Are we oversaturated with Burlington, GN, NP and ATSF Covered Hoppers?

[Andrew Falconer]

There have been few releases of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy freight cars and locomotives since 2003. Even though there are still many more possible releases like the PS 4427 Low-Side Covered Hopper from ATLAS O and the ACF Center Flow 3-Bay Covered Hopper from Lionel, they have yet to be announced.

The Great Northern ACF Center Flow 3-Bay and 4-Bay Covered Hoppers still have yet to be announced by Lionel. Their super detailed ACF Center Flow Hoppers are great.

There are still many variations on the Santa Fe markings to be applied to the MTH Premier PS-2-CD 4427 High-Sided Covered Hopper, Lionel ACF Center Flow 3-Bay Covered Hopper, and the Atlas O 4427 Low-Sided Covered Hopper.

MTH has produced ATSF ACF Center Flow 3-Bay Covered Hoppers and BN ACF Center Flow 2-Bay and 3-Bay Covered Hoppers in the past 5 years. The Great Northern ACF Center Flow 3-Bay Covered Hopper was just shipped to stores.

The K-Line Great Northern Big Sky Blue ACF Center Flow 3-Bay Covered Hopper was announced, but it was apparently never mass produced in China.

BNSF Diesel-Electric Locomotives and Freight Cars are being produced and even greater numbers over the past 3 years. Lionel and Atlas O decided to make BNSF PS-2-CD 4427 Low-Sided Covered Hoppers instead of Burlington Route or Santa Fe, but Atlas O did add Northern Pacific.

Have the BNSF fallen flags been over used even in O Scale railroading? The Burlington Northern Santa Fe merger happened in 1995, so it must mean that the predecessors are old news to the youngest O Gauge and O Scale railroaders.

The 1997 Green and 1998 Mineral Red BNSF ACF Center Flow Covered Hoppers with the large Circle-Cross Logos are the best version. I would rather have a few more of the BNSF predecessor lines on the covered hoppers than more BNSF.

Andrew Falconer

[Andrew Falconer]

So far Weaver Models has yet to announce the PS-2-CD 4740 Cu. Ft. 3-Bay Grain Hopper in the paint schemes for Great Northern or Northern Pacific. Perhaps in the upcoming Spring 2007 Catalog. There might not be enough people demanding GN or NP Pullman-Standard Covered Hoppers from Weaver Models for them to announce production. The demand for the BNSF Predecessors from Weaver is not strong enough right now.

Andrew

[Andrew Falconer]

There is the TrainMan Burlington Route PS-2 3-Bay Covered Hopper coming out in the Black Scheme.

What happened to the Burlington Route Gray Scheme for the Atlas O Master Line PS-2-CD 4427 Low-Side 3-Bay Covered Hopper?

Both Lionel and Atlas O are now trying to make sure that everyone has a select balance of roadnames from across the country. They must be telling us that we are too dedicated to specific railroads and we must have a car from each railroad on our layouts.

Andrew