New Run of Athearn Challengers, Surprise!

[delamaize]

I got a phone call that I never expected yesterday from Trainworld.....

Trainworld: "Hello, this is Heather (IIRC, it was Heather) from Trainworld, Is Mike Available?"
Me: "This is Mike."
TW: I'm calling today about your Pre-order for the Athearn Northern Pacific Challenger. They are in stock, and ready to ship, But your credit card associated with the Pre-order has expired. We are ready to ship, but we need a new payment source."
Me: ".....Ok?.....Ummm.....Hold on a Sec.....(Reads New credit card number)"
TW: "Great! We will get the Challenger in the mail in the next day or two!"
Me: "Great! Thank you!"

Ummm.....So I wanna say the pre-order was back in like 2012, with initial delivery date being like mid-2013, then bumped to like 2014. After that I didn't hear anything. I assumed that the project was Canceled.
SURPRISE! Guess not! Anyways, So I'm kinda taken back a little, and wasn't budgeted for this, So a few locomotives are now up for sale in the Trading post to try to cover some of the costs! I just looked at my credit card account, and the funds have cleared, and I got a shipping confirmation in my E-mail today.

So, Am I the only one that was caught off guard by this, or have I been oblivious to announcements and updates?

[wcfn100]

Is it a different one than you ordered in 2015?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=35770.msg437054#msg437054

Jason

[peteski]

I got my greyhound Challenger not too long ago. 2015 sounds about right.

[delamaize]

Is it a different one than you ordered in 2015?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=35770.msg437054#msg437054

Jason

Yep, My mistake, for some reason I though it was a lot longer ago...

[nkalanaga]

Then maybe I'll be hearing from Chuck that my SP&S is ready.  It is a little surprising...

[jereising]

Let's hope Athearn's assembly/QC is better on these than the last Big Boy run...

[delamaize]

The Z8 came today, Nice looking locomotive, and with the Tsunami it sounds great! Mine is seems to be assembled properly, and runs well. Like the other Challengers it's a gourgeos locomotive, with nice detail. It's really nice to have NP specific locomotives and details. Well it runs well in the short distance I was able to run it on my Small layout, As the radius is less than 11", It's meant for my European stuff.

The first big test will be at Chilliwack next weekend, on MRNS layout. I'll take pictures and video then. Overall, so far, I'm happy with this unexpected arrival.

Reminder everyone, I still have a GS4, Reading FT set and an Acela that is only the power Cafe and dummy locos for sale! 

[np1969]

I'm not doing the steam era, but I still couldn't resist ordering one of these beauties because it's NP!. It should be here this week.
Some day I hope to get back to building my layout; just about everyone I know is in a model railroading slump.

[basementcalling]

I got a phone call that I never expected yesterday from Trainworld.....

Trainworld: "Hello, this is Heather (IIRC, it was Heather) from Trainworld, Is Mike Available?"
Me: "This is Mike."
TW: I'm calling today about your Pre-order for the Athearn Northern Pacific Challenger. They are in stock, and ready to ship, But your credit card associated with the Pre-order has expired. We are ready to ship, but we need a new payment source."
Me: ".....Ok?.....Ummm.....Hold on a Sec.....(Reads New credit card number)"
TW: "Great! We will get the Challenger in the mail in the next day or two!"
Me: "Great! Thank you!"

Ummm.....So I wanna say the pre-order was back in like 2012, with initial delivery date being like mid-2013, then bumped to like 2014. After that I didn't hear anything. I assumed that the project was Canceled.
SURPRISE! Guess not! Anyways, So I'm kinda taken back a little, and wasn't budgeted for this, So a few locomotives are now up for sale in the Trading post to try to cover some of the costs! I just looked at my credit card account, and the funds have cleared, and I got a shipping confirmation in my E-mail today.

So, Am I the only one that was caught off guard by this, or have I been oblivious to announcements and updates?

And somewhere in Nigeria, a Russian mob boss is very happy with your credit card information.    

[up1950s]

Then maybe I'll be hearing from Chuck that my SP&S is ready.  It is a little surprising...

Maybe Chuck isn't saying anything because he is choking on smoke . I hope not , but he is within grape throwing distance .

I also await  ATH22922 - 4-6-6-4 w/DCC & Sound Oil Tender: Union Pacific #3977

Drool fuel https://www.nscalesupply.com/ath/ATH-challenger.html

[nkalanaga]

Richie:  As far as I can tell the fires haven't hit San Rafael, but Chuck doesn't seem to be answering emails, either.  I've sent a couple in the last two weeks, on different subjects, and still haven't heard anything.  Usually he answers the next day.  I hope he's at a train show, and not out sick.

[up1950s]

Richie:  As far as I can tell the fires haven't hit San Rafael, but Chuck doesn't seem to be answering emails, either.  I've sent a couple in the last two weeks, on different subjects, and still haven't heard anything.  Usually he answers the next day.  I hope he's at a train show, and not out sick.

Does he also have his crib in San Rafael ?

[kverdon]

I spoke with Chuck today, he has the Challengers in stock and has been testing them out prior to shipping them.  They should be going out soon.  He is doing ok, just really smokey in his area right now.

[up1950s]

I spoke with Chuck today, he has the Challengers in stock and has been testing them out prior to shipping them.  They should be going out soon.  He is doing ok, just really smokey in his area right now.

Thanks

[nkalanaga]

I also received an email from Chuck, so both he and his server are fine.  He told me the same thing, they'll be shipping as soon as he finishes testing them.