NTS 2023

An Atlas freight car!  Saw that posted by an Atlas guy....so a pretty solid rumor.

I just got home from the Gaylord Hotel....NMRA convention is in full swing.   Lot of buzz, and I helped put together an impressive Free-MoN layout for the NMRA Ops Road Show.   If you get in early enough and there are any spots left, I recommend signing up for an ops session.

Hopefully it wouldn't be a duplicated prototype like that AAR car.

Which is an interesting thing since there is a lot of overlap from, say, Atlas' N product line and AZL's. So that should narrow it down some. I figure that it probably will be a boxcar of some sort, maybe their modern ACF or Precision Design boxcar.

Could be something from HO like a Bethgon. True that's overlap but they probably understand that the market is there for somoeone wanting more cars/roadnames than AZL has.

My wishlist?
-Their 5161 Covered Hopper (from Atlas O)
-Their ACF Coalveyor bathtub coal gon (done by Atlas in N, HO, and O)

Either of those would cost me a lot of money, in a good way.

Yeah, if I had to wager on something besides a modern boxcar, I think the 4180 Airslide would be it.

My guesses are as follows:
1. Precision Design Boxcar (or ACF)
2. 4180 Airslide
3. Some type of 52ft6in Gon...the 2753 or the Evans car. (or the former BLMA ACF? I think Steve is an SP guy...hmmm) I have a printed 2753 car so I kinda hope that's not it.
4. (Reaching) Some type of non-dupe tank car, maybe Kaolin.
5. Ballast car (like the former Walthers N tooling)

Now that I type this out, I really am leaning toward that ACF gon. Either that or the Airslide.  The boxcar probably wouldn't differentiate enough from the ubiquitous Micro-Trains modern boxcar.

Hmmm......think think think.    I confirmed Steve models 80s SP......must be some type of double door boxcar, which really isn't available in Z. (post-2000s cars aside)

...Or maybe a PS4000/4427 covered hopper.

The Greenville rock hoppers are a nice SP staple.

My final wild arse guess would be a 70s/80s era coil car.   Something like Red Caboose used to have in N.  Atlas got Walthers coil car, which wouldn't be my first choice over the old RC prototype.  But I'd still buy a few if that were the case.

I don't know enough about Atlas' catalog outside of N to know what else they might draw from. (and don't really have time to do a lot of digging at the moment)   And that's assuming they're doing a car they've done before in other scales.  Maybe it's a whole new animal entirely.

Doug is that kid shaking the presents before opening on Christmas morning. By the time Mom & Dad woke up, he already figured out what each one was.

I think there was some mention that there would be track pieces too, but maybe not yet.

Yeah, I'm just having fun with the guesses...I wouldn't expect AZL to disclose that info prior--one way or the other--since I'm sure it was shared in confidence.  But since he shot down our first guesses, I have no problem embarassing myself further, sirs!!!  

Still, it's pretty "Christmas-morning"-level exciting that Atlas is doing a freight car.   Who knows where that leads, but it certainly gives Z-Scale a little injection of stability versus what previously was ONE major player (AZL), 1/1000th of a second major player (MTL), and mosty a bunch of cottage industry type companies beyond that.   EDIT: I would probably add Rokuhan to the major player list too, and of course now Atlas.

But hey, we're burying the lede....what about AZL?

My guess...
-EMD GP40-2 (alluded to before)
-EMD F40PH (alluded to before) and some Amtrak decorated El Cap (and Chief, et al)  cars
-Some new name train, and an associated Steam loco to go alongside
-AutoMAX cars (alluded to before)
-57ft Spine cars and Pups

“EMD GP40-2, … EMD F40PH … (alluded to before).” I like that. I know they’re just guesses. Guess got me goin’. F40PH—That’d be so #$%@! cool! And somebody please pick up the bill for the GP40-2. GP40-2—That’d be so #$%@! cool too!

Track vs. rolling stock … Got funds tucked away for wide vision and SD40-2s. Atlas release is either a budget blower or not a budget blower. That’s my guess.

Scott