Are Bachmann North America planning on releasing pre-weathered models as Bachmann UK Ltd. does with its range of UK steam and diesel locomotives, as in this example: -
http://www.bachmann.co.uk/image_box.php?image=images1/branchline/32-858DC.jpg&cat_no=32-858DC&info=25&width=650&height=234 (http://www.bachmann.co.uk/image_box.php?image=images1/branchline/32-858DC.jpg&cat_no=32-858DC&info=25&width=650&height=234)
They have already produced pre-weathered models:
160-82603WE Spectrum USRA 2-6-6-2 Steam Powered w/Tender - Weathered -- Chesapeake & Ohio Class H5 HO 399.00 N Sold Out
160-82605WE Spectrum USRA 2-6-6-2 Steam Powered w/Tender - Weathered -- Nickel Plate Road HO 399.00 N Sold Out
160-82607WE Spectrum USRA 2-6-6-2 Steam Powered w/Tender - Weathered -- Wheeling & Lake Erie HO 399.00 N Sold Out
Here is the link on Walthers:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Locomotive&scale=H&manu=Bachmann&item=&keywords=weathered&words=restrict&instock=Q&showdisc=Y&split=30&Submit=Search (http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Locomotive&scale=H&manu=Bachmann&item=&keywords=weathered&words=restrict&instock=Q&showdisc=Y&split=30&Submit=Search)
Quote from: ACY on June 14, 2011, 04:22:38 PM
They have already produced pre-weathered models:
160-82603WE Spectrum USRA 2-6-6-2 Steam Powered w/Tender - Weathered -- Chesapeake & Ohio Class H5 HO 399.00 N Sold Out
160-82605WE Spectrum USRA 2-6-6-2 Steam Powered w/Tender - Weathered -- Nickel Plate Road HO 399.00 N Sold Out
160-82607WE Spectrum USRA 2-6-6-2 Steam Powered w/Tender - Weathered -- Wheeling & Lake Erie HO 399.00 N Sold Out
I was hoping that the entire range would be available weathered, as seems to be the case with Bachmann UK Ltd..
As my GER is set in Canada, I have no use for articulated engines. The 4-8-2, both light and heavy and any 2-10-2 without that odd ball Southern motion are the largest Bachmann Spectrum engines suitable for a Canadian model railway.
The only Mallets (pronounced mal lay) in Canada that I am aware of were the six built in 1910 for use as pushers on the big hill. They were never used in the east until after they were rebuilt as 10-coupled heavy switchers and transfer engines. The father of a friend (both now deceased) drove them in pusher service and according to my friend, his father hated them because of their unreliability. But they had what it took to push trains up the 4.4% grade.
What part of Canada and about what year does your GER represent? From the name, I would guess somewhere east of Winnipeg.
Jim
Quote from: Jim Banner on June 14, 2011, 09:31:09 PM
The only Mallets (pronounced mal lay) in Canada that I am aware of were the six built in 1910 for use as pushers on the big hill. They were never used in the east until after they were rebuilt as 10-coupled heavy switchers and transfer engines. The father of a friend (both now deceased) drove them in pusher service and according to my friend, his father hated them because of their unreliability. But they had what it took to push trains up the 4.4% grade.
What part of Canada and about what year does your GER represent? From the name, I would guess somewhere east of Winnipeg.
Jim
Hi Jim.
Yes, I was aware of the CPR class R1 0-6-6-0s that ran from 1909 until rebuilt in 1917. I gather they were not well liked in either configeration.
The GER replaces the CPR and some CNR lines in southern Quebec, across Maine and into the Martimes in 1958. Photos in my sig.
While certainly not Canadian, Great Northern ran their L1 2-6-6-2 mallets into BC regularly serving many of the South West BC town's coal and mining industries.
here is a great book called Steam along the Boundary that goes into detail outlining the CPR, Kettle Valley and the GN. The pictures in the book also show GN's 4-8-0's and CPR's Shays in service.
By the way, I grew up in Field BC, (Near the Big Hill), father worked as an engineer driving CPR's steamers. I remember seeing pictures of the experimental Selkirk engine while it was stationed in field. Now there was an engine that was hated.
I wonder if any prototype roads have tried to buy Pre-Weathered rolling stock and locos? ???
