GREAT BRASS SALE

[dinwitty]

Brass is getting way to pricey for me, and watching ebay I cant believe some of the prices people do pay.

BTW,

http://lostengines.railfan.net/

[MidlandPacific]

WOW! Thanks for the link. Those are some amazing pictures. Incredible that someone bought them and then never cut them up for resale, particularly since the Korean War was going on and they would’ve brought him a pretty penny.

[twhite]

QUOTE: Originally posted by davekelly

twhite,
A little off topic, but I always wondered how close to prototype MDC’s narrow gauge steamers were (I think they are presented as DRGW prototypes).

Dave–they’re close, VERY close, as far as I can see. I have a couple of the MDC standard gauge ‘old time’ 2-8-0’s, which are simply the narrow-gauge boilers on a standard-gauge chassis, and they very closely resemble the Rio Grande 900 series C-series. I think the narrow gauge versions are kind of generic (someone correct me if I’m wrong, I’m not an authority on Rio Grande narrow-gauge), but their outside-frame 2-8-0 looks close enough to the prototype to fool probably anyone but the most devoted rivet-counter (which I’m not). If there is a real difference, it might be that Rio Grande’s early narrow guage 2-8-0’s had the main rod connected to the 2nd instead of the 3rd driver. But I can tell you that I’m happier than all get-out with the two cute little 900 series that I got from MDC, even if they are noiser than Heck, compared to some of my brass.
Tom [:D]

[davekelly]

Tom,

Thanks. They are cool looking models and would be my first choice if I ever decide to do the narrow guage thing.

[twhite]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rripperger

Tom,

Since I’m modeling a freelanced version of the Midland, I understand your problem, and I’ve had to do the same thing.

I have also tended to argue the same thing, for the same reasons: an F-81 doesn’t look like anything else. On the other hand, think about the D&RGW’s early Mallets - the L-96s, for example. Below the boiler (i.e., running gear, cylinders, driver diameter) they’re probably roughly similar to, say, the NP Z-3 class 2-8-8-2s, or even the early Harriman-standard Mallets. Is it conceivable that a manfacturer might simply chose to use a standard chassis for a couple of different but nevertheless similar locomotives, and build a diecast superstructure atop it? I don’t know whether it would be economically feasible to cast a bunch of different boiler/cab assemblies, to say nothing of variations in valve gear: but as for the detail casting variations, Bachmann has already proved that you can swap things like press-on pilots around to provide greater realism and variation while still making an affordable model.

In the end, I don’t know whether smaller-run diecast models are economically feasible. I do know that Precision Scale and Soundtraxx are making a tentative effort by producing narrow-gauge diecast locomotives. Granted that it’s the narrow gauge equivalent of a Cab-Forward, it’s still a smaller-run product than an equivalent standard-gauge product would be.

On the other hand, if you’ve got $1500, PSC-made F-81s are coming on the market: brand new, for the same price as your 1978 PFM Crown!

Rob: Since you’re modeling the Midland, we’re not only in the same boat, we’re darn near using the same paddle, LOL! Next to what I’ve seen available to the Midland, Rio Grande brass could be considered to be flooding the market.
I’ve often wondered about the feasability of manufacturers using different plastic or die-cast boiler castings on their whe

[MidlandPacific]

Midland brass is always hard to find: I have two pieces of it, a Class 115 and a Class 104. Except for the switchers, it comes in and goes right back out: Caboose Hobbies never seems to keep Midland stuff on the shelf for more than a day or two. I think the only thing that keeps the price down is the sheer age of most of the stuff. I think (but couldn’t prove) that there are a lot of Midland modelers out there, but they are a demographic the industry hasn’t noticed, for some reason. I don’t know how much research our suppliers do on product demand; probably not enough, because it seems like it would be a really bad idea to bring out two diecast K-27s at the same time (Soundtraxx, Precision Scale), just as it seems like a bad idea to bring out a bunch of Challengers or K-4s simultaneously. I hear a lot of anecdotal traffic, but I don’t know if there’s serious market research going on.

I would like to think that there are some unappreciated possibilities, but I think articulateds are the principal one: even if the expense of making multiple molds for the different boiler/cab combinations raised the price, a $600 Mallet is STILL cheaper than a brand-new PSC or DIVP 2-8-8-2.