In the "old" days I had to look at manufacturing costs in many foreign lands. There had to be a huge differential before it was worth producing elsewhere as oppose to USA. Also we found the American & Canadian was willing to pay considerably more if there were going to be headaches in obtaining/using the cheaper/lower cost product. IOW Price alone does not sell a product. Kudos to MTL. ...don
Based on that idea, and the fact that I mill the Autoracks and Rob Kluz puts the trucks on, I think we can proudly say that the Autoracks are "MADE IN USA" -Rob(A) AZL (A 100% outsourced Norwegian company, owned by and American and a Noregian, Distributed in the USA, Designed in USA, Norway, Korea, and China with manufactuing in China, Korea, and USA. Confused yet? So are we!)
AZL Autoracks Anybody hear any new's/update's from AZL regarding production of anymore autoracks? TTX, CSX, NS, GT? ...any roadnames!?
I hope all future runs don't have their stir-up steps filed off! What a pain it was rebuilding all 4 corners of EVERY car. :mshocked: Why was this done in the first place??
Eddie! Don't ask such questions. Don't you know? If you question such things, you will be told you are a "negative" to our hobby. Take a look at post #61 in this same thread.
We have new autoracks on order. Not sure when they will be delivered, but probably this summer. We bit the bullet and removed the steps and some of the lower metal, sorry. If our self-centering couplers had worked we could have avoided this, but focus has to be on operations. Such a long freight car is a challenge in itself because of the truck placement. We also modified the internal weight since many of our first units had a conflict between the plug that holds the truck to the car body and the internal weight. Also, the side sheet metal is improved. Yes, the UP "Building America" will be part of the lineup.
Hmmmmmm I too am waiting on more Autoracks. I have a nice variety right now, so I am not completely flustered that the first run of these were screwed up by SDK. Yes they do not have stir-ups, but...... I have them. I'm gonna post this, but I'm not going to say what I want to say, exactly how I would like to say it!!! Here goes! I have known about Z scale since the mid 70's. Thought ever since about getting those tiny trains in modern US. In the early 90's I would frequent a huge train store in Houston, near the Astrodome. The Marklin Z showcase would always grab my attention. Never really liked the F7 they produced or the goofy placement of trucks on their freight cars, but, it was Z. Always told myself I'd get into Z if someone would start making Modern US. Well, here I am. Been here a little after hearing about the Rogue to AZL transition. Started with a BNSF Heritage II C44-9 brass. Then a Santa Fe C44-9. I was so excited I started buying all kinds of MTL freight. This was back in late 2003. Then it hit me, most of this MTL stuff is not modern. Wound up selling near all of it!!! Only a few boxcars were without a walkway so I kept them. I drooooooled over Harald Freudenreich's Gunderson Husky's, because they were MODERN. Then MTL came out with their Husky's. Finally!!!! A mass produced modern freight car within reasonably price range. I made my first major purchase. Since then and before, if you wanted a unique piece of freight, you had to wait till someone made some(custom), scratched it yourself, or waited for it to be mass produced. Those that had limited $$$ maybe bought one or two of something if it was custom made. Few had the ability to scratch build or didn't want too. So, that leaves the MASS of Z scalers to wait, and wait, and wait for a manufacturer to produce a long, Long, LONG awaited release. May not be exactly what you want, but it was new. Now, right now, we have so much variety, you can pick and choose what you want your niche to be. Mine is Modern/Intermodal. I have lots to choose from, but I still hear that the variety is still not big enough. When something brand new is released, a freight car not yet mass produced, fault is always found in it. Not quite proto-typical, missing a piece here or there, wheel diameter is incorrect, couplers are too long, coupler doesn't work the way I think it should work, the list goes on and on and on and on!!!! If the old saying, "If you want it done right, do it yourself," applied in Z scale, there would be less than a thousand Z scalers across this vast planet we call Earth!!! Only those, who like Nelson Gray, would have the ability to machine the parts needed to make these tiny creation go!!! I've said since I first started in Z, if I ever come across a great fortune, my only task, after personal affairs were covered, is to start a massive company that made everything in Z scale. My company catalog would be the size of the Walther's HO catalog