I have been told that although the Union Pacific has never owned any well cars to date, some brand new cars of a new design have appeared with the UP shield on. Six passed through Santa Fe Junction on Friday April 3rd but were not carrying containers, pulled by KCS locos. Does anyone in the team know anything about them and can point out where information can be gained? I have checked David Casdorph's excellent database of new cars and there are none listed as newly built double stacks cars for UP either in the last few years - so these are a mystery to me. Can you help? Thanks Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits www.nscalekits.com
Great work. Thank you eevryone. They are also known as Multi Purpose Machines by Herzog - MPMs Herzog has several MPM sets – records are not completely clear but there seemed to my correspondent that there are 'lots of them out there'. They are all set up with a power unit at one end, all highly modified locomotives [on one of the set it is an ex-EMD model GP38 from the late 60s or early 70s but is rebodied and completely unrecognizable], and a remote control cab on the other. This setup makes it bidirectional. Between them are a series of well cars suitable for holding and transporting all manner of railway materials. UP have another version it seems . Thank you - yes Brett Isaacs [BaldyLox https://www.shapeways.com/shops/baldyloxdesigns] has a 3D print version - although this does not appear to be live at the moment. I have worked with him on producing the center cars in metal so that they run a bit better - but these are not available yet, although mastered. Another Shapeway guy and I were working on the Herzog owned set - and we have produced decals for this,. However, these have been withdrawn from sale and there has been no activity for a couple of years in his Shapeways shop. I was not aware that UP had their own set, so this is a great find. Brett's cab is powered using a printed body that fits over a Kato 11-106 Drive unit for the 'B Train Shorty' Express. Brett was also going to produce the modified and narrow Komatsu back hoe that fits onto the rails on the wells, but I have not seen this yet. Best wishes and thanks Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits www.nscalekits.com
Brett has moved all his sales off shapeways to Etsy, he, and a few others print for him on Photons which are giving better results than Shapeways did
I've seen a couple of the Herzog sets and they are neat but that UP set looks really cool. Maybe it's just that style well car that makes the difference.
