New HO Spectrum EM1 Yellowstone

[mboden42]

Anyone know when the new HO Spectrum EM1 Yellowstone might be available?

[trainman203]

I hate to say it, but this engine represents yet another oversized huge mama-jama that will only work on the largest of large layouts, it's of no use to anyone with a 4 x 8 HO layout, which I suspect is probably the layout of a majority of Bachmann customers.

The engine that would sell in the thousands would be an HO scale Southern Pacific M4 2-6-0.  Since I can remember, someone has almost always had this engine available in some form or another, mostly brass though.  IHC offered a plastic one by Mehano for years, but it was a product of its day, crude in many dimensions, acceptable then but not today.  There are thousands upon thousands of Southern Pacific modelers who would buy one, its small size would run on any layout, and there's no doubt in my mind it would be a success.

To be clear now, though, I'm not talking about taking the current mogul and putting southern Pacific on the tender.  I speak of a spectrum quality truly prototypical locomotive with separately applied details, not molded-on plumbing.  The Bach Man offered a separately available medium Vanderbilt oil tender with oil bunker quite a while back.  Surely the tooling for this still exists so it's already done.

I know I'm shouting in the wind to silence, but those are just my thoughts about what the Model Railroad community certainly wants and would be successful without a doubt.  I also know that Bachmann has seemed to have a preference over many years for prototypes of roads east of the Mississippi River, so that might be a negative for this engine.

[emde5]

Baltimore & Ohio 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone" Locomotives did run east of the Mississippi.

[mboden42]

Thanks for the replies and comments. I didn't know if there was life out there!...... Anyway, I would be running the articulated on a club layout with minimum radius well over 30 inches. Undecided weather to go with the Bachmann EM1 Yellowstone 2-8-8-4 or another manufacturers' Challenger 4-6-6-4 which will be available late February....Any thoughts or advice??