orsonroy wrote:We NEED cars for the 1900-1930 era. We've got plenty of steel boxcars and single sheathed cars, and WAY too many USRA things. We've even got a few decent examples of Pennsy cars like the X29. But we're missing HUGE chunks of the steam era freight car fleet, especially now that Roundhouse is basically gone. Most of the cars that we need are available in resin, but very few of us can afford the time and money to invest in huge rosters of resin freight cars. We NEED quality plastic freight cars for the pre-transition period, especially the cars that there were tens of thousands of that for some unknown reason have been "forgotten" by the hobby.
We NEED cars for the 1900-1930 era. We've got plenty of steel boxcars and single sheathed cars, and WAY too many USRA things. We've even got a few decent examples of Pennsy cars like the X29. But we're missing HUGE chunks of the steam era freight car fleet, especially now that Roundhouse is basically gone. Most of the cars that we need are available in resin, but very few of us can afford the time and money to invest in huge rosters of resin freight cars. We NEED quality plastic freight cars for the pre-transition period, especially the cars that there were tens of thousands of that for some unknown reason have been "forgotten" by the hobby.
The Depression and the Second World War prolonged the life of a lot of ancient equipment that created the variety of size and shape that is apparent in photos of freight trains through the 1940's. While resin may be the best way to model the rare and unusual car, there were vast numbers of relatively common cars that would be excellent prospects for plastic models without duplicating something already in production. Standard Steel Car apparently built thousands of relatively standard pre-USRA hoppers that have not even been done in resin. PRR cars dominated the freight car fleet, but except for the X29, there are few early cars available. I would like to see an X23 for starters. 36' boxcars from different roads with a variety of underframes hung around well into the transition era. We may need to rely on resin models for our home road cars, but it would be nice to fill out the rest of the fleet with well detailed, current generation plastic cars. It has been said that the transition era is the most popular period to model, but that does not mean that every car has to have been built then. To model the 1940's we need equipment from the '30's, '20's, teens and earlier.
Then there are milk cars. How about a decent plastic Bordens butter dish car or the detachable tank milk cars? Athearn/Roundhouse seem to make the best of the current generation of milk cars, but they have not seen fit to produce the Pullman green and basic lettering paint schemes that ran in service after the initial colorful schemes were repainted.
Bill Badger
Modeling the late, great Rutland Railroad in HO
In On30, I would like to see a few longer cars than the short 26-27 footers that Bachmann offers. Some 30-35 foot freight cars and 50 foot passenger cars would lend a nice variety to the available rolling stock. A stock car with cattle sounds would also be nice to have as well.
Ted Brewer
Now that 4-4-0 locomotives are becoming a little easier to find, I'd like to think that the market is ready for some 36' wood-sided (constructed of plastic) freight and stock cars as well as cabooses... along the lines of what orsonroy suggests!
I'd be looking for 1880s to 1900 vintage Canadian Pacific in my case.
Did you know that Algoma Mills was, for a short time, the western terminus of the eastern portion of the first Canadian trans-continental railroad? Montreal was the eastern terminus. Because of obstacles faced building the road over 800 miles of granite and muskeg in northern Ontario, the plan was to trans-ship passengers and goods by steamer from Algoma Mills to the head of the Great Lakes, and west the rest of the way by rail from Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay).
peepsight38570 wrote: I WOULD LIKE TO SEE NARROW GUAGE HON3 INEXPENSIVE FREIGHT AND PASSENGER EQUIPMENT AS I FIND THIS VERY INTERESTING AND PLAN ON ADDING NARROW GUAGE TRACK FOR LOGGING AND MINING TO MY LAYOUT . I ALSO LIKE THE OTHER ITEMS THAT PEOPLE HAVE ADDED SEEMS LIKE COMPANYS WOULD REALIZE THERE IS A BIGGER DEMAND THEN JUST FOR ATSF UNION PACIFIC SOUTHERN PACIFIC WHEN THEY PRODUCE CARS . I DO NOT HAve anything against these lines bUT WHAT ABOUT NC&STL, ACL,SAL, AND MANY OTHER LINES I LIKE VARIETY ON MY RAILROAD LIKE TO ADD CARS FROM LINES BESIDE THE BIG ONES .
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE NARROW GUAGE HON3 INEXPENSIVE FREIGHT AND PASSENGER EQUIPMENT AS I FIND THIS VERY INTERESTING AND PLAN ON ADDING NARROW GUAGE TRACK FOR LOGGING AND MINING TO MY LAYOUT . I ALSO LIKE THE OTHER ITEMS THAT PEOPLE HAVE ADDED SEEMS LIKE COMPANYS WOULD REALIZE THERE IS A BIGGER DEMAND THEN JUST FOR ATSF UNION PACIFIC SOUTHERN PACIFIC WHEN THEY PRODUCE CARS . I DO NOT HAve anything against these lines bUT WHAT ABOUT NC&STL, ACL,SAL, AND MANY OTHER LINES I LIKE VARIETY ON MY RAILROAD LIKE TO ADD CARS FROM LINES BESIDE THE BIG ONES .
