N scale steam wish list

[Triplex]

I think Japanese modellers are lucky in that there were, in later steam years at least, only a handful of classes from one railway and apart from a few oddballs most have been modeled. Most of the wish lists in Japanese steam would now be detail variations of the same class which manufacturers like Real Line are addressing with their different D51's.

http://homepage3.nifty.com/EF57/engines/LM-flame.html  As of (as far as I can judge) ~1950, there were 28 steam classes left on JNR. Considering the large number of Japanese modellers, that makes offering all of them a reasonable proposition.

If you model the US in the late steam era it's the exact opposite, for instance I model (or would like to) the late steam era Santa Fe but there is not a single typical Santa Fe steam loco available apart from Bachmann's dubious quality 4-8-4 unless you find some long out of production brass loco. For the price of one of those I can have a fleet of workaday Japanese steamers that are typical of any JNR line in the steam era, not just the Japanese equivalent of Big Boys and Cab Forwards or AD60's and streamlined C38's. For this reason, (being able to model the typical rather than the big or unusual) my modelling is increasingly leaning towards Japan.

It helps that Japan didn't have anything really large in the first place...

 

In the old days of US modelling, the reverse seems to have been true. Sure, many oddities were offered as models - but the bias was toward small steam. Multiple manufacturers offered Atlantics. That seems to have died down before N scale took off (about as fast as the Atlantic phase passed in real life), but another didn't. Everyone offered 0-6-0 and/or 0-4-0 tank engines, in a country where almost all common-carrier switchers were tender engines. The only reason I can guess at for these effects is that modellers thought small engines were appropriate for small layouts and short trains.

 

As already noted, Germany suffers heavily from the oddity effect too. In a country which did have standardized steam, often uncommon models get made first. Some of the decisions seem random. Now, sometimes I can see the desire to make something uncommon. For example, you want to offer a representative of some category of locomotives of which none were very common. But sometimes that isn't used appropriately.

 

Take the early days of Z scale. The first set of Marklin releases included an 03 4-6-2, 0-6-0T, V60 6-wheel diesel switcher, and one of the V160 family diesels. So, an express passenger steam engine, steam and diesel switchers, and a dual-service diesel. Why two switchers? Since switching went diesel before mainline trains in Germany, I'd have offered a 50 instead of the 0-6-0T to give a dedicated freight engine. Next year, they made a 2-6-0 and a railbus. The latter I get, but why not a P8, an all-purpose secondary-service engine that was even still in use at the time?

[Sir Madog]

My secret love is US prototype model railroading, which I am not doing for a simple reason - the lack of steam. Big Boys, Challengers - those spectacular steamers are just not my cup of tea. IMHO, there are only two decent steamers around - Kato´s USRRA Mikado and the new Bachmann 4-6-0. I am really surprised that no manufacturer dares to offer a PRR K4, a M1a or any other of those nice steamers of the "standard railroad of the World".

 

N scale still seems to be the stepchild f model railroading in the US.

[westfalen]

My secret love is US prototype model railroading, which I am not doing for a simple reason - the lack of steam. Big Boys, Challengers - those spectacular steamers are just not my cup of tea. IMHO, there are only two decent steamers around - Kato´s USRRA Mikado and the new Bachmann 4-6-0. I am really surprised that no manufacturer dares to offer a PRR K4, a M1a or any other of those nice steamers of the "standard railroad of the World".

 

N scale still seems to be the stepchild f model railroading in the US.

I'm on your side. I've got a second 4-6-0 on the way as we speak and I'm looking forward to the two Bachmann light 2-10-2's I have on order arriving, though they'll be painted for my own Westfalen & Gulf Railway rather than my beloved Santa Fe where the 2-10-2 was the primary freight loco of the steam era. You can't model steam era Santa Fe without Santa Fe 2-10-2's, the wheel arrangement was even called the 'Santa Fe' type.

 

I always have my doubts about the 60/30% ratio of HO and N scale modelers in the US, do the figures come from Model Railroader with their heavily weighted HO readership, the NMRA who thinks nothing decent can be done in scales smaller than HO or manufacturers like Walthers who seem to regard N scale as a toy scale compared to HO? Bachmann, oddly enough considering it's past reputation is the only mainstream manufacturer who seems to think their N scale line is worth improving, it's being left to the little guys like Fox Valley, BMLA etc to come up with innovative products.

[Guest Closed Account 1]

N scale still seems to be the stepchild f model railroading in the US.

 

Stick around, N Scale will be more competitive by the end of the decade.  Well, depends on which age group, too. I still have my eyes and that's a factor in dealing with precision models.

[westfalen]

Don't know if anyone's seen this yet but it looks like Kato will be doing C62 2.

http://www.katomodels.com/n/c62/

[bill937ca]

 

In Japan that is probably dubbed sound rather than DCC.

[Sir Madog]

Nice video!

 

The C 62 2 is definitively on my wish list. She is sold out at HS, so I have to wait for the next shipment.

[keitaro]

Nice video!

 

The C 62 2 is definitively on my wish list. She is sold out at HS, so I have to wait for the next shipment.

 

I got 2 and 3 due in mail today maybe ?? or tommorow it's sitting at depot according to the tracker.

 

pretty excited i'll probably buy a realline version if and when they do in the future.

[linkey]

Nice video!

 

The C 62 2 is definitively on my wish list. She is sold out at HS, so I have to wait for the next shipment.

 

I got 2 and 3 due in mail today maybe ?? or tommorow it's sitting at depot according to the tracker.

 

pretty excited i'll probably buy a realline version if and when they do in the future.

 

Depending on the courier service if they are working today. I am waiting for my order and just got into Australia before NYE, but had to wait due to New Years Day Holiday (Monday).

[marknewton]

I am really surprised that no manufacturer dares to offer a PRR K4, a M1a or any other of those nice steamers of the "standard railroad of the World".

 

Maybe because the Pennsy steam engines were fairly atypical of US locos? Just a thought... But, I agree with you though, the PRR rostered some very appealing machines. An M1 with a long-distance tender is a thing of beauty, IMO. My dad was a big Pennsy fan, and it rubbed off on me. 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[velotrain]

Are you referring to the Australian Garratt AD60? There might be some Australian N scale modellers willing to do this as a project for sale but not sure who might be as there is a quiet a few Australian N scale guys getting Australian Rolling stock built now days.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVtEYP_UBCw

 

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/1560185090/n-scale-nswgr-ad60-garratt-locomotive/