I suppose It’s all about brand-loyalty, but really, come on! FOUR manufactureres?! Sure it’s the world’s largest steam locomotive, and SURE, it’ll be the flagship of your product line, but really folks!
Each one has it’s merits, however.
-Athearn just released theirs, with DCC and sound.
-Trix has had theirs out for awhile, and it sports the largest pricetag, bit it IS essentially a marklin.
-Rivarossi has been a long-time manufacturer of this giant, and recently updated their tooling.
-Countless versions of both the Challenger (whole other ball game of manufacturers there!) and the Big boy have been made of Brass as well…I just think we should be using our modeling talents on NEW models… ones that even brass has seldom made.
Hey. If they build them and can sell them, who are we to care? We have sent our wish lists but they seem to ignore most of them.
I vote for more Big Boys. It does seem to leave out other wanted models, but they are the ones willing to invest the money. If they build a new model that has not been on the market and has no track record in sales, two things can happen. They might sell more than ever, or the market just might be small and leave them with stock that will not sell.
Most companies have not been willing to take the chance. Northern Pacific fans needs steam and lots of it, as brass has been the only choice so far. How about B&O fans or DM&IR fans??
I never expected a Reading T1, but it came along out of the blue. It would seem to me that MTH might not have made the best choice of the K4, when BLI already had it on the schedule.
The PRR S2 or Q2 might have been a better choice for MTH.
This same question you can ask a Ford dealer too! Why are there dozens and dozens of manufacturers doing Van’s, Mini-Van’s, Station Wagons,…etc.
I prefer the same engine from several manufacturers so I can choose which one I want vs. only having 1 company doing it which would eventually result in higher prices.
I must be great for those who want competitive pricing. If you ever wanted a good BB, now is the time to flap down the plastic. With Factory Direct flogging their all-metal versions for a song, you can have a super-duper one with a Tsunami for $480. Twice that will get you a decent used brass one.
The more the merrier, I say. Bring it on, guys. I’ll take two if you get 'em down to $299 for the PCM’s.
Like Texas, society always seems to be more impressed and intrigued with size. (“The bigger; the better”, as the saying goes.)
While the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy is indeed an impressive locomotive - whether static or in motion - I personally like the more “diminutive” locomotives (e.g. the 0-8-0 and S1 switchers), as they were the real backbone of the railroad industry and helped to keep the larger locomotives out working on the lines.
Personally, it would be nice to see some of the lesser produced models being released for a change. However, the investors are going to have a say-so in the decision-making process and will not be so willing to take chances in models that aren’t going to appeal to a wide audience. That’s just the fact of business.
With the current trend in “limited-run” releases by the larger manufacturers, that may change and give manufacturers more boldness to take a few risks and release some models that we haven’t either seen in a while or not at all. However, the bulk of the lesser known or smaller audience models will probably still come from the mom & pop type establishments.
[#ditto] Lets not forget GP 38’s. Why did GM make a Camero AND a Firebird. Or Mopar make a Duster AND a Demon, or a Scamp and a Dart. Same basic vehicals with a few different details but the owners would swear to you that one was better than the other.Brand loyalty.
Why do we need four or more manufacturers of cars or houses? How about shirts or shoes. If there was one source of anything what do you think the price would be? Free enterprise and capitalism result in people and companies producing goods for the public at reasonable prices. If there wa a monopoly on Big Boys the price would probablky be $1000 or more. In addition there would be no reason for the maufacturer to be conecerned with fidelity of detail, running mechanism or anything else. It’s $1000 take it or leave it. The more the merrier as long as it isn’t my money invested in any of the companies.
Good question, especially when you consider that for the most part, the steam locomotive was NOT a ‘generic’ product (except for the particular wheel-arrangements), and most were contracted by a particular railroad to a particular locomotive manufacturer for rather particular duties (even the ubiquitous USRA’s ended up looking like a specific railroad’s locomotive ‘style’, for the most part).
