Begging request

[jjb1970]

I don't normally like to start the sort of "I want this" requests on forums however I'm going to swallow pride and ask if Rapido have considered doing the Canadian GE Dash-8's in HO. As anybody with an interest in NA railways will know the Canadian locomotives looked very different to the US models, CN, QNS&L and BCR bought cowl hood taper body Dash 8's which whilst mechanically a Dash 8 looked like a completely new design. These have been made in brass but whilst the OMI models are beautiful they're not cheap and hardly viable for building up consists and a fleet unless you have very deep pockets. Also the later Dash 9's with the regular body but Canadian cab would be nice. These locomotives were a stalwart of Canadian roading and it is a shame that models are beyond the reach of most, just a humble request.

[rapidotrains]

I don't normally like to start the sort of "I want this" requests on forums however I'm going to swallow pride and ask if Rapido have considered doing the Canadian GE Dash-8's in HO. As anybody with an interest in NA railways will know the Canadian locomotives looked very different to the US models, CN, QNS&L and BCR bought cowl hood taper body Dash 8's which whilst mechanically a Dash 8 looked like a completely new design. These have been made in brass but whilst the OMI models are beautiful they're not cheap and hardly viable for building up consists and a fleet unless you have very deep pockets. Also the later Dash 9's with the regular body but Canadian cab would be nice. These locomotives were a stalwart of Canadian roading and it is a shame that models are beyond the reach of most, just a humble request.

 

It would probably make sense for one of the numerous companies doing modern 6-axle locomotives to tackle this one.  They would have a lot of reusable parts whereas we would have to tool everything from scratch.

 

I'm not sure if the UK has this phenomenon.  Almost every big North American manufacturer is bringing out models of the same big modern diesels.  They are very common over here, but to have four or five companies competing for the same piece of pie seems like it will result in everyone getting a smaller bite.

 

It would be like Dapol, Heljan, Hornby, Bachmann and Rapido all bringing out a Class 66 in the same livery in the same six-month period.  Not a recipe for success!

 

-Jason

[Gerald Henriksen]

Your biggest problem is that there isn't going to be much of a market for the units you want.

 

Unlike CN's 4-axle units (and even the SD40-2W) there isn't a second hand market in the real railway world for the cowl units so you are limited to CN/BC Rail (or CP for the red barns) as paint schemes and market.

 

And while anyone modelling CN with a need for 4-axle diesels will need multiple models, the cowl units were a minority on the system so a modeler may pick up 1 and be happy.

 

If you do want to pursue it further, for the Dash 8-40CM your best option would probably be Bowser as they already have the MLW trucks.

 

The Dash-9 units are a problem as I don't think anyone has a suitable base to build on - given the likely price I don't think the Athearn RTR drive would be acceptable.

 

The SD60F might be possible with Athearn as they have the Genesis SD60 drive to work with.

 

If you really want a GE in CN colours your best option would be the second hand units CN purchased - check into Atlas and see about their long announced release of CN's secondhand Dash 8-40C or an undecorated Dash 8-40CW to get painted.

 

Otherwise you need someone to front the money to get a custom run of models made to sell direct, or maybe try something like Kickstarter though I don't know how well that would work.

[jjb1970]

Thanks for the responses, I guess I can live in hope On the big cowl hood GE's I have a BCR red/white/blue and a CN by OMI which are nice but they weren't cheap and I'd like a few to populate running trains on a layout. They were really very different as even the Dofasco trucks/bogies were different although oddly the demo AC4400CW rode on Dofasco trucks for some reason. I've always had a real soft spot for the big Canadian cowl bodies and the Draper taper, I'm really not sure why as they weren't the best looking units. I just find something very impressive about them.

[Ian J.]

It would probably make sense for one of the numerous companies doing modern 6-axle locomotives to tackle this one.  They would have a lot of reusable parts whereas we would have to tool everything from scratch.

 

I'm not sure if the UK has this phenomenon.  Almost every big North American manufacturer is bringing out models of the same big modern diesels.  They are very common over here, but to have four or five companies competing for the same piece of pie seems like it will result in everyone getting a smaller bite.

 

It would be like Dapol, Heljan, Hornby, Bachmann and Rapido all bringing out a Class 66 in the same livery in the same six-month period.  Not a recipe for success!

 

-Jason

 

 

I believe the NA manufacturers can get away with such duplication due to the sheer size of the NA market. It could be argued that the British market is one of the smaller ones in the world (although as a percentage of population it might be quite big, on sheer numbers it's not a patch on the NA or European markets?). It also has a unique scale/gauge combination, and a prototype history full of different designs of locos, coaches and wagons for that market to be split across, making the returns that bit more difficult to get.

