Any CPR or CNR/GTW would be really great.
About the Challenger’s being released, why? There already is the Rivarossi challengers, certainly there are other big articulateds out there that haven’t yet been modelled, such as a Yellowstone. With both Athearn and Lionel putting out the Challenger, neither is going to make the profits needed to continue manufacturing, and all will go kaput. Competition is good, but if it means all the manufacturers are going to make the same thing, then no one wins.
Also, with the exception of Bachmann, no-one seems to be making steam locomotives that can fit realisticly on small layouts, sure the BLI Hudson can go around 16" curves, but the passenger cars can’t, and on something up to 8x12, it’s really to big. Likewise with the articulateds and mallets, only those with huge layouts can actually use them, and they seem to end up buying a half dozen of them!
When was the last time someone produced a 4-4-0? Something as widespread as that will always be a great seller, with 10,000’s of them built and used from the early days right up to the end of steam.
Broadway Limited also seems to be really trying to go bankrupt, with about 1 new loco a month for the next year, and with all of them large locomotives, do they really thinik they will be able to stay afloat?
Lionel’s return to HO should’ve been with a locomotive that isn’t available on the new market, such as light engines, but with a Challenger already produced by Rivarossi and Athearn coming out with one, one has to ask why? That is not the way to get back into a market.
And another thing that bothers me is the lack of Canadian road names on production models and their mention in reviews. Both the CPR and CNR used many standard US designs, and CPR’s Fowler box car was the most widely seen with something over 75,000 produced. With the exception of Life-Like Canada, to get Canadian roadnames on the models you seem to either get custom painted ones, or