Hi Everyone,
I happened to be talking to someone at a Kato booth at the World’s Greatest Hobby train show who turned out to be head of product development for the U.S. market. I asked him about whether there were other comuter lines coming in the future to which he said it’s very doubtful because their current line of metro, etc. didn’t do nearly as well as they had hoped.
He did however mention that they were seriously looking into tooling and manufacturing the new Amtrak ACS-64. Again, nothing 100% concrete, but it does seem to come from a very reliable source (assuming he is who he claimed to be).
BTW, we were specifically talking N scale at the moment so I’m not sure whether this would flow into HO or not.
Just thought I’d share.
Usually it’s the other way 'round. HO first, then to N scale. Maybe Kato will choose to do N first?
Interesting, although not a model that would fit into my scheme of things. I have a pair of Atlas AEM-7s and that’s enough modern juice for me.
Thanks for the info, Ed
Although I model the modern era in 2007 in N Scale. I would love to have 1 or 2 Amtrak ACS-64 electric diesels.
Kato focuses more on N than HO. Evidence is the significantly larger catalog of N-Scale locomotives and Unitrack. As a N-scaler, I am happy with their focus.
So true… For Kato, and hence the adverb “usually” in my statement.
I had a pretty large collection of Kato N back in the day and I always admired their Broadway Limited and Penn-Central passenger cars. I don’t believe anyone else ever offered the sleepers with the tuscan red and dulux gold P-C lettering.
Ed
It’d be a good addition to any eastern US model fleet, there are plenty of modern modelers in N. I’m happy for 'em.