MicroTrains has just released their HOn3 logging cars. Undecorated in black, very nice detail, RTR, with 2 different log loads. Not cheap - is anything in HOn3? - but ready to go with some lettering for your favorite logging line.
Me, I'm just happy for the wide variety that is currently available, even for a late-19th Century HO modeler like me. Two new 4-4-0s (I'd love to see one in HOn3, but will have to build up my own or rebuild an FED so far), a decent 2-6-0 to come, the Spectrum 4-6-0 that can be back-dated reasonably. And all kinds of car kits - just have to search a little.
This is nothing personal about peepsight's post, but I guess this list irritates me. Many items on the list can be obtained with a little kit-bashing and/or painting. Others can be found at some of the lesser-known manufacturers, but it takes a little searching and effort. And scratch-building a car isn't much more difficult than assembling some of the resin or wood kits or even more difficult plastic kits. Selection and quality is far greater than at any time I can remember in my 40+ years in the hobby. Yet, here we have a 3 page wish list of cars and a 5 page list for locomotives that whine about how a particular model doesn't measure up to our standards, or no manufacturer shares our vision of what he ought to make.
By the way, if you do make a nice model of something that's not already on the market, consider using it as a basis for creating a low production resin or wood kit. Others might be willing to build one too.
just my thoughts, rant over, time for me to do instead of telling others to do
...modeling foggy coastal Oregon where it's always 1900...
Fred W
Texas Zepher wrote: Daniel1975 wrote: HO Scale AT&SF - El Capitan cars These have been done. I don't remember the company name off the top of my head, but they were on clearance at my local hobby store about a year ago. I saw them sitting there for a couple months, and by the time I realized they were the AT&SF not the high level Amtrak cars, all the 72 seat coaches that I needed to finish my train (I've got the Hallmark set) were gone. orsonroy wrote: B&O wagontop boxcars, 36 foot stock cars Didn't Mantua do some of the wagon tops just a few years ago. And I thought Cenral Valley did a 36' stock car (Northern Pacific prototyp as I recall) that they only discontinued a short time ago.The rolling stock I would like to see someone produce in plastic in HO (the've already been done in N), are the Northern Pacific Pig Palaces, and BIG Pig Palaces. IHC-Mehano had a long double decker stock that they painted in the Pig Palace scheme but it wasn't.
Daniel1975 wrote: HO Scale AT&SF - El Capitan cars
orsonroy wrote: B&O wagontop boxcars, 36 foot stock cars
The rolling stock I would like to see someone produce in plastic in HO (the've already been done in N), are the Northern Pacific Pig Palaces, and BIG Pig Palaces. IHC-Mehano had a long double decker stock that they painted in the Pig Palace scheme but it wasn't.
Train Station Products released the hi level cars in kit form, decorated for Santa Fe or undec (they are also sold under the Detail Associates name as a super kit with the DA detail kit included). They are also sold in RTR form from Intermountain in SF and Amtrak. I spke to Mr Wright last fall, and he said the lounges would be released this year ('07).
Texas Zepher wrote: orsonroy wrote: B&O wagontop boxcars, 36 foot stock cars Didn't Mantua do some of the wagon tops just a few years ago. And I thought Cenral Valley did a 36' stock car (Northern Pacific prototyp as I recall) that they only discontinued a short time ago.
The Central Valley NP stock car is a 40-footer. Red Caboose is about to release an SP 36 foot stock car (which is great news!), but that will still be the only decent 36 foot stock available (I think that all of the resin stock cars are 40 footers too).
As for the B&O wagontops, we've only ever had three choices: brass, F&C or Sunshine resin, or the OLD Cannonball plastic & stamped brass version. MRR Warehouse just re-released these kits, and while a LOT easier to build than the resin versions, they're crudely detailed by today's standards. I'd like to see one released by either Branchline or Intermountain.
Ray Breyer
Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943
The rolling stock I would like to see someone produce in plastic in HO (they've already been done in N), are the Northern Pacific Pig Palaces, and BIG Pig Palaces. IHC-Mehano had a long double decker stock that they painted in the Pig Palace scheme but it wasn't.
ardenastationmaster, just an fyi, the thread is about rolling stock, not locos. (I'm looking forward to a cab forward also...)
N scale - 19th century rolling stock.
N scale - spine cars.
How about a plastic GATX Pressure Slide "Whale Belly" Cement Hopper in HO. Seems there is only a brass version available, and $285 is a bit much
MECALCOFAN
I used to walk along the tracks on my way to high school in the mid 70's and for the longest time there was a stretch of piggyback trailer carriers parked on an abandoned siding. These carriers were yellow with black lettering (TTX). Each carrier had a pair of hitches for the trailers and at either end had one folding ramp on the opposite side of the opposing carrier. They were probably no longer than 60'
I have tried finding something like them but the only thing close I've found is too long. I'm modeling late 60's to late 70's
Empire under construction !
