AZL December 2020 New Items Part 1

[ztrack]

AMERICAN Z LINE
December 2020 New Releases Part 1

NEW BODY STYLE – R-70-20 REEFERS
First road name - Great Northern

The cars were built by Pacific Car and Foundry in Benton, WA. The R-70-20 designation stands for a reefer with 70 ton capacity. The 20 designates with was the twenty design in the builders reefer series. The cars are a direct derivative of the PFE reefer design. They represent the last major release of this design of cars. In 1969, 1,200 of these cars were delivered, with an additional 1,200 delivered in 1970. Initially the cars were delivered in PFE lettering.

Throughout the years, the cars would be sold off and repainted for new owners and roads. The 1980s saw the biggest change as the SP and UP split the operations on the PFE. The SP would retain the PFE trade name and their cars would be lettered for SPFE. The UP would choose to completely repaint their cars in the armor yellow scheme, and later all white after the SP and UP merged in 1996.

The second largest operator of these cars was the BNSF. The BNSF would build through their collection through the absorption of roads such as the Burlington Northern and Great Northern. It is important to note that these cars continue to be operated currently. The dependability and reliability are a driving factor for their prolonged use.

AZL is releasing Great Northern as the first road name. A four-pack, two-pack and single car are available.



904805-1 GN R-70-20 Reefer 9001, 9003, 9004, 9013 Set



914835-1 GN R-70-20 Reefer 9012, 9015 Two-pack



914805-1 GN R-70-20 Reefer 9019 Single

ALCO RS3 - Great Northern



The GN prototype details include: Phase I body, corner stacked number boards, ALCO AAR trucks, dual bulb headlight, three chime aft cab mounted airhorn, crosswise smokestack and 800 gallon fuel tank.

63300-1 Great Northern RS3 221
63300-2 Great Northern RS3 222
63300-3 Great Northern RS3 223

These popular locomotives feature a 7mm coreless motor, dual flywheels, traction tires, built in pilot, directional controller LEDs, body mount couplers. The coupler box is screwed in placed.

EMD GP38-2s – ATSF – 2020 Rebuild



The first run GP38-2s are back! The shells are from the first run of GP38-2s. The chassis is the 2020 version. We have rebuilt these locos and are excited to be able to offer them again. Supplies are limited!

62509-1R ATSF GP38-2 2372
62509-2R ATSF GP38-2 2374
62509-3R ATSF GP38-2 2379
62509-4R ATSF GP38-2 2380

The AZL EMD GP38-2s feature coreless motor, dual flywheels, traction tires, standard PCB board, DCC ready, directional controlled LEDs, and AutoLatch TM couplers.

See the American Z Line site for more information on these and other AZL products.

http://www.azldirect.com

Rob Kluz
Ztrack Distribution

[Rivet Miscounter]

Great to see the R-70-20's.  Perfect for my mid-2000's BNSF motif.  BNSF, ARMN, and BNFE for sure.   

Have photos of SLC ex-MILW and ex-SPFE cars in Fort Worth in 2004 I believe it was, but they appeared to be "going out to the farm" I would guess.  A very few SPFE and UPFE made it to at least the early 2000's.  Not sure I would buy cars for a funeral train or that rare hanger-on-er, but I'll definitely have a small pile of the more modern editions.)

I'm torn on the ATSF Geep.   Santa Fe had so few, and I already have one.    Logic would be to purchase as a substitute for other ATSF power.  GP60's still showed as mainline/intermodal power some in my timeframe, or using it as a stand in for a GP38 could be an option.   Chance of Z GP60s is slim.   What to do...  I'm sort of hoping that while I debate with myself, they'll just sell out, since I've spent a lot of money on locos and Maxi-I's this year.  Dammit they're only 100 bucks.   

[cjm413]

I'll defer to your wallet, but I see no harm in picking up another ATSF GP38-2

AZL's Phase Ib GP38-2 with dynamic brakes is arguably just as good as a stand-in for an ATSF Phase IIb GP38 with extended range dynamic brakes as it is for an ex-TPW Phase II GP38-2 without dynamic brakes

Even if a Z GP60 existed, another GP38-2 is the closest thing you'll find to the 60 GP38's and 106 GP39-2's that ATSF had, but aren't available in Z.

[Rivet Miscounter]

I'll defer to your wallet, but I see no harm in picking up another ATSF GP38-2

AZL's Phase Ib GP38-2 with dynamic brakes is arguably just as good as a stand-in for an ATSF Phase IIb GP38 with extended range dynamic brakes as it is for an ex-TPW Phase II GP38-2 without dynamic brakes

Even if a Z GP60 existed, another GP38-2 is the closest thing you'll find to the 60 GP38's and 106 GP39-2's that ATSF had, but aren't available in Z.

@cjm413  Yes, that summarizes my thought processes pretty well, even though I didn't quite have all those specifics...so thanks for that. 

