Kato NYC 20th Centurty Limited - PWRS, official announcement soonish?

[GhengisKong]

There's a better chance of a named train getting made if it has a unique locomotive than a common one.  Then it's about how much time and tooling the locomotive would need.  The Little Joe lost out to the FP7 and I've heard that the Rock Island TAs have an issue with their wheelbase.  I do think we'll see these some day but worry it will just be the Texas Rocket version.


Jason

Kato rep was purported to have said the FP7 and the TA share a very close wheelbase if not exact. Someone on here mentioned that fact, but it was sometime last year and not sure what thread.

[wcfn100]

Kato rep was purported to have said the FP7 and the TA share a very close wheelbase if not exact. Someone on here mentioned that fact, but it was sometime last year and not sure what thread.

That's truck centers.  For some reason I'm remembering wheel base (of the truck) being mentioned as an issue.  Kato has trucks with 8' and 9' wheel bases.  The TA is right between those.  But maybe I'm remembering wrong what the Kato rep said.

Jason

[thomasjmdavis]

I would suspect that the primary issue with a model TA is that the skirting would interfere with trucks on the tight radii common to model railroads.  Thinking back to their original full skirted Budd cars, even there they cut away the upper part of the truck to clear the skirting. 

[peteski]

What is a TA (or did I miss something earlier)?

On some skirted models part of the skirts outside of the trucks are attached to the trucks, so they can swivel with the truck on sharp curves. Not  an ideal solution, but it works.  Kato did that recently on one of their E units, and Con-Cor did that on some of their offerings.  Models of European trains also use this solution.

[wcfn100]

What is a TA (or did I miss something earlier)?

Jason

[peteski]

Kato did a skirted E5.  Something similar could be done for the TA.  Like I said, not optimal, but acceptable.

[wcfn100]

Kato did a skirted E5.  Something similar could be done for the TA.  Like I said, not optimal, but acceptable.

And like I think someone mentioned, they've don't skirted versions of their passenger trucks which have the details removed from the top.



If any company can't figure out a way, it's Kato.

Jason

[CBQ Fan]

1954 "New" Dixieland.  Ran Chicago to Miami across territory of 5 railroads that pooled resources to buy new Pullman sleepers, also carried an FEC observation, and in winter months a leased C&O sleeper-lounge obs (square end) ran mid train, in addition to the FEC obs on the tail.

Could also make a case for the Georgian (Chicago to Atlanta) with L&N and NC&StL.  But since it only occasionally carried an obs (the C&EI tavern-parlor), not likely to be done by anyone as a set.

And for that matter, the Whipporwill, Chicago to Evansville (the contact point for L&N to southeast destinations)- only ran for a year (ended when the Georgian started running through to Chicago), for which that obs was built.  Coach streamliner, with that parlor-tavern-obs tacked on the end and a full diner.

I hope it is clear that I am not bashing this road or the others.  Merely commenting on what roads appear to be within the vision of Kato.  I would buy the above CE&I train!  Of course I would buy all Kato classic named passenger train sets that they produce!

[thomasjmdavis]

No offense taken Brian.  I've been working on buying/building/bashing cars for several C&EI trains, so info was literally in front of me.

One train that would be interesting would be a late 30s or post-war ACL (etc) Champion.  Because the trains ran down the length of the East Coast, Kato could sell sets with PRR, RF&P, ACL and FEC locomotives, and extra cars might even be of interest to NH modelers for the run to Boston.  Very similar/identical cars ran on the FEC "Flagler" which after running a couple years from Miami- Jacksonville morphed into a Miami-Chicago streamliner, the Dixie-Flagler, and became the "New Dixieland" in 1954.  So cars could be painted in at least ACL and FEC, and the Dixie Flagler ran Jacksonville-Atlanta behind (usually Es but) F2s on occasion (did Kato already do an ACL F2?), behind "Dixies" or late model F3s on NC&StL, and streamlined Pacifics followed later on by Es and Fs on L&N and C&EI.

Not to mention, several excuses in that group to tool E3s or E6s.....just sayin'

[peteski]

And like I think someone mentioned, they've don't skirted versions of their passenger trucks which have the details removed from the top.



If any company can't figure out a way, it's Kato.

Jason

I remember those.  And I think you meant "can" not "can't".

[wcfn100]

  And I think you meant "can" not "can't".

HA! Yes. Lol

[CBQ Fan]

No offense taken Brian.  I've been working on buying/building/bashing cars for several C&EI trains, so info was literally in front of me.

One train that would be interesting would be a late 30s or post-war ACL (etc) Champion.  Because the trains ran down the length of the East Coast, Kato could sell sets with PRR, RF&P, ACL and FEC locomotives, and extra cars might even be of interest to NH modelers for the run to Boston.  Very similar/identical cars ran on the FEC "Flagler" which after running a couple years from Miami- Jacksonville morphed into a Miami-Chicago streamliner, the Dixie-Flagler, and became the "New Dixieland" in 1954.  So cars could be painted in at least ACL and FEC, and the Dixie Flagler ran Jacksonville-Atlanta behind (usually Es but) F2s on occasion (did Kato already do an ACL F2?), behind "Dixies" or late model F3s on NC&StL, and streamlined Pacifics followed later on by Es and Fs on L&N and C&EI.

Not to mention, several excuses in that group to tool E3s or E6s.....just sayin'

Definitely some cool combinations there!  E3/6 would rock!

[Ngineer]

Word at the time was the sales of the Broadway were slow, and it delayed other name trains from continuing.

The (really nice) Broadway Limited came out at the height of the financial crisis of 2008.

   Javier

[peteski]

The (really nice) Broadway Limited came out at the height of the financial crisis of 2008.

   Javier

Exactly!

Kelley (from Kato USA) addressed the poor BL sales last year in another thread.  See https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=47685.msg629199#msg629199

Quoting that post:
The economy had quite a bit to do with the original run Broadway sets not selling out to expectations in 2008.

I noticed an interesting trend that started due to the great recession...Kato used to have (and there definitely still are some) quite a few more customers who would literally purchase one of everything that came out (give or take)....especially the name train series.  As expendable income dried up people eyed their hobby purchases much closer and made much more conscientious choices on what they were purchasing.  It's not that any product is/was particularly bad...it's that tougher decisions were being made 'do I need this or should I squirrel the money away for an emergency, if I lose my job, etc'

Sure, there were other factors at play...Pennsylvania honestly doesn't sell as well as ATSF, UP or any of the CZ railroads just due to people's personal tastes, a few people told me the set was ugly, etc. the sheen was wrong, etc.  (going back to personal tastes)

Now, here we are...11/12 years later and the market seems like it is ready for another run of Broadway Limited sets and there was actually a slot for manufacturing capacity (not to be confused with tooling and design capacity...that's a whole other can of worms).  I'm sure they will sell reasonably well this time around as there is demand there.  Now how well is another story.  The quantity that needs to be ordered by Kato USA from the factory is significantly lower then the original run as there is no new tooling involved so it's a bit less of a risk now.  However the quantity is still fairly substantial so it's still a calculated risk.

[basementcalling]

If Broadway Limited offerings from Kato keep triggering financial meltdowns and panics, maybe they should stop making PRR offerings and stick to more UP.