Intermountain SD38-2 (HO)

Discussion in 'New Products' started by FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018), Jun 9, 2016.

  1. FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018)

    FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018) Passed Away April 12, 2018 Frisco.org Supporter

    To All:

    I literally stumbled across this in a pusher's online New Product announcement today. I do get Intermountain new product announcements and noticed that they were producing a run of SD38-2's and thought nothing of it. Anyway, I need to look at these announcements closer, remember the totality of the Frisco fleet or both!
    Bottom line, Intermountain is going to produce Frisco SD38-2's in all 4 road numbers. The item numbers are listed below and the delivery date is Fall 2017!

    http://www.intermountain-railway.com/ho/html/493307.htm

    493307(S)
    Stock Number / Locomotive Number

    -01 296 -02 297
    -03 298
    -04 299

    The non-sound price is $199.95 and the sound price (S) behind stock number is $289.95. Hopefully we will get enough pre-orders for Intermountain to go ahead and produce this model.
     
  2. jmoore16

    jmoore16 Member

    Wow. If I could close my eyes now and dream happy N Scale thoughts!

    Are these prices a little high, even for Intermountain? They have some E8s in N Scale (I think...) but I recall they are also pricey. Are Intermountain locomotives worth it?
     
  3. tmfrisco

    tmfrisco Member Frisco.org Supporter

    I am really excited to see these units being produced. I had the privilege of running the units with the dynamic brakes in Tulsa and can tell you they were dreams when using the hump control feature while humping. When the Tulsa management finally settled on muing a GP38-2 with the SD38-2, we had a great set to hump the heavy trains we were getting. We did start supplementing the dynamic brakes with five cars of air because we didn't always have enough braking power with the dynamics only to hold the cars on the down hill portion of the grade. There were times when we had to have the retarder operator assist us in slowing and stopping cuts as sometimes, even with the air on the cars, we couldn't control the speed of the cuts-- especially if we had to go over the hump to set a non-humpable car or kick off a car or cut of cars that had not rolled as expected:mad::mad:. What amazed me was the lack of broken knuckles or drawbars with this maneuver. To be honest, I hated having to do it because of the potential for a break-in-two. It seemed to happen more often than not when we had a long cut of cars. I remember one Saturday when I had just cleared 33rd W Ave. (approximately 150 car lengths from the crest) when the first car died:eek:, and we had to go over the hump to kick it off. There were a lot of angry motorists on the crossing as we made this move because, even though I would clear the crossing, I would foul it as I had to drag back to resume humping. I really dreaded long cuts of cars on Saturdays because it seemed like there was more traffic than on the other days.

    Anyway, I will be glad to mu one of my GP38-2s with one of the Tulsa SD38-2s to have an accurate model of one of the consists I ran.

    Terry
     
  4. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    This seems to be my personal curse. Build a Loco in HO. Then they build them in mass. They look good though.

    Terry, the only thing better than having 150 cars would to have half of them those miserable loaded coil cars. You know the ones that seem to have a city block of cushion per car, yessir that's the good stuff.
     
    fireball_magee likes this.
  5. tmfrisco

    tmfrisco Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Well, Tom, I didn't have the privilege:sneaky: of handling a coil train because they ran towards Springfield and, when I was on the road, I worked to Ft. Scott. I know the crews that did handle them called them slinky trains, so I pretty much got the idea.

    Terry
     
  6. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Neat that Intermountain is going to do the Frisco SD38-2's, but unless one has a hump on the layout, what are you going to do with it?

    Is the high-hood U25b the only Frisco diesel that has not been done in HO (ex-brass) now?

    We have been very fortunate in the number of high quality Frisco HO diesel locomotive models that have been made available to us.

    I remember the early years when I first started in HO - 1962/1965. Nada Frisco diesels, but some brass steam I couldn't afford.

    Ken
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2016
  7. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    I don't know that I've ever seen any model of these in any scale, but it's one that would be fun to see.

    Best Regards,
     
  8. Here is my brass HO version almost done. I have considered casting this in resin or having a soildworx version 3d printed but that is out of my price range right now. I have seen one other of these in factory UP paint. I will say I offered way more than anyone even here would believe but the owner was not interested in parting with it. That is the only two I ever saw. I also have about 85% of a G scale one scratchbuilt using a USA trains chassis. I may have posted it here long ago???
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  9. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Steve, your version looks great!!
     
  10. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Where have you been? I been scratching HO stuff, and you watching LOL Maybe we work together and rock this bus.
     
  11. This is the brass HO version, I will take some pics of the G scale scratchbuilt sometime. I have scratchbuilt a couple ho attempts but never been happy with them.
    I had figured a copy of this Oriental body modified to work on a Stewart/bowser chassis would be ideal.
    Ha, I generally am a vehicle modeler but enjoy building and paint FRISCO projects. My dad has a hundred years worth of projects waiting to get built, I enjoy building and paint but don't have and doubt I ever will have a layout.
     
  12. Been a fan of running that model ( sd38's) since my time on the J. I won't have a hump yard, but I do have a modelers license and am not afraid to use it :)

    Might have to grab a couple and put them out on the road .
     
  13. Matt Fisher

    Matt Fisher Member

    You don't have to model a hump to own a SD38-2 simply run it in a consist and say that it's headed to the system shop for something!
     
  14. William Jackson

    William Jackson Bill Jackson

    I think I ordered a couple of these, my engine roster is bigger than my layout. Whooooo!!!!
     
    jmoore16 and modeltruckshop like this.
  15. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Matt -
    I recall a slide, perhaps an Evda slide, of two of the brand new SLSF SD38-s's running through Eureka/Pacific on their way to their new home in Tulsa. They were actually pulling some freight. There's another excuse to run a SD38-2 on your layout!
    Ken
     
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  16. tmfrisco

    tmfrisco Member Frisco.org Supporter

    So, I guess I am going to show my ignorance, actually fairly easy to do, but were these Intermountain SD38-2s ever produced? I haven't seen anything about them since the announcement. I would certainly buy one because I loved running them when everything (namely the hump control) worked on them, which it did most of the time.
    Terry
     
  17. klrwhizkid

    klrwhizkid Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Not a single SD38-2 of any livery has been produced by Intermountain. In their usual manner, they will wait until they get enough pre-orders before they commit to any production of any one road name (read that, "Don't hold your breath".)
    Incidentally, they were announced nearly two years ago...

    At this point, they say Confirmed for Production.
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2019
    Ozarktraveler likes this.
  18. tmfrisco

    tmfrisco Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Thanks, Keith, I don't feel so out of it now. As I stated earlier, I would certainly buy one.
    Terry
     
  19. Iantha_Branch

    Iantha_Branch Member

    To add to what Keith said,
    The main manufacturing facility in china shut down without much warning this past summer. It affected all HO manufactures except for Bachmann, who found their own factory after this same thing happened a few years ago. Word is that production has resumed this month for a short run before Chinese new year. Product should finally start rolling out in February. I think before the closure, the SD38s were schedule to arrive about now, so itll probably be late 2019 before we see them assuming they are still produced.
     

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