Amherst 2019...Some pleasant surprises.

Hi guys, Went to the Amherst show on Saturday and judging how long it took me to get into the parking lot, it seems they had a good turn out for the day. Some hobby shops and sellers appeared to be missing from years before but there were some great buys to be had.

I got to talk to a few company reps. and some surprising news (leaks) are possibly coming down the pike. Please take this bit of news with a grain of salt, as things which are said in conversations sometimes never materialize into production for a variety of reasons.

BLI...The PRR P5A was on display. An OUTSTANDING looking model and this will look great running with their PRR P70 passenger cars. One model that is being considered is the E44 for their next model. No word on their retooled GG1.

Also, unless something drastically changes, don't expect to see any Amtrak models from the company anytime soon.

Athearn...

1) The SC44 Charger is coming with a possibly with a 2020 release. Brightline & VIA and some other commuter roads designs have to be finalized. Amtrak is slightly changing the nose design for their new long distance units, so depending on tooling, this might push the date back a bit

2) Siemens new single level passenger cars, currently running on the Brightline trainsets in FL. are on their radar. They have the drawings from Siemens & seriously want to do them. If Amtrak & VIA does indeed buy the Brightline cars to replace the Amfleet stock & VIA's old Budd fleet, it looks like Athearn might have the inside track.

3) Another run of P42's with new tooling is coming. The next run will have DCC & Sound. They wouldn't reveal if these will be upgraded to the Genesis line. A P32ACDM will possibly be included in the next run (Amtrak, Metro North & Conn DOT). They will look at fixing the side steps that constantly fall or break off with handling in retooling.

4) Another run of F59PHI's with DCC & Sound, this time METRA will be included in the next run. The California cars are VERY STRONGLY being considered. They do realize putting a passenger locomotive on the market without Athearn branded matching passenger cars is a serious problem, and the company is taking steps to fix it.

5) A SDP40F in Phase 3 colors will be announced later this year. 2 road numbers with ice breakers for west coasters and 2 road numbers for units that ran on the Wash DC-Florida runs.

6) Upgraded Bombardier double deck cars with better rolling capabilities, interior lighting in the coaches and interior & directional lighting for the cab cars. The rep said that Athearn as a whole was very impressed and surprised about how well the Atlas NJ Transit trainsets sold and they have taken notice there needs to be more detailed passenger cars from their company.

Unfortunately, one rep did say that the Horizon/Comet cars were not being considered at this time. but he did mention that some other manufacturer is strongly interested in doing them. He couldn't say who because that vendor didn't announce them as of yet.

Bachmann...Their new run of Amfleets were on display and running on a small layout with the ACS64. Good news, the diaphragms are black on this new run of cars. The bad news...they kept the yellow interior LED lighting. Overall nothing appears different with these Amfleets and their old Spectrum counterparts from years ago. Bachmann is considered a heavy favorite to do a production run of the next gen. Acela trainset.

Walthers...The same old news with them...they are well aware there is high demand for another run of Horizon and Viewliner cars but nothing is coming down the tracks. I brought up the Fallen Flag series which would have brought Erie-Lackawanna, Missouri Pacific, D&H, Rio Grande, & Nickel Plate Road passenger cars & Alco PA locomotives to the market. Another gentleman coincidentally brought up the P70R releases that didn't happen. There apparently wasn't enough interest from distributors & buyers, so both of these series were cancelled abruptly. I urged them to try again, but this time don't make an announcement in the middle of the summer like last time when everyone is on vacation. I also mentioned that Amtrak's 50th Anniversary was coming in 2021 and that it would be a nice time to do a re-release of some of their most popular Amtrak product.

Rapido...The EP-5 was on display in NH and PC colors...I WILL be grabbing a couple of these....The displays looked AWESOME. When the final order date is released, please don't wait around if your are considering buying one of these. I'm thinking these will sell out quickly. The modernized FL9 was suppose to be also on display but didn't make it to the show.

I did bring up the topic of the Turboliner which has been long rumored. It's being considered but is WAY on the back burner. More passenger cars are coming, possibly another run of Osgood Bradley cars if the tooling isn't in too bad a shape. More Budd cars are coming but with everything on their current plate, these will be released sporadically. They are also aware that there is a high demand for Horizon/Comet cars. It's a 50/50 shot that they will do them. They mentioned Jason believes it's too modern for them to produce. But they are well aware that by releasing the F40PH and the FL9, they have opened the flood doors for plenty of request for matching passenger cars to run with their line of locomotives. It's just a matter of convincing Jason, but looking at production pictures they've released recently on Facebook, there seems to be more VIA LRC cars coming soon, so that will make people happy with their VIA F40PH choice of purchase.

Atlas...More passenger car models are currently being discussed but there's no hint of what's coming. I suspect it's more Branchline cars, possibly in some roads that haven't done before but the reps realize the strong demand for modern passenger cars.

Kato...I didn't see any reps from Kato at the show but surprise, Kato is doing the Viewliner baggage cars....only in N scale. If this keeps up, I might be starting to drift over to N scale. If Kato announces the Metroliner, P30CH or AEM-7 next, I might (BIG might) jump ship.

IHP...I saw Mike Bartel's new Silverliner V model...The shell looks great...I might have to look at getting a set of these when these are released. Still hoping for a run of NJ Transit Arrow cars

Island Modelworks have some new shells coming...wish I had the patience to work with their product.

There was some other news mentioned...take a look at the Model Railroader reviews of the show...