Santa_Fa Valley Flyer 4-6-2 1300 class

xcrossi

New member
hello:
Yesterday I was wandering around my local train hobby store ( Caboose Hobbies Denver) when I spotted this G scale loco.
I found only one picture and I don't know if it had a custom consist.

Anyone made a payware of class or type? Anyone want to?
 
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To my knowledge, the Valley Flyer has not been made for Trainz yet. I've always found it interesting, with its use of refurbished heavyweight equipment and semi-streamlined locos. They were used for a brief time on the Surf Line as the San Diegan, so they would've pounded right through my town.

That model looks a bit off, though. The paint scheme is off, and the loco itself looks to be based off a larger prototype.
H_original.jpg
 
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The photo in the first post looked like an Aristo-Craft product that was sold as "The Valley Flyer", which was actually (loosely) based on the B&O Class P7 class Pacific locomotives.
 
The color scheme is great. The model though is wrong.

If you look at the shape of the running board, if that's what it's called, over the wheels, it's too squared off. If the were aiming for a prototypical model, they blew it.

John
 
The color scheme is great. The model though is wrong.

If you look at the shape of the running board, if that's what it's called, over the wheels, it's too squared off. If the were aiming for a prototypical model, they blew it.

John

Aristo-Craft just did what many different model railroad manufacturers have been doing for many decades. They produced a model based on a single prototype, then used it to produce a model that comes close to looking like a different locomotive by changing the paint scheme, adding a few extra parts, changing the position of components, using a different tender, etc.

So, for example, you take the drawings for a USRA Heavy Mikado to make a model. You then make several different boiler fronts -- one with headlight mounted high, another with a mid-smokebox headlight, and another with a smokebox with dual-cross-compound pumps w/headlight mounted low. Then you make a standard USRA tender, but also make a oil version of the tender, and maybe also a Vanderbilt tender in both oil and coal varieties. Next you make a few different types of pilots/cowcatchers. Etc.

Once you do that you can easily and cheaply produce models that come close to a dozen of more real 2-8-2 steam locomotives that were used on a variety of railroads. The models probably won't be exact, but they will make reasonable "stand ins" for the real thing if you do your homework well. Since you've kept your manufacturing costs low, you can sell these dozen of so "different" locomotives at reasonable prices in the marketplace.

It's a technique that has worked well since the hobby began. I've long advocated that creators of Trainz steam locomotives should try building models with this same method in mind, but I have yet to see much use of the technique in Trainz.



 

It's a technique that has worked well since the hobby began. I've long advocated that creators of Trainz steam locomotives should try building models with this same method in mind, but I have yet to see much use of the technique in Trainz.

Don't you dare, lest the rivet counters come after you with pitchforks. :hehe:
 
Aristo-Craft just did what many different model railroad manufacturers have been doing for many decades. They produced a model based on a single prototype, then used it to produce a model that comes close to looking like a different locomotive by changing the paint scheme, adding a few extra parts, changing the position of components, using a different tender, etc.

So, for example, you take the drawings for a USRA Heavy Mikado to make a model. You then make several different boiler fronts -- one with headlight mounted high, another with a mid-smokebox headlight, and another with a smokebox with dual-cross-compound pumps w/headlight mounted low. Then you make a standard USRA tender, but also make a oil version of the tender, and maybe also a Vanderbilt tender in both oil and coal varieties. Next you make a few different types of pilots/cowcatchers. Etc.

Once you do that you can easily and cheaply produce models that come close to a dozen of more real 2-8-2 steam locomotives that were used on a variety of railroads. The models probably won't be exact, but they will make reasonable "stand ins" for the real thing if you do your homework well. Since you've kept your manufacturing costs low, you can sell these dozen of so "different" locomotives at reasonable prices in the marketplace.

It's a technique that has worked well since the hobby began. I've long advocated that creators of Trainz steam locomotives should try building models with this same method in mind, but I have yet to see much use of the technique in Trainz.




Sure this has been done for years. But if you look at the number plate on the front... They couldn't be bothered to paint a black line around it on the model? To me this is more than just kitting parts up for various manufacturing runs, and is more like being sloppy when it comes to details. When the USRA came up with steam engine plans, this was more or less what I think they expected the different railroads to do. It makes sense and sort of like picking parts from a catalog which the different railroads then built or put together themselves. The different railroads then added their own custom details that they needed or were particular to their style. In some ways this is similar to what is done today with automobiles and even the current crop of locomotives and commuter cars.

I think one user did this here in the Trainz community, namely bdneal with his various steam locomotives. They're great and serve the job well for us. I agree we should have more of them.

John
 
Sure this has been done for years. But if you look at the number plate on the front... They couldn't be bothered to paint a black line around it on the model? To me this is more than just kitting parts up for various manufacturing runs, and is more like being sloppy when it comes to details.

Well yeah, but with a real model you can take some paint and brush, and with a steady hand paint that black line around the number plate yourself! :)

I think one user did this here in the Trainz community, namely bdneal with his various steam locomotives. They're great and serve the job well for us. I agree we should have more of them.

John

Yes, Ben has done some locomotives in both high-headlight and mid-headlight varieties. But unlike the "real" HO, O, or G scale models, you can't take a Dremel tool and cut off the headlight and mount a new one higher on a Trainz model _unless_ you have access to original source files of the mesh. But since Ben has provided access to his Gmax source files on his Light 2-10-2, I can provide an example of taking his URSA 2-10-2 and making it look little more "B&O like" simply by changing the headlight position and adding a Vanderbilt tender. But sure, it also needs a high-mounted bell, a correctly positioned bell cord, a number plate, and a smaller Vanderbilt tender, etc. This example is just a "quickie", to serve as a demo of giving a loco a different "look"...

Click to view image enlarged...


Don't you dare, lest the rivet counters come after you with pitchforks. :hehe:

Well, tell them to bring it on, I say! ;)

Would you rather have a Trainz model that was "closer" to the one you're trying to model or no model at all of that locomotive?

Let's face it, all Trainz models are compromises to some degree, since we don't (yet) have supercomputers that can handle 250,000 poly-count meshes. Personally, I'd rather accept a model that could serve as "a reasonable stand in" for a given (real) locomotive than doing without. ;)
 
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