I heard this evening that we can expect a six axle Frisco locomotive offering coming from ScaleTrains in the not too distant future.
I'll just go ahead and give them my wallet now.... Anyone have experience with scale trains locomotives yet? They look like a good deal, but I haven't tried any out.
I'm sunk. Hopefully they'll choose that lurid orange and white scheme and I'll be able to save my $$. erdnA
Does Scale Trains have an SD45 in the pipeline? I know they have E's... so I naturally assumed it would be a Frisco E unit. I would definitely be able to resist if the proposed Frisco model is an SD45. Andre
Scale Trains does not offer an E unit. You might be thinking of Rapido that just announced a new E8 model? Scale Trains offers Gen 2 EMD and newer stuff. They have both an SD40-2 model and an SD45 model. I would guess they are going to offer the SD45. https://www.scaletrains.com/mobile-home/
Thanks Ethan! You are exactly correct! I had an ever increasing brain fart moment! It's Rapido that is flirting with an E in the "Racehorse" scheme! erdnA
Scale trains has had an SD45 for a while. Quite a few road names. They offer SP which also had the L windshield originally. But the model offered does not have that. So maybe that will get offered. Or it will be a stand in for a SLSF unit later in life when they were replaced. Should be nice. All their models have been so far. Great service also.
I have seen some up close, and I think they are among the best in detail out of the box. They don't don't like to be handled very much. Had a few over and there is a little pile of detail parts to be reinstalled. But just beautiful locomotives and cars.
This thread inspired me to finally go out and get a scale trains locomotive (or two) to see what these guys had to offer, that way when the Frisco announcement comes out I'll know how many to order. The best option they currently offer that would fit into my layout is the Santa Fe SD45. The Santa Fe often sent SD45's out in power pools for run through trains on the Frisco, which many of you might have noticed I've taken a big interest in that topic lately. I've gotta say, I'm really impressed with the product they've put out. The detail is on par with other top tier brands like Athearn Genesis, Atlas Master series, Walthers Proto, etc. The running quality is superb, as good as Atlas. One cool feature that Scale Trains offers is fully functional class lights. If the loco is equipped with a ESU decoder, it has the ability to cycle between white, red and green. With any other decoder brand, they only come on in white. Overall, great product. I'm excited to see what they offer us for the Frisco. Hope this was able to shed some light on scale trains products for those of you that haven't seen what they have to offer yet. For comparisons sake, I'll post a couple pictures of the scale trains unit with a similar Athearn RTR SD45, as well as a Genesis GP39-2. The Scale Trains SD45 is the unit on the left.
Well now we know; ScaleTrains is releasing the full complement of Frisco SD38-2 locomotives. http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index....isco-sd38-2-in-four-numbers.13574/#post-90148 They are producing all four numbers; 296, 297, 298, 299, so anyone that models Cherokee Yard in the correct era will be interested. Collectors would be the only others that might pick these up since they did not roam the system; they were used solely in Tulsa at Cherokee Yard.
The non-DB'd SD38s were assigned to Memphis so there are two potential locations. But still, that doesn't fill a "need" for most Frisco modellers. I think post merger some were caught outside of their usual stomping grounds but again that's pretty niche. The SD38-2s looked really cool IMO and if I wasn't N' I'd consider getting 296 & 297 since my turf is just south of Tulsa. But that would totally be a fantasy op since I have no plans to model Cherokee Yard. Mike
Reservations are closing tomorrow for these SD-38-2 models https://www.scaletrains.com/rivet-counter-ho-scale-emd-sd38-2-frisco.html
Thanks for the reminder Bob. I have my units ordered. Has anyone contacted them about a run of SD45's? If not, I would like to put together a good presentation of information and pictures for them to try and sway them.
Good news gang, Scale Trains updated their website last week and now show the SD38-2's as on the water. We should hopefully see them by the end of November. They also uploaded pictures of the finished models. I haven't went through with a fine tooth comb yet, but first glance looks good. They still show every number with and without sound as available if anyone is still looking to buy one. You can order directly from their website now and they'll bill and ship when the units arrive. https://www.scaletrains.com/rivet-counter-ho-scale-emd-sd38-2-frisco.html
These seem like an odd choice of locomotives to offer since there were only four of them and they never escaped yard service. To prototypically use them, you'd need to model a hump yard. I only ever met one individual who did that. GS
Here are a couple images of the hump on my main yard. Looking west. Looking east. My Athearn SD40-2/38-2's are kit-bashed units. I'm sure no where near as nice as the ones Scale Trains are offering, but I got less than 150 bucks in both of them. They work really well, they will pull a 60~ car train out of the receiving/departure tracks, and shove it over the hump.