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The model is not being offered weathered, which seems to be what you are after. Any manufacturer cannot make everyone happy, but it is accepted that unless the model is specifically being sold as a weathered model then the livery and other paint applied reflect the unit as it was delivered or as it was released from the paint/vinyl shop.

Regarding any future versions, with 2 companies now competing I suspect both will be quiet about future plans to try and avoid giving an advantage to the competition, though how well that works given China is open to question. It is also possible that any future variations will depend on sales given that the market is being split (depending on exactly how much of a market there is for these locos).

Because it is a known, reliable, engine with an existing spares supply and trained maintenance staff? Part of the decision making for a commercial operation is the total cost, and whether the item will work for the expected lifetime of the purchase. When you are talking about something that is expected to have 20 to 40 year service life you can be hesitant to choose options that don't have an existing track record of reliability and spares availability even if they do offer other nice features like better emissions or lower fuel use. Similarly, the ability to use the same spare part inventory as current units, and no need for additional training for maintenance staff, offers additional savings (this is why all(?) of the low-cost airlines like Southwest, Easyjet, Ryanair operate with 1 type of aircraft)

Update today - 112 orders of 800 needed https://djmodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/N-gauge-update-April-2019.pdf

Update today - 236 orders so far of 1000 needed https://djmodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/N-gauge-update-April-2019.pdf

Update today - 118 orders of 400 needed. https://djmodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/N-gauge-update-April-2019.pdf

The good news, from a DJM perspective, is that the shark/Mermaids should provide some needed income later in the year. Good news for those who have chosen DJM for the King or Class 92, though it is a mixed bag from DJM perspective with the Revolution Class 92 about to go into production thus limiting the ability to sell extra units when an EP is shown. Unless DJM gets significantly better at promotion and/or the delivery of a KIng/Class 92 provides a boost it would appear the other crowd funded models (APT/J94/Mogul) are dead. As I said elsewhere, my suspicion based on the struggles is that the crowd-funded era is coming to an end as it just seems to be too difficult to connect with prospective customers and a poor track record isn't helping. As for the other products, they were all DJM producted to be produced the traditional way, and were all based on sales of other products funding their development. For a variety of reasons this hasn't seemed to work out for DJM, and I don't see any change in those products happening soon. While certainly speculation on my part, my guess is that the next DJM model would be in OO (or maybe O) as the fact that nobody else has stepped up to grab any of these models in N perhaps indicates they aren't seen as viable models in N (particularly the class 59, where Dapol have done all the research already).

Tangent has a new release of their Bethlehem Steel 3600 Cubic Foot Quad Hopper, with 5 re-runs (with new numbers) and 2 new paint schemes. New are UP "1989 H-100-17" and HMLX "Ex-UP H-100-17" Reruns are DT&I "Original 1976 Black", UP "Original H-100-19" / "Original H-100-18" / "1989 H-100-17 Black Repaint" / "1997 H-100-19 Black Repaint V2" https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/bethlehem-quad-hopper/

Should be bought. They bought the class 56s from a leasing company.

This was posted to the LLC Facebook page March 14

From the LLC Facebook page. 1) dated February 6 From March 14th

New small manufacturer offering laser-cut cardstock interiors for Woodland Scenics buildings and a variety of lighting products. https://roometteslighting.com/

Possibly of interest, Chris Nevard just made a blog posting about doing a "trainset" layout measuring 5'x4' and he has pictures of the completed layout which demonstrate what can be achieved as well as a YouTube video. http://nevardmedia.blogspot.com/2019/03/trainset.html

Is this intended for only you to operate, or it is a group of friends over to operate? A group of friends then yes a 4 or 5 platform station becomes viable, but for solo operation where you realistically can only operate 1 train at a time, then you end up with a bunch of empty tracks or parked trains and the timetable becomes your enemy when you try to operate. Unless you are really into computers I would try and avoid automating the trains - it is just one more thing to have to maintain or to fail when you try and run trains. I am not familiar with N, but my first suggestion would be to see if the models that interest you are available. On the assumption appropriate GWR/Western Region models are available, and you have already expressed an interest, given your space you may want to consider Truro. Offers a through station, goods yard, engine shed, viaduct and a quick measure on Google Maps comes out at around 2700' from the east end of the viaduct to the western limit of the engine shed area - divide by 148 and you get about 18.25' in N. So with very little compression you could fit it into your space. It would offer you various operating choices depend on how much time and how you feel on any given day. Brent has also been mentioned, and if you wanted the variety of operating either mainline or a branch it may offer what you want. The station itself was between 2 road bridges, which works out to 5.5' in N so you could model it and the branch approaches to scale, and then likely have 1 or 2 of the branch stations close to scale with countryside single track running if you wanted.

This would be a bad idea as it would make using them as a banker difficult, and cause muscle memory issues as it would behave differently on a controller to other locos. Life Like in the US 20+ years ago released a model with different gearing, presumably to better reflect the real running speeds, and received a lot of grief over it from upset customers.

Rapido makes them for Realtrack, so it's Realtrack. Go to their website to see what is currently available https://www.realtrackmodels.co.uk/

Athearn SD90MAC-H Phase II

Athearn has posted the details, they are calling it a "Genesis 2.0" model, preorder due May 17th, eta March 2020 Price $249.98 / with sound $339.98 http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/032219/00_GEN_SD90MAC-H2_032919.pdf

In a very disorganized effort Athearn has announced the 6000 hp SD90MAC-H2, available in at least UP and CP. Interesting feature of a removable cab roof to allow easy adding of figures. No details yet but an overview of the new model can be seen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT2djNpybyc

You can also get an idea about Free-mo by searching on YouTube, there are a bunch of videos from various gatherings in the US and Canada. For example, this really big one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsQqf-5pVZw

For those who ask for rolling stock without numbers, Dapol is making an offer. From their Facebook page There is also an image with further details.

Appears there was an update on February 4th - the Lionheart Facebook page has several photos of the decorated samples for the Mk1 BSK.

If that is his reasoning, then I am reminded of the phrase "before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig 2 graves" However, I think regardless it is reasonably safe to guess that there won't be any more crowdfunding after these projects.

Quick guess, limited market means that they feel, at least for this production run, they would have to produce too many coaches to sell in a reasonable time period and still satisfy the minimum run per paint scheme the factory requires.

The irony is anyone who just posts it would probably be doing the project a favour given the lack of website updates at the 2 week point...