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do you think bachmann will ever make a big boy?

Started by sedfred, April 18, 2015, 12:44:26 AM

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rogertra

Just because puts a manufacturer puts a road name on the side of a locomotive, or even a freight or passenger car for that matter, doesn't mean it's prototypically correct.  It's just a marketing tool to sell more product to a wider audience.

It's mainly a North American market trait, it's almost unknown in other markets.

Cheers

Roger T.


Trainman203

Man, Some one count all the HO scale Big Boys ever made.  Haven't there been enough? I think one of the Bach Man's competitors has one out right now.

Articulated engines simply don't look good or run right on 99 percent of all layouts.  Mr Bach Man, when new steam engine offerings are considered,  please consider 2-8-0 and smaller  engines that look good and run good on most of our layouts.  The Alco mogul, though I quibbled often about it, was a good choice for overall size and fit on home layouts.

I wish there was some kind of pill or antidote we could give the folks afflicted with G.E.S. (Giant Engine Syndrome )  :D.

If we absolutely "must" have a new Malley offered, it would be great to have one of the very early (1910 or so) 2-6/6-2's or 2-8-8-0's with the high mounted headlight and arched cab windows typical of the period.  I don't think anyone ever has, and such an engine might actually make it around a 15" radius curve like a lot of folks seem to need.  :D

Jerrys HO

Quote from: rogertra on April 18, 2015, 10:26:19 PM
It's mainly a North American market trait, it's almost unknown in other markets.
Cheers
Roger T.

Don't care to much for Americans now do ya  ??? :D

RAM

How about something that most modelers can run.  A nice 0-6-0, 2-6-2, or maybe a small 4-6-2.

rogertra

Quote from: RAM on April 19, 2015, 04:54:59 PM
How about something that most modelers can run.  A nice 0-6-0, 2-6-2, or maybe a small 4-6-2.

Yes, there's been more than enough big power produced by various manufacturers.

Cheers

Roger T.


Len

Quote from: RAM on April 19, 2015, 04:54:59 PM
How about something that most modelers can run.  A nice 0-6-0, 2-6-2, or maybe a small 4-6-2.

I vote for a timber road 2-6-2!

Len
If at first you don't succeed, throw it in the spare parts box.


Woody Elmore

The last Wabash mogul, # 573, I believe is in a museum and MR ran the plans in 1959 so they are available. 573 (and sister 576) ran long into the diesel era because there was a bridge (I believe in Keokuk, Iowa) that wouldn't support a diesel which was heavier.

There was one imported in brass ages ago and the long defunct Kemtron company made a kit. 

It would be a nice addition to anyone modeling a branch line. Keep in mind that a little engine like this is not going to haul a lot of cars.

union pacific 4014


RAM

Well I hope that  they do not just paint a Santa Fe 4-8-4 and call it UP.  It is about like taking PRR's K4 and calling it a SP 4-6-2.  In the way of Santa Fe, they could redo the 2-10-4 like they did the 4-8-4.

MilwaukeeRoadfan261

Quote from: RAM on April 19, 2015, 04:54:59 PM
How about something that most modelers can run.  A nice 0-6-0, 2-6-2, or maybe a small 4-6-2.

For the 2-6-2 idea. It would be nice to have a non-"USRA" (I have USRA in air quotes as the Bachmann "USRA" 2-6-2 never existed in real life just like it's fellow "USRA" 2-6-0. There was however a USRA 0-6-0 tender engine). I myself wouldn't mind a Northern Pacific 2-6-2 such as T class #2435 (which is preserved in the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, MN and is the only remaining Northern Pacific engine of this wheel arrangement since there are a good two or three dozen 2-6-2's preserved throughout the US) or even a Great Northern 2-6-2 or Soo Line 2-6-2 to in a similar manner as the Northern Pacific 2-6-2, to add a couple more Upper Midwestern/Pacific Northwest area road names to the line up of steam locomotives from the different manufacturers. As far as a logging version though, I wouldn't mind seeing a Saddle Tank one as I rode behind one on the Black Hills Central in South Dakota a few years ago and NO ONE makes an engine like that in any scale. Here is a picture of the 2-6-2ST I am talking about.
http://steamlocomotive.com/prairie/pt104-fellner.jpg
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures%5C37514%5CP-3107.JPG

Len

MRF - While I personally am not all that found of 'tank' engines, I could go with any of those other 2-6-2's you mentioned. Whatever they did, if Bachmann did it, it would be nice if they did a painted/unlettered version.

And I'm with you on the "USRA" 2-6-2's, which is why I keep asking for a Spectrum quality version.

Len
If at first you don't succeed, throw it in the spare parts box.

Trainman203

We need non specific engines , like the USRA, that could be for several railroads, like the logging 2-6-2 or any of several Harriman engines. Harriman engines would, by being on the SP, UP and IC (as well  as the C of G), would cover the west like USRA engines cover the east, and lots of people would buy them.

But since folks are putting in their road specific favorites ,I'll put mine in too.... MoPac Spot class 2-8-0 thst is generic as the come, MoPac 300 class heavy ten wheeler that is also very generic, MoPac 1400 class 2-8-2, a nice heavy 2-8-2  derived from USRA spec but quite different in appearance.

kewatin

in responce to SEDFRED&ACY 
GRAND TRUNK,CENTRAL VERMONT,& GRANDE TRUNK&WESTERN were all owned by CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS
yes a lot of the locos were made by american mfg's as well as by in house montreal locomotive works.i have personally witnessed these american subsiduaries operating in ontario.giving away my age lol.many of these american locos had a lot of common looks to their canadian cousins. my grandfather was in fact an engineer  on the grand trunk&western&ran the montreal-toronto-detroit -chicago run back in the 30's bachmann has in the past offered cdn road names and as i am not a rivet counter or a brasshat that as long as it s close it works for me. the biggest thing that is noticable is the unique vanderbuilt tenders that were used .check out the grande trunk &central vermonts northerns& mikado's, they are mirror of each other. the other noteworhy item would be the big feedwater heater across the top of the boiler front. no body seems to make locos with this feature on,even thou many us&cdn road locos had them.and yes the market is saturated with big boys,we need more pacifics&hudsons.
regards&later kewatin

Desertdweller

Roger,

I can't personally tell if what you said about American vs. foreign practice of marketing model locomotives is true, but I think I know why that is likely the case.  Before the mega-mergers started eating up the smaller Class One Railroads, there were a great many railroads in this country, but only a very few manufacturers and models.  So it would stand to reason that a model manufacturer would market a handful of locomotives in a variety of paint schemes, geared to what would sell best, not to what is the most accurate.  This problem is worse with Diesel locomotives than with steam, that tended to be a least a bit individualistic.

For example, everyone's F-units looked pretty much alike.  So take a common prototype (F7?) and letter it for a bunch of common railroads, regardless of whether or not they used them.  The modeler can detail them to represent a particular railroad's units.

This isn't a matter of liking or not liking American railroads.  It is a good thing, because the more units sold, the stronger it makes the hobby for all of us.

Les