April 2010 News      Events                  Have product announcement? Click here ...

This is a handmade pre-production sample of an O scale Santa Fe 3700 Class 4-8-2 steam locomotive that will be imported later this year by 3rd Rail Division of Sunset Models. Both the original 1919 version of the prototype as well as the latter design with a larger cab and longer tender will be produced. The all-brass models will be available in both 2-rail and 3-rail versions and will be compatible with Legacy, DCS, TMCC and conventional control. For further information including details on special advance reservation pricing visit http://www.3rdrail.com.

 Accurail ( http://www.accurail.com) is offering coal loads for its HO scale triple, quad, USRA and 7700-series offset-side twin-hoppers. The loads can be installed or removed readily without the need to remove the car from the track. A special magnetic removal tool engages two small ball bearings located within the load. The removal tool is priced at $7.98. A twelve-pack of loads sells for $13 while a 48-pack sells for $45 and comes with a free removal tool.

New decorating schemes scheduled for release in April from Accurail include a 3-pack of 41-foot Maine Central steel gondolas, an ACF Center-Flow covered hoppers, a 40-foot Great Northern combo-door steel boxcar, a 50-foot Chicago Great Western plug-door steel boxcar and a Milwaukee Road 50-ton off-set side twin-bay hopper. Also coming this month are 40-foot single-door steel boxcars decorated for Chesapeake & Ohio, Canadian Pacific "Spans the World," and Lehigh Valley.

HO scale models due this June from Athearn include a DCC ready C44-9W diesels in several fantasy roads including D&RGW (black with orange lettering), Great Northern (blue and white), Rock Island (black with red stripe) and Western Maryland (white over red).

The list of new rolling stock includes a 40-foot modern steel boxcar in three road numbers each for Burlington Northern, Maine Central, MKT and Northern Pacific; an Eastern-style 4-window caboose from upgraded MDC tooling with new floor, underframe, steps, plastic end rails and window glazing decorated for Union Pacific/CNW (“Operation Lifesaver”), Chicago Great Western, Chessie/C&O and Pennsylvania; three different five-packs of Bethgon Coalporters with removable loads for a total of 15 road numbers decorated for BNSF, CSX, CWEX and PPLX; a Crane and Tender with positionable boom and blocks decorated for Burlington Northern, C&NW, CGW, CP Rail and Penn Central.

Upgraded MDC tooling is also being used to produce a 50-foot FMC Plug-Door boxcar decorated for Burlington Northern, CP Rail, D&RGW and Santa Fe.

Atlas ( http://www.atlasrr.com) will begin delivery this month on its HO scale Alco HH660 diesel locomotive. In addition to the Milwaukee Road version shown here, other roads include Erie, SP, Boston & Maine, Jersey Central, NYC and Wabash. Special features of the newly-tooled model include early-style Blunt trucks, metal truck chains (not shown in this pre-production sample), metal grab irons and lift rings, coupler cut-levers and piping and directional lighting using golden-white LEDs. Atlas will offer a DCC-ready version with an NMRA 8-pin plug in its Silver series at $150. An Atlas Gold series version at $260 comes with a Dual-Mode® Decoder that permits either DCC or traditional DC operation.

The latest version of Bachmann Industries ( http://www.bachmanntrains.com) HO scale DCC-equipped Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive includes an NMRA compliant DCC decoder to control speed, direction and lighting (updated chassis pictured above). Available road names are Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Southern, Baltimore & Ohio, Maine Central and Western Maryland.