The early bird catches the worm.
But, the second mouse gets the cheese!
HO Scale:
Great Northern plywood boxcar - many many thousands built, seen all over the US from 40's through 70's
WFE/FGE early-to-transition era reefers - the semi-accurate Accurail is all we've had for years. Thank you Intermountain for stepping up, but its just a start compared to the glut of PFE.
As both a modeler and a provider of mostly N Scale stock items, I think it would behoove some manufacturer to spend the time, effort and tooling costs to develop a comprehensive line of Passenger Fleet cars in both 'Heavyweight' versions from the 1920s to 1930s, and the same in the 'corrugated' versions commonly found in the 1940s to 1960s. These eras are prime examples of the eras many folks commonly model in nearly all scales, yet have little to no stock available (especially in N Scale) at a reasonable cost. In years gone by, Rivarossi provided some nice reasonably priced models for Con-Cor, however, since their bankruptcy these are in very short supply. Con-Cor has opted to focus on primarily special train sets and locomotives lately and the offerings in medium to high quality passenger cars for all roads (AT A REASONABLE PRICE), are extremely difficult to find. Other brands are either super high quality at a high cost, or low-end plastic versions not worthy of the money spent for the long-haul modeler.
Same thing goes for good quality yet reasonable priced structure kits in N Scale.
ARCY
I would love to see N Guage Milwaukee Road horizontal rib-sided box cars, 40' & 50'.
Hiawatha Fan
Whoops! Forgot to say HO in previous post and didn't sign it. A thousand pardons.
Roy
New York Central Budd-built "Valley"-series 10/6 sleepers
Two cars to complement Walthers P-S C&O-prototype 52-passenger coach:
B&O (ex-C&O) PS 5 double bedroom-obs as used on the "Capital Limited" and "Ambassador"
C&O P-S 10/6 sleepers
Trinity Rail Group built LPG tankcars, 30,000 gallon tankcars, and 20,000 to 25,000 tankcars.
R-70-15, R-70-16, R-70-18, R-70-19, R-70-20, R-70-22, and R-70-24, all with Hydra-Cushion underframes
FGE built mechanical reefers
PC&F 60' RBLs with 14' doors
PC&F and FGE 60' RPLs, the type used by Tropicana
40', 100 ton, PC&F boxcars
PC&F 50', rib side RBLs
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
tomnoy3 wrote: Modern intermodal, HO scale Maxi IV's, 53' Spine cars, a re-run of Walthers Long Runner. More grain cars, especially if Athearn Genesis came out with ARI's Through Sill with Union Pacific's Building America and CMO reporting marks. Different centerbeam cars, and maybe some all-purpose 89' flats.
Modern intermodal, HO scale Maxi IV's, 53' Spine cars, a re-run of Walthers Long Runner. More grain cars, especially if Athearn Genesis came out with ARI's Through Sill with Union Pacific's Building America and CMO reporting marks. Different centerbeam cars, and maybe some all-purpose 89' flats.
Also, DODX flat cars:
60' Heavy Duty six-axle flat car with 2 M1A2 Abrams tanks
68' Heavy Duty four-axle flat car with Self-propelled howitzer and reloading vehicle
5' military containers, which link up in quads to fit on 89' all-purpose flats as 20' units
I'd like to see modernized heavyweight passenger cars (especially chair cars) such as used by Southern Railway, Texas & Pacific, and others. I'm in HO.
This one is about 30 years overdue in N scale: the S.P. Cab forward. A N&W 2-8-8-2 has been available for years from MRC/ Rivarossi/Con-Cor. Do you mean that a proper "shell" and tender could not have been produced during the intervening years?
I'm not an SP fan, but 60% of N-scalers would go for it, not including (of course) all those who went to the big scale, gave up, or passed away without seeing their wish come true.
How about it guys?!
ardenastationmaster
I would like to have a variety of 1945-1955 era 40' box cars, wood sided single sheathed and steel double sheathed, HO for me.
I am talking about the older inside heights of 8'-6" to 10'. When you see a picture of a string of box cars of the 1945-1955 era you will see a variety of roof heights. Every HO manufacturer has the 1935 ARA standard box with 10'-6" (?) inside height. Red Caboose/Tichey have the X-29. We need more variety for this era.
Ted Culotta in RMC has done an extensive series on these earlier box cars, based on Sunshine or Westerfield kits. These craftsman kits are great for special models, but I would think that there are enough folks modeling the transition era (1945-1955) who would want a easy kits, Branchline quality, or r-t-r of good quality.
I would like to see HO scale:
Lehigh Valley Bethlehem 50' gondolas
LV Despatch Shops 50' boxcars
D&H ore hoppers
HO Boonton coaches. in plastic
N Scale plows
and kind of a side note. i would like more manu to list build dates on their web sites. i've only seen atlas doing this so far