Certain roads attract very loyal modelers. Milwaukee Road is one of them. C&NW is another. The C&NW only had 30 high hood C-628s, yet Stewart Models did two runs before being bought by Bowser, and Bowser has done either two or three runs since.The SDL39 has already sold out, so I guess Scale Trains knows what they're doing. Yes, I bought one.Also, any review of a company gives information. Do you think they won't ever do another "Museum Quality" locomotive?
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
The SDL39's were something unique. A 6 axle road diesel with a short frame and body that is closer to a GP38.
MILW did this for the lighter short line tracks that were on many branch lines.
After the SOO and the WC used them, most, if not all are in duty in Chile, still working.
Mike.
My You Tube
It's a good model for smaller home layouts, and a unique product helps make the company stand out in a sea of GEVO-builders and EMD reruns. Not everyone buys a Corvette or a Ford GT but they have a nice 'halo' effect on other products.
Compared to the numbers of GP7s and F7s, the Milwaukee had very few Bi-Polars and Little Joes, but MTH still saw fit to manufacture both of these somewhat obscure engines. I might have bought one, if they came without DCS decoders.
I'm sure they did their market research. Not every modeler is road specific, and many buy an engine because they just like the colors. My guess is Scale Trains saw a niche, and a model no one else made, and took a bit of a gamble.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
ndbprrWhy would a company decide to invest valuable capital to provide a locomotive of which ten were made all for the Milwaukee Road.
I'm after the same company to produce a C32-8, of which only ten were made, all for Conrail.
There were only 25 real big boys and how many models were produced.
I am somewhat confused about two issues regarding this engine.
1. Why would a company decide to invest valuable capital to provide a locomotive of which ten were made all for the Milwaukee Road. Doesn't this have limited appeal to (guessing) 95% of the market and limit sales? Isn't there something better to bring to the market with broader appeal?
2. Does Kalmbach realize that those 95% of modelers could care less about a two page report gushing over this locomotive in the June issue of MR.