I would like to see Kato put out a Great Dome for the Empire Builder so it could be a complete train. If Walthers could do it in HO why not Kato in N.
I just wonder how many more trains have enough "legs" (ability to sell in sufficient quantities) to support Kato, Walthers, etc.. to tool them..... I will admit I never thought the CZ would sell well enough.... but wasn't surprised that the Super Chief made it.... and am pleased that the Daylight is doing so well. I hope that the Broadway does well enough to support the investment. Beyond the ones already out there are few others that approach their sales potential IMHO... Empire Builder (correct cars, Great Dome, etc..) North Coast Limited Hi Level El Capitan ....and maybe the NYC 20th Century if the PRR Broadway sells through beyond that Kato could do a few new car types and reissue their UP cars as a complete real train... ...but other full trains (Sunset Limited, Canadian, Florida trains, IC City of New Orleans etc.) may not have the following to justify the tooling expense. I may be underestimating the "NTRAK" effect, where people are willing to invest in a pretty train just to run on NTRAK or club layouts that are beyond their usual favorite road modeling interests. I guess we'll see how things shake out after the Broadway..... Charlie Vlk
I have definitely seen the NTrak effect in operation. the NTrak effect is, in part, why I ordered some of the extra Daylight train cars instead of just the basic train. I see the NTrak effect in operation almost every time I see some giant steam locomotive with sound and lighting effects pulling, say, a whole set of MTL collector cars.
Yup a Big dome would sell If you think about it, KATO could market this really well. It would fit in the Super Chief consist, the Empire Builder consist, The Daylight consist, (OK it's not prototypically correct for a Daylight consist because it's a full dome, think that would stop me from buying one for my forthcoming Daylight???.......Nope!)). It would also work in a Milwaukee Road Hiawatha set which IMO will be the next train KATO does after the Broadway Limited. The Walthers HO train is doing well in pre-orders, (so I'm told) plus there are lots of Milwaukee Road fans out there and it's a cool train!! I think KATO has been paying attention to what markets well in HO, but that's JMO. 2slim
What a great thread to resurrect form the dead! I'm partial as the author... Great Dome Lounge would be interesting, but I just don't see Kato doing it as a stand-alone car. Unless they were going to redo the Builder (which I doubt), and insert it into a whole new set, I think you can write Kato off on this. I have been waiting for Walthers to bring a proto Builder in n. Has the HO version met their expectations? The HO Hiawatha should do well. There has been a thought out there that someone was bringing a proto n Builder, and that it would naturally follow that it would be Walthers on the heels of their HO offering. Can anyone confirm this? And if that is Walthers new way of operating, does that mean we can expect an n version of the Hiawatha? Kato has to be cognizant of what its competitors are doing, and it has been said that Kato rushed out it's re-release of its non-proto Builder to frontrun someone else's proto Builder. A while back on this thread, there was a guy who seemed to be the only one who really knew about Kato's upcoming Daylight before anyone else did. He was pretty certain that Kato's next train after the Broadway would NOT be an El Cap. If he is correct, then what is next? It would probably be back to a western train, so what is left? NCL, Golden State, Oly Hiawatha in streamliners. Wide open for a heavyweight offering. Then perhaps back to the east coast for a Twentieth Century Ltd? Centralia has issued a lot of NYC cars recently, however. Any thoughts on a Capitol Ltd? Charlie, you know better than most how Kato operates. Leon told me they would like to bring an all-new passenger train every year going forward. And I think you are right, there has to be enough of an appetite for the train for someone to tool it. As much as I'd like to see a Panama Ltd or Golden State, or some of the lesser known name trains, they will go with what they can sell. And a hi level El Cap would be a winner. NCL-winner. TCL-winner. Cap Ltd-winner. Oly Hi-winner. After that, I think demand drops off in a big way. So they have maybe 5 good all-new streamliners left. In between we will see a CZ #4, and probably a reissue of the UP cars. Do they start dipping into the heavyweight market? Thats some serious new tooling. With the streamliners, there seems to be a lot of overlap. All opinions and ideas welcome...
One big dome does not fit all these trains. Each railroad was quite different. Budd built domes came with different window configurations, with corrugated sides and without. The Pullman built big domes were all smooth side with smooth roof. And of course, as you mentioned, the home built SP domes were a totally different animal all together. The old Bachmann Santa Fe dome is OK if they had only modeled the small "Santa Fe" letter board instead of the huge Auto Train letter boards on the side. They never ran on the Super Chief but showed up on many other ATSF trains.
As nice as a factory Great Dome Lounge would be from Kato, we can essentially get a pretty good representation with the Bachmann car, Brass Car Sides, Microscale decals, MT trucks, and a good painter. It is not off the shelf as a RTR, but it can be done without too much difficulty. If Kato is going to put the effort and expense into tooling another dome, let them do something we don't have---hi-level El Capitan cars. Here's the real question: How many people would buy a prototype El Cap from Kato?
Hmmm.... not sure how I'd feel about that! This summer I started collecting parts for a full set and began painting and customizing: Most of it's Kato but it sure would be nice to NOT have to custom paint the whole train - on the other hand it's somewhat rewarding. :tb-cool: -Mike
What would I do with all my home made resin cars? Hey, I can still run them now and be the only kid on the block with hi-level cars. Not too many of those brass sets out there.
Here's the real question: How many people would buy a prototype El Cap from Kato?[/quote] In a heartbeat! I'd actually buy two sets, one to paint up in Amtrak Phase III and other to keep as is.
I've been slowly assembling the passenger fleet over the past year or so, and I've been holding off on an Empire Builder. Even though the Kato cars look so good, I can't pull the trigger given that there is talk of a proto EB coming from someone. But I haven't heard anything about this alleged release in a long time. Does anyone have any knowledge of this train? I am tempted to start assembling the right Kato, Con Cor/Brass Car Sides, etc to get this train done. It was thought that Walthers was going to bring this in n like they have in HO. Looking for some answers and info...
I would like Kato to produce the HO Rock Island commuter bi-level coaches in N scale. And please, some good New Haven coaches!
That is pretty cool, first non-Bachmann Auto train I have seen. What are you planning to use for mainline power?
Atlamann / Bachlas U36Bs Haven't decided exactly how I'm going to do it yet, but likely will take three Atlas Bxx-7's and modify them with Bachmann parts to represent the U36B. Details of my last Auto-Train project (Dome Diner car) here: How To: Brass Car Sides - ACF Dome Diner Car - TrainBoard.com Regards, -Mike
I just had a thought that they should build the CB&Q Nebraska Zephry..... The articulating cars are all done, all they have to do is make it a little longer, slap on silver paint, some decals, and make a couple of E-5's... or just re-release the E-8's.... i can live with some E-8's....And if not, guess im going to have to buy a few of those intermountain cars, chop em up and make my own!