we'd have so much stuff. Now I call that putting my money where my mouth is. Since I have yet to trip over that great fortune, I either scratch build it for myself and others, or I bite my tongue and live with what I have no control over. I wonder if I should continue with my current "Train of Thought" or if I have stated, in not so clear terms, the reason for which I am writing this. My intention is to nonchalantly state that I (and for the Record, several other prominent Z scalers) am growing tired of reading postings where members do more complaining and boasting, than anything else. I miss the days when the forum posters all were ecstatic to post photos of their layouts, modules or their projects and talk about all the cool things that were happening in the hobby. So much was going on with everyone, everywhere. We had some great ambassadors for Z back then. Those that were have quieted down and those of new, will never know what has been. I am going to stop here. I believe my point has been made. Now, on a more Positive note, I am looking forward to the new releases of the Modern Autoracks!!! Thank you for your time! Hobo Tim
Tim, If any or all of that message was directed at me... well I can only wish you spent that type of effort responding to my e-mails with questions about your future releases, But hey if you don't want my business somebody else will right? I just asked a question... I mean hey the stock photos showed steps and when my models showed up the steps were gone and I had a woo woo woo moment. Now I waited a while before making a post, now I have, and I get jumped? Ahhh... reminds me why I don't post photos of anything I build anymore.
AZL Autoracks. If you want to possibly share some of that variety, I will give you a new MTL Guilford Rail System GP-9 to do what your heart pleases with, or a new NCE Power Cab!? Yes...I'm being serious, ha! Anyone...?
I agree 100% Tim, thanks for you posting. Eddie I don't think it's against you, it's just a statement that everybody can follow when you are more then 10 Years in Zscale. I can remember 15-20 years ago when I let my Märklin F7 A-B-A run on oversized Track (that where a pitty to join together) with a couple of mixed fantasy Boxcars and I was so proud. Märklin had so many limited edition sales in the high 500$ range for a A-B-A and you can still find them new in the Shop because there where not limited. At this time nobody told me that the F7 from Märklin was way to long and not prototypical. Also all the Tankcars and Boxcars where fantasy style. In those old years I've spend more then 20000$ in Märklin Stuff and I think it has now a value of maybe 6000$. Today you can find so many cool US Z items (thanks to MTL, AZL and all the small Manufactures) and still a lot of Peoples are not pleased. The same problem you can find in N or H0 Scale and I think in all other Hobbies also. You can not make everybody lucky! BTW, I miss the fantastic pictures from Rob Ray, Jim, Jeff, Torsja and others, the great kitbashes from David Freehling (of course Gerd do stunning work too). Two years ago we had almost every week something new to talk about. Where are those cool guys?
Interesting about the stirups. Take a look at UP Mike's pix previous and I dont see any *hanging* stirup. Just more of a 'pocket' step. That should be easy to recreate, like I did on mine ! Jürg ! We are all here, it is just that we are all working harder ! Each week, I am with Rob Ray as we participate with the Niles Depot N scale construction. We are both crazily working on Z stuff for NTS here in Sacramento (grab that Swiss Air NS to SFO !) .
Quite frankly I miss your pictures Jurg. That cab forward comming out of the fall model was perhaps the best picture I ever saw in Z!
Having been a Z-scaler for 14 years (long time armchair first) I just can see the progress of our beloved scale. Of course nothing is completely perfect, of course manufacturers have to accept a few shortuts (ex MTL GPs and SDs a little bit too wide, etc), but anyway I just see that since 1997 when I started, so many improvements have been done. More than ever, I'm happy with Z-scale and I know this scale is facing a bright future.:tb-wink::thumbs_up: Dom
Has anyone made any Auto Ramps yet? Has anyone released auto ramps yet for these autoracks? I made a design more than a year ago, but needed some fine tuning. I stopped working on it when I saw the quality of the autoramp that TrainCAT was designing. I know he made them in HO and N scale, or so I recall the last time I was on his website, but did he ever make them in Z scale too????? Old Photos of my early attempt at an auto rack. Those are the photos of the auto ramp design I made before fine tuning. Lots of added detail needed to be added. Question, should I proceed with fine tuning? Hobo Tim
