AZL January 2013 New Release – Part 2

American Z Line is changing the landscape of Z with our mid month releases. The time has finally come…. Big Boys and heavyweight passenger coaches!!

The Big Boys are brass monsters. The detailing is outstanding. Ten road numbers will be released. These are extremely limited with only ten of each road number available with a total release of 100 locos. The Big Boys feature traction tires, high level of detail. Smooth running, and tender pickup. Note, these locomotives are rated for 245mm curves and above due to their size.



Big Boys
17071-6 UP Big Boy 4014 - MSRP $1999.00
17071-7 UP Big Boy 4017 - MSRP $1999.00
17071-8 UP Big Boy 4018 - MSRP $1999.00
17071-9 UP Big Boy 4019 - MSRP $1999.00
17071-10 UP Big Boy 4023 - MSRP $1999.00

The heavyweight passenger cars are here!!! This single item has been discussed as a most wanted item for over three decades. AZL is initially offering four body styles. These are 12-1 Pullman sleeper, 10-1-2 Pullman sleeper, 28-1 Parlor car and a 36 seat diner. The cars feature three axle trucks, smooth running, inset window glazing, intricate pad printing, prototype accurate details, and adjustable diaphrams. The diaphrams are an interesting feature. They extend out, but will push in if touching another diaphram when going around tighter radius curves. The first release is two-tone Pullmans. Specific road names are planned for the upcoming months.

Heavyweight Passenger Coaches – Pullman (two-tone)



71002-0 12-1 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - MSRP $48.00
71002-1 12-1 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - Red Lion - MSRP $48.00
71002-2 12-1 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - Red Lodge - MSRP $48.00
71002-3 12-1 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - Red Canon - MSRP $48.00



71102-0 10-1-2 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - MSRP $48.00
71102-1 10-1-2 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - Lake Placid - MSRP $48.00
71102-2 10-1-2 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - Lake Caroline - MSRP $48.00
71102-3 10-1-2 Pullman Sleeper PS Two Tone Grey - Lake George - MSRP $48.00



71402-0 28-1 Parlor PS Two Tone Grey - MSRP $48.00
71402-1 28-1 Parlor PS Two Tone Grey - Pansy - MSRP $48.00
71402-2 28-1 Parlor PS Two Tone Grey - Roxana - MSRP $48.00
71402-3 28-1 Parlor PS Two Tone Grey - Stella - MSRP $48.00



71502-0 36 Seat Diner PS Two Tone Grey - Dining Car - MSRP $48.00
71502-1 36 Seat Diner PS Two Tone Grey - Dining Car 10 - MSRP $48.00
71502-2 36 Seat Diner PS Two Tone Grey - Dining Car 12 - MSRP $48.00

NOTE due to to demand most of these cars are already sold out at the manufacturer. We do have the 71002-0 through 71002-3 series in stock. Supplies are very limited.

NEW BODY STYLE ALERT – Centerbeams flat cars! AZL is now offering 73’ center beam flat cars. These cars feature amazing detailing and interior printing. They will be an attention getting on any layout. The first release is BNSF. Two runner packs and two single cars.



Centerbeams
90351-1 BNSF Centerbeam 562462, 562478, 526525, 562610 4 pack: BNSF 562462, 562478, 526525, 562610 - MSRP $137.00
90351-2 BNSF Centerbeam 562642, 562649, 562662, 562675 4 pack: BNSF 562642, 562649, 562662, 562675 - MSRP $137.00
91351-1 BNSF Centerbeam 562709 Single Car: BNSF 562709 - MSRP $39.00
91351-2 BNSF Centerbeam 562778 Single Car: BNSF 562778 - MSRP $39.00

Finally for this mid-month release, we are bringing back the Southern Pacific GP30s. Three new road numbers are available.



