I know they were advertising it but why didn’t it ever come out? That’s one I would have gotten for sure.
If you read the topic about Tower 55 you will see that they have their hands full with whats already on the table. It probably has a lot to do with money or the lack thereof.
I was planning on getting one myself, even though I don’t model the UP. I just think they were an impressive piece of hardware, if not legendary. I am sure if you e-mailed Brian Marsh of Overland/Tower 55, he would be more than happy to answer why they aren’t going to be released.
I was under the impression that the production had just been postponed to a later date, but I am not sure, and DEFINATELY don’t want to start any rumors.
Here’s your answer from the Tower 55 website:
UP Turbine Project Update
It is with great regret that we have chosen to cancel the Union Pacific 3-Unit Gas Turbine project. Quite simply the project cost to create the molds and accurately detail all turbines is terribly expensive and incredibly complex, more so than we anticipated when the original announcement was made.
In order to make these powerful and massive locomotives, it requires a number of mold changes so that we can accurately model the turbines with the proper air intakes, air horn placements, fuel tank sizes, side ladder placements, tender types and truck variations. Each mold change equates to tens of thousands of dollars. It has never been our intention to simply create one basic model and then apply 30 different numbers with no respect to detail variations. That logic greatly deviates from our modeling philosophy.
Our desire is simply not to drag this project along for a number of years and have folks asking when it will ever be produced. We remain hopeful that we can revive this project sometime in the future. However, we cannot afford to make this sizeable investment at this day and time with the uncertainty of today’s market, high oil prices, and fluctuating foreign exchange rates. We believe it is in all of our best interests to cancel this project now.
Don Z.