>>Had you heard that Stewart is doing high hood C628/C630's.....? << I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, though I would love to see them. I spoke to Steve Stewart sent him a fax and an email stating I would take a couple of these hi-hooded beasts if he makes them. I guess right now he isn't sure if he would have enough demand to justify the extra re-tooling costs. The C628 might be the first candidate for hi-hoods since N&W had them and then they sold a bunch of theirs to C&NW.
Thanks for that link. Hopefully when I go to the big show in Springfield Massachusetts this February, I will be able to pick up a couple This should be interesting.
I'd like to see a well detailed plastic model of the 6-8-6 steam turbine and a Milwaukee Road "Little Joe"
Just got my new issue of MR, and in the front few pages is an ad with a NYC 4-8-4 Northern, finely detailed, and factory equipped with a DCC and sound decoder. I believe the company is Oriental Limited, or something, my magazine is still at work. Anyway, is shows a retail price of $249, or something close to that, with all that eqipped. Has anyone heard of these? Are they brass, metal, or plastic? Do they look and operate well???
Really??!! I haven't seen the latest MR yet. Is Oriental now bringing in plastic? I thought they only did brass. Sure can't see brass at under $300. I model NYC and somewhat reluctantly bought a Bachmann Niagara, with plans on detailing it and installing a decoder, haven't found time and it's been over a year. Some projects just don't seem worth it, this was one of them. Funny, I would have expected to hear of a release such as this after I had done the work! I'll have to go to the hobby store and check it out. Thanks, you've made my day. Gary
Sure you aren't missing a zero somewhere! Let us know more when you find the ad, I can't check because we won't get the mag for another 3 weeks or so here in the UK. BTW, to the person that suggested the Little Joe's in plastic, I say.... Yay!
I think you're referring to Broadway Limited (I think Oriental Ltd. is happy doing brass imports ), the new outfit looking at releasing fully equipped HO scale steam. Here's their URL: http://www.broadway-limited.com/ Details sound interesting (no pun intended). I wonder if us Espee fans can convince them to do an SP AC-9 Articulated?
Someone reported this over on railroad net, but said it was a NYC J-1e Hudson (4-6-4) type, confirmed at the link provided above. Sounds interesting to a NYC fan.
I think we'll have a much better chance of getting a C636 shell out of Rail Power Products than a new locomotive out of Stewart Hobbies. I talked to Steve Stewart at the RCHTA show in September, and he categorically stated that he was not releasing a C636 in HO scale. Guess quite a few of us SP&S fans have been pestering him about this engine! Pat
Ok, so does anyone know who we pester at Rail Power Products? I think all of us SP&S (and BN) and the IC/ICG fans could make it worthwile. Who else had 636s? I know that CP had some leased from the ICG. Also, the Pacific Great Eastern, and later British Columbia Railway as well as CP and maybe CN had M636s which are pretty close.
Thanks for the link to Broadway Limited, SP. I just went to their site, and I am stoked! Just knowing that somebody else will be doing a N&W J class, with a DCC decoder and sound factory installed, makes me giddy. I've never been completely satisfied with my Bachmann units. Now, if they would only make an A class...
Ref The C636 I think the difficulty with these is that the Alco Hi-Ad trucks used on these have a different wheelbase to the standard Alco 3 axle truck. The M630/M636 use a different truck again (with a different wheelbase yet again) and so you're talking more work than just doing a new shell for an existing chassis... The other side to that argument is that it would let Stewart do the C&O and RDG C630's with Hi-Ad's. There's also a "diminishing returns" thing going on here, for example the PC/CR modellers have already had C628 & C630 big alco's, so arguably they may already have filled big alco shaped holes on their rosters. Course, they could also have not bought these because they are waiting for the '636s..... I do also reckon that a series of Canadian specific big MLW's would sell, lots of roadnames, CP, CN, PGE, BC Rail etc, quite a few liveries, some long lived machines, the opportunity to do a Canadian specific nose/cab variant with low lights & high bell. See http://reay.net/cdnmlw/index.htm. Roster info credit here goes to: http://users.inna.net/~jaydeet/c636.htm and http://members.aol.com/AlcoHauler/home/century.htm The C636 original roster is something like: 3 x Demo's 6 x IC (non dynamic) 15 x PC 10 x SP&S There were also some sold new to Australian mining operations. Total - 34 units. US/Canadian Road Names for a model - Demo, Cartier Mining, IC, ICG (only 1 unit relettered for ICG), PC, CR, SP&S, BN. So to cut to the chase, if RPP or somebody did a C636 shell, what drive train could it be mounted on? It needs to be something easily available, my best thought would be the Athearn GE - C truck? Check out this Tuck Pic, mentally ignore the big lumpy bit in the middle, and look at the end sections, then the corresponding bulge in front of the centre axle (behind all the suspension/damping malarkey), and it looks pretty much like the GE truck to me. Any other thoughts?
They may tear up my Trainboard membership card for this, but... At some point here I think we hit the "Good enough" point. Yes, accurate trucks and different shells for the ALCO/MLW versions would be nice, but I'd settle for a decent shell for the Stewart mechanisim. I'd hate to see it made for the Athearn as they take LOTS of work to get to the Atlas/Kato/P2K standard. I seem to remember someon at the SP&S historical society convention last febuary that there had been an article in the newsletter about modifying the Tyco shel to a correct 636, but I've never had the time to follow up on it. I'll bet Cannon & Co. or one of those places could make the sideframes, if only we could get the shells. Maybe a project for Proto 2000. Now theres an engine I'd buy a few of!
Just to add another voice to this thread I would love to see the C636 produced. I don't model SP&S, just what went in to Stockton, CA. Oh, that includes SP&S/BN C636s! Well just another voice if someone is counting. Would also love to see the Gators in Santa Fe paint!
