Look here I’ve never heard of it before?
http://029ebf1.netsolstores.com/true-linetrains.aspx
Magnus
When Walthers took over the Life Like Proto line, they did not take the Canadian division. This part was taken by HobbyCraft who now continue the old Proto 2000 line as True Line Trains. Their website is below:
http://www.hobbycraft.com/tlt/index.html
At least I believe this is the general story. Someone else may be able to give you more details.
Thank you very much. So are they good quality then I would assume being P2K?
Magnus
What Colin says is true and I can add something to it.
Hobbycraft own the molds to all the PK1 line so they do any PK1 releases with I would expect much the same quality as before.
The True-Line train products are done to a very high standard and as they are purely Canadian prototypes they are great if you model CN or CP. They aren’t inexpensive. For example that fine CN caboose is about $40. They are coming out with a U class CN Northern soon in plastic that is supposed to be as well detailed as brass and will likely be the most expensive plastic Northern out there but it won’t be generic in any way.
Colin, I’ll send you a private e-mail and we can talk about the old days in RR. Surprise!
Another tidbit to the tale as well. As Hobby craft Canada they would also bring in Atlas loco’s redetailed to Canadian specific prototype as well,they had Atlas do a run of Canadian MLW C424’s with the proper details on the lonh hoods and nose mounted headlights, and a run of Atlas GP40’s which were painted and detail for Go transits GP40TR’s. I have heard that in the works is a run of Atlas GP40-2’s and GP38-2’s in the CN wide saftey cabs “sposed” to be comming out early next year.Proper CN and CP GP9’s with low noses in the trueline line are due out this year as well.
Rob
CNR cabooses, from True-Line:
Wayne
Here are a couple more shots of the True-Line cabooses. On these I’ve rebuilt the smoke stacks to represent oil-burning stoves. I’ve also replaced the plastic trucks with sprung metal trucks.
From what I understood was Walthers didn’t renew the contract they had with Hobbycraft Canada to produce Canadian painted colour schemes. Walthers figured why should they include a middleman that would eat up some of their profits. Hobbycraft was left on its own so they decided to design and build their own cars, loco’s etc in Canadian schemes. That is how True Line Trains came to be, Walthers greed(or good business decision) left Hobbycraft with no Canadian based products to sell. That is why you are starting to see Walthers advertise the odd Proto 2000 Canadian based Railroad for sale in their ads in the magazines and not Hobbycraft. For example the new GP7’s in Algoma Central colours with new road numbers. Hobbycraft did Canadian model railroaders a great service by producing Canadian railroads that would appeal to a small number of model railroaders. I model the Ontario Northland and Hobbycraft produced Proto 2000 based gondola’s, flat cars and locomotives in ONR colours in limited quantities, usually around 100 of each number. I just hope that Walthers will continue producing items for the small Canadian based railroad modelers. True Line Trains has really impressed me with their products so far. I have a number of their CN cabooses and they truly are great pieces.
That caboose looks great. To bad that they are not making in US versions.
Magnus
True Line Trains is an arrogant company that refused to listen to qualified outside sources when they had the CPA-24-5’s (the 5-axle C-Liner) in pre-production for 2 years.
As a result of this arrogance, they produced two very flawed New Haven RR C-Liners. Most NH fans that I’ve talked to have either refused to buy them or sold them ASAP.
The New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association provided TLT with many pictures, articles and drawings, including the New Haven’s own Painting & Lettering Diagrams for these units. Several other knowledgable people sent them pictures and commentary detailing exactly what was wrong with the pre-production models, yet TLT plowed ahead and did it their way which was wrong in several areas. Namely paint and lettering problems like the wrong nose herald, the wrong lettering font on the sides, stripes that have unexplainable gaps in them, wrong “NH” logos, numbers that are too big, wrong color grabirons (yellow instead of black), and so on. And that’s not counting the ridiculous exhaust stacks all these units have (looks like a couple of top hats sitting on the roof…when they should be flush).
TLT did at least 3 pre-production shots and two production runs, yet they never fixed these glaring problems. I can certainly understand RR specific details not being correct…but there’s no excuse for painting a unit wrong, especially when one was given all the info needed.
But the best part is their website, which has a FAQ. Question No. 2:
Q: There is something not prototypical with my locomotive, FIX IT!
A: No. We strive to make the most accurate locomotives we can. We research for hours and hours and consult many different professionals for road names, colours, options, etc. We have brought you the best locomotive we could produce, for the most affordable price.
So if you complain to them, you can probably expect the above answer.
TLT
True Line make beautiful Canadian vans, highly detailed. Can’t wait for the CPR/DAR ones to get released. Obviously their production is not good enough for the elite modellers who frequent this forum but very good for most of us buyers of plastic. don
Paul, us Canadian’s have had to live with that problem from every USA based company as well so I wouldn’t call them arrogant. They should have at least fixed the problem for the second run. I’ve seen both version’s of the CN C-Liner and I thought they were incredible looking models but I’m no expert on them. Did the NHRHTA get any response back from them stating why they didn’t paint it correctly?
TA462,
“Arrogant” is proceeding from or characterized by arrogance, which is an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions (m-w.com). Reading their website, “arrogant” is the attitude I’m getting from it…especially considering they haven’t come through on their own assertions of producing the best models.
I would feel far better about TLT if they had just put the correct NH paint and lettering on a Canadian body. I understand that they are focused on Canadian prototypes, and it wouldn’t bother me nearly as much if they did so (for example, the P1K DL109 is a mutt and not correct for any NH models…but I still own a couple of them in NH). But to me there’s no excuse for getting in the paint and lettering wrong, especially when the company was given all the information for free by the NHRHTA well in advance of the production runs. AFAIK, the NHRHTA never got a response from TLT, though some of the NHRHTA documents appeared on TLT’s website.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Paul
I have heard the same thing, and I agree with you, the prime business was to sell to NH modellers and nothing else. As mentioned about about GP40 and GP38, and GP 9 chop nose. I think those are pipe dreams. Whats the price gonna be? Because im not gonna pay a grand for plastic steamer, so whats the price of those gonna be?
CASO