Not being a card-carrying ATSF expert, I sort of accidentally stumbled across a good path for my first GP38-2. (assuming that eventually I'll 3D print a non-DB piece and do that surgery)  Early in my Z-dom, I bought my ATSF GP38-2 #2380 for the sole purpose of stealing the mech, black fuel tank, and silver trucks for use on a CORP scheme Geep.  So that ATSF shell sat around for a few years and I kept hoping I'd come across some way of buying the silver trucks, as I'd picked up a couple of undec AZL GP38-2's with black fuel tank/trucks from which to steal back parts from.   Well, in Z, the parts aren't as cheap to come by...as parts, the silver trucks alone cost almost as much as an entire loco.      (as an aside, yes I could have painted the trucks.  But I've had bad luck with painting silver trucks...likely due to inexperience two decades ago, but I still seek out factory molded/painted as they seem more durable.)

Then I started thinking... "wait, I seem to recall the ATSF GP38-2's were from TP&W and had black trucks...could it be?"   Nope, ATSF 2380 must have been shopped and trucks painted or something as all pics showed silver trucks.  BUT, then I discovered that fortunately the numbers did not map out directly when patched to BNSF, and lo-and-behold the "new" BNSF-patched yellow warbonnet 2380 had black trucks in the mid-2000s....PERFECT!  A side benefit to this is I don't have to redo the numberboards.  So other than the DB issue and a BNSF patch, there's not much else to it...at least for being in Z.  I'm shooting for "essence" here, not uber phase specific models.  There is a geep mod-kit on Shapeways that has a dynamic break blank that I *think* would work, but it is a bit pricey since I don't need the rest of the pieces. (cab, etc.)

So yeah, foobie-ing an ATSF GP38 or GP39-2 is probably a good play, and this one will have silver trucks which is a nice contrast to 2380.  Definitely will involve a little more work but having another ATSF Geep is something needed for the roster long term.   (and that was the other consideration...is AZL going to have an "updated handrails" version of the ATSF GP38-2 sooner than later?  Probably, but again the cost of the AZL GP38-2's makes this sort of a no-brainer for Z.)

[cjm413]

@cjm413  Yes, that summarizes my thought processes pretty well, even though I didn't quite have all those specifics...so thanks for that. 

Not being a card-carrying ATSF expert, I sort of accidentally stumbled across a good path for my first GP38-2. (assuming that eventually I'll 3D print a non-DB piece and do that surgery)  Early in my Z-dom, I bought my ATSF GP38-2 #2380 for the sole purpose of stealing the mech, black fuel tank, and silver trucks for use on a CORP scheme Geep.  So that ATSF shell sat around for a few years and I kept hoping I'd come across some way of buying the silver trucks, as I'd picked up a couple of undec AZL GP38-2's with black fuel tank/trucks from which to steal back parts from.   Well, in Z, the parts aren't as cheap to come by...as parts, the silver trucks alone cost almost as much as an entire loco.      (as an aside, yes I could have painted the trucks.  But I've had bad luck with painting silver trucks...likely due to inexperience two decades ago, but I still seek out factory molded/painted as they seem more durable.)

Then I started thinking... "wait, I seem to recall the ATSF GP38-2's were from TP&W and had black trucks...could it be?"   Nope, ATSF 2380 must have been shopped and trucks painted or something as all pics showed silver trucks.  BUT, then I discovered that fortunately the numbers did not map out directly when patched to BNSF, and lo-and-behold the "new" BNSF-patched yellow warbonnet 2380 had black trucks in the mid-2000s....PERFECT!  A side benefit to this is I don't have to redo the numberboards.  So other than the DB issue and a BNSF patch, there's not much else to it...at least for being in Z.  I'm shooting for "essence" here, not uber phase specific models.  There is a geep mod-kit on Shapeways that has a dynamic break blank that I *think* would work, but it is a bit pricey since I don't need the rest of the pieces. (cab, etc.)

So yeah, foobie-ing an ATSF GP38 or GP39-2 is probably a good play, and this one will have silver trucks which is a nice contrast to 2380.  Definitely will involve a little more work but having another ATSF Geep is something needed for the roster long term.   (and that was the other consideration...is AZL going to have an "updated handrails" version of the ATSF GP38-2 sooner than later?  Probably, but again the cost of the AZL GP38-2's makes this sort of a no-brainer for Z.)

An ex-TPW GP38-2 needs the following in addition to removing the dynamic brakes:

-replace 81" short hood with 88"
-add anticlimber
-replace radiator grills with corrugated radiator grills.
-buy 5-6 more GP38-2 's to renumber to GP38's to account for the fact that they outnumbered them by 60-11 

Save yourself some work (and $) and re # to an ATSF GP38 

[Rivet Miscounter]

Save yourself some work (and $) and re # to an ATSF GP38 

Fair enough...so what are the differences between the GP38-2 and GP38.  I used to know a lot of this stuff but 'tis but a distant memory now.  Clearly, sight glass...no pun intended. 

And I guess while we're at it, what is the path from GP38-2 to GP39-2?   I seem to recall an article in MR decades ago about the GP39-2 and I think I still have that around somewhere.  I feel like that is a significantly more involved conversion. 

To be quite frank, I doubt I'm going to do much more than use the GP38-2 as a stand-in, at least for now.  I have too many other projects, and that assumes that I'll get to stop working three or four jobs when the pandemic is over.   I'm trying to minimize anything involving an airbrush for the moment since I don't really have a good workspace setup to efficiently do a lot of that.  And it's Z-scale, I just don't think too many will notice, or care.  I actually do care, and I'm definitely interested in learning what it would take, and appreciate that you're willing to comment here.   Just don't want you to expect photos any time soon.