Re: NNGC 2018?

Never got an answer Craig? If not, I'll give it a go. Got back from the convention Sunday but was too worn out to get online. Had a very nice conversation with SoundTraxx's George Bogatiuk who was at the convention representing SoundTraxx/Blackstone. The unofficial word (because these are my comments paraphrasing what he and I, and other attendees discussed with George) is that the K-28/K-36 project is still very much active, however it is progressing slowly currently due to several issues.

The first, and already fairly common knowledge in the imported model world, is the difficulty in finding an overseas manufacturer that can deliver the quality at an affordable price to meet Blackstone's customers expectation. At least one previous supplier in China has gone out of business which shrinks the supply for an ever increasing demand. Add to that, the inescapable fact that the Chinese standard of living is going up and up. They want to get paid more so that they can buy more. Can't say as I blame them.

The second problem is an in-house issue at Blackstone (BSM) in the design department. For reasons that shouldn't be discussed here, BSM needs a draftsman to complete the K-28/K-36 engineering drawings to submit to the potential manufacturers. A pretty important step, eh? All of the above applies to the sectional track product line as well according to George. Whenever they get things worked out it will be well worth the wait for the new locomotives unless you are inclined to shell out $2.2k each for a new run of HOn3 K-36s and K-37s from another well respected manufacturer (yep, I said HOn3). I saw the samples for this other manufacturer/importer at the convention and they ran and looked like a fine Swiss watch, but the price tag took my breath away.

Currently the most attention is on the 2nd run of 30 foot reefers that are nearly ready for production. George had several pre-production samples on display. They have some minor issues that need to be worked out, but should be in production soon. Maybe late fall, early winter.

I asked if there any future Blackstone projects in the works, and George said that any activity beyond the reefer, track and K-28/K-36 projects is firmly on hold until the issues with three projects are resolved.

George gave a very good clinic on the Tsunami2 steam locomotive decoders and the advantages they have over previous Tsunami's. All in all I had a good conversation with George and am looking forward to both the reefer run and the K-28s and K36s. Checking their blog occasionally as well as signing up for email updates is where to look for any new developments.

So all in all, not much new here but someday we'll have our new locomotives ( if I live that long )

BTW, this years 38th NNGC was great. A big thank you to the convention organizers, the vendors, exhibitors and the local model railroaders who opened their homes and basements to a hoard of foaming narrow gaugers. A six hour drive from my home so it was a must go for me. Saw at lot of Minnesota basements with great layouts in them. Model Railroading is alive and well in Minnehappylos. I am looking forward to the 40th in St.Louis in 2020. The 39th will be in Sacramento, CA next year. The 41st will be in Hickory, NC in 2021, Seattle in 2022 and back to Denver for the 43rd NNG convention in 2023 (Durango bid against Denver for 2023, but Denver won the vote).