I would love to see a flexibeam flatcar made. Ones I have seen locally I think were 89 feet long. That would not be a car for 027 curves. Also there was a small article in the back of a trains magazine in the last 20 years about articulating hopper cars made or modified in Canada for hauling wheat on lines that had lighter rail. They only showed one picture of a bunch of them together. If memory serves me right they were modified by cutting in half, re-inforcing the frame and putting a 3rd truck in the middle.
My vote is for an operating RPO. A close second would be a interurban Class D steeplecab…perhaps third would be a Baldwin transfer engine…
I would like to see Lionel reintroduce its pre-war shorty passenger cars in tinplate.
For more modern stuff, I’d like to see more small diesels: an SW-1 and a 44 tonner with more realistic (though not necessarily scale) proportions.
Lionel please make the Thomas troublesome trucks sans faces or that operating tipping short ore car that goes with the tinplate set in the latest catalog, or ANYTHING short - 2 axle - wheelbase and preferably tipping.
I, for one, really dont like bogied goods wagons and they take up so much space for very little use apart from looks. I run toy trains and I want to be able to play with them. I’d build my own if I knew where I could get those wheelsets like the trucks mentioned but the troublesome trucks are too expensive to strip for parts.
Also short wheelbase clerestory coaches but not much hope there I suppose. Surely there must have been some branch lines somewhere in the U.S, that used that sort of rolling stock.
Boyd and everyone,
Go to BNSF Customer Tools at www.bnsf.com
Reference-81ft. Flexibeam. It is the New 81ft. Flexibeam.
In HO Scale that car would be almost 12" Long. Best on O 36 Curves
In S Scale that Car would be about 16" Long. Best on O 54 Curves.
In O Scale that Car would be about 20" Long. Best on O 72 Curves.
These cars were built by Freight Car America. Formerly was Johnstown America.
Go to www.freightcaramerica.com or www.johnstownamerica.com to see more information about these Hybrid Center Beam flat cars.
Those test versions of the Canadian National Cylindrical Articulated Hoppers were mentioned in an article by RailModel Journal and the CN Annual Report.
The CN Lines website’s CN Cyclopedia has information about them.
The first was for Manitoba Grain. CN 398000
The second was for Canpotex. CN 399000
The Articulated Hoppers were extremely rare. No regular production build.
There should be regular Cylindrical Hoppers with the Canpotex paint scheme from Lionel and MTH before producing the unusual model.
Andrew
What I would like to see made are these Soo Line 3-Bay Covered Hoppers.
Soo Line’s Magor Car Company built 4750 Cu. Ft. Aluminum Bodied 3-Bay Covered Hoppers.
Soo Line’s ACF built 4600 Cu. Ft. Capy. CENTER FLOW 3-Bay Covered Hoppers.
Soo Line’s Fond Du Lac Car Building Shops assembled Plug-Door Boxcars.
The same Covered Hoppers and Boxcars in accurate Great Northern, Burlington Northern, and BNSF paint schemes.
Andrew
I get a kick of these sorts of threads, esp. on the other forum, where folks come up with these lists of very specific particular prototypes of items they’d like made in precision scale detail. My suggestion is to send Lionel or MTH a check for $75,000-$100,000+ (for rolling stock) and up to a quarter million for a loco and they can custom tool one up for you.
There does seem to be a lot of interest for a 44 ton switcher. But even the one tooled up by Lionel in the 1950’s bears a little more resemblance to other bigger center cab switchers that have been made for the real railroads. There’s a photo one for UP in the new special edition Lomotive issue published by Kalmbach. Granted the Lionel (and Williams) models are not dead ringers for the UPY2005 N-ViroMotive diesel, but bear a little more in common visually with this loco. And as with the Ready Made Toys BEEP and BEEF, close enough is good enough if the list price and operation quality is right.
Maybe another take for threads like this would be: 1) what would like to see made from exisiting tooling 2) what new items would you think would be practical to be tooled up. Unfortunately, practical means is is going to have to be able to negotiate 027 curves and be dumbed down in detail as to look good with traditional types of trains… ie: the Lionel Docksider.
I hope that whatever new stuff is introduced, that some real thought goes into it. With both Lionel and MTH in tight monetary straits, I would garner that whatever ideas are brought forth, hopefully they will have some universal appeal. Good examples of recent hits are the Lionel Docksider and everything made by RMT.