EMD GP30
62106-4 SP GP30 5011 - MSRP $159.00
62106-5 SP GP30 5014 - MSRP $159.00
62106-6 SP GP30 5015 - MSRP $159.00

For photos of all of the new releases, please visit:

www.americanzline.com/

Rob Kluz

Interesting names and colors on the Pullmans. Reminds me of New York Central... although I have no clue if NYC ran any.

Rob... Are you allowed to give any hint about future road-name releases for the Pullmans?

Nice to have heavyweights, it does add another dimension. Color combined with Pullman kind of throws me off too. I will wait for the undecorated ones or the Pullman Green ones with no markings on them. Bigboy looks good.

Here is a great period photo showing the two-tone Pullmans mated with a PRR Pullman.



I can safely say the NYC ran Pullmans. I can't divulge the other road names planned at this time. But I think you can get a good idea by the names mentioned so far. I can confirm the solid green Pullmans are coming. Actually, there are many, many more Pullmans coming including other body styles. AZL is just starting off!

Rob

Thanks..looking forward to what is coming

Rob... this may seem like a rather obvious question... What couplers are on the Big Boy?

A couple of years ago Crowds on the Forums would immediately dance around the fire like wild Indians when they had been informed about the release of a Big Boy in Z. Looks like today everything is obvious.
I want to thank the Manufactures from AZL and MTL for the continuous great support in our scale, the fantastic releases of Rolling Stock in the past. You guys must have elephant skin to be protected against all those rivet counters and bigmouths out there.

Just my 2 Cents!

Ditto to what Jurg said.

UP not my railroad. Big Boys not my era. If I had 2000 bucks I would spend it on 3 SD-7s. Sure I would look at one at a show pulling bunch of freight on a big long straight module and go OHHH neato.
I am glad there was good research done on the heavyweights. Pullman cars would be hard to research and I appreciate that they came out with them.I am ECSTATIC that there was time and effort put into making these cars. working diaphragms are a VERY nice touch!
That being said, bigmouths and rivet counters keep things in check, so time, money, and effort would perhaps not be wasted on fooby cars and paint schemes.Quickest way to shut me up is show me a picture of an actual prototype. If something looks odd to me I will continue to ask questions. Otherwise we can all play with our Thomas the Tank Engine toys.

IMHO the Big Boy is hardly ever a model you'd want because it fits into your modelling interests in terms of period, region and operation. Nope, the Big Boy is, quite simply, a showstopper. I distinctly remember when I saw a Big Boy in H0 for the first time - wow. And imagine seeing a (ready to run) Big Boy in Z - WOW ! Limited in terms of models made, sure, but a ready to run item. That's going to give Z an incredible boost in terms of visibility over the next months, and whilst few of those who will see it may actually want one and be able to afford one, they might well be lured into looking what else this scale has to offer. And yes, they will find other r-t-r items which do appeal to wider modelling interests. So from that perspective, I think the Big Boys are a great idea, so kudos to AZL.

The Pullman heavyweights - now that's a really clever model, because it's so versatile. Check out the history of " Dover Harbor " which tells you that these coaches saw a lot of different places and paint schemes in their long lives - it's almost the pure opposite of a Big Boy in that respect. Judging from "Dover Harbor", the two-tone Pullman seems to be a very late 1950s paint scheme, and I guess you could easily stretch the actual end of the prototypes (mid-1960s?) and have some special still running in the late 1970s or even early 1980s, maybe privately owned. At least that's what I'm going to do on my B&M layout

I fully agree with what's been said before - we are really well served by AZL and Micro Trains.

Alex the couplers are AZL... BUT hold on.

The AZL couplers on the tender are housed in a brass box that is held to the tender with a screw. It looks like to me that you can replace this box with an MTL coupler and use the AZL screw to hold the MTL box in place. I have not tried it yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It appears to be a quick and easy swap.

Rob

Rob A posted this on Yahoo. I thought I would share it with the forum. I know how long Hans and Rob have been working on the heavyweights. It has been years.


Research for this project was a real bear. (I could also call it "how I spent my summer vacation") took months.

