Rich Yoder Models http://www.richyodermodels.com has released a new 50-ton AAR Double Truss truck (Bettendorf) in Proto48 and O gauge (pictured below).

The truck is cast in brass with steel wheels and engineering plastic bearings to improve rolling properties. The trucks come with tapered axels and are painted. You can order the truck with either all springs or with snubbers. The new truck to be released will be a 70-ton truck that is ideal for a number of cars such as 70 ton covered hoppers. Contact Rich to get your order in. These trucks are really selling well. They don't stay in stock very long. Rich is now accepting credit cards to simplify ordering.

There are two new gondolas coming in soon and a N&W triple hopper. The new GE 70-ton diesel is expected this Winter. It looks very good. It seems that each new model imported by this firm is better than the last. Their Chinese factory is learning how to do good models.

Chooch Enterprises/ Ultra Scale II http://www.choochenterprises.com has been busy this past few months. They have released a number of new building kits. Most of the kits are available as storefronts. You can buy them pre-painted or you can do them yourself. They are the finest structures of their type on the market today. Visit their website to see what is available.

There a number of new freight car kits coming shortly followed by a passenger car series. The Canadian Pacific 38' stock car is in production and slated for release this month. The next kit will be the N&W B-1 class round-roof boxcar. It is a closely patterned after the PRR X-31 boxcar. Chooch will release a revised PRR X-31a single door during the summer.

A single sheathed SP boxcar will be out in August. It is patterned after the B-50-15 class with a Murphy Radial roof. This will be the first in a series of cars that will cover a few variations of this including the steel sheathed Overnight cars.

Chooch/ Ultra Scale II B-50-15 pilot model

San Juan Car Company has released their latest kit for the Sacramento Northern / Western Pacific double sheathed boxcar. The kit is done their usual standards. San Juan is planning on more standard gauge equipment down the road.

Model and photo courtesy of Charles Morrill

Protocraft is planning on producing Proto48 driver sets for the soon-to-be imported Sunset Southern Pacific F-3/F-5 2-10-2. The drivers will be 63" in diameter and use a KTM-sized bearing block The sets will likely sell for around $350 including tender wheels and lead and trailing truck wheels. Contact Norm Buckhart norm@protojournal.com regarding availability.

High Sierra Models of Reno Nevada has new ownership. James Harper has sold the shop to Chuck Gardner. The new owner will be continuing the Proto48 switch kit line according to James. This should leave a lot more time for working on the layout.

NWSL has released new Proto48 replacement wheels for the Atlas O scale cars. The axles are sized to fit the Atlas truck side frames. The numbers are 8381-4 for the 33" wheel and 8382-4 for the 36" wheel. They have pointed-end axels and do drop into the side frames. It should only take a few minutes to convert the trucks over to Proto48

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