It's July 29th/NMRA National Convention - Any New On30 Announcements?

[jpipkin]

Some of us are real happy with the new 18 foot cars.  There is a lot of beautiful On30 modeling representing 2 and 3 foot gauge lines.  But these new cars represent what On30 is for many of us.

By the way, did anyone catch that the price is for two cars not one.  Take into account what the street price will likely be and the cost becomes more attractive compared to the cost of a kit without trucks and couplers.

Jim

[Royce Wilson]

If my memory is correct the Yosimite Short Line had a 18' box car.Maybe Bachmann will letter it for this railroad.

Royce

[JohnR]

The YSL's purchased rollingstock consisted of short flatcars.  They had plans for general purpose freight and passenger cars, but they were never purchased.  After the YSL ceased operations, the equipment (cars and locos) went to the Empire City Railway.  From there, they were scattered in several directions. 

The only surviving car is a flatcar that was converted to a boxcar by Sierra Railway's shops in Jamestown.  Other flats were reportedly converted to boxcars or tanks though no other examples exist.

If the YSL had survived to transition from construction to revenue service, they would likely have had many short cars such as these.  They could be lettered with equal validity for Empire City, Molino Lumber, and the other lines they visited during their service life.

-John
YSL On30

[ScottyB]

I think the new cars are fantastic. As much as I like the similar kits that have been produced, my four-year-old hasn't the patience to wait for me to put them together. I like kits, but RTR equipment is always welcome on my layout. Those do look pretty nice.

If I didn't already have a 2-6-6-2, I would buy the 2-4-4-2. But one never knows. Some of my On30 purchases weren't planned, but they were too good a deal to pass up. So I may still end up with one in the future! Right now, still waiting for the heisler.

Scott

[Tomcat]

As some others say,

I´m not very happy with the new On30 stuff, as I rather had expected something Colorado or Sandy River or something for the On30 Loggers out there...

A bigger, more modern shay would have been my idea... The 2-4-4-2 does look neat, but it´s nothing more than another articulated engine still a bit smaller than the 2-6-6-2 is. As Bill in FL said, it looks like a Factory kitbash from the bigger articulated? Or is it already the finished model...?

The cars are fine, but this stuff has already been done by kit manufacturers...
I wouldn´t say that you let some of us down,Bachmann, but we had expected other things, I´m afraid.

I´ll be enthusiastic if you folks please bring the Heisler now forward. We´re all looking for its delivery since a long time,...

Cheers, Tom

[Royce Wilson]

I am sorry,I thought I saw an article in the Gazette where a YSL box car was found and used as a shed. I will try to find that issue.

Royce

[lenelg]

After the YSL project failed, the single Yosemite Short Line boxcar was used for many years as a storage shed in the Sierra RR´s Oakdale yard. I took some photos of it there back in 1984, on my first trip to Calfornia.

Later it was moved to Jamestown for possible restoration. I have seen photos taken there (by Mal Ferrell) which clearly show that it was built on one of the flatcars - part of the original Yosemite Short Line lettering showed on the side sill under the doors. Also, Mal´s photos show that the hinged "shed"doors were a later addition - there were bolt holes after the original sliding door runners.

The Sierra was "sort of" the parent road of the YSL, the YSL tracks connected with the Sierra at Quartz Jct, just south of Jamestown, and the YSL shared some of the financiers with the Sierra, so it would make sense that the boxcar was built in the Sierra shops.

An interesting question is why only 18 ft? Was it just that they needed some cheap and simple cars for construction, or was there something about the survey which mandated short cars which could handle tight curves? The original plan was to carry tourists to the Yosemite Valley, and they were competing with other projects, so they were in a hurry.. The J Hammond Car Co. prepared proposal drawings for a very short passenger coach, which seems to indicate that there was a long term need for equipment which could handle tight radius curves. And this would have interesting consequences for the type of equipment they would have used if the road had survived. The YSL was an indirect victim of the San Fransisco earthquake - there was no physical damage done but investors were spooked and pulled out.

And why 30" gauge?  This was in 1905, when most of the early narrow gauge railroads had either folded or been rebuilt to standard gauge, and there would have been lots of cheap second-hand equipment available if they had chosen 3 ft gauge..

[az2rail]

I am looking forwards to the 2-4-4-2. And I think a few of the 18' cars are in order. I can letter them to the railroad I want.

Bruce

[Linzthom]

I can't even get on the the page to have a look at the new stuff. The download keeps on crashing Explorer, stops working  and fouling up the computer.

[Lemurien]

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[railtwister]

I can't even get on the the page to have a look at the new stuff. The download keeps on crashing Explorer, stops working  and fouling up the computer.

That's strange, since it's only a PDF file of just over 2MB. Is your explorer up to date? Could it be your provider or Virus software is blocking it? The PDF is also posted in the files section of the On30 Conspiracy group on Yahoo, but it's not a one click link, you must find it, select it, and then download it manually, which might work better for you.

Bill in FtL

[Linzthom]

Brilliant !! Thanks Bill. Finally got to see what the new items were. That new mallet is very much like one that was imported here to New Zealand and is still very much alive and going.

Lindsay T ( NZ )

[Ken Clark]

  Lindsay

    Need to find my plans for the TTTCo Alco 2-4-4-2 to see how they compare, may need to look closer at adding
  one to my Xmas list <G>. Planning on getting to NZ again,after the NG convention next year.

    Ken Clark
      GWN

[Royce Wilson]

I think the 18' freight cars are going to look nice with the new 14 ton Heisler.
I think I am gonna cut a passenger car down to a 20ft to match these and do a YSL could have been.

Royce

[Hamish K]

Quite a few narrow gauge lines in different parts of the world, built passenger cars on their standard freight car chassis. This included  short cars in the 18-20 foot range, one example is the 30 inch gauge Buderim Tramway (Queensland, Australia) which had 20 foot passenger and freight cars. I am sure that 18 foot examples could be found somewhere. So Bachmann, how about adding a passenger car to this delightful new 18 foot car range?

I would also like to see a small 4 wheel "bobber" caboose to complement this new small rolling stock line.

Hamish