CANADIAN Freight Cars

I thought it proper to begin a new thread about this subject since it was beginning to take up to much space in the peanut butter lid thread.

There is a company located in British Columbia, Pacific Western Rail Systems www.pwrs.ca and they offer Canadian freight cars in N and HO scales. There appears to be more selection in the N scale ares. I had written to them several times about offering their products in Z scale with no response and Beverly also has written more recently but hasn't had a response yet. Robert Ray did a green PS-2 grainer with the Government of Saskatchewan paint scheme but later learned that it was under license, bummer. If there were enough of us that were interested and sent them an email we might make it worthwhile for them to offer them in Z scale.

I sent an email to Will Wright in FL suggesting he may want to look into these as a possible offering. I supplied him with their website so he could see the designs. Now let's keep our fingers crossed.

Robert

Micro Trains has a set of cars representing 50 states-- One BIG PROBLEM- it will take 4+ years to get a complete set!!!!.
They also are doing the Canadian Provences in N scale. Maybe some e mails to MTL and they will start a Z set- I'd go for it!
Fred

Robert,

I did get an answer from the Canadian company you suggested to me and added the answer to the other thread. Here's what the reply was...

To be honest, I cannot say for sure but I think it unlikely. It costs so much to do a mold and so far there are only a couple of companies that actually do that size of model and not many customers either.

Fred's suggestion sounds like a good one. MTL already makes Z scale cars. All they would have to do is change the paint et voila! Canadian cars

Unfortunately it doesn't look like the Provenses will be done this year... They are coming out with a Christmas Train and a Circus train--No pictures of circus train but you are supposed to preorder.
Fred

I posted the same entry on the Yahoo group and there has been a lot of response over there. You might want to check it out.

Robert

I'm always looking for any and all Canadian freight cars. Passenger cars too. Count me in.

AZL currently offers CP 60' high-cube boxcars:



They also offer CHTT Bethgons. While these are not Canadian, they match the paint scheme CP uses on their bethgons:



AZL's is also planning to release CP ACF 3-Bay hoppers this year. Here is a photo of the preproduction sample:

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/attachment.php?attachmentid=11680&d=1239156775

As for Canadian passenger cars, AZL offers the West Coast Express with an F59PHI locomotive and four Bombardier passenger cars:



Rob

Unless you are running exclusively with AZL engines and cars, you will have to convert the couplers to MTL. The two do not work well together which has been my experience.

Again, no conversion necessary unless you plan to use the magnetic uncoupling feature. The two couplers can be used together reliably. But we have been through this on the Yahoo forum.

Rob

It would be nice if somebody would put out a set of passenger cars in CP, CN and Via Rail old and new colours. And I don't just mean the standard for car set that MTL or other's put out. I mean other cars as well like sleepers, diners, combo, dome cars, and platform observation/VIP cars. I'm looking for sets in all three road names and colour schemns.

Matt, A little birdie told me that there are plans for Canadian passenger cars in the works. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Jim did the birdie say which flavor?

Jerry

Not really, but CN is probably the logical choice???????Cheers, Jim CCRR:unsure:

Somewhere I saw someone had a passenger set with dome cars painted i think silver and blue. I'll check my book marks and see if I can find it.

Another company is Rapido Trains. Perhaps for a start, they could decorate some MTL, AZL cars in Canadian paint schemes. MTL has done some for CN, GTW, CP, & Soo, but more would always be nice. I don't know if they would do GP35's in a green/black scheme. There is room for another mfr to do Z scale!

THey have done some cars in the Rocky Mountaineer scheme. Bet they would look good in Z!

Jim, you say that Canadian passenger cars are in the works? Who's doing them and when. We are talking Z right? I hope they will be producing more then just the standard 4 car set. It would be great to get a complete set featuring a baggage car, combo car, a sleeper with upper berths, a compartment car, diner, club car, regular passenger car, dome car, and an bullet nose observation car, with or without a dome. If these were done in old colours, a platform observation car would be great too. Perhaps even an old style mail car with the bag pickup arms on the side doors.

Matt, Don't know more than I did a couple of months ago. Where have you been? I'm only going on third-hand heresay and some logic. The logic is Canada should be on the list considering it's long and vast railroad history, will be. Like many things made in China these days, backlogs seem to be a way of life. Only patience will get us through all this. MTL usually gives a hint about 6 months ahead of having a product for actual sale. Perhaps an email to them will elicit the answer you seek. Cheers, Jim CCRR

newtoscale wrote:

It would be great to get a complete set featuring a baggage car, combo car, a sleeper with upper berths, a compartment car, diner, club car, regular passenger car, dome car, and an bullet nose observation car, with or without a dome. If these were done in old colours, a platform observation car would be great too. Perhaps even an old style mail car with the bag pickup arms on the side doors.

Wow! You're not asking for much... are you? I'm sure almost all of us would like to see a complete variety in passenger train cars in their favorite road-names be made available beyond the four pieces MTL has already put out. If I remember correctly (which I usually don't)... I believe this was discussed in detail in the yahoo Z group or on Trainboard.com. Maybe Joe would like to respond, but basically... MTL had to decide on what they thought would sell initially. Maybe MTL will offer more body styles in the future?

Alex

Alex, Don't get your hopes up for more than the four body styles. Being in the hobby for ten years and studying MTL methods make me think this is it. Hopefully, the next big thing from them will be heavy weight passenger cars so all the folks that bought their Moguls and all of us who enjoy the steam era will have a passenger car. As for Canadian freight cars there are some. Canada had about two major lines at different points in time. Many Canadians have their favorites of course, and many of these folks will be disappointed to not see all the names fully represented. We are at the mercy of the marketing departments. Always were, and always will be. Cheers, Jim CCRR:unsure:

Socalz44 wrote:

Alex, Don't get your hopes up for more than the four body styles. Being in the hobby for ten years and studying MTL methods make me think this is it.

Jim, I'm pleased to tell you that MTL is planning more body styles for the passenger cars. That's all for now.
Loren