[Adrian Wintle]

Can't help with the Dash 8 cowl units, but Kaslo Shops have done resin bodies for the SD50F and SD60F and they have done BCRail and CN Dash 9 cabs:

http://www.central-hobbies.com/products/kasloshops.html

 

Adrian

[Adrian Wintle]

If you don't already have it, Diesel Era V5N1 (Jan/Feb 1994) has an article on the BCRail GEF 40s (BCRail's designation for the Dash 8 cowl units). 10 pages including 2 of drawings, and 3 of detail photos.

 

Adrian

[jjb1970]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll have a look for it.

[dibber25]

I produced an etched brass body kit for the Draper-taper CN SD-50F, which fitted on an Athearn tunnel motor chassis bak in the 1980s. Wasn't perfect by any means but it looked OK and was available long before any of the more expensive alternatives were produced. Sold it through a shop in Edmonton if I recall correctly. I pre-Formed the bodies to approximate shape but for best results the rear corners needed to be soldered. Must have sold 100 or so of them. I did consider doing a Dash-8 as I modelled BC Rail at the time and was privileged to look over and photograph one at North Van when they were pretty new. However, complex shape change which involves curves rather than straight bends would have made it much more difficult to form. 

CHRIS LEIGH

[Glorious NSE]

The Dash-9 units are a problem as I don't think anyone has a suitable base to build on - given the likely price I don't think the Athearn RTR drive would be acceptable.

 

Would have thought Kato, Athearn Genesis, Bachmann, Intermountain and more had a basic rolling platform from assorted Dash 9, AC4400 and GEVO models.

 

A Genesis quality Dash 9 would be superb, and you'd have thought a bigger hole in the market than chasing the NS Heritage GEVO pie - it's not just the CN cabs (either version), there's literally thousands of BNSF and NS machines that you can't buy an even reasonable accurate RTR model of...

[jjb1970]

Didn't Athearn release the NS Heritage GEVO's on a AC44CW model? I guess it was not as bad as painting a F59PHI to look like a GO Transit MP40...... 

[JSpencer]

It would probably make sense for one of the numerous companies doing modern 6-axle locomotives to tackle this one.  They would have a lot of reusable parts whereas we would have to tool everything from scratch.

 

I'm not sure if the UK has this phenomenon.  Almost every big North American manufacturer is bringing out models of the same big modern diesels.  They are very common over here, but to have four or five companies competing for the same piece of pie seems like it will result in everyone getting a smaller bite.

 

It would be like Dapol, Heljan, Hornby, Bachmann and Rapido all bringing out a Class 66 in the same livery in the same six-month period.  Not a recipe for success!

 

-Jason

Yes the UK market has had its share of duplicate models.

 

The most recent case was Dapol and Bachmann doing the LMS 10000 diesel prototype. Dapol were first (by about 2 years) but Bachmann went one better and undercut them. 

 

I don't think either manufacturer made a loss, but they probably did not make much either. The last Bachmann batch presenting the prototypes in their early days (more body tooling) has yet to be released.

 

Other cases are the Class 08/09 diesel shunters but these are numerous and long lived so could be justified by both Bachmann then Hornby, the class 37 (ViTrains & Bachmann) but again a long lived class (admittedly the ViTrains one was short of the target), the class 52 by Heljan then Dapol with Dapol being better but twice the price.

The class 47 diesel has been done 3 times to modern standards, first by Heljan, then ViTrains and finally Bachmann. But they were a large and popular class.

 

In steam, the BR class 4MT 4-6-0 tender engine was released by both Bachmann & Hornby at the same time with Hornby being more expensive but better model. There were nearly a few others, but Bachmann backed down quite quickly.

 

FWIW Class 66 is currently made by 2 manufacturers, by Hornby as a cheap moulded detail one (using ex lima tooling) and by Bachmann as modern super detail one. I don't consider these duplicates as they target 2 ends of the spectrum. Hornby also have a lot of older lesser detailed models which provide a cheaper duplicate to the detailed models but I won't list them here. Likewise both Hornby and Bachmann have recently brought out all new tooling of Mk1 coaches but they don't really duplicate each other as again they both target different ends of the market.

However both did release a super detailed model of the shunters truck last year.

 

I think the worst case of so called duplication in recent times must be the Class 20 diesel. Hornby tarted up the Lima model while Bachmann brought out a super detail model. Hornby had a slight edge in running qualities and pulling power but it terms of detail it was way below the all-new Bachmann model and worst of all, the Bachmann one was cheaper by some margin. I think Hornby learned from that and decided not to tart up anymore old toolings.

 

Many many years ago, both Hornby and Lima brought out a model of the class 92 electric locomotive when it entered service within 3 months of each other. This was/is not a popular prototype so neither really made money from it.