MTL August Releases

[mu26aeh]

It's amazing that those passenger cars are so inexpensive.

Don't say that, the next round will be higher !   

[Denver Road Doug]

Don't say that, the next round will be higher !   

Yeah it was the best kept secret in model railroading until a few hours ago!   

 

Seriously, I do think Micro-Trains should be commended for these passenger cars.  I say that from the outside looking in...don't have any and don't need any.  (well, if they eventually did some FW&D "fluted heavyweights" I might buy a set.)   But they look nice to me, and seem to get *mostly* positive feedback.   Oh, and the prices are definitely friendly(er).

[Cajonpassfan]

Seriously, I do think Micro-Trains should be commended for these passenger cars.  I say that from the outside looking in...don't have any and don't need any.  (well, if they eventually did some FW&D "fluted heavyweights" I might buy a set.)   But they look nice to me, and seem to get *mostly* positive feedback.   Oh, and the prices are definitely friendly(er).

Couldn't agree more, and I've been "commending" them with multiple purchases. Go M/T!
Otto K.

[ryan_wilkerson]

I saw the laser cut house in person on a tour of Micro-Trains recently....it is very nice work!

The new laser cut house should be of interest to those that liked the new Walthers release, especially since it is listed as #1, meaning more could follow.

[reinhardtjh]

The Micro Trains Lines monthly release for Aug 2015 is out and money will be spent this month.

http://micro-trainsline.com/nscale/nnewreleases

Of interest to me is the Baggage Mail Car which is close enough for a PRR BM70d and the Great Northern Fire Prevention Car.

Great work Micro Train Lines

Regards

Al

These are especially nice since they come with the MTL PRR 3D7P2 trucks already.  The baggage car released a few months ago came with the Commonwealth 6-wheel truck so needed replacements.  If MTL would also release an undecorated version with the PRR trucks that would make a good core kit for any 70-ft PRR car.

[CBQ Fan]

"particularly items that start blurring the lines of church and state."

I am quickly reminded why I took a break from this forum.  Comments like this that don't even make sense.

[thomasjmdavis]

This is a "wait and see" month for me.

Waiting on the mail-baggage to come out undecorated so I can paint it into about 4-5 roads.  Or they could save me some time and effort and bring it out in 1950s schemes for Wabash, GTW (turns out that they did have a couple that had only one baggage door per side- there is a pic up on Jerry's latest Passenger Car Photo update, although in the 60s paint), Erie, and maybe Monon (with a change of roof, or I could do that).  None of those would be precise prototype models, but much closer than anything else readily available.

Waiting for variations on that house- I'm sure there is a prototype for that front porch somewhere, but all that bulk (concrete?) on the front of a frame house- and no railing between the columns- is certainly unusual.  Garage us great- if they package the garage as a 6 pack, I might do a whole neighborhood.  Common even in urban areas- at least Chicago- many of the 3 flat buildings are individually owned, and the landlord would have a garage for his car, or rent it out.

[johnb]

"particularly items that start blurring the lines of church and state."

I am quickly reminded why I took a break from this forum.  Comments like this that don't even make sense.

Exactly, when did MTL become a federal agency?

[bbussey]

"Church and Model Railroading" would be the more accurate assessment, as @gbcaboose pointed out without the snide snipes.

[nkalanaga]

The concrete columns seem a little excessive, but concrete porches and steps like that aren't too uncommon.  Most I've seen had wooden columns, either posts or built-up hollow square columns.  Until recently, when the insurance folks started cracking down, railings were also optional, and many houses, including ours, didn't have anything.

Our old house, now a storage shed, here in Kentucky had a concrete porch, with 4x4 posts, and no railings, about that high.  It was actually concrete block, filled with gravel, with a concrete slab poured on top, but looked about the same.  We had the slab removed when we had the house resided, and built a wood deck on top of the blocks/gravel.

[thomasjmdavis]

Sorry I wasn't very clear- it was the porch columns that were getting to me, not the concrete porch (have one myself, on a base of fieldstone)- which is very common, especially in areas that see a lot of rain or humidity- because concrete doesn't rot.  As you say, I am more used to seeing 4x4s, or turned wood columns, or maybe a concrete block column (16" square) supporting the porch roof.  I can't say what they did is not prototypical, just not "typical."  The columns on the model look like they should be supporting a 16" I-beam or pre-stressed concrete beam in a large structure.

[Sokramiketes]

"Church and Model Railroading" would be the more accurate assessment, as @gbcaboose pointed out without the snide snipes.

So this is a pagan holiday car?   



I know you called it "designer graffiti" but someone really did tag two boxcars with that image. 

[peteski]

Looks like a faith-agnostic decoration to me.  Unless of course it celebrates the commercialization of the Catholic's Christmas holiday.   Then it is clearly aimed at the members of the Shopafarian religion. 

[JoeD]

Hey Dave,

Not ignoring Southern Roads, they are sadly very, very, very, very poor sellers (as far as freight goes).  I have suggested we offer two car sets as pre-orders and better gauge the market for passenger cars.  I guess you need to qualify what roads you are talking about...that would be of immense help to me.  I personally have no interest in South Eastern Roads as a modeler, but would like to model the FEC consists that ran down to Key West.  I always thought that would be an interesting Point to Point layout...lots of water, a few of the Key Islands with some Freight Service.  I grew up in Florida and spent summers in the Keys diving and had the opportunity when working with Disney to do a model of a portion of the Stone Viaducts in G Scale with FEC Heavyweights for a display at the Key West Resort on property.    Give me some info to work with and I'll see what I can do.

Joe
 

Same here.  The only MTL car that I've bought in recent years is a B&O heavyweight observation car that I didn't really need.  I believe that MTL is doing a really nice job on these heavyweight passenger cars, but they're ignoring the southeastern U.S. roads.   

DFF

[Philip H]

Hey Dave,

Not ignoring Southern Roads, they are sadly very, very, very, very poor sellers (as far as freight goes).  I have suggested we offer two car sets as pre-orders and better gauge the market for passenger cars.  I guess you need to qualify what roads you are talking about...that would be of immense help to me.  I personally have no interest in South Eastern Roads as a modeler, but would like to model the FEC consists that ran down to Key West.  I always thought that would be an interesting Point to Point layout...lots of water, a few of the Key Islands with some Freight Service.  I grew up in Florida and spent summers in the Keys diving and had the opportunity when working with Disney to do a model of a portion of the Stone Viaducts in G Scale with FEC Heavyweights for a display at the Key West Resort on property.    Give me some info to work with and I'll see what I can do.

Joe

Joe,
I think its partly a misconception problem.  IC, SOU and SCL all ran well into the Mid-Atlantic and mid-west, but are also uniquely southern lines.  modern KCS is getting some long overdue love, but a classic 1950's/1960's Southern Belle consist would run from KC and Chicago all the way to New Orleans.

On the freight side most of those roads interchanged freely with the "classic" Northern and Western roads. So PRR modelers who really want ot be accurate to the 1950's need SCL and ACL cars in their consists, bring fresh Florida produce and fish to New Your Markets.