mdvle

So the SD45 will come in the 2 product lines - important to note however that the Operator models use a common cab and long hood and so don't have the railroad specific details that the Rivet Counter line have. Rivet - https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/rivet-counter-ho-scale-emd-sd45/ Operator - https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/operator-ho-scale-emd-sd45/https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/operator-ho-scale-emd-sd45/ Also really disliking the now frequently occurring policy of offering major paint schemes in only one of the product lines (like in this case SF and Conrail are operator only). Really turning me off of ScaleTrains. Other products announced by ScaleTrains (all have preorder dates of December 9th, eta Summer 2020) New Tooling - Greenbrier/Gunderson Multi-Max in both Rivet Counter and Operator - appears to be a duplicate of an Atlas model. Available BNSF (White, Orange/CTTX, Orange/TTGX), CN (White logo, Red logo), CSX, KCS, NFS, CP/Soo, UP (Building America) Rivet - https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/rivet-counter-ho-scale-gunderson-multi-max-autorack/ Operator - https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/operator-ho-scale-gunderson-multi-max-autorack/ Airslide 4180 Covered Hoppers - Rivet and Operator - BNSF, BN, C&NW, IC, Milwaukee Road, Southern. Rivet - https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/rivet-counter-ho-scale-4180cf-airslide-covered-hopper/ Operator - https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/operator-ho-gatc-4180cf-airslide-covered-hopper/

The UP cabooses come with either friction bearing caps or roller bearing caps so if you are worried about that being correct you may need to be careful as to which model you order - I would assume the ones as 1970s+ era will have the roller bearing trucks. Also for those not familiar ICC (International Car Company of Kent Ohio) built cabooses for a lot of railroads so there are likely lots more variations to come in the next 5 years.

The problem with running longer is that we as a species generally like to procrastinate, so it is possible that you might actually get fewer votes as people keep putting it off and then suddenly realize the couple of months has expired. There is also the problem that we have become used to instant(ish) gratification, and having a poll announced and voting and then having to wait 2 or 3 months for results could turn people off the poll. And the inherent problem (in addition to the mentioned volunteer calendar issue) is December is a bad month for running stuff like this poll given how Christmas (shopping/parties/etc) dominate people's December calendars.

Go back to my earlier post, I explained where you could find a listing of a bunch of Carriage Working documents on the brcoachingstock group on groups.io that will give you several options for starting your formation research (it doesn't require searching through messages, the information is in the files section).

The secret is putting in the time. Either someone puts in the time (and frequently money) to track down old documents and then graciously make them publicly available, or they spent the time trackside to write down vehicle numbers and kept their notes and now graciously share that information. Some research can also be done by doing an image search on Google (images.google.com) or searching Flickr to find images of trains in the right era (this will often focus on the engine, but you might be able to identify or count coaches and it can help with paint schemes depending on era). For the rest of us, it is a matter of paying attention to threads that are found and learning, searching (including searching on RMweb), and generally spending the time to learn what is available and from it.

Look in the Files Section of that group on group.io and you will see folders for: Carriage Workings - there is a PDF file that provides a listing of a bunch of carriage working documents that can be downloaded, including a number for WR in the 70s - these give you the typical stock to form given trains. The Train Working and Formations folder has some PDFs of recorded vehicle numbers, there is a Paddington document that may help. It may also, if you can get to one, be worth checking a local library to see if they offer computers for Internet access which will make searching in general much easier - a lot can be done in a short period if you aren't struggling on a small screen.

An option for those with a little more money to spare would be to find a charity that does gifts for underprivileged kids and provide an age appropriate train related gift - whether a traditional train set or even train related Lego, etc.

More photos from Chicagoland 2019 - https://pbase.com/ehansmann/2019_rpm_chicagoland&page=all

While the demise of the one company involved has a variety of reasons, it's probably a reasonable guess that duplicating a niche loco resulted in a financial result that was less than ideal and a likely contributor to the struggles faced until the plug was eventually pulled on that company.

If you go back to the first (announcement) post it mentions 3rd quarter 2020.

I think you have in a way proven the poll teams point with this. While I am sure you are correct about the detail differences between those two locos, the poll doesn't get into that sort of detail. If Bachmann hadn't released their new Class 90 all the poll would list would be a "generic" Class 90. It really isn't in the scope of a poll like this to get into the intricate specifics of an item. Which isn't to say, as has been suggested to those whose items have been dropped from the poll, that you (or someone else, or a group of people) can't put in the effort and create your own poll - though see my response below. Should there be appropriate stuff? Yes, with the caveat that the market is big enough - and in part that means those who want these items need to help and try and create the market. I suspect for many people who may be interested in overhead based layouts the first problem is educating oneself on what everything is, and how to then apply that knowledge to a planned or existing layout. So the first steps (and I am not judging, some of this may already be happening) is to get the information out there by answering questions on forums, providing examples of how certain track layouts would be dealt with, perhaps creating a wiki type page somewhere. If there are enough interested with the current knowledge then perhaps create a little "contest" amongst at least 5 people to design a smallish layout that could be interesting to build and operate, and as part of the design show how the overhead should be done (even if at the moment that means scratchbuilding). Perhaps approach the various magazines about doing a series of short articles on overhead? They may decide it's too niche, but they may also feel it is worth an experiment. If overhead enthusiasts can show there is a market for the products you want, you stand a better chance of someone being willing to spend the money on tooling.

