Just saw the ad today. Ever since I bought my ET44C4 from scaletrains, (and even before), I wished they had the ES44. Sadly, they opted to do the C44-9s first…
The ES44 one of my absolute favorite locomotives, which means if I buy it, it has to be really good. As good as my ET44C4 is. And now that scaletrains finally has it, anyone else really excited? Its about time they made it. I was getting impatient.
I don’t get excited anymore about things like this but i did pre order some and wish Scale Trains made more of what the others are making.
Nope no exitement at all, but I am exited about Rapido NKP RS-11’s
Rick Jesionowski
If it were an FM H20-44 or an NYC L-2a 4-8-2 Mohawk (with Elesco FWH) I’d say “Yes, sir-ee!!” An ES44 is a just a weeeeeeee bit early for my era.
Tom
Interesting. I consider myself a contemporary modeler but since I model a free lanced shortline, the newest locomotives I know of are GP50s and GP60s. Okay, I know what a Genset is, but nobody cares about them.
Educate me (and us), gotta pic of an ES44 to share? And how is it different from those other locos you weren’t so exited about.
Does it have six axle trucks, a big fat cab on the front, and two big flat fins in the back like a forked whale tail? I think I’ve seen one lately.
Edit: Hey Dopey, look up! Our host has pics on the banner.
I don’t even really know what an ES44 is? It is still 1954 here.
Sheldon
Here’s the problem: the vast majority of model railroaders are not going to be excited over any product.
A great HO engine won’t be embraced by O, N, S, TT, Z or G scalers. A superb rendition of a steam engine won’t be liked by people who don’t model the past, and a great modern diesel won’t be purchased by a steamhead. A superior passenger car won’t be sought after by those who don’t model that railroad or era. And so on.
You could ask this question of every new product when it is announced, and every time you’ll get far more, “Nope, not interested!” than “Awesome! I can’t wait!”
The best part is that it doesn’t matter. With production runs of 3000 to 5000 units, you don’t need a lot of interested people to make a product profitable. And that’s why we get all these great trains today vs. the trickle of units that we used to get.
And yet they continue to ask…
This is a model of a 15 year old locomotive, that did not even exist when I started in this hobby. That was over 50 years ago.
The passage of time will continue to splinter the hobby, and make it harder for manufacturers to know what they should make models of.
While some think interest in older eras will decline, my recent thread asking what era people model was overwhelmingly slanted to the mid 20th century, still seemingly the most popular era.
We will see.
New products are slanted towards more recent prototypes, as well they should be. Models, even pretty good models, have already been made of most of the old stuff.
But I assure you I’m not buying any ES44’s…
Sheldon
My son has some modern diesels, but no, I’m not excited over an ES44…
The Rapido RS-11 in NKP, yes. The Rapido RS-18 low nose CP, yes.
But mainly, I have a less than positive history with ScaleTrains, so I don’t get excited over their products.
John
nope … there -should- be one other person as well, not sure where he is though ??
Here’s what the engine looks like…
I preordered the 911 unit, LE unit and Veterans unit as I model CSX…
Neal
Wrong scale and era for me. Although AF does make one in S and sells scale wheels to convert it. But my era is the early 50’s so I won’t be buying that one either.
Paul
Although I cannot distinguish many of these modern GE units from another, they are very cool looking and I like them alot.
They are simply too long for my switching-based layout, and don’t really perform switching duties on the prototype…although they have been doing so more often since it seems like there are not a whole lot of other locos owned by the big 4 railroads these days.
I’ll be excited once they get to runs 2 and 3 when they are supposed to be making the NS heritage units. That way I can have some PRR, Conrail, and Monongahela livery for the modern era.
Even an RS-11 is too new for my layout…
Sheldon
It’s always good to see a manufacturer put the effort and funding into developing a nice model. It speaks well for the hobby, and gives us old Boomers some hope the hobby will keep going after those of us who kind-of remember steam and secretly long to be Twilight Zoned back to the Transition Era have gone to The Big Roundhouse in the Sky.
No, I won’t get one, or even look at one in the LHS. It’s not my era. The New Haven EP- 5 could be, but that’s not my region, and besides, I have no catenary.
So little time, so many possible railroads to build…
you guys don’t know what your missing with these ES44’S. They will be incredibly popular.
I ordered the police scheme and looking forward to delivery
Dave
ScaleTrains also announced that later this year that they will make an “offical announcement” for the N scale version of this model and what makes this N scaler happy is that this will be the later phase ES44, the Kato and FVM locomotives are the early phase and the ScaleTrains will also have railroad and unit specific details for their Rivit Counter line, something we don’t get too much of in N scale.
Ralph
MisterBeasley,
Catenary isn’t required for EP-5 operation. They operated in and out of Grand Central Terminal just fine without any catenary at all. [:D]
Okay, sure, if you want to get all technical they need 3rd rail if they don’t have catenary. But the fact remains that catenary isn’t needed for EP-5’s. When I run my brass EP-5 around my club, I will get occasional comments about the lack of catenary on our layout. I tell them with a straight face that it’s running on 3rd rail. When they inevitably point out the lack of 3rd rail on our layout, I gaslight them by saying, “It’s right there. Can’t you see it? It’s not my fault if you can’t see it.” (there really is no 3rd rail) Then they laugh and I continue to run my EP-5. That joke is a little harder to do with my NH freight motors as they don’t have 3rd rail shoes.
Dave,
I think I know exactly what I’m missing by choosing not to buy an ES44. I also think you’re right; they will be popular and will sell out quickly. But like so many other things, while I admire the effort to make them and respect those that buy 'em, I have zero interest in purchasing one. No slam against anyone, just not my thing. I hope you like yours, though and wish you a lot of fun with them.
Ditto.
That’s the thing about trains, many kinds, many time periods and many of us have our preference. These ES44’s would be made if they were expected to be popular however.