Rich
norfolk southern just did.
(http://www.nsdash9.com/images/NS6534nsl2.jpg)
Quote from: richg on June 15, 2011, 04:23:07 PM
I wonder if any prototype roads have tried to buy Pre-Weathered rolling stock and locos? ???
Rich
I believe they have Mother Nature on contract for that job.
Jim
Ready-to-run; preweathered; what's next?...ready-to-run layouts? Oh wait a minute...they are available. What ever happened to building kits and weathering ones own rolling stock? I guess my age is showing.
Ray
Quote from: CNE Runner on June 17, 2011, 05:18:09 PM
Ready-to-run; preweathered; what's next?...ready-to-run layouts? Oh wait a minute...they are available. What ever happened to building kits and weathering ones own rolling stock? I guess my age is showing.
Ray
I agree but where's all the rolling stock kits these day?
Where are all the locomotive kits these days?
And, as you asked, I weathered all my own rolling stock, locomotives, road vehicles, buildings and people.
Google Bachmann UK, Hornby UK and you'll find many pre-weathered locomotives and rolling stock items available.
Roger, I guess I have to admit that your observation of "where are all the kits...?" is bang on. Frankly the number of major kit manufacturers has dwindled as of late. Why? Because the buying public isn't buying them! I would imagine, now that Atlas has purchased Branchline, that line of kits will be slowly phased out. Thankfully Bowser and Accurail still produce quality kits (among others such as Walthers); so there are offerings for the 'kit minded' among us.
Times aren't so bleak as there are literally thousands of kits for sale on eBay and at train shows. I recently purchased, and completed, an old ('like 1950s) Silver Streak bobber caboose and marveled at the complexity of - what was then - a mainstream kit. When completed, these antique kits pale compared with even baseline offerings available in today's market.
Pray for me as I am starting construction on yet another Jordan light delivery wagon (you haven't lived unless you have attempted a Jordan horse-and-wagon kit).
Cheers on Father's Day,
Ray
dig a little deeper. try funero & camerlengo, westerfield, sunshine models.
the kits are out there.
jeff-
Well, yes, there are kits out there. But they're pretty pricey compared to the standards we old people developed for ourselves many years ago. And operating kits, like locomotives, cranes or rotary snowplows, are just about extinct.
-- D
Quote from: CNE Runner on June 19, 2011, 09:46:36 AM
Pray for me as I am starting construction on yet another Jordan light delivery wagon (you haven't lived unless you have attempted a Jordan horse-and-wagon kit).
Good luck! Just looking at those kits scares the dickens out of me! ;D
I have links to kits but they are not Bachmann models. Do some searches for the scales you like. There are some on ebay and others on line shops. Some are resin models and quite detailed and pricey.
The wood and plastic kits I have bought are circa 1900 though I have some that would be circa 1950's.
Rich
The part that bothers me is that I'm weathering, too, just as fast as the trains are. Faster in some cases. At least no one is using me for a billboard or an easel. Small consolation, though. Maybe a little paint could cover the wrinkles and the larger-than-needed parts.
Seriously, folks, there was a lot to like about the good old days in model railroading but there's a lot to like now, too. I started with Lionel in the 1950s. We had Magna-Traction but no DCC. We could make our trains reverse just by laying lead tinsel from the Christmas tree across the rails and today lead tinsel is hazmat. We built most of our cars, if typically not our locos, and we could be proud of them. And we still are. But we don't see so clearly now nor do our fingers seen quite so agile. So it's a good thing that we can find most anything in RTR. There are still plenty of kits out there, both old and contemporary, if we want a challenge. I don't agree that everything today is better than years ago, though. A carefully built Ambroid, Silver Streak, Walthers, Suydam or Central Valley kit can be entered in train show contests and win. Today's entry level trains are certainly better than the entry level of yesteryear but I'm not sure that's true about high line items. The best brass today is better than brass of years gone by, and it surely runs better, but a tuned and detailed older model can hold its own against the newcomers at a far lower cost.
So let's not lament the old days. We can still partake of that era should we choose to do so, and we can enjoy today's convenience as well. Gee, that makes me feel good. I think I might have lost a wrinkle.
--D