American Z Line has announced plans to release EMD GP7 and GP9 locomotives. The release is set for late 2006. The locomotives will be injection molded and feature a can motor, dual flywheels, and LED lighting. No roadnames have been set at this time. Pricing will be announced closer to time of release. Rob Kluz
A few months ago, I was thinking, "What would be the most useful engine that Z doesn't have yet?" It would have to be something significantly different from anything yet released, used by many railroads for a long time... This was what I decided on. Therefore, I predicted it was coming soon. In retrospect, I'm almost surprised we didn't get this earlier. SD40T-2s and F45s before the considerably more common GP9? (No, I'm not complaining.) I guess they must've reused mechanisms from the other six-axle engines in production at the time. Speaking of which... what other engines could be built on the same mechanism as the GP7/GP9?
And of course rebuilds, like GP10s or even GG20Bs... With a swap of AAR sideframes for the Blomberg-Bs, are there any GE or ALCo engines that could use the same mechanism?
I really hope they do NP, in the canoe scheme, as that's a hard one for me to do myself repeatably. I need several of these units, both the GP7's and the GP9's in regular and torpedo tube flavors. Let's push for NP this time! An NP diesel in Z Scale! Hurray! -Robert
The RS11 is a perfect match for a GP7/8/18/20 mechinism. Looks interesting. If thre wasn't such a derth of passenger and freight equiptment, I might switch.
