SD70ACe release. I was told I could order one? I never heard of that. I was used to HO where the engines were in stock and the latest stuff came in large quantities.

 To the point, you can't just say, "I want it now!" Unless your wants just happen to match what's coming out. It took me years to get a fleet together in O scale 2 rail. I suppose U can see some posts here and offer a sum of money that an owner can't refuse!

 Hey! Any new, rich 2 rail CSX fans out there???  

For you Northern Pacific passenger fans I have a complete 8 car set of K-Line NP "North Coast Limited" passenger cars in mint condition and all the boxes.

Contact me if you are interested. It's the complete six car set plus 2 duplicates.

Thanks.

Oops...I forgot. These are 15" cars.

Check out page 76 of the new MTH catalog: Northern Pacific Z-6

http://shop.aaronscitytrains.c...d-reefer-np/dp/15805

Ask and thou shalt receive,right?

Indeed it is nice to see the Challenger represented with PS3.0.  I will happily be picking up one of these.  There is also an NP modern hopper which doesn't fit my period world, sadly.

That NP Z6 shown in the new MTH catalog has an oil tender. That is wrong, the NP Z6 engines were coal burners.