Illinois Central Green Diamond

[MLudwig]

I would love to persuade someone in the model train industry to bring back a model of the Illinois Central Green Diamond.  I have fond memories of going with my parents to downtown St. Louis to watch the Green Diamond roll in from Chicago.  I don't understand why this train has been ignored by the model train industry.  It was the last of its breed: independently designed streamliners.  I think Bachmann should lead the way.  The two companies who ventured to make it were Pride Lines and Ajin/Overland Trains.  Their versions are collector items now.  The market is wide open for a company to give the Green Diamond a shot!

[Len]

"Green Diamond" post card:



Len

[trainman203]

The most popular road names in the ready to run Model Railroad world that consistently sell are Pennsylvania, New York Central, Union Pacific, and Santa Fe.  if it's not from one of those roads, the likelihood of something being offered is pretty low.

[MLudwig]

I get it.  But it's a shame nevertheless.  I've participated in other hobbies such as high powered rocketry and airplanes, both flying and static and it always seems to come down to models of the same 'ol rockets and the same 'ol airplanes.  There seems to be a lack of imagination and sense of history.  But then, its all about business and what sells, isn't it?  The Chrysler Corporation found that out when they tried to step ahead with the Airflows.  They stayed with the idea for three years until they finally got the message: the general public almost always goes with the common denominator or with what is familiar.  However, that said, if Burlington and UP hadn't stepped up with the Zephyr and the M-10000 streamliners, passenger rail service would have died back in the Great Depression years.  Hooray for them!  They had the guts and the imagination. So, I'll sit here and hope to find the Green Diamond on eBay or a used-train company. It won't go cheaply and that's the irony of it all.  There's a market out there for "the different."  But, are there companies out there willing to take a chance with imagination?

[trainman203]

The Bachmann Spectrum used to be very adventuresome.  Bringing out a model like the Russian decapod? Only 200 of the prototypes ever stayed in the United States. And those beautiful Richmond 4–4-0's and those wonderful 63" driver 10 wheelers.  There were other now-gone steamers as well.  Plus the road names they offered in.  NC&StL, ACL, L&N, SAL... road names from deep in the south that we down here were overjoyed to see. Even my favorite, the Missouri Pacific, got on a couple of engines.

It's not like that any more.

[jward]

200 locomotives spread across a wide variety of railroads made the RUssian decapods a good better choice for a model than most steam engines. That is a far different case than the Green DIamond as a one off streamliner that only ran on one road would be. The popularity of the railroad itself probably doesn't enter into it. You don't see Bachmann producing the PRR T1 either. And I guarantee they would sell far more of those than Green Diamonds.

[trainman203]

Yes but they make the streamlined and unstreamlined K4 Pacific and the New York Central Hudson, all of which which are suited to only one Railroad. 

[MLudwig]

Preference for East Coast and West Coast trains is too apparent.  Again, it's a case of ignoring that mysterious and useless area in between referred to as the "Midwest."

[trainman203]

That's because Model railroads are mostly concentrated on the east coast and the West Coast. The great middle of the country is mostly a model desert with a few exceptions around some cities.

[jward]

I find it kind of odd that the OP thinks Bachmann not producing a model of an obscure one of a kind passenger train is bias against certain parts of America. It is ironic seeing as the standard Bachmann caboose in all the HO sets is a midwestern prototype, and they did a GP35 on Alco trucks as a Frisco unit (the only model like this they produced)

[trainman203]

And expanding upon the learned Mr. Ward's statement, it should be said that both the Santa Fe and the Union Pacific are not purely West Coast railroads, but rather both have extensive Midwest and Great Plains trackage on their way to the West Coast.

[jward]

In all fairness this train would be a good project for a scratchbuilder, or a 3d printer. Apparently Overland Models made these in brass, but they are pricey, well over $2k if you can find one. Overland has since gone out of business.