Model Railroading > Late April Athearn announcements

GP39-2's in several phases: UP, MKT, D&H, BN, ATSF. Ford emergency truck, plus freight cars.

The 60' foot X-post box cars look good to me, otherwise nuttin else this round, which is good for my wallet!

Also looks like a batch of 50' TOFC flat cars with 25' fantasy trailer paint schemes such as Conrail, Golden Pig, Triple Crown, NW Falcon, BN and ATSF. IIRC none of those paint scheme's appeared on trailers less than 40' that I am aware of. The Golden Pig first appeared on 45' trailers IIRC.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

Ok, my internet experience shows a bunch of broken links. I'll try another machine.

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

The 50-foot flats with the Fantasy Trailers are in the Roundhouse line, which can't be trusted for prototypical fidelity.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> The 50-foot flats with the Fantasy Trailers are in
> the Roundhouse line, which can't be trusted for
> prototypical fidelity.

Of course Roundhouse line isn't trying to be prototypical, although occasionally you might get "lucky". Not with these trailer! They are total "toon's"! I'll probably see some at a train show running on a modular layout some day and cringe but I'll try to keep my mouth shut. Yes, I know it's supposed to be fun, but like I tell my wife when I'm watching a movie, sometimes I can only turn my brain off so much! =P

Cheers, Jim Fitch



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/17 04:53 by SPDRGWfan.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> Not with these trailer! They are total
> "toon's"!
>
Don't be too sure, I have seen once maybe twice a smoothside 20" trailer with two axles. Very rare but they did exist and I saw one in a rail yard setting. Unfortunately, all the marking were worn away. I'm more curious about the Athearn's new 40" DD express boxcars it's now flogging, except for maybe the UP scheme, do any of these cars resemble any thing real? Maybe the B&Os?

railwaybaron Wrote:
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> Don't be too sure, I have seen once maybe twice a
> smoothside 20" trailer with two axles. Very rare
> but they did exist and I saw one in a rail yard
> setting. Unfortunately, all the marking were worn
> away.

If you can assure me with photographic evidence that 20' or 25' trailers were painted in Conrail, Golden Pig, Triple Crown, CNW Falcon, BN and ATSF then I'll be a believer. Golden Pig was introduced about 1982, BN is post 1970 merger, Conrail probably first showed up around 1976. N-S merged in 1990 according to the wiki. CNW Falcon seems to be a 70's scheme. The ATSF scheme Santa Fe's latter day 1970's late 40' trailer era scheme.

The flat cars with trailers in the announcement appear to be of 1940s & 1950's flavor but with 1970's - 1990 paint schemes on the trailers. Very weird.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/17 12:17 by SPDRGWfan.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> railwaybaron Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> ----- If you can
> assure me with photographic evidence that 20' or
> 25' trailers...

I am only saying that there were some rare 20' vans with two axles. I did shoot them in the '80s when I worked on the Cal-P. (SP). But I certainly did not see any paint schemes as offered today by Roundhouse/Athearn. Those are just silly toys wasting time and money when, with a little work, a better product could be made. Post a picture of a two axle 20 footer? Those slides are amongst the approximately 60,000 to be cataloged--I'm still shooting slides from frozen Kodak film--eh? So when I find them, and I am still breathing, I will post them. I knew Herb Athearn, and sometimes he produced models that were one-offs on the rail scene. Very rare, but not unknown prototypes. Why he did this? I don't know but times then were much looser as far as what the modeler expected-- and they were very much cheaper as a result.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/17 11:50 by railwaybaron.

railwaybaron Wrote:
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> SPDRGWfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > railwaybaron Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > ----- If you can
> > assure me with photographic evidence that 20'
> or
> > 25' trailers...

Context of this topic - Athearn's announced trailers.

Haha, same here!

- Jeff Carlson

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not with these trailer! They are total
> "toon's"! I'll probably seem some at a train show
> running on a modular layout some day and cringe
> but I'll try to keep my mouth shut. Yes, I know
> it's supposed to be fun, but like I tell my wife
> when I'm watching a movie, sometimes I can only
> turn my brain off so much! =P
>
> Cheers, Jim Fitch

bnsfsd70,

lol, that's the hard part about the hobby. The more you know, the harder it is to keep my big mouth shut when I see reality traded for fantasy. That same principle makes it difficult to enjoy a lot of Hollywood movies these days. As much as I enjoy forgetting about the trials and tribulations of the real world and simply be entertained, that pesky real world is still hard to completely forget! Same holds true for model trains.

Ug! Jim Fitch



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/17 04:59 by SPDRGWfan.