Hi guys, We just posted our latest N scale announcement here: http://www.bluford-shops.com/bluford_93_038.htm Also we have a number of new additions to the Timeline Resource Pages starting here: http://www.bluford-shops.com/bluford_93_024.htm Craig www.bluford-shops.com
Small correction: The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light company (TMER&L) went away in November 1938. The utility holding act of 1933 doomed most of the electric company owned and operated railways throughout the country. In 1938 the TMER&L was split into 2 parts. One part was the electric utility portion that became the Wisconsin Electric Power Company (WEPCO). The transportation portion became The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Transport company (TMER&T). TMER&T began abandoning interurban lines almost immediately, the East Troy and Burlington lines were the first to go in 1939 and 1938 respectively. Beginning in 1944 the remaining interurban lines were sold off to Kenosha Motor Coach lines and slowly abandoned with two exceptions. The Hales Corners (WI) and Waukesha (WI) were sold in 1949 to The Milwaukee Rapid Transit and Speedrail company lasting until June 30 1951. The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Transport company continued to operate the city streetcar lines until 1952 when it was sold to Milwaukee and Suburban transit (M&ST) . They cars were operated until March 2nd 1958. Another notable date is January 21 1963. It was the last operation of the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee railroad. Known as the North Shore Line they operated the famous Electroliner trains on fast schedules. Randy Stahl
I'm diggin' the Western Railway of Alabama hopper. Such a wonderful choice for a road name! Thank you. I once lived near the WR0fA mainline, albeit under Seaboard System ownership), so have a soft spot in my heart for it and the A&WP.
Oh no, MORE Lackawanna hoppers. Oh well, that's what I get for modeling "The Road of Anthracite". Thanks! Greg O.
Nothing for me. Got too many hoppers now and really don't need any more. Good thing too considering the price. Even discounted to street price this hobby seems to be digging its own grave.
Thanks Randy. I've made the Light vs. Transport correction and added the CNS&M closure (I thought I had that one already!) They will show up next time I upload our website. Craig www.bluford-shops.com
Finally, dimesional data 2-bay hopper cars! But, after they were not included yet again in the release last month, and with Craig suggesting that I buy cars with minimal railroad name and reporting marks so that they would be easiest to remove, I gave up on getting these cars as dimensional data, only. So, when I recenly saw a good sale on Microtrains hopper kits from one of those retailers I can't mention here, I decided to take advantage of that and just bought 30 2-bay hopper car kits. They were half the price of the Bluford cars, but by the time I bring them up to Bluford Shops quality, I will probably have spent close to street price for the Bluford cars. I will still buy a few of the Bluford cars, but no where near as many as I first intended. What I don't understand is why Craig didn't tell me in his last post here that what I really wanted was being opened for pre-order in a month. Of course, he had already told me that several releases ago, and then it did not happen, more than once. So, I am really wondering why Craig doesn't know what is coming up for pre-order until it happens. In at least my one case, it has hurt his sales. Steve
As I may have covered in the past, we generally don’t do data only cars early in the schedule because some people would order them because their favorite road name didn’t come up in the first batch so they would wrongly assume they never would and ordered data only cars to have a head start on decaling their own. Then when we did announce their favorite road name, they’d cancel their data only order and stick us or the distributors with the inventory. Data Only cars have never been big sellers (fewer people model fictional railroads than in the past) so when we have announced them, it’s been with the provision that if we didn’t get enough orders, we weren’t going to make them. Not that long ago, we did data only 3-bay offset side hoppers (to prove my first point, they were the 77th run on that body style!) We finally did them because a dealer called to tell us he had a customer who wanted 140 data only cars – enough to bootstrap a run. We still have some of those in open stock in brown and black if anyone is interested. Steve and I determine the schedule together, factoring in an assortment of railroads, regions and eras. We don’t finally settle on what’s going into a group until I’m ready to start the production artwork. Once the artwork is done, the announcement is made within a week. When I suggested to you the C&WC cars in lieu of data only, it was with the assumption that the April announcement was going to feature a different body style and the USRA hoppers would not be featured again until probably June. However, for reasons having nothing to do with you or data only runs, the next batch of USRA hoppers was pushed forward to the April announcement and with it, the data only cars. Craig & Steve Bluford Shops LLC.
Thanks for the explanation, Craig. I will still be preordering 4 or 5 of your data only cars. But, it seems that they are still not a sure thing, given that they are not so popular any more and I just dropped my order count substantially with the prior purchase. Still hoping you make them instead of cancelling their production, but my actual need is now diminished. Steve
