Figured I would post a short OKC Show update here...
We got to the show a *little* later than normal, due partly to one of our parties not showing up for the trip nor letting anyone know he wasn't showing up for the trip. Then, the show has moved to a different venue on the same fairgrounds complex, and both finding it and parking were a nightmare. So that combined with a burgeoning cold with extreme sore throat that got exponentially worse as the day wore on means that, well, it wasn't the best OKC show experience. Manufacturers were light as well so I'll give the rundown:
Cowcatcher Magazine - dropped by and spoke with my buddy Tim Blackwell and he says things are rolling for the Cowcatcher. If you haven't had an opportunity to check it out, you should. It has a Midwest, Mountainwest, Midsouth, and Southwest focus at this time, but he seems to be edging further and further out each year. Proto and modeling topics.
Digitrax - didn't really talk shop with them, just stopped by to say hello to fellow Railwire-er Rich Businger for a bit.
Athearn - Absent. They are usually present, and it was mentioned that because of their organizational changes they missed the deadline to secure a spot.
Micro-Trains - Absent. Again, they are almost always here so I don't know what happened.
Atlas -Absent. I don't think Atlas is here every year, but sorry they missed seeing me.
Kato - Might as well have been absent. Basically, if you weren't walking up to kiss their a$$ about the new FEF, they could have cared less. I've never really had good luck talking to the Kato guys though so I guess it was about what I expected. I asked about alternate Amtrak schemes on the ElCap Transition coaches and F40PH's and got barely a nod of understanding of the words that came out of my mouth. I got the typical "not anytime soon" so I asked "well, what is?" and he basically just walked away as he was pointing at the FEF.
Intermountain - Had a great chat with Intermountain. Asked about the SD40-2 and got an earful! He said they had a contingent heading to China as we spoke to iron out a few things. He didn't commit to dates but when prodded he replied in a quasi-off-the-record manner that he thought the first release would be shipping before the start of the Chinese New Year, second would be in the late spring sometime and third would be late summer. He said they have put a lot of effort into making the locomotives good...he kept saying "you will be impressed". One particular point of emphasis he said was on squeezing in weight wherever they could. I asked if the mech was the same as the Canadian units and he said basically yes, except for the weight improvements. Guessing there was some concessions with accounting for the sound decoders so I can't say they will be *heavier* but at least they made the effort to try and get as much out of them as possible. I asked if the old shells would fit the new mech and he said "not sure" but it was more of a non-committal than anything...he acted like he thought they probably would fit.
Intermountain (cont.) - I also asked them if they would be doing the Aero-Flo hoppers. (the next progression in the LBF tooling, in my mind) and he said YES. He was very excited about these new releases and said that it was not necessarily just rerunning the old tooling. For example, he said that they tooled new bolsters to accept "their" trucks for the coalporters and aluminators. Then I asked him if the tooling runs would extend out to boxcars, et al. He said YES, if the tooling allows. He said they aren't sure if some things will be able to be salvaged but he said that generally if 80% of the car is in tact and they have to redo one part then it will likely be done. (and, since speaking with him I noticed that they announced smoothside woodchip cars.) He also noted that they are completely redoing artwork on all of the cars and of course they will be using current printing practices to make them look MUCH better than the LFB slop. (my words, not his) So, suffice to say that it sounds like they have ALL of the LBF tooling and that we will probably be seeing more of the boxcars being made again. Think TBOX/FBOX, etc.
Weathering Solutions - They had their wares on display and for sale. I picked up their "line graffiti" set in N, which isn't the garish stuff you would expect but the older school stuff prevalent before the late 90's. They had some decent new graffiti sets and their weathering products available as well. No scoop on new items, but the guy was asking for photos for new ideas for more graffiti and weathering so I think if there's something you want, you might send them some research.
Others - Walthers, NJ International, Soundtraxx, and several others were present, but I did not stop in.
Otherwise the show was typical. I would say a notch below since some key manufacturers were missing, plus the other things mentioned above, but still far-and-away the best show within a days' drive of Dallas/Fort Worth. I picked up a (heaping)
handful of Intermountain covered hoppers, a MTL PS2, and two Atlas EV cabooses w/MTL coupers all for $10ea. Not super great but still a pretty good deal. Found some GMM kits for my Thrall cars I just got from Frank, and got an MTL MRAP and a 48ft XTRA trailer from another dealer. Oh, and also got two more Trainworx quads (DRGW and CEI/MP Buzz, not the UP ones like BLMA is going to be doing...
) from Spring Creek.