The Big Boy, of course, is unique. 25 of them were built for the Union Pacific, and they were the only locomotives of their type to have their particular wheel arrangement (4-8-8-4), and UP and Alco got together to design that particular loco for very specific duties (Wasatch mountain heavy fast freight). The Big Boy would tackle the heaviest grades, then turn the trains over to UP’s more numerous (and almost look-alike) 4-6-6-4 Challengers for the ‘easier’ haul (at least that was the original idea).
So, in essence, UP and Alco designed a VERY specific loco for VERY specific duties, and since only 25 were built, one would think that the Big Boy would–in model form, at least–be relegated to the ‘unique’ or ‘unusual’ aspect of large locos, somewhat like the Missabe Yellowstones or the NP Challengers. However, there seems to be a ‘Big Boy’ fever sweeping through MR-Land (or at least the manufacturers are promoting something like that), so everyone wants a Big Boy, whether their layout is set in Utah’s Wasatch Range, or the Alleghenies, or California or Canada, for that matter.
Now, that’s cool, and I’m hardly a snob–I can hardly afford to be, when I’ve got a C&O H-8 2-6-6-6 and two Missabe M-4 2-8-8-4’s roaming my Northern California Sierra Nevada’s, among other ‘non-Western’ motive power–, and if everyone wants a Big Boy, then I’m glad there’s a lot of them out there. But I wonder if we need FOUR manufacturers putting out a locomotive that prototy
These big monsters, whatever their names or designations, have a huge gee-whizz factor going for them. They are going to be the ruling roosters on the layout as far as heavy steam is concerned, and they draw immediate attention when they begin to struggle against a drag when guests are around. What’s not to smile about when no fewer than four manufacturers are trying to separate you and your hard earned dollars for one of these bad boys?
I’ll bet the next time we see this type of proliferation, we’ll look back on this as the goold ol’ days…‘cuz we’ll be talkin’ $799 for a diecast Bad Boy.
I’d bet that if you asked each of the companies making a particular locomotive why they are doing it even though there are several competators they will state one of the following.
A. Ours is more accurate
B. Ours is cheaper
C. Ours runs better
D. Ours has better detail
E. Ours is brass and has to be better for that reason alone.
Good question, especially when you consider that for the most part, the steam locomotive was NOT a ‘generic’ product (except for the particular wheel-arrangements), and most were contracted by a particular railroad to a particular locomotive manufacturer for rather particular duties (even the ubiquitous USRA’s ended up looking like a specific railroad’s locomotive ‘style’, for the most part).
The Big Boy, of course, is unique. 25 of them were built for the Union Pacific, and they were the only locomotives of their type to have their particular wheel arrangement (4-8-8-4), and UP and Alco got together to design that particular loco for very specific duties (Wasatch mountain heavy fast freight). The Big Boy would tackle the heaviest grades, then turn the trains over to UP’s more numerous (and almost look-alike) 4-6-6-4 Challengers for the ‘easier’ haul (at least that was the original idea).
So, in essence, UP and Alco designed a VERY specific loco for VERY specific duties, and since only 25 were built, one would think that the Big Boy would–in model form, at least–be relegated to the ‘unique’ or ‘unusual’ aspect of large locos, somewhat like the Missabe Yellowstones or the NP Challengers. However, there seems to be a ‘Big Boy’ fever sweeping through MR-Land (or at least the manufacturers are promoting something like that), so everyone wants a Big Boy, whether their layout is set in Utah’s Wasatch Range, or the Alleghenies, or California or Canada, for that matter.
How about the 18 Missabe Yellowstones that not only hauled ore in Minnesota, but when the lakes were frozen over, were borrowed by railroads such as the Rio Grande, Western Pacific, Northern Pacific and Great Northern during WWII? Now there’s a big, handsome loco that saw a LOT of country–and was probably noticed by a LOT of people–, not just the area between Ogden and Cheyenne.
Let’s see, The hornby/rivarossi is a piece of junk, Trix jacked the price up, PCM Has one in brass for those who want it and the metal one’s orice is jacked up too, but through FDT you can get em for $325, and athearn’s sound sucks.
I’d go for a PCM metal one.