Does anyone know or heard any rumors of any of the manufacturers (Kato, Atlas, Intermountain or Fox Valley) will be producing models of the tier 4 locomotives in N scale? The ET44AC and ET44C4 locomotives have been rolling our of Fort Worth for some time now and I not seen any hint sas to what themodl manufacturers will be doing.
I admit it, I’m moving into the crowd that is stuck in the past now so I’m going to have to ask, what is this Tier 4 that you speak of young wipper snapper? This designation is unfamiliar to a guy who grew up with mostly 2nd generation diesels.
Tier 4 refers to the new EPA emissions standards. As of 2015 (?) all new locomtives must meet Tier 4 standards to be built and sold in the US (export locomotives exempt).
The EMD SD70ACes are no longer allowed to be built (except for those built with emissions credits). EMD has built the SD70ACeT4 locomotive, which now features a four stroke engine. The long hood has been made larger to fit all the emissions junk inside. They also have to recirculate the exhaust back through the engine. The cab has also been updated and the cab windows resimilar to the SD60M and SD70M ones. If you google the SD70ACeT4, there is pictures of the demonstrators.
GE also needed to create a new locomotive. I am not fimilar with the specifics of their models.
Not really into modeling the new stuff, but they have a distinctive chunky nose to them. I likes.
My theoretical 2nd layout may be a smaller scale modern one (likely N), and I’d definitely go for one of these. They’ll look sweet with a string of double stacks behind them.
I have a grade crossing that I have to stop at (IL Route 41 + IL Route 137) on the way home from work, and I’m sometimes treated to an occasional UP freight. It’s usually rusted out GE pulling gondolas, but sometimes there’s something nice on the head end, and an auto parts carrier or two. I hope I get to see one of these soon. EMD is still my favorite manufacturer and it’s nice to see something memorable being put out brand new.
No rumors, but it’s an inevitability. The prototype Class 1 railroads may already have ET44ACs in their fleet, but the fleet size is still small at the moment, which means a more limited amount of road numbers in models.
Judging how fast it took for Kato to roll out the ES44AC (N scale), the prototype came out in 2007, while the models first came out in 2010. If that’s an indicator, you can expect the first ET44AC models to roll out next year (2018). I’m quite sure the model manufacturers already have blueprints from GE and have made production research visits to the factory. The ball is already rolling.
EMD is pretty late to the party on this one - GE’s Tier 4 GEVO (the ET44AC/ET44AH/ET44C4) has been in production for over a year (first deliveries were in 2015) with the demonstrators on the rails back in 2012. CN, UP, BNSF, CSX and NS are all accumulating substantial fleets of them (there are already nearly 800 of them out on the rails, with more coming). By contrast, EMD is still demonstrating the SD70ACe-T4, and only UP has committed to buy them so far.
The GE ET44AC is pretty similar in many ways to its predecessor GEVOs, with the most noticeable difference being the higher roofline and MASSIVE radiator section (at much steeper angles than before).
Intermountain has already announced that they will be producing these locos in HO: http://intermountain-railway.com/ho/loco/holoces44ac.htm
ScaleTrains has also said that they intend to produce the ET44AC at some point in the future, but are waiting for more production units to be built and spend some time on the road so they can ensure the model reflects appropriate variations in the production