WOW! Atlas showing U33B and U36B on home page

[High Hood]

Time to start lobbying Railsmith to do the Auto-Train! Perhaps Atlas could do the Auto-Train S2 in a future run as well.

[C855B]

C855B:  Other than RI, did any western roads buy a U33/36B?

The Rock really wasn't Western, it was a "Granger Railroad".

[Cory Rothlisberger]

  These catalogs give me PTSD...

[randgust]

I had my own.  I was doing a GE 70-tonner for a couple years on a spliced and lengthened Kato 11-105 chassis until Bachmann came out with theirs.

And, it ran better.  Way better.   And that was that. 

And the Piko Whitcomb centercab has pretty much gone the same way.

[Rivet Miscounter]

(sorry for the thread drift, but the comment about the CF7 jarred this loose)   It still amazes me that with the proliferation of ATSF modelers, and the widespread distribution to other railroads and industries, how do we not have CF7's and GP7U's in N?      I get the issues of them all being a hodgepodge of literally scratchbuilt 1:1 locos, but surely some reasonable compromises could at least get *something*.   Athearn has managed it in HO.

To get back on topic, I'm happy for those of you that will benefit from this announcement.   I know it feels great when something like this comes along.  (Kato doing the 70MAC's was one example for me....NOBODY thought they would be done given their mostly BN/BNSF lineage, even given Kato's bias there.)

[Philip H]

The Bachmann U38B was my first model railroad locomotive.  I still have it.  And a slew of others I have collected over the years.  They are all in a box to be remotored.  If Atlas delivers these I'll be over the moon for a couple - though best of my knowledge they never got anywhere near Baton Rouge.

[u18b]

One of my very first N scale pieces was a Bachmann U36B....

But I cut it up and made a U18B out of it!   

[lock4244]

I'm going to be the guy that says I wish it were a U28B and/or a U30B, but happy for you nonetheless.

Agree. The fact that Atlas sat on this for as long as they did is odd, but one hopes that a U30B is not too far off. None of these were around in my era in my locale, but still cool to see some more U-boats coming to N scale.

[u18b]

And for those who can do a moderately simple kitbash, you can take a U36B shell, cut off the radiator section and splice a U23B radiator section to get a U30B late phase.

[Mark5]

Surprised that Atlas leap frogged the U30Bs, but at least I still have that project to look forward to!

[randgust]

Wow, and I'd been doing my CF7 conversion kits since 2016, done several hundred, and probably have done in the neighborhood of 50 custom builds of the kit for specific numbers, custom shortlines, etc., and still hear complaints about 'no available CF7' when I was doing them RTR.  Not exactly a secret, particularly here.

Well, that didn't finish me off but Atlas finally did when the new GP7 mechanism with the speaker under the radiator and the DCC board stuffed in the short nose can't be used, won't fit anything chop-nosed.   So I stopped.  Now you're free to gripe again.

But you'll see those kits, and some of the built-up CF7 units, probably resurfacing for decades.   

When I was doing custom builds I'd saw off the short nose and just throw them in a box for no good reason.   I've literally got a small box of high-nose GP7 parts from doing this one for so long.  Already sold all the excess sills and handrails.   The resin parts are easy, it's the etchings that require a hard swallow for a minimum quantity order.

I've seen beautiful RP stuff, I don't do that, but the ability to print fine detail, handrails, etc. still is best done in brass or steel etched parts.  That still separates the men from the boys here.

[nkalanaga]

...mike:  I agree that RI isn't a "western" road, but it was west of the Mississippi, so I included it in case someone wanted to be picky!  I'd class it as a "midwest" road.

On the other hand, the CB&Q is also a "midwest" road, but it made it into Montana, interchanging with the NP and GN at Laurel.

[C855B]

On the other hand, the CB&Q is also a "midwest" road, but it made it into Montana, interchanging with the NP and GN at Laurel.

My definition of "Western" is crossing the Rockies, although the exception to that is the Milwaukee, which was by legal determination a Granger road.

[Missaberoad]

My definition of "Western" is crossing the Rockies, although the exception to that is the Milwaukee, which was by legal determination a Granger road.

I really wouldn't use a legal definition from 40 years before the Pacific Extention was built. Milwaukee Road was a western transcon.   

[basementcalling]

IIRC, and that is increasingly unlikely, Western Pacific had some U30B units.

No one bought the UB40 s and their Red, Red Wine though.