New suggestions for MTL

[JoeD]

That time of year again and I am looking to add some projects to the list.  Generally we do cars that have a ton of road names but that list is getting exhausted.  Looking for something newer than transition that is currently on the rails.  I have my own list, but it's nice to get your input. 

As a side note I am working on modifications to the coupler, the slinky think irritates me as well.  I'm not sure what re-work we can do right now, but I'd like to make new gons to replace the ones we have and revisit others as well.  The direction right now is to see what new tooling we can inject.

Thanks again for your support and help.

Cheers

Joe
MTL

[Philip H]

Joe,
If Exactrail won't do a wafflebox - a correct waffle box - and MTL did . . . . .

[m301]

Re release some of your older couplers. Can't find a 1038 anywhere.

[lock4244]

I don't care what MTL does next so long as it follows in the footsteps of the 4427... real nice car (nicer if you do a CPAA circa late 70's early 80's).

Though the Portec three bay covered hoppers that WW operates would be kinda neat to see in N... or a sulfuric acid tankcar.

[Brakie]

Joe,First I hope you do find a cure for the slinky effect of your otherwise wonderful coupler.

The following road names is suggested for your 50' rib side boxcar.

Southern 50' boxcars-a runners pack would be nice.

I don't believe these 2 road names has ever been release.

R.J.Corman and Berwin Mills Ry.


Another nice car would be a Lousville,New Albany & Corydon and I believe would be quite welcome.

As for a all new car or upgrade the Waffle side boxcar would be a smashing hit.

[unittrain]

A proper length general fixed end gondola that could be used for purposes such as coil steel or pipe loading!

[wcfn100]

Generally we do cars that have a ton of road names but that list is getting exhausted.  Looking for something newer than transition that is

Just because you used those road names and paint schemes on the wrong cars, shouldn't make them 'exhausted'.


Looking over my fleet that other day, on thing did stand out.  Autoracks.  I model a bridge line which only requires a hand full of AC cars, and I'm way short.  I can only imagine those who need these as a staple to their fleet.

If you could design a 60's lo-deck 89' flat (from a drawing  ), not only would you fill a trailer flat need, but with 3-4 different racks, you would easily have a bunch of prototypical road names to use.  On top of that, you might be able to produce some inexpensive autos to fill those racks (another thing that is highly requested).

This would probably require a new coupler since the coupler box on the prototype is raised into the deck floor.   Maybe that can go hand-in-hand somehow with fixing the 'slinky'.


Jason

[bbussey]

Correct the tooling that has paid for itself many times over, such as the gondolas having the correct 52'6" inside length. 

Even more important than the coupler oscillation - figure out a way to incorporate body-mounted couplers and scale ride height in the existing fleet so it remains compatible with current state-of-the-art models.  The current MTL coupler design bounces only when the car is pushed.  But the models stand too high at all times, and it's more noticeable with every new model having correct ride height that appears on the market - and there are at least a dozen now, if not more.  All existing body-mounted equipment runs on 12½" radius, 95% can run on 11" radius.  Let's relegate 9¾" radius trackage to the 20th century, where it belongs.

[sirenwerks]

First suggestion - a GATX 40' steel reefer. The variety with the mid-car height horizontal rivet strip, like Walthers has produced in HO. A hinged door variety and plug door variety would be nice. The well-detailed metal reefers available in N are all pretty much PFE prototypes - a sad fact when you consider a lot of nice packing house billboard paint schemes have been released on the wrong car type. We need a metal meat reefer to ship the meat that goes with all that produce.

Second - AAR 53'6" standard (riveted) flat (with END brakewheel). It's doubtful we'll ever see the Deluxe Innovations/GHQ cars again (last seen 2001) the these cars (or close-enough clones) were used by loads of roads, and much more popular than the side-brake wheel car you manufacture now.

Also, please consider, making a small series of farm implement flatcar loads for us Midwestern modelers. Like multiples of tillers or harrow plows, something that's not a box or a pipe. I'm sure I could find some reference pictures if you'd like...

A modernish tank of medium capacity like your single dome, but with lipped car ends? Low-side southern variety gondola would be super too.

[GaryHinshaw]

A 73' flat car with proper ride height.  Depending on how you tool it, you could include full-height or half-height bulkheads, side racks, or rebar fingers.  And think of all the fancy big loads you could include.  Here is a sampling.

-Gary

[Wardie]

Well if we are talking Waffles I like this one;

http://gelwood.railfan.net/mec/mec29072akg.jpg

Still on the rails in 2005

http://gelwood.railfan.net/mec/mec29189agd.jpg

[Denver Road Doug]

Is this a different question than the one in May?  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=23928.0  You guys doing this twice a year now? 

My list hasn't really changed...

So what do the millions of n-scalers want?
1. "Modern" Gons- Modern meaning probably built in the late 60's to early 80's???  I honestly haven't done a lot of research on what specific prototypes, but I --ahem-- we are trying to model rock/sand trains that have a dog's breakfast of "UP-Heritage" cars, including UP, MP, MKT, SP, CNW, DRGW and also RailGon and others.  So anything that would fit those cars would be great, and I we can certainly provide you with ridiculous amounts of research, photos, etc. if you decide to head down that path.
2. Carbon Black Covered Hoppers- This has been suggested to you before by me and others.  These are problematic because, like the infamous Model-T, they come in any color as long as it's black.  Plenty of "road names" although short of the Sid Richardson "Texas" scheme and maybe a couple of other logo'ed cars, they're pretty spartan in decoration.  But I'd say this could be a plus since your decoration costs would be minimal and if you priced them appropriately you could probably do pretty well.  They aren't unit train cars so they don't have to be crazy cheap either...I'd say if the detail was in line with the 4427's then I would pay a similar price.
3. "Modern" Tank Cars - Again, 70's-80's, maybe 90's cars.  Pick one, pick 20, there are plenty of variations, but like our Carbon Black friends above....don't have a lot of glamour and glitz.  I would love to see some sulfur cars, Hydrochloric Acid cars, et al.
4. Modern Ballast cars- gets a little tricky given many roads have pretty individualized MOW fleets.  The Walthers car, done to current standards, would still be great.  I personally would love an ATSF or BNSF prototype.
5. I echo the Airslides or the PD3000's.  The airslide would be fairly far down on my list since there are at least u/g kits for the Bowser/DV's, but I'd still probably be in line.

[ljudice]

Modern gondolas - 52/3 feet this time though please!!! 

I also like the idea of 73' flatcars - or a new bulkhead flat with correct ride height, although I suspect that is coming from Atlas one of these decades....

DODX flatcars - the 6 axle cars that carry M1A1's, etc... 

[Mark5]

My short list:

A) A real 100 ton roller bearing truck (including a truck mount version for converting "legacy" rolling rock)

B) Keep the 4427s coming - I'm waiting for a scheme appropriate for 1974 (Peavey?)

C) see my signature

D) glad to hear that Joe dislikes the Slinky!

[Brakie]

Correct the tooling that has paid for itself many times over, such as the gondolas having the correct 52'6" inside length. 

Even more important than the coupler oscillation - figure out a way to incorporate body-mounted couplers and scale ride height in the existing fleet so it remains compatible with current state-of-the-art models.  The current MTL coupler design bounces only when the car is pushed.  But the models stand too high at all times, and it's more noticeable with every new model having correct ride height that appears on the market - and there are at least a dozen now, if not more.  All existing body-mounted equipment runs on 12½" radius, 95% can run on 11" radius.  Let's relegate 9¾" radius trackage to the 20th century, where it belongs.

Absolutely! I couldn't agree more.