On this crooked temporary layout/test track this little bad boy is the only engine that I have that will pull these 34 cars at any speed without a slip. Love the little bugger. If I had more track space I know I could add atleast 10 others. I have some of the longer Kato diesels, none of the compare (out of the box that is). I would probably have to add some weight to them (diesels) for them to compare. I'll most definately run it against the IM FTs on the weekend.
Verse, wow, I can't say I have ever seen so many Superliners in one train before... You are correct, Kato PA-1's are STOUT pullers! Here's the D&RGW version, pulling a California Zephyr:
HemiAdda2d, beautiful engine. The PA1 that I have is the version that I think was built by Kato for Concor. Do you have anymore photos of the ABA unit in the pic.
Unfortunately, no I don't... I'll have to rectify that soon... Yours look like the ones just released last year by Kato.... Awesome runners! Here's an IM FT set in Warbonnet: I guess this is more on-topic than the PA's..
I just noticed something else on the IM unit that bothers me: The detail on the skirts seems to lack as compared to the Kato. Also the tank on the Kato looks more prototypical because the water tank and the fuel tank appear to be seperate. On the IM, there is just a groove and above that is solid area before you get to the skirt. On the prototypes, these were 2 different tanks.
On the FT front: MBKlein (some train store.com) has some of the MT FT AB's on sale this weekend for $100 a pair. The Western Pacific set are tempting me..... http://www.some train store.com/manufacturer/microtrainsft-sale.html
Verne, an excellent review thanks for taking the time to post. Unfortunsately a little before the time I'm modelling but they do look really sweet.
Actually, I covet that golden thing casually displayed on 2damax's train table. I should have never sold my O Scale brass AC12. Where is the weepy, tearful emoticon? (boo-hoo) The guy who bought it from me is buying some more of my leftover O Scale. Perhaps when I deliver those items, he will let me run my (er....his) AC12 on his layout again..... Maybe my Chesapeake Western 2-8-0, too. I do have "visitation rights." OK....I'm over the WP FTs. Now if they were Northern Pacific, I'd have a problem..... I think they are on sale on another eseller's site, but I have been careful not to go there. No need to toture myself.
LongTrain, Are you sure you're over the WP FTs so quickly? Here let me tempt you again! Glad to help! Don
Those WP's are not the ones that were tempting me. The ones I saw were the green and yellow freight units. See that! I swear they are winking and blowing kisses my way.......... Must be stong... (geez - that emoticon looks awful - what's he supposed to be doing? Does he need an Ex-Lax or what?) Orange units are no temptation. I had them in O Scale (orange and silver) and got that out of my system. Where I would be in serious deep doodie is if they had these for $100 a pair: Geez, I gotta get the remaining 150 cars up on the yellow board. Then I can do some serious shopping! [ September 02, 2005, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: LongTrain ]
Longtrain, here is a shot of one of my custom painted ABBA IM FT sets, and my IM F3A I painted for my Northcoast Limited that I'm in the process of putting together. I have three complete ABBA FT sets for Northern Pacific, 3 MT sets factory painted and 3 IM sets I painted.
Thanks for the pix, Bill. My NPs are 4 LL GP18s I have had (it seems) "forever", 9 years? 10 years? I guess i could look them up in the inventory. I also have a powered and dummy FP9 Arnold that came in a Rapido North Coast Limited trainset back in the day. I had two of those sets, and a bunch of the extra cars. Unfortunately, mine started "shrinking" due to an instability in the plastic used, probably, and as the carbodies shrunk and warped, the metal floors blew the ends out. I sold one pair of the FPs and the remains of all the cars to a fellow clubmember. The locos were still good runners, and looked OK. The cars had trucks that Arnold also used on their Euro passenger cars, so they may have gotten used for parts. I kept one pair of the FPs, but have no matching cars to pull with them. Once in a while, I put a train of reefers behind them and run them. They still run great and pull quite well. They are coffee grinders though. You can tell if they are still running because you can hear them from the other side of the room! I think I have paid my dues with the 30 year old stuff, and should replace them with improved models from this century, don't you?
Those are some really nice NP units you have Bill. I bought one AB set of the IM FT's when they came out, and I am really happy with them. I wish I had bought the complete ABBA, but I was unemployed at the time. One thing I noticed about the IM units, is that their molded details are not as crisp as Kato's in closeup photo's, but when you look at them side by side, the Intermountain's look much better to the naked eye. Maybe because the paint and lettering is crisper, and ALL the details are there. Now if we could only convince IM to produce some U25C's, life would be perfect! -Robert
If we could convinve ANY MAJOR manufacturer to produce: U25C, U28CG, U30CG, U30C, U33C, U36C SF30C, U23B/C, SW1500, CF7, FP7, etc life would be perfect. But I digress from your direction.
If we could convinve ANY MAJOR manufacturer to produce: U25C, U28CG, U30CG, U30C, U33C, U36C SF30C, U23B/C, SW1500, CF7, FP7, etc life would be perfect. But I digress from your direction. </font>[/QUOTE]Still sorting though my magazines, and have a big pile to take to the clubroom tomorrow to give away. One of them is a Model Railroader from 1990-91 with survey results published. 15 years ago, what model was at the top of the "most wanted list?" The big U-boats, of course. I hope somebody makes them in my lifetime. My search for used ones so far has only turned up a C30-7 (better than nothing). I sold all my MiniTrix locos except the FM switchers and some K4 Pacifics I am going to try to upgrade. That sale included 5 U28C and U30CGs that were still good runners, plus all the hulks I had stripped for parts. On my NTrak roster, the Minitrix Uboats had the same TE rating as my Atlas Train Masters, at 28 cars per unit. I'm going through serious U-boat withdrawal now. The only one left on the roster is an old Kato U30C in Pennsy "keystones only" paint.
