Accucraft to make the N&W J in live steam.

[Jerry B44]

Accucraft plans to make the N&W J in alcohol fired live steam. So start saving, does not say the price, but probably in the $5-7K range I would guess.

 

http://www.accucraft.com/modelc/AL97-137.htm#page=page-1

[Rayman4449]

Thanks for sharing Jerry.  Great to see this engine finally enter the G scale market.  Maybe at some point we will see an affordable electric version emerge.  

[Chuck]

Seems Accucraft is "phishing" for what to make next?? Throw it out there and see how many customers respond??

 

Heck I'll start a one-gauge manufacturer named Chuck's Trains and team up with Mainline America and announce a 1:32 scale EMD DDA40X with a plastic body, metal wheels & axles, die-cast metal frame & fuel tank with your choice of sound & motor control factory installed. List price will be $1,459.99 for each unit and a 10% non-refundable deposit will be required as these will be a build-to-order only custom run. I need 1,000 orders to commence the engineering so send me your $$$ NOW!! 

 

Units to be delivered sometime in the near future before the year 2020. 

 

Email is in profile and I take cash, credit cards, checks, money orders and of course Paypal (if gifted only) 

[Screwy Nick]

Chuck, It appears they did just that with the Dryfuss Hudson, then withdrew the offer in 1:29,  still keeping the hope alive in 1:32, but I really doubt I'll see that in my life time.   

     Don't want to bust anyones bubble, but I used to work for a company that would put EMPLOYMENT ADDS in the local news paper of target cities to see the responds.   If there weren't enough they would just move to another city and do the same thing.  

      Don't blame me for pointing this out, it is common practice.   

[Rayman4449]

What were they ultimately looking for with the employment ads?

[Screwy Nick]

They were looking for how many out of work folks they could attract into answering the add.  If the response wasn't what they thought would keep the office staffed, they would do the same thing in another city.  The turn over in that field is large.      When the response was what they wanted, they would build an office there.   And I would be sent to wire the place for phone and network equipment.  

   On opening day the place was usually fully staffed with people that hoped they would make a decent living, and more hoping to be hired as others walked out the door.  

    I see no difference in what Accucraft is doing, if the probability  of profit isn't there,  then the investment won't pay off.  That is what companies are in business for, and that is a fact of life.   I do think their approach is less than honest promising to build something and then  backing out when the response isn't what they had projected.  

    There are two sides to advertising something that you are planning to produce.  One side is some will respond with a positive answer, and then not follow through with the purchase.   The other side is that some won't respond figuring nothing is going to happen anyway.  No way to tell the real outcome.  

    Sorry to be so windy.              

[Kevin Strong]

The Hudson is still being offered by Accucraft. They spun their entire 1:29 line off into its own entity, so it's no longer on the main "Accucraft" web page. Head to www.americanmainline.com and you'll see it, the GP60, and the rest of their 1:29 line. Granted there's no specific timeline for its release, but that's hardly anything new for Accucraft. I put up with 4 years of "we don't have enough orders yet" before they finally produced the EBT mikado.

As for the "J," it will be interesting to see how this one does. There's a big part of me that hopes it's in the $5K - 7K range, so I'm immediately removed from its potential market. If it came in around $3K, there would be pennies being saved. Of course, then I'd need a string of passenger cars to go behind it--another $2K...

Later,

K

[Screwy Nick]

I really wish you the best, and hope you throw this back into my face,, but in the mean time if I bump into Elvis at Walmart I'll tell him you said HI.    

[Rayman4449]

I hope the Hudson is made eventually but I too won't be in the running for either of these because of cost even if made in electric.  It will be impressive no doubt.

[du-bousquetaire]

Accucraft is also offering nice 1/32 "generic" smooth side passenger cars, scale 85' length all (or mainly) extruded aluminum construction at a very competitive price Kevin check it out on their site. For those not familiar with meths firing I can give basic instructions if needed. Many of us old time gauge oners prefer meths to gas because it is nearly impossible to ruin a boiler if you run out of water (something that tends to happen, in such small boilers, more frequently than we would like it to) wereas with gas, it creates enough heat to undoo the silver soldering on the boiler. In any cas if this happens (running out of water) try to shut off the flame as soon as possible and don't pump fresh water into the boiler unless you do it right after the boiler runs dry (within a minute). Of course the stupid thing is that gas can be turned of in an instant wereas meths takes a few minutes. If you don't have any steam left to run the blower, place the fan back on the stack to create a draught that will cool the flame somewhat and prevent flames belching out from under the firebox and ruining the cab. Shutting off takes time with meth because when you turn off the meth supply valve, there is still meth in the sump and meth tube that burns for a minute or two before you can shut it off. This is done by shuting the blower (or removing the fan) and blowing through the stack a big blow. Wait a few seconds before turning on the blower again (otherwise it can start the fire up again...)

 

Meth firing is otherwise quite safe. The meth tank which should be silver soldered, is an airtight container with a needle valve to let some meth out. This can only happen if some air is let into the airtight tank. This is accomplished by a breather pipe (I call it the "shnorkel") that takes air from the sump below and lets it into the meth tank. This system permits fine regulating of the meth level in the sump below the tank to prevent meth overflowing from the wick firetubes and creating a track fire under the loco. This can be adjusted using a  silicon tube sleeve of apropriate size pressed over the bottom of the breather pipe and adjusted to suit. This silicon sleeve must be cut pointed so as to prevent a drop of meth closing of the supply of air. The reason the silicon tube is transparent between the loco and the tender is to monitor visually if you have run out of meth. Do not drill a hole in the filler cap of the meth tank as this would undoubtably create a meth fire under the overflowing burners. try to have the horizontal pipe going feeding the burners as horizontal as possible if it goes upwards towards the front it could starve the front burner. packing the burner tubes should be not too tight otherwise this will starve the flame, the rule is if you turn your burner upside down the wick shouldn't drop out. Never open the meth valve when the cap is unscrewed airtight. Always shut it when fueling up, usually there is enough meth in the sump to carry you over this operation. As meth is aquaphile you don't really need an extinguisher; if ever faced with a meth fire just spray water over it (with an old window sprayer) as it will mix with the meth and bring the alcoohol content down to an unburnable state. I keep an old window sprayer full of water near the steaming bay. Of course the design of a live steam  track should be explained you must have a level track (unless you use radio control on your engines) and wide radius curves are recomended as these engines can attain unbeleivable speeds especially if they uncouple accidentally. Then you will see the loco shoot off like a rocket and head straight for the rose bush at the first curve! But then as an old advocate of John Armstrong, I firmly beleive in laying out your pike using the largest radius possible and the largest switch size possible . this holds true even with narrow gauge. The operation will be much smoother the trains will look much better, you can haul longer trains (which in turn tames the locos), and besides that is one of the biggest benefits of going out doors, there are much fewer constraint than indoors.