You're right, John Breen (Balou Line), I forgot about the Kodachrome paint scheme. Yes, let's get Kodachrome!
Well, since you never know who out and about is reading this and maybe taking notes, I guess I'll throw out my vote to first see the modern, blue and yellow freight warbonnet F45 and modern Super Fleet FP45's! I guess either one of those two is fine to start...
Frankly I'm surprised I was the first one here to bring up the Kodachrome. I'm glad so many others would like to see it too. I'm sure if we are patient it will come.
John, you are right, a Kodachrome would be great. Bet it would look really good running with either the Intermountain Kodachrome tunnel motors or a pair of Atlas Kodachrome B23-7's.
If thats any indication, I'm in a little trouble! I love the idea of the ex-ATSF MKM unit. And I cannot pass up that Wisconsin Central. And the freight warbonnet and a Super Fleet FP45, so, I guess its going to be a four-pack for me!
That list is pure speculation at this point. I spoke with Athearn at Portland and they do not expect to "announce" these for at least one more month but more likely two months. They want to be sure they have all the pricing issues resolved. The art work is progressing for the HO versions and when that is done the N will follow "quickly. AAT is just guessing. If you look at their 'exclusive' photos you will see the 5251 included as a F45. It is an SDP40F after having the nose chopped to allow crew to climb the ladder safely. They are suggesting that Athearn will do the Superfleet colors but not the original passenger scheme? Get real.
Like you've never been guilty of speculation... It's labeled as a 'Proto photo' and is included under the FP45. Note the model 12004 FP45 isn't labeled as being numbered 5251, AAT just incorrectly used a SDF40-2 in the Freightbonnet scheme to show what a FP45 in the Freightbonnet scheme looks like. I don't how you're getting that, unless you're assuming... I don't see Superfleet anywhere on the page. Last time I checked, the original passenger scheme can be simplified to silver/red Warbonnet. http://atsf.railfan.net/atsfpres/sf5944cblackwell.jpg
Based on the photos on the German website, I'd say all of those red/silver warbonnet's are Super Fleet, and the photo you linked to is the Passenger scheme, the only real difference is the lettering of "Santa Fe". Big red letters is Super Fleet and small black letters is passenger (like the original F units). That may be what George is referring to, the German site is not showing any passenger schemes. Now the real question for me is, would I got with a pair of passenger or a pair of Super Fleet? both are outside my models areas of interest (modern day and early 1950s).
"They are suggesting that Athearn will do the Superfleet colors but not the original passenger scheme? Get real." Seeing they release multiple runs with the SD70-series, even though they haven't announced a passenger red and silver scheme, prehaps a second run? Who ever heard of a company releasing every paint scheme on a first run?
I was shown three different shells for these by the Athearn rep at the WGH show in Atlanta. There were labels on the inside - one said "Burlington Northern", the second said "Gt. Northern", and the third said "Milwaukee". When I inquired about this, was told that "Yes, the F45's would be road-specific as to shells". :cat:
The disclaimer at the top of the German FP45 page pretty much sums it up: "Itemnumbers are optional by AAT Germany and not officially given by Athearn ! Please, do NOT send orders with these numbers to Athearn / Horizon !" Since they're not legit, why does AAT even dream them up to begin with?
Yes, stores obviously need SKUs for ordering and inventory control (been there, done that), but like I said originally, since AAT's numbers have no basis in reality, what's the point? Why won't they just wait until Athearn actually releases stock numbers and roadnames? By doing this, they just create more problems in the long run, thanks to people thinking the numbers are legit, and causing confusion if they try to use them when placing orders.
The proprietor of the German site and I have had many discussions over the years that I was at Kato about his practice of posting speculative item numbers and descriptions. He caused a lot of problems for Kato and other manufacturers with his creative practices. His reason is that the German market is still tuned into a annual announcement for the year's production mentality and customers need a long lead time to decide what their purchases are going to be each year. We haven't had once a year product line marketing since the heyday of Lionel and American Flyer when the year's program came out in catalogs for the coming year after the line was previewed to buyers at the Toy Fair in New York. That pattern really never developed for the Scale Model Railroad Industry even though there were annual shows that announcemets were made at.... most or many announcements were made via advertisements in magazines as products were ready or near ready to take orders on. In spite of the disclaimer, anything that gets posted on the internet will be taken as gospel and dealers will use the information to take orders on. Sometimes manufactuers will lag behind vendors in posting new release information on their own websites because they want their wholesalers and retailers to be in the know before customers start trying to place orders. This is becoming increasingly difficult to do with the instant disemination of information that the internet affords.... but make sure your information is coming from a trusted source, not just "I saw it on the internet"! Charlie Vlk