Should Lionel lose on their appeal in December or Janurary, and they manage to survive that staggering $40M loss, I’ll bet new product tooling will be drastically curtailed. MTH already cancells anything without adequate solid preorders. And we shall see about these MTH Heritage locos, since they have yet to settl
I’d like to see some of the old tooling put to use again. Some of the old sets from the pre and post war eras are being remade by Lionel. I’d like to see them continue that and reintroduce the 2046 or 2055 with a set of re-issued post war cars.
I’d like to see the 2-6-2 675/2025 re-issued, although I know the tooling for that has been destroyed.
As for cars, I’d like to see more cars made with Lionel Lines livery on them as opposed to real roadnames.
Thor,
Look at the new RMT Peeps. Very short passenger cars. I’m thinking of buying a set to put behind our Thomas, Percy, and James locomotives.
Jim
Lionel has yet to make the O Gauge Thrall Car 60’ CENTERBEAM Flatcar with an accurate version of the UNION PACIFIC paint scheme. The previous two were not based on anything that matched real Union Pacific 60’ CENTERBEAM Flatcars.
The Lionel O Scale ACF CENTER FLOW 4650 Cu. Ft. 3-Bay Covered Hopper has to be made in the Great Northern paint schemes of the Original 1965 scheme and the Big Sky Blue Scheme.
Andrew
I would like to see scale 60 ft Harriman coaches made. Ideal for small layouts and small steam engines. MDC made them in HO back in the 70’s and they were successful.
Someone else mentioned the GE 44 toner and I will vote for that also. The Strasburg RR, not the museum, but the working RR just repainted their 44 ton GE back to the original PRR paint job. This engine is their working switcher and the only non steam power that they own. That would make a good prototype for someone to use to make a model. Personally I would like to see Mike do it with Proto 2.
The Flexibeam’s distinct X Center Beam can be reproduced by MTH for insertion into the existing Premier O Scale Center Beam Flat Car. The Center Beam design has been changed in previous runs of these cars from the Oval Openings to the Open Frame. It would not require all new tooling as some people think. Modifications are possible to existing Flat Cars.
Andrew
If someone wants to make an approximation the Articulated Canadian Covered Hopper the best starting point would be a pair of undecorated K-Line ACF Center Flow 2- Bay Covered Hoppers.
Perhaps Lionel will paint those two Canadian Schemes on the K-Line ACF Center Flow 2-Bay Covered Hoppers.
Andrew
Boyd,
What proportions are your track layout and what are the curve sizes?
If they are 4’ x 8’ then you need an O Gauge version by Lionel or MTH.
Lionel and MTH are able to change the Center I-Beams on their Center Beam Flat Cars.
This FleXibeam design can be yet another injection mold addition.
IT would not be too costly to add new parts to an existing freight car.
Andrew
Yep its 4x8. The room is about 11x13, 4x8 in back left corner, then isle, then twin bed. “L” section connects around the back of the bed and goes around to the other side of the room. Extention going in/out of closet is not built yet.
Boyd,
Then you could not be operating on anything larger than O48 FasTrack.
The Lionel and MTH RailKing O Gauge Center Beam Flat Cars are just the right size for O48 FasTrack.
You never mentioned how many roadnumbers of the BNSF FleXibeams you want and can realistically afford.
Andrew
Not even O48, since they now measure the diameter to the center rail.
So with Lionel FasTrack the O36 track is the limit on the 4’x8’ Board.
This is why everyone should put their O Gauge tracks plans in spaces of 100 Square Feet. The minimum radius of O Gauge track is too restrictive in 32 Square Feet.
Andrew
Back in 1996 and 1997 Lionel produced the O Gauge 60’ Thrall Car Bulkhead Flat Car with Pulpwood Load in the markings for Southern Railway and BCIT British Columbia Railway.
ATHEARN makes HO Scale 60’ Bulkhead Flat Cars in various road names with pipe loads and lumber loads.
The road names offered by Athearn for the 60’ Bulhead Flat Cars are WC, UP, NS, BN, SOO, BNSF, SP, SSW, WP, British Columbia Railway BCOL, KCS, MILW, TTX, CPR, SF, C&C.
LIONEL is known for low production levels, but they could expand the roadnames and get more use out of this modern O Gauge freight car.
Andrew
One thing that I would like to see more of is on the steam locomotives, the front coupler! Seems like most companies ignore the fact that almost all steam locomotives have a front coupler on the actual locomotive, usually the front coupler feature is only avaible on high priced locomotives, around $800.00 & up.
One reason that I like diesels is that they have a front & rear coupler, wether it works or not is not the issue just put a front coupler on the lower priced stuff too!
Lee F.