N scale Siemens SC-44 Charger????

[ski]

I have mixed feelings about this...glad it is coming to N scale, but not super thrilled that it’s Bachmann. The HO ones do seem kinda decent, though. I wonder what other lighting effects it may have. The catalog linked in this thread only says directional headlights. Flashing ditch lights at least would be nice. A lighted “X” grill may be too much to expect in N I guess.

[EspeeGoldenState]

I have mixed feelings about this...glad it is coming to N scale, but not super thrilled that it’s Bachmann. The HO ones do seem kinda decent, though. I wonder what other lighting effects it may have. The catalog linked in this thread only says directional headlights. Flashing ditch lights at least would be nice. A lighted “X” grill may be too much to expect in N I guess.

At this point, I don't understand why those would be too much to expect anymore. Decoders have plenty of functions and with LEDS and clear piping/sheet, no different than a Kato E/F porthole window. You can light that up with an LED.

Chris

[jagged ben]

At this point, I don't understand why those would be too much to expect anymore. Decoders have plenty of functions and with LEDS and clear piping/sheet, no different than a Kato E/F porthole window. You can light that up with an LED.

Chris

It's not the lighting part that's hard, it's a realistic see-through effect in a spot that an N scale loco needs drive train components.   Same problem as a tunnel motor.

[delamaize]

439???? Yeah, I think I'll wait for the fire sales

Same

[randgust]

As a fan of cowl units, I always liked, and eventually really liked, the F40PH's.  They could really scoot with a long distance train, good basic design and held up well.   Amtrak got their money's worth out of those, and some are still running.   Worthy successor to the F's.

About 1993 I was up in Erie, PA, visiting my mother in the nursing home at Harborcreek, PA next to the GE test track and saw my first P40 on the test track, dragging the Alco around in full dynamic.   what tha...   It was in kind of a stealth gray scheme, and one of the ugliest locomotives I've ever seen.    Still is.   Reminded me of the C&NW "Crandall Cabs" carved out of old E B-units.

I never thought much of the Swedish 'toasters' AEM7's until I rode behind one north of Washington, holy crap could they move a train at speed.   Serious power there, they punched way above their weight.

Got inside one of the GE E60's at the plant, and couldn't believe how much 'stuff' was inside the carbody and how small the cab area was.

The new electrics look odd because the trucks are visually too far inboard.     There's little similarity to the diesel units, actually.

To me, it's a combination of performance and aesthetics.  We'll see how they run.   But right now the old P42's are falling like flies.  Whatever they are, I just hope they hold up, because it's like a Pontiac "Fiero" - which I was told once by the owner was italian for 'car being towed'.

I just had a chance to do a 'close up' of the new Acela Liberty.... well,   it sure looks nice and sexy, but how you maintain a truly 'sealed set' of equipment where any one component that fails takes out the whole train rather than just one car or locomotive, we'll see how that goes.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ha, yeah. I still think of the P42s as "new", but when I saw one the other week I was surprised that I could see through the rust holes in the side of the car body. Yikes.

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[randgust]

What makes it tough on the model builders are unique parts like frames, oddball trucks, etc.    While split frames are great, it makes it a whole lot harder to make different versions of locomotives with slightly different truck centers.   Same with trucks and wheelbases.    Every time you get a reluctance to issue a new model, study it and see just how much 'new stuff' it takes, rather than using some existing tooling to produce a new model, particularly redesigning a cast split frame.   

The opposite of that is pretty much every EMD road switcher made between 1949 and the 1990's on B-B trucks, frames reasonably similar, truck centers vary but many are similar, truck wheelbases aren't much different, just make some different truck sideframe details in plastic.   But the mechanical stuff inside was re-used over....and over, and over.   

If you're a builder, look at the spread between new tooling costs and expected unit sales and resulting price....swallow hard, and hope it works.

I'd bet on Kato, but remember that it's a whole lot better if whatever gets built also runs in europe, at least for the trucks and frame length, if not for the shell details.

[davefoxx]

Ha, yeah. I still think of the P42s as "new", but when I saw one the other week I was surprised that I could see through the rust holes in the side of the car body. Yikes.

Actually, the P40s and P42s are between twenty and thirty years old.  Don't forget, the first "Genesis" P40s were delivered in a variation of the Phase III scheme before Phase IV was introduced.  Damn ugly locomotives, but it's hard to say they haven't served Amtrak well for decades.

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Actually, the P40s and P42s are between twenty and thirty years old.  Don't forget, the first "Genesis" P40s were delivered in a variation of the Phase III scheme before Phase IV was introduced.  Damn ugly locomotives, but it's hard to say they haven't served Amtrak well for decades.

DFF

Oh man, I loved those early P40 paint jobs with the big a$$ stripes.

[peteski]

Oh man, I loved those early P40 paint jobs with the big a$$ stripes.

Yeah, that was my favorite livery. too. I still think the Genesis locos are prettier than anything else that came after them.

[nickelplate759]

I loved that faded stripe scheme.  If memory serves, the stripes were reflective (Scotchlite or something similar).

[peteski]

I loved that faded stripe scheme.  If memory serves, the stripes were reflective (Scotchlite or something similar).

I believe you are correct.  I also read that on the 1:1 loco those fading stripes appeared to be flapping when the loco passed by the viewer.

[nickelplate759]

I don't recall that they appeared to flap, but they did kind of shimmer.  Pretty cool looking, at least when the engine was fairly clean.

[peteski]

I don't recall that the appeared to flap, but they did kind of shimmer.  Pretty cool looking, at least when the engine was fairly clean.

It's been a long time since I heard or read that.  Flapping, shimmering . . . I'm sure you are correct.

[DKS]

As long as it's not fapping...