Intermountain November 2022 - NEW Tri-Level Autoracks

[ryan_wilkerson]

Didn't Intermountain deliver bi levels about a year ago? I know these are new tooling but I would guess they will be using the same factory so they might deliver these sooner than other announcements.
Also, I want to say I paid $48 each for the last run (same $69 MSRP). Definitely not getting many of these but will be nice to fill in a couple road names I don't have. Cotton Belt for sure.

[SirTainly]

Has IM actually released anything in years? My local dealer was reluctant to take a preorder for some of their stuff the other month for that reason.

[mu26aeh]

Has IM actually released anything in years? My local dealer was reluctant to take a preorder for some of their stuff the other month for that reason.

We got trinity 5161 and 4750 covered hoppers in the last 6-9 months

[C855B]

I've had a dozen IM PFE reefers on pre-order for five years, a "current" model they are still taking reservations for. Yeah, I'll give 'em a two-year mulligan for the pandemic and after-effects, but it's past time to fish or cut bait for a simple boxcar that is a rerun of standing tooling. Ridiculous.

Heckuva business model.

[Rivet Miscounter]

I wonder if Intermountain knows that they have completely lost trust with their customers?   

I would love to see how many people have actually received what they reserved since IMRC started their misguided reservation plan about a decade ago.    I bet the percentage is a low single-digit number.

I would also be interested to see the number of reservations they get now versus 10 years ago.   Same bet.

[nkalanaga]

I see that none of the N scale stuff I have reserved is shipping, and the new racks are far too modern for me, so I'll keep waiting.

Actually, most of what I've reserved over the last ten years has ended up being cancelled by Intermountain, so I doubt that I'll have to pay for any of the currently reserved stuff any time soon!

[ljudice]

I bet we see these sooner than later.  IM is probably pushing higher priced product out the door faster.  There was a bi level run about 9 months ago - and a second bi level run announced right after that - presumably due soon.

[kiwi_bnsf]

Besides the improved detailing, how will these be different than the MTL tri-level autorack? Will they have the newer hinged doors instead of the clamshell doors? The .PDF only shows the sides of the cars. I'm sure I'll get at least one just to compare and contrast. But I've plopped down a lot of dough on the MTL tri-levels and body-mounted them.

Besides the low deck flat with the notched sides typical of the tri-levels? A glaring omission on the MTL model.

The Micro Trains Tri-level Autorack is a different prototype - the Pullman Standard PLH10W with a so called "bowl deck". These do not have any notches for the trucks:

     http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3132593

The Micro Trains car needs to be lowered and body mounted, and if you are keen it would be relatively easy job to file out the recesses for the foot stirrups, but otherwise it's an okay car (I'll definitely be holding onto my Micro Trains racks and upgrading them). Some of the road numbers that Micro Trains has run on their Tri-level racks are wrong (like anything that is TTGX), but you can either avoid these, or patch them to an appropriate ETTX number with a bit of research:

     RR Picture Archives    http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsRRList.aspx?id=13
     Railcar Photos            https://www.railcarphotos.com


The Intermountain Tri-Level rack looks to be the Pullman Standard PLH21D which is a low level flush deck flat with the distinctive recesses for the trucks:

     http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2808304

Given Intermountain are already shipping the Scale America tooled Bi-levels (ex-Fox Valley Models, ex Red-Caboose), hopefully this a relatively easy project for them to tool up — I'm definitely in for a few when they ship, and there are so many different paint schemes that they can run on these.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

This is a car I would like to have, but I am not holding any hope these will be released. I may pre-order a few at Factory Direct Hobbies, but who knows if it will ever come?

[MetroRedLine]

What hasn't been addressed is, will these autoracks will have body-mounted couplers, or another one of Them Swingin' 1019s?

[sundowner]

I woul like to have this car in my pike, so if it shows I will get some but i am not preordering.

[sundowner]

What hasn't been addressed is, will these autoracks will have body-mounted couplers, or another one of Them Swingin' 1019s?

That one of the reason I have not been getting many Atlas cars, lack of body mounts.

[randgust]

I had such trouble with the Atlas piggybacks stringlining even on 15" curves that I sold them.   No more reserved bodymounts for me on cars like that.  The problem was purely the short-shank coupler, Trainworx flats are OK, so were some others, but the moral of the story was don't buy something you can't see first in flesh.    Cars that look nice don't look as nice on their sides.

MT's flats might not be perfect, but I've never, ever had one derail.  I also like N scale Kits, but the pewter car weight coming up 2.5% grades can kill ya.

I really like the intermountain cars, seriously do (have reefers, lots of cabooses, just got a diner), but I'd never reserve pay for one in advance.

[mu26aeh]

Cars that look nice don't look as nice on their sides.

Just model it as a NS mainline and call it a day

[Tristan Ashcroft]

Just model it as a NS mainline and call it a day

Ooh-ooh-ooh: or Tehachapi!   


(they've announced these in HO too - same response from me: I'd like a bunch of ETTX cars, if these ever arrive and if I ever get a chance to inspect one or two and if they're good, I'd buy a bunch.  I won't plan for them, though)