Anyone Own A Tower 55 Loco?


I submit for your viewing, a kitbashed SD70M-2. Made from a Athearn Genesis Sd75I chassis, and shell, with a RPP SD90MAC flare kit and DB fan, and a RPP SD60M cab. The overbright pics are to show some definition of the cab nose and the radiator section, sorry, but my camera sucks:
sd70m-2b.jpg


sd70m-2_001.jpg


sd70m-2a.jpg


sd70m-2_002.jpg


Heres 2 higher res pics:
sd70m-2_003.jpg

sd70m-2_004.jpg


And a AC4400 converted to a ES44AC:
ac4400-es44ac_a.jpg
 
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I have one of the UP ES44AC's, and I love it! By far one of the best products on the market. Details are by far the best of any manufacturer, and I think the sound is pretty good as well.

Don't expect to see the SD70ACe's for a few months, possibly more.

Sean

I agree with the comments in the first paragraph. I have 3 T55 locomotives and they are beautiful and among my best performers, too.

Re: Sean's comment "Don't expect to see the SD70ACe's for a few months, possibly more." I would only add "... if ever."

I had a Tower 55 SD70ACe on pre-order (with a $50 deposit) for 14 months and I finally gave up and asked for my deposit back (which I got).

I will never pre-order another model train item ever again, no matter how much I want it. I'll wait until it's released (if it ever is) and take my chances of getting one then.
 
yup, tower hobbies, completely unrelated to model trains (i think they do model airplanes and stuff), and they dont even have the 55 in their name. It makes no sense, and tower 55, now t55, should just name themselves OMI plastic, and get it over with. They are just going to use it as an excuse to charge even more for the plastic models, already an outrageous $315.00 WITHOUT sound. Can someone else PLEASE make these, like athearn or kato.

Take a look at MTH - they've announced SD70ACe's in HO.
 
I guess this was discussed in another thread but it bears repeating here. Do not give Tower 55 (or T55) any product deposits. If you look at their current catalog, you'll see they have no current product in stock. Read the letter by Briam Marsh at http://www.t55products.com/news/index.php?p=122. It seems that this is a company on the edge of bankruptcy. If that happens, any deposits will be lost for good, or you'll get a few cents on the dollar three years from now. Until they can show they can deliver a product with their own capital and not depend on customers to capitalize their operations, I would steer well clear of them.
 
awesome, the T55 tooling was bought by athearn, and will be made much cheaper in genesis, like 140 ish for no sound, 240 iish w/ sound. sure beats T55's price of 315 w/out sound, and 350 with sound
 
Athearn Acquires T55 Tooling

From their recent press release:

"Athearn® Trains is excited to announce we have purchased select tooling from T55, the plastic division of Overland Models. T55 is one of the model railroading industry’s leading producers of high-quality injection-molded models. Using T55’s outstanding tooling, Genesis will soon be producing a run of General Electric GEVO (ES44AC and ES44DC) models, as well as EMD SD70ACe and SD70M-2 models.

"These prototypes are the most current locomotives from North America’s primary builders, and are found in the fleets of Union Pacific (including the Heritage Fleet and Bush Presidential Library and Museum), BNSF, CIT Leasing, CSX, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, EMD Demonstrators, Ferromex, Florida East Coast, GE Demonstrators, Kansas City Southern, Montana Rail Link and Norfolk Southern.

"Just as these locomotives are the backbone of today’s Class One and Regional railroads, they will also be an important addition to Athearn’s Genesis® series of top-of-the-line HO models. Locomotives, in keeping with Genesis standards, will be offered with and without sound. They will also feature directional lighting; operating ditch lights; separately applied, etched metal details; and the same attention to detail you expect from Genesis.

"Any backorder you may have placed with T55 will unfortunately not be transferred. As Genesis announces each new run, please contact your local train store to place your new order. Release dates, pricing and specific product information will be announced in future editions of Athearn News and online at Athearn.com."
 
So everyone who preordered the T55 model nows goes to the back of the line like the rest of us? One more reason I don't place preorders for MR rolling stock.
 
I submit for your viewing, a kitbashed SD70M-2. Made from a Athearn Genesis Sd75I chassis, and shell, with a RPP SD90MAC flare kit and DB fan, and a RPP SD60M cab. The overbright pics are to show some definition of the cab nose and the radiator section, sorry, but my camera sucks:
sd70m-2b.jpg


sd70m-2_001.jpg


sd70m-2a.jpg


sd70m-2_002.jpg


Heres 2 higher res pics:
sd70m-2_003.jpg

sd70m-2_004.jpg


And a AC4400 converted to a ES44AC:
ac4400-es44ac_a.jpg

Those locomotives are very nice.
 
T55 Southern Pacific ES44AC

Definitely. They haven't even released the ES44AC in BNSF/CP yet, and those are very similar to the ES44DC. If one was to buy a Tower 55 unit, I would suggest to buy one of the ES44ACs because they are the second run and should have all the bugs that the first release had worked out.
I've worked with and ran Tower 55 locomotives and they are great locomotives to look at. Internally however, the locomotive needed a lot of DCC programming to make it operate prototypically. This included ditch light work, to prevent the ditch lights from blinking continuously, and programming so the locomotive's sound wouldn't shut off the moment the locomotive was completely stopped. But I can't argue with the detail, it is fantastic.
Just today I bought a small collection of locos and there were two of these SP Tower55 units in there. I tested them out on DC and they seemed to run real fine. I don't have DCC at this time.

One unit's lights don't lite up, and it appears as thought the upper number board lighting fixture has become disengaged from its receptacle.

Does anyone have the diagram drwg as to how to get the shell off for inspection??

I may resell these as a pair as I do more with steam. But they are really finely detailed !!
 
Does anyone have any information of when the Athearn T55 units will be coming out? I was discussing the merits of the T-55's with a friend of mine and we were discussing that the original ones had the Overland style drive. With either Overland going into possible bankruptcy (as was said on this board) I am guessing that the drive going under them will no doubt be Atheran's Genisis drive. Any word?
 
99% chance it'll be Genesis style drives.

OMI is still alive, the T55 idea just slowed them down a bit...
 



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