Athearn Genesis ICC caboose just announced on Facebook. Will be an entire range of ICC cabooses with roadname specfic details, LED internal lighting and marker lights, optional available DCC sound. Prices $110 / $150 with sound. Pre-orders - Now - eta June 2020 IMPORTANT - order is already with factory so this is a first come first served release. 2 different wheelsets. First run is CB&Q, Seaboard, and UP (2 schemes). Details, sample pictures at http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=gencaboose+ATHG&CatID=THRF [edit] PDF now available - http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/102519/03_GEN_ICC_Caboose_102519.pdf This was teased earlier in the year with a SF version, that isn't announced today but will come later.

I believe in the video done at the D class announcement Rails teased that there might be something at Warley. And while like others it wouldn't surprise me if some announcements are made (other than by Hornby/Bachmann), I wonder if it might be a bit quieter given some of the smaller operators still have a bunch of stuff announced last year to work on. So it may be down to the retailers and maybe Accurascale.

Unlikely given current management prefers the "good old days" of a big single announcement once a year in the Christmas/New Years timeframe.

If you back to the second post he mentions Greenwich Park appears to have had a scissors crossover a short distance up the line, underneath a bridge/in a tunnel to solve this issue. In the case of his layout plan, this is all conveniently (as in he doesn't need to take up space for it) off scene.

I think it comes down to what you mean by commissioned, and in the case of the original poster I think it's getting actual models made as opposed to just a unique paint scheme / road number. He specifically mention the 3 UK hobby shops who have all commissioned (or gone to China directly) for exclusive models like the 14xx, Bulleid Diesel, D6xx, SE&CR D Class, NER autocar, LNER Dynamometer, SECR P class, etc. So your examples wouldn't count unless I am wrong. Though it is also worth pointing out (which I forgot to earlier) than the New Haven stuff done by Rapido (the coaches, FL9, EP5) have all been done in a partnership with the New Haven historical group.

For some time now, in the back of my mind (where it would likely remain, as actually building it seems to be unlikely) I have been pondering the idea of a layout designed to be operated by kids at shows. I think Lambstead succeeds at that goal. Not only is a great home layout offering much potential, it equally offers much potential as a show layout. Putting the fiddle yard to the front of the layout means a kid could stand in one place and just turn their head to take everything in, at the same time making it easy for an adult to be on the front watching over / helping / encouraging. The goods loop means you could wire it up so that with one switch you isolate the controls so you can have an "enforced" 2 separate operating layouts with swapping between them only when permitted. You could give a more adventurous kid a switching job to do in the goods yard while other kids run passenger trains to and from the fiddle yard at the same time using either dmu's or autocoaches. You could even throw in the occasional passenger train that requires the engine to swap ends to the kids need to cooperate (under close supervision). Or perhaps a mixed train to deliver something to a little peckett switch engine. Add in an assortment of "cute" panniers and other small engines for the kids to choose from and this could be a popular way to introduce them to the hobby.

Those interested are likely better off making their views known directly (posts to forums are easy to be overlooked), but it could also depend on if it is entirely new tooling or are they merely modifying the existing tooling.

Sort of. I believe Des Plaines Hobbies (Chicago) has bought and continued some small production lines. Prairie Shadows (Canadian retailer) has had Rapido shrink some of their stuff to N as exclusive models for them. Some get exclusive paint schemes or numbers done of existing products. I think there is a market for deal-direct-with-China models made for a retailer (like Hattons is doing, and how Kernow {is/did} where the economics of eliminating the middle man and having a reduced need for a profit margin(*) can make some models more viable. Despite the number of current manufacturers in the US market there are still a lot of either niche models (either never done or really need a modern tooled version), or prototypes that are very much regional and so are unlikely to ever generate the sales that an Athearn/Atlas/Walthers/etc need. * - I say "reduced profit margin" to indicate a hobby shop may view say break even as acceptable (on the assumption the shop itself is profitable and there may be extra sales from people buying the exclusive model) vs say someone like Exactrail who sell direct only and sort of needs more of a profit to stay in business.

On the other hand, I was just listening to a podcast where an American mentioned spending $1,500 a month on health insurance for his family as though it was just another budget item. Now without know what exactly he is paying for it does seem a bit high, but still averages are $833 month for a family with a almost $8,000 deductible (and that was 2 years ago) https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/23/heres-how-much-the-average-american-spends-on-health-care.html That is one of the reasons they have lower taxes.

Just a rough guess but I would say middle of next year or so, still need to finish tooling, go through the EP sample stage(s), and artwork stages before production and that will all be fitting into the schedules for all the other Rapido products.

Still there, though hasn't been updated in a long time - http://www.rapidouk.com/ Though for the newsletter check out the topic started by Rapido for it

Heljan's pricing would also have included not just the small market size premium, but an additional premium given that there wasn't a RTR O market and so investing in the tooling was a gamble. With hindsight we can say it paid off both for Heljan and O modellers, but it just as easily could have gone the other way. Dapol had the advantage of being second, entering an established RTR O market, with much reduced risk to the tooling investment. Also good for O modellers, because it forced a pricing rethink as the market became more established, that little bit larger, and thus less risky for investment. Perhaps fixing those issues was once of the reasons for the choice of hiring Ben recently to be their new UK person (on the assumption that Heljan give him the authority to make the correct decisions during the development process).

Note: you do not need to be a member to participate in the challenge. The Layout Design Journal (publication of the NMRA Layout Design SIG (1)) is haveing a layout design challenge open to anyone who wants to participate, target deadline is January 31st 2020. This year's challenge is aimed to be broad and inclusive with themes to include one or more of the following: public display model railfanning scenery presentation fantasy-inspired Goal is to have entries to be featured in one or more articles in the LDJ, full details can be found at: https://www.layoutvision.com/ldj-design-challenge 1 - http://www.ldsig.org/