The all-new Genesis line MP15AC in pictures.
SO, AFTER MUCH delay, Athearn’s Genesis MP15AC is finally here, but, as the saying goes, it was worth the wait,. The Californian firm has really pushed the boat out with road specific detail, the only thing visually letting the model down being the floppy and warped delrin handrails. So far, I have purchased four of ‘em - CP ‘Beaver’, Milwaukee Road, Soo Line and UP (ex M-K-T) - although I could have easily taken more. The CP and UP versions are illustrated here.
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The latest ACF hoppers from Atlas show little desire to improve standards.
WHATEVER THE DEBATE about the choice of yet another ACF Centerflow, the new ‘HO’ scale 5,701 cu ft plastic pellet hopper is now available from Atlas in a range of mainly as built colour schemes, with a couple of plain grey vehicles listed which are more suited to contemporary modellers.
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A look at the prototype for Walthers plastics hopper.
INSPIRED BY THE forthcoming Atlas 5,701cf and 5,800cf plastic hoppers, of which I have a couple of the first batch vehicles winging their way towards me from a shop in the USA, I thought I’d take a look at the real thing behind a slightly older plastics hopper model, the Walthers NSC 6,245cf 4-bay.
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Just a few Guilford Rail System shots.
The former Norfolk & Western blue of Guilford Rail System hi-nose GP40 No. MEC 374 was obvious on the weatherbeaten exterior of the EMD ‘Geep’ when it was photographed at GRS’ Waterville Yard, Maine, on April 7th, 2002.
EVEN THOUGH MY modelling mind has been on other things of late, everything from US switching layouts and Railfreight Distribution Class 37s and 47s to MP15ACs and modernised ‘F’ units, I haven’t forgotten that the Guilford Rail System is one of my principle modelling interests and that the focus of most of my activities is a somewhat fuzzy long-term aim to build a long US layout set on GRS’ District 4 that will enable me to run 35-foot length trains.
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Why must they MaK us wait so long!
SBB CFF FFS Am 843 diesel No. 843 089-9, one of the large number of Vossloh-built MaK G 1700 locomotives now running around Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, flies into Pratteln on October 12th, 2006, with a short local freight.
IF I WASN’T already on tenterhooks waiting for a whole tranche of US railroad models from the likes of Athearn (e.g. I note the modernised Penn Central ‘Fs’ are delayed until the end of November now), Intermountain (Hyundai containers?) and Atlas (where the hell are these freight cars that should have been out in late summer?), European manufacturer Mehano also seems to be taking forever to get its ‘HO’ scale Vossloh MaK G1700 into the shops.
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