Model Railroading > True Line Trains MP40-3C and MP36-3C/3S

Does anyone know when True Line Trains is going to release the MP36's and MP40's?

Thanks- Mario

All,
I have spoken to the folks at True Line Trains regarding their upcoming HO scale MP40 and MP36 commuter locomotive models.

While the GO Transit MP40 model is on track to being produced, the MP36 has received a low number of reservations. As a result, the future of an MP36 model is in question.

If you want to see an accurate MP36 model from True Line Trains, my advice would be to call your dealer and have them place a reservation for the roadname of your choice.

TLT MP36 Roadnames include:

Metra (Chicago, IL)
Metrolink (Los Angeles, CA)
Northstar (Minneapolis, MN)
New Mexico Railrunner (Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM)
Utah FrontRunner (Salt Lake City, UT)
Caltrain (San Francisco Bay Area)
MARC (Maryland)
VRE (Virginia Railway Express/DC)
West Coast Express (Vancouver, BC)

See here for photos of a development model of the True Line Trains MP40PH-3:
http://www.modeltrains.com/WEB%20-%20CMT/True%20Line%20Trains/HO/true-line-trains-mp36-samples.htm

Background information on the release:
http://www.modeltrains.com/WEB%20-%20CMT/Members/Motive%20Power%20Industries%20MPXpress%20series.pdf

Street price is expected to be around $179, MSRP $260 for the non-sound versions.

Kind Regards,
Harry Wong



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/10 18:36 by tracktime.

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tracktime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All,
> I have spoken to the folks at True Line Trains
> regarding their upcoming HO scale MP40 and MP36
> commuter locomotive models.
>
> While the GO Transit MP40 model is on track to
> being produced, the MP36 has received a low number
> of reservations. As a result, the future of an
> MP36 model is in question.
>
> If you want to see an accurate MP36 model from
> True Line Trains, my advice would be to call your
> dealer and have them place a reservation for the
> roadname of your choice.
>

I placed a reservation for a Metrolink version over a year ago (with Canadian Model Trains).

Hopefully, it'll get produced......sometime....

I placed a reservation for a Caltrain MP36 almost a year ago. I guess we'll see.

Although it is N Scale and F59PHI's Athearn announced today another run due in September in GO Transit, Northstar, New Mexico RR and UTA.

The bigger news in this announcement is that they will be offering each in 3 road numbers in each road with DCC and SOUND!

I would bet a similar HO announcement will be following within a few months!

Northridge Switcher

Keep in mind the MP36s produced for service in the "lower 48" all differ in certain carbody details, and the Metra units are really quite different, being a different length (can't remember if it's longer or shorter, but it's due to the static inverter HEP in place of the separate powerplant). Because of said HEP setup, the fan arrangement on the roof is different. Metra's MP36s also have full stepwells at the rear, two numberboards flanking the headlight (which matches the GO MP40s and the UTA MP36s IIRC) and a Gyralight where the numberboard/train indicator is on other units.

These variations all mean additional tooling is required if TLT is to produce each roadname to their customary standards of fidelity and would likely require a significant pre-order quantity to make production feasible.

TLT probably feels comfortable going ahead with the GO Transit MP40s as they are all the same and the market for them is probably fairly easy for TLT to judge, being a Canadian company. But to take a plunge on tens of thousands of dollars in additional tooling for over a half-dozen variations that seem likely to have very limited, geography-specific markets, well that might be another story.

All that said, I'd probably buy a Metra unit even though its not my modeling area or era (I'm a Chicago suburbanite and a Metra rider). But can TLT afford to wager their capital on there being 5,000 more buyers like me, especially considering there are NO readily available models of Metra stainless steel bilevels to pull behind them?

At least Athearn has done (or will produce) the Bombardier bilevels for most of the other agencies (GO, UTA, NMRX, Northstar, et. al.), so there may yet be hope for them.

Food for thought,

NZ

ThumbsUp Wrote:
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> I placed a reservation for a Caltrain MP36 almost
> a year ago. I guess we'll see.

I placed mine hoping for a 2009 Christmas time release, and I did *not* cancel my order. I did my part to let friends know of the pending release, too. If there's a test shot with a Caltrain paint available, that would sure help the demand, especially if one of those units end up in one of the shows. Don't forget that Caltrain employees could use some for publicity, marketing, and office displays. :-)

I've seen the Caltrain Bombardier cars out of stock on a few occasions at the local hobby shop, (even at the Train Shop in Santa Clara) so there's demand for a matching "Caltrain Baby Bullet Train" set. Nevermind the incorrect rivets on those cars, I'm willing to settle for an undecorated, inexact detail MP36, and run a "Caltrain Rivet Counters Special" which I'm sure kids at train shows will enjoy regardless!