Can we discuss some items that are not available, but should be? My own interest is the transition era in HO scale, but it would be worthwhile to hear from those in other scales or eras. Some of my suggestions are available as resin kits, and some have been available in brass. In general, they are hard to find if they’ve ever been available at all. Here’s my list:
Fairbanks Morse H20-44 road switcher, used by UP, PRR, NYC, AC&Y, P&WV, IHB, Southwest Portland Cement, and possibly others.
Lima Hamilton diesel switcher, used by B&O, Erie, NKP, WAB, NYC subsidiaries, TRRA?, Cincinnati Un. Term., Armco, and possibly others.
USRA triple hopper, used in very large numbers by NYC and C&O and maybe others.
A pin-connected through truss bridge. Maybe this could be a retrofit kit for Central Valley’s Pratt bridge, although I’m not certain whether this would work.
I think the N&W 4-8-0 Huckleberry would be a block buster.
I also think we need more variety in the 2-8-0 locos. The Bachmann Consolidation is a fine model but it’s based, from what I heard, from ICG. We need 2-8-0s to cover some of the other road names.
Finally I think we need another company like Magnuson to produce resin cast brick buildings.
Those have been done. By Westerfield. Don’t know the current production status so I don’t know if they ARE being done. The real issue with those is that while it was an USRA design, USRA never sanctioned the building of any. The C&O took the design and built their own. So for a manufacture there is really only the limited market of C&O and NYC modelers. While they would be prototypical in a train on any road in that time period, people who model all those other roads seldom consider looking for “unique” cars from other roads.
I wouldn’t mind having a cut of 4-5 of them to be running empty back to home road.
I’d like to see the smaller HO 20th century steamers in UP decoration with DCC and sound, such as 0-6-0, 0-8-0, 2-6-2, 2-8-0 such as Bachmann (preferably Spectrum), Proto2000, Geneis, BLI, etc. I just started last year, so may have missed some prior releases of these. Not very interested in DCC w/o sound.
I’m covered with a BLI Mountain and Mikado, a Bachmann (not Spectrum) 2-6-0, Genesis Challenger & Big Boy, plus upcoming (early 2014 at this point) Genesis 4-8-4, so my preferences above would fill some key voids.
My second priorities would be UP diesels (DCC/sound) in F7, RS-2, etc). I have a DCC only Kato RS-2 (added a decoder but don’t have the skills to squeeze in a speaker) and think I missed some Intermountain F72, not sure if offerred in DCC/sound.
Being a passenger nut I’m always on the lookout for certain types of passenger cars. One area that seems to be lacking would be what some railroads refered to as “betterment” cars. Heavyweights that have been rebuilt or modernized. LOTS of post-war railroads, especially those on a budget, rebuilt heavyweights—especially non-revenue cars like diners, RPOs and lounges—adding A-C, modern windows and sometimes smooth sides.
As long as I’m on a roll[:D] I’d like to see a few more bedroom-lounge cars both Pullman and Budd. In pre-Amtrak days, lots of these cars replaced diners and sometimes represented the entire “first-class” portion of the train!
One final car, and I started a thread on this some time ago, would be U.S. No.1 the Ferdinand Magellan! This was done in brass by Overland about ten tears ago and the few that come up often sell quickly at over $1200.00! This car was used by FDR, Truman, maybe once or twice by Eisenhower and even Reagan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferd
I was hoping to stir up some discussion & it seems to have worked.
TexasZephyr, I was aware of the Westerfield kits, but not sure if they’re available. I’m planning on building a couple that I already have, but a mass-produced model would allow me to expand the fleet further. Yes, they weren’t used by a lot of roads, but there were a lot of them and they were interchanged to a lot of roads, especially in the East. And it’s true that the USRA didn’t build any; but that’s where the design originated.
Russq4b, I agree that an N&W Mollie 4-8-0 would be wonderful to have. As for the 2-8-0, I’d suggest drivers in the 55-57" range. Other than brass, I think every 2-8-0 produced in HO has had 50-52" or 62-64" drivers. Actually, Bachmann’s 2-8-0 isn’t just an IC engine. It’s a pretty much standard Harriman 2-8-0. Give it the drivers I suggested, replace the sandbox and tender, take off the Baker valve gear, put on a new cylinder block and VOILA you’ve got a very presentable UP or SP 2-8-0. That may sound like a lot of changes, but it’s not really that much of a big deal when you remember that BLI produced 2 versions of 2-10-4 to represent PRR and C&O. The UP 2-8-0 should also please Peahrens.
Keep the ideas coming. Maybe there’s a manufacturer out there listening.
UP used USRA 0-6-0’s as available from Walthers. And if you look around at swap meets or eBay, you might find a Roundhouse 0-6-0, which could represent a fairly early Harriman 0-6-0.
I am a B&O guy, so I would like a 2-8-0 that’s close to what the B&O had. In general I think there would be a good market for 2-8-0s because I see a lot of people base their layouts on branch lines.
How about some big center cab Lima or Baldwin transfer units? More pre war RPO HW cars that are affordable like Walthers did with the B60b and the R50b? Maybe an end door scenery car and horse car to go with them too.
BLI has answered the prayer of most of us SPF with the soon to be released H10 2-8-0. I can foresee the next release with a lines east tender to firmly establish it as a great model to all of us PRR modelers.
Larry.
Didn’t Eddystone locomotive works come out with a Lima switcher in plastic?
About 30 years ago or more Custom Brass had released a Reading K1sb (2-10-2) and I had always hoped that someone other than a brass maker would produce them. BLI has the Reading T-1, though unaffordable…they still make it. K1…yeah that would work for me.
One thing that’s hard to find are combination cars, cars that are say 1/4 baggage with the rest being seats. In Heavyweight cars, Bachmann makes one that’s about 50-50, and the old AHM/Rivarossi cars were about 1/4 seats, 3/4 baggage. In lightweight, I don’t know if anyone makes them?? They were quite common on top-of-the-line trains like NYC’s Twentieth Century Limited, or C&NW’s 400, but they’re pretty rare in HO.
A Pennsy F22 flat car so I can ship my 16" Naval Gun Barrels (made by Laserkits)
AMB Laserkit Photo
I know Funaro & Camerlengo has resin kits, of which I have two, but me and the stake pockets and the acc are NOT having much fun trying to get those tiny stake pockets to stick! Brass F22s are occasionally found at about $175 a copy (currently, one at brasstrains.com!)
