ESM State of Maine test shots

[bbussey]

The first test shot of the XIH (State of Maine) boxcar.  Some modifications are necessary, but the majority of the work is done.  On schedule for a Spring 2010 release.

[central.vermont]

Very nice Bryan!!!
Cant wait for mine.

Jon

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Man that is total hotness

[Ian MacMillan]

Wooo those are gonna be nice!

[John]

Not my era .. but I am in for a couple

[Puddington]

Very cool.......some serious bashing possibilities as well !

[DKS]

Man that is total hotness

What he said. Especially like the brakewheel platforms. About time someone addressed that safety issue in N scale. Wonder how many 1:160 brakemen suffered injury or death trying to stand on a slippery ridge of plastic...

[tom mann]

This looks really nice!  Nice underframe.

QC has suffered on the coupler assembly, however ;D

[bbussey]

John - If you are pre-1950 or post 1980, they would be out of your era.  The announced batch of cars is 1953 forward.  But the 1950 Magor BAR car (from the Sep/Oct NSR ad) is coming in the second release.

Puddington - Yes, you have a riveted Stanray roof to work with.  I don't believe there is another N scale model that features it.  The brakewheel also is new to N scale.  The unique XIH 3-3 ends would be tough to explain on other models though, plus a portion of the coupler box is part of the body.  The roofwalk is similar to Gold Medal's 40' version.  Regarding the heater, see below.

David - ESM isn't the first to offer etched metal brake platforms.  FVM has it on the Milwaukee ribbed boxcars, IMRC I'm pretty sure has it on their boxcars and hoppers, and BLMA has it coming on their PD4000 hopper.  But I understand the sentiment - if the roofwalk is etched, the brake platform might as well be.

Tom - The bolster pin holes are offset to match the MTL trucks.  I believe this will be the only current model to accurately have MTL trucks aligned where they should be.  The one detriment is that only MTL trucks will work on this model.  Yeah, the contractor is running low on spare parts due to the Lehigh G26 project (which hits the water next Friday).  They also used G26 coupler box pins instead of the flathead screws (that IMRC used on the 60' flatcar) because they aren't in stock yet.  I assembled two cars from the parts I received along with the assembled sample, and used IMRC screws which sit perfectly flush.  But the assembled car looks prettier because it's lightly sprayed in silver. 

And an aside ... to Dave V - the two-piece underfloor heater will be available as a separate part, directly through the website.  ESM 990200.  It will be available for sale slightly before the XIH hits the market.  The product page already is posted on the website, and a photo will be included before the weekend is out.

[Chris333]

Cool! guess I need to wait for the second run.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Bryan,
I will pick up one or two to go with my B&M steam, though its not really my era. Any hope for more modern cars that would be seen into the 1990's in the future?

BTW I love my G26.

[John]

John - If you are pre-1950 or post 1980, they would be out of your era.  The announced batch of cars is 1953 forward.  But the 1950 Magor BAR car (from the Sep/Oct NSR ad) is coming in the second release.

Yup .. but my wife is from Maine, and I lived up there in the late 70's .. so this is going to be a sentimental purchase for me.

[bbussey]

I will pick up one or two to go with my B&M steam, though its not really my era. Any hope for more modern cars that would be seen into the 1990's in the future?...

Daniel,

No plans currently to venture into "modern" territory, as many of my fellow manufacturers are releasing a number of products for that venue.  It will be pre-1970 for the next few injection-molded plastic products, as far as the built-dates are concerned anyway.  There are three products in various phases of development currently which should take ESM into the first third of the next decade, one of which is already known to be the C&O well car.  The well car in fact is ready to go to tooling, but I opted to go with the XIH first.  There are a number of prototypes I'd like to explore, which of course will have eastern North American origins, but we'll see what the landscape is in 2013.

Glad you like the G26.  More of those to come in 2010, including one specifically in a very unique and specialized high-end product line that will launch in December.

[MEC_FAN]

Bryan, that is awesome can't wait to get them, nice job.

[dougnelson]

Hi Brian:

Very nice!  Is this the only correct prototype to receive the State of Maine paint?  In other words, are all those other N scale State of Maine cars incorrect?

Thanks,
Doug.