Supaned Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Whilst on one of my regular visits to the Kato website , they've announced that they are finally producing METRA F40PH units in N scale , apparently with ditch lights fitted as well - hopefully they'll be tooled up with the correct head and tail lights as well. delivery is quoted for Feb 2013. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 The ditch lights have been fitted to the recent Amtrak release, so we may just get that in a new livery. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 The ditch lights have been fitted to the recent Amtrak release, so we may just get that in a new livery. Adrian As they went to the trouble of re-tooling the MP36 to reflect the build variants between a METRA and VRE unit, we can but hope that the F40PH gets similar attention. Also of interest is a tie-in with Faller to produce a North American Commuter Station kit (Kato item 31-650) based on Schaumberg (Home of Kato USA). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 As they went to the trouble of re-tooling the MP36 to reflect the build variants between a METRA and VRE unit, we can but hope that the F40PH gets similar attention. Also of interest is a tie-in with Faller to produce a North American Commuter Station kit (Kato item 31-650) based on Schaumberg (Home of Kato USA). The MP36 was new tooling, so they probably designed the tooling to alow for the changes (I hope they designed it to allow for the production of an MP40). Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Like the station kit - wonder if Faller will up-scale it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 Just to bump this up - Kato have posted a photo of a pre-production model - all the lighting appears to be present and correct.... http://twitter.com/KatoUSAInc/status/286918361617690624/photo/1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted January 23, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 23, 2013 I couldn't resist the Metra 4-unit set with the MP36H - busy thinking of a Chicago-based mini-module now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 23, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 23, 2013 I couldn't resist the Metra 4-unit set with the MP36H - busy thinking of a Chicago-based mini-module now. You arent the only one either. That Metra F40PH also looks good. Not sure what I will use them on but the MP36H does get used on Santa Barbara occasionally - its on its way from somewhere on the West Coast back to Chicago is my excuse!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted January 27, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 27, 2013 I shot these Metra units through the coach window of another Metra train, so apologies for the poor quality, but hopefully of interest: This was a week ago on the UP west line out of the Ogilvie Transportation Centre, somewhere between Ogilvie and Elmhurst, which is about 30 mins out of Chicago. I also caught a bit of UP action, with a couple of AC4400s parked near Elmhurst: As well as this MP15AC: At Elmhust itself, I caught an intermodal train gathering speed slowly through the town: This was followed immediately by a coal train with an ex Southern Pacific unit in the lash-up (bidirectional running) but by then my fingers were dropping off from the cold and I retired to the nearest Subway for some sustenance. Elmhurst itself contains a nice general hobby shop, only a very short stroll from the station: http://store.alshobbyshop.com/ Very friendly store with a reasonable selection of HO and a small number of N items. On a less chilly day it would be great to spend a few hours at the Elmhurst station since there appears to be a lot of freight action, as well as Metra units. In the shop they even had a computer monitor showing a schematic of the live UP traffic flow in the area. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2013 I have a few green tinted shots like that!.Elmhurst is a nice spot on a warm sunny day.you will get quite a few inquisitive but friendly passers by and passengersOn our last visit a mother brought her young kids to the station to watch the trains.Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted January 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2013 I have a few green tinted shots like that!. Elmhurst is a nice spot on a warm sunny day.you will get quite a few inquisitive but friebfly passers by and passengrrs On our kast visit a mother brought her young kids to the station to watch the trains. Ian There was one total nutcase wandering around the station, shouting at the Metra guy "You're fat and lazy! You're a government employee and you're fat and lazy!" Gradually everyone moved out into the cold to avoid the possibly psychopathic nutter. Other than that Elmhurst struck me as a very pleasant place, could imagine it being delightful on a nice day. Another good place to visit is the Grayland Station shop in Edgebrook on the Milkwaukee line: http://www.graylandstation.com/ I didn't manage to get out there on this trip but again it is very easy to get to by train. Sharp contrast to Detroit, where I had been earlier in the week, and which has no public transportation system to speak of. There was a great looking hobby shop that I wanted to visit but without a rental car it was out of the question. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Visited Elmhurst in 2000 (not sure if the hobby shop was there then, if so I didn't know about it!) - we railfanned from the end of the parking lot just East of the station. Lovely quiet spot and nutter free. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2013 The shop at Elmhurst was there in 2005 but not sure how much before then. Another good shop is Des Plaines Hobbies about 10 minutes drive from O' Hare airport. http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/store/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyDuty Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 The shop at Elmhurst was there in 2005 but not sure how much before then. Another good shop is Des Plaines Hobbies about 10 minutes drive from O' Hare airport. http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/store/ Al's has been around for fifty years or more - they've been my local for most of that time! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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