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 Posted - January 02 2009 : 12:02:14 AM
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I just got my Walthers flyer yesterday. On page 18 is an add for the "NEW" P1K GP15-1! Has anyone actually seen it yet? Looking at the photos, it appears to re-use all of the older Walthers Train Line GP15-1 shell that was discontinued a couple years ago. It even has the raised dots on the end of the long hood where you need to drill to add your own wire grabs. And as before, still no turbo or DB model. But the price has gone up a tad! From $49.95 up to $109.98!!! Maybe this anouncement will drive down the price of the older model on ebay!
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Posted - January 02 2009 : 12:34:05 AM
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There was a turbo/DB model, as this is what all 25 of Chessie's units were, and Walthers' earlier model of same included them. I have one.
$109.98?!  I swear I fear sounding like a broken record but the price increases in this hobby are nothing short of goose-killing insanity. Or has collecting cheap (and not-so-cheap) Tyco just skewed my perspective?
At any rate, yeah it's been a few (but not too many) years since the last release. The detail wasn't bad before... but for more than DOUBLE the 2005/2006 price (think about that! Are they #%^$ insane??? It's the same chinese crap it always was!!!) they should include the grabirons, etc. And I sure hope they changed the drive train because the earlier model was a big letdown in that department.
At least I already got mine... back in them good ol' cheap days  
Edited by - GoingInCirclez on January 02 2009 11:17:48 AM
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Posted - January 02 2009 : 10:10:06 AM
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I did not realize Walthers old model came in the turbo/DB version. I have a couple of the older locos, but both are non-turbo. If the price drops, I plan to pick up a third and add the turbo and DB blister.
The add states it has a "new drive". I just thought it was odd that it didn't mention having "all new tooled shell". So I compared the photos to my locos and saw why. That must be one hell of a good new drive to cost an extra $60!!! My two older locos have great drives, so I don't think I need that new drive to be honest.
Here is the add. Notice that the CSX loco doesn't have DB or turbo exhaust. This would be fine if CSX got GP15-1s from Conrail. I like the scheme though!
Edited by - Hypoponera on January 02 2009 10:19:10 AM
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Posted - January 02 2009 : 11:24:36 AM
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Oops, Chessie had 25 GP15's, all the Turbo version. Got this number confused with something else. 
CSX did indeed get a fleet of 15-1's from Conrail. The locos in the 1500 series are all GP15's. 1500-1524 are the former Chessie GP15-T's, while higher numbers are the ex-Conrail units.
So they improved the drive? Like you I fail to see room for a $60 surcharge. The earlier drive wasn't terrible... just not as good as some Athearns I have. I even thought mine was simply defective, it was very noisy and had to be reworked. But it was fine once I worked the kinks out. Like a newer Bachmann drive.
I do see the handrails are improved. Beyond that, what else? Even if they wanted to upgrade the "tunnel motor" radiator grilles to see-through tooling, that should not cost that much.
Still a neat little bugger... like half a GP-40.
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Posted - January 02 2009 : 11:45:26 PM
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Well, I am just hoping it drives the cost of the older loco down. That is what happened when the new H10/H12-44s came out. I managed to pick up a couple of the old Walthers locos MISB for about $30 each. So that was about a $35-45 drop over the previous going rate.
What was wrong with your drive? Is yours from the initial release? Seems the following runs had improved drives. Both of mine must be from a later run as they ran beautifully straight from the box. MR hammered the initial run for the poor performance of the drive. Walthers adverts in later issues pointed out that the drive had been improved. But neither said what the actual problem was nor the fix. Hmm... I wonder if MR will be reviewing this loco in the near future.
As the CSX units are numbered for ex-Conrail units, I don't think the turbo version is in the works.
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