Railyard Models PRR/PC/CR G41A Coil Steel Cars

[amato1969]

I'm in for a bunch of X58s if anyone ever produces them!  In addition to Pennsy paint, the PRR shops also built two batches of X58s for the Lehigh Valley : 7100-7139, and 8200-8259, built in 1965 and 1966, respectively.  Both groups of the LV cars were painted white with black lettering:

  http://rr-fallenflags.org/lv/lv7113agd.jpg
  http://rr-fallenflags.org/lv/lv8243ajs.jpg

The CB&Q built two groups of X58 "clones" in its own shops.  CB&Q 23300-23499 (class XML-14), and 20695-20899 (class XML-16), built in 1967 and 1969 respectively.  The first group was delivered in the Chinese Red schme, and the second group in "merger" green.

Just so nobody can say "only PRR/PC had these"  ;D

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Lets draft Fine-N-Scale to produce an X58. Their adress is:

info@finenscale.com

I will suggest they do the ladders seperatly to cover latter non-roofwalk versions as well.

Who else is with me?

[bsoplinger]

Lets draft Fine-N-Scale to produce an X58. Their adress is:

As I said, I was talking with the owner about doing a X58 or the later PC shopped X65 but lack of funds meant I let it slide. Give me a month and I'll get back to him about the info and doing the cars.

Brian

[amato1969]

Lets draft Fine-N-Scale to produce an X58. Their adress is:

info@finenscale.com

I will suggest they do the ladders seperatly to cover latter non-roofwalk versions as well.

Who else is with me?

I'm in!

  Frank

[3rdrail]

I'd rather Fine-N-Scale did a PRR XL boxcar, which were built by the tens of thousands prior to World War I. 

[ai5629]

I'm in also.  I think that an X58 would have more appeal than the X65.  (BTW, the X65 had 8 side panels, Despatch Shop style ends and roof.  And, the LV had these cars also, in PC green paint!)  As far as separate ladders, that would be good for the ends, but the sides look like they were individual grabs that run up the end panels.  I suppose if Fine N Scale wanted to go crazy, they could try that.  I would just like the roof walk to be a separately applied part that can be installed by the modeler if they wish.  I would like them to leave the roof intact, no holes for the roof walk.  I hate patching those things.  One more thing, there are no decals available (that I am aware of) for the the PRR painted cars.  Although, I remember someone on either the PRR, PC, or CR Modeler's Yahoo group mention that Microscale was going to produce a PRR set that was for cars painted in the PK scheme.  Thanks.

Jeff

[daniel_leavitt2000]

FNS supplies decals with their kits. I think they could do the car without ladders and supply us with etched ladders on the ends and BLMA grabs for the sides. If they put small dimples in the car, we can choose to have low or high ladders and with or without roofwalk. That would cover a lot of eras.

[amato1969]

Separate ladders - check.  Separate grabs, I'm kinda lukewarm about.  I appreciate the extra detail, but for me, I don't think the bang-for-the-buck is there.

I think we successfully hijacked the G41 thread 

[ljudice]

Not to whine, but...

I considered buying one or more of the Railyard kits - it was not an important car to me and the only reason I almost ordered one was to at least show support for an N kit. It would probably be sitting here unbuilt.

I don't understand why they didn't do something REALLY common like some of the PRR/PC gons that made it well into CR or even NS days - that anyone could justify a bunch of.

I just don't get how this particular model was selected...

[SAH]

I'm in for a bunch of X58s if anyone ever produces them! 

I'm not home so I can't rummage through my freight car shell tub, but didn't Con-Cor make an X58, or at least something very similar, many years ago? 

Steve

[ai5629]

The Con Cor (old MRC) car is a pretty good stand in.  Its major issues are the roof has rectanglar panels (the X58 has diagonal panels) and the door is 11' wide (X58 is 10'6").  I mentioned this before, but I have decalled several Con Cor cars as stand ins.  If I ever dig them out, I will attempt to post some for you all to see.  Thanks.

Jeff

[daniel_leavitt2000]

the CC cars are very low riding. I think they are lower then the proto by a foot. They certainly look it anyway.

Any Ideas how to re-roof the car?

[bsoplinger]

Since we have done a lot of talking about a X58 kit, I started a separate thread for that.

Brian

[Ian MacMillan]

Sigh... railyard basically told me to screw when I asked about an N X58. Even at $40, i'd still want 3-4.

I think Railyard was pretty unhappy about how poorly the G41 sold even though they say on their website it "was fairly successful, it never was able to get enough widespread support to make it a viable long term product. " I too had asked him about making the X58 in N scale and got told "no thanks."

Of course, not knowing about them or that the product existed would explain that. And until folks here were talking about a group buy, I didn't know about them making the G41. And I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the small, odd, quirky manufacturer of items I might want in N scale.

One of the reasons why I think this N car "failed" the N market is that even though they picked a "basic" car for their N scale craftsman release, there are most likely very few N modelers willing to pay the price for a car that was a kit...and toted as a craftsman kit at that. The members here, and in a few other places are a different breed than what 90% of the N market is, who wants RTR for roundy round.

The fine scale market is huge in HO and especially in craftsman kits, both buildings and freight cars. Just look at the "proto" meets where it is mostly HO scale. Yes the amount of users in HO is somewhat greater than N, but when you compare percentages to their respective scales you'd find a larger "fine scale or extreme detail wanting" HO crowd than "fine scale or extreme detail wanting" N.   

If Rail Yard was to do an X58 in N scale it with do horridly. Pretty much the only sales would most likely come from here if the simpler coil car scared them off, and I don't think they would want to compromise on the craftsman type kit on an X58 which would include separate grab irons, steps, platforms. All which some may not want, or only want pre installed on RTR cars.  Yes BLMA and others make this all in N so yes there is a market for it, but those are made as detail parts, and not full kits, so the ROI has a much better chance.

Their HO offerings for a small company sell very well, and I had not heard of them until we did the coil group buy last year.

[Mark4]

I would have to agree that the HO RYM X58's are fantastic, but $40 a piece!!!  And don't forget, you have to assemble and paint them yourself.  I mentioned this once already, but I know a die hard 1968 PRR guy in HO, and he will not shell out the money for these kits.  I will have to live with my N scale Con Cor stand ins for the time being.  I don't hold out much hope that anyone will manufacturer X58's in N scale.  I don't think 1960's PRR is very popular in N scale.  The thing is, X58's roamed the entire country in PRR, PC, and CR paint from the mid 60's up until at least 2000.  Everyone could use at least one or two, even if you are a western modeler.  I would buy at least a dozen or two.  I would hate to have to paint and decal them all myself, but you got to do what you got to do.  Especially since the MS PC boxcars with PRR letters is such a great base (demi data) set for PC or CR painted cars.  I can still dream.

Jeff

How long does it take you to earn $40? A price of $40 for a very detailed high quality HO scale kit seems very reasonable to me and I am sure that Gene isn't getting rich doing this. If $40 seems high it may explain why there is reluctance to offer N scale freight car kits. There's not much incentive.  Having said that we are going to release a Pullman Standard 86 foot boxcar kit later this year (as a bit of a gamble) and I am happy to provide a quote for masters for an X58.