Bachmann's new fluted passenger cars are showing on the pages of a couple internet retailers. A couple early impressions- 1. The baggage car sure looks 74', even though the product is labeled 85'. 2. The baggage looks like a cross between an ATSF 3432 (steps below doors, fluting comes to door) series and a 3500 (full length letterboard, but fluting cut back either side of the door). 3. Chair car appears to the the same one Con Cor has done for several years (referred to as a twin window Budd), but the number available, at least on one site, is 3070- the first Budd coach ATSF owned, which was much different in terms of windows and details. 4. Not sure what the obs is a model of. Read somewhere when they announced last year that this was a NYC, but will leave it to those more knowledgeable.
I thought maybe the observation car was one of the three high-windowed Brook-series cars of the New York Central, but nope, not even close.
The observation car has the window pattern of the Rock Island "La Mirada" - a one-of-a kind car. Unfortunately, it was built by Pullman Standard, so the fluting and roof on the Bachmann model are all wrong for this car.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^Did CRI&P convert that one into a baggage/passenger combine? I saw a photograph, taken in the 1950s, of a CRI&P train in Kansas. I forget in which magazine it was, now. There was an RDC-1 that was pulling an boat-tailed observation. The railroad had converted the observation end into a baggage section, but had left the observation windows in place. CRI&P had some interesting trains that looked like dream trains for modellers. I saw a photograph of #15 in Classic Trains. The power was an FM roadswitcher. There were several express and mixed HW and LW passenger cars, but in the middle was an RDC-3. I wonder if the RDC-3 had pass-through steam lines and ran in Georgia Overdrive while it was in-consist.
Bachmann lost their minds awhile ago when they came out with the pricing for the Jackson Sharp excursion car ($47) and the 52' TOFC flat with trailer ($52). This just proves that the insanity continues. You come out with a set of cars with ALL NEW TOOLING (as they say over and over again on their website) but you don't include any info as to prototype and what guesses can be made say FOOBIE? Also, check out that incredible detail on the car ends (none, just flat). Worth every penny...I mean worth a penny.
Even at the discount offered by my LHS it is still to much of a price to pay especially for those excursion cars. Thought about adding those to my homebuilt ones but at the prices not now.
A later photo of the La Mirada after the round end was squared off: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3748449
I agree regarding these excursion and the recent heavy weight passenger cars. The latter are nice, but not within my budget. I have two that came with the doodle bug dcc version. They are B&O in Pullman green; odd the separate ones were not done in the same color.
I am so happy that everyones demands on all the manufactures for greater detailing on n scale stuff that it has driven the prices up across the board on EVERYTHING...woooohooooooo !!!!
...and the new passenger cars don't like like they have 'greater detailing'. They look like something from the '70s.
You wonder if they reintroduce the 65 foot shorties that used to go for about $8-$10 what will the price be?
Way back when, and that is quite awhile ago as time goes, Bachmann cars were inexpensive when compared to MT for instance. Not only cheap but when that thick layer of paint was stripped off there actually was fairly good details under that thick paint. A nice thin coat, some decals of my choice and a conversion to MT trucks and couplers and I had a danged nice car. And it was cheap with me on a budget. Those very same cars today go for almost 4 to 5 times the cost of my completed cars paint decals and MT trucks. With the cost of one car today I can almost buy one of my little locos for about $10 more. So I can have this little loco, with DCC on board, nice details, and working couplers. Same old car with no more than the same plastic body of twenty years ago and the only change is a working coupler rather than a Rapido. Yet almost the cost of the loco. Go figure.
Not sure if this would violate forum rules (probably yes), but a link or two would greatly help. I found a few listings on a popular site, but am baffled by the pricing.