All the work for the next three production runs was done at the same time because we could not make up our minds which ones we wanted to produce first (!!!) so we're ready to roll. If they sell well, I can blast an email to the factory to put them back in production for more roadnames quickly.

The challenge with the Heavyweights was the names. Each car has a name and a history. They were frequently shopped, modified, changed, and repainted. Tracking down good reliable historical records without racking up a few hundred thousand frequent flyer miles was, well, interesting! I think I got most of it right, but I'm sure there will be somebody who knows more about Pullmans who will correct me on details.

But I have to admit, I love passenger equipment, so this really was a labor of love.

Oh, and BTW, we're not finished releasing products for this season. Hans and I still have a few more tricks up our sleeves for this winter.

And on top of that, I'm really busy working on next year's projects!

Enjoy,
-Rob(A)
AZL

I can not afford a Ferrari or a Lamborghini but at least I can say "wow"! If I don't like a Car, Engine or something else, I don't buy it. If the manufacture don't sell his models, then he think "why" and maybe next time he will release something more prototypical.

@Kelley, I'm into Z since more then 25 Years. We had then lousy Märklin F7 who are not able to pull some Passenger Cars but we where happy with them and had a lot of fun either. Everything what was not on the market we build our own. Ask Fred, he is a master of Kitbasher. Now you can have so many cool items but only a handfull of Peoples are not pleased. To bad those Peoples are always on the Forums and kill the joy of the Hobby with harnished critics. I'm absolutely sure that from 1000 Modelrailroaders in our scale only a handfull would recognized wrong Carnumbers, wrong paint schemes or wrong horn placements.
Please Guys don't kill our hobby!

I think if more people had my attitude about model railroading it would cause them to have less heartburn, headache, and sore throat from complaining. My motto?.....
"If it goes around twice without falling off, then I'm having a good day"

Now I'll wait for the perfectionists to slam my philosophy..:o)

Well I would say something about if more people had my attitude they would have more hair but, I wont go there.

Oh, that was a good one Kelly. You got me there. I always thought it was a case of too many brains cells in a confined space that cut off the circulation. However, I know there are many who would take issue with that statement too.

I think I'll just remain mostly quiet in my corner over here. It is safer and warmer. :o)

Maybe I'm a bit slow ... or, maybe something is getting lost in the translations to English ... but, I'm not understanding a lot of the comments posted to this thread.

As most of you know, I have been one of AZL's biggest thorns in public comments. At one point, I was so disatisfied with AZL's products and the excuses coming from AZL, that I sold 95% of my AZL items (keeping only customized pieces).

I am still critical of AZL, but also now of Micro-Trains (but, for different reasons). But, I do have to commend AZL for bringing out new body-styles that we otherwise would never see in Z-scale. MTL is not going to do it. With the exception of Mr. D'Amato... MTL would probably have dumped Z-scale a long time ago.

While I agree with some of the points being voiced in this thread in general about offerings... What is(are) the complaint(s) of the products AZL announced in this thread?

Is it the pricing? Agreed... it is a chunk of cash that most Z-scalers will not be able to afford to pay for a single locomotive. Well... guess what? We all can't buy whatever we feel like. Should AZL produce something and sell it at a loss? Of course not... they are not a gooberment contractor.

I really hope this Big Boy is runner and a performer... unlike the cab-forwards. I had one at one time. Besides its wonderful looks, it just wasn't worth it.

As a disclaimer... no one should consider my words as a compliment or a critizism of any single person or AZL or MTL as a whole. If your feelings are hurt... that's your problem. There are other issues in the world of Z that are not public knowledge that are truly disgusting... especially for a hobby. There are certain things of involved individuals that are inexcusable... but, that's not for here.

And... yes... my spelling sucks. Sue me.

Mr.JA wrote: Maybe I'm a bit slow
And... yes... my spelling sucks. Sue me.

Alex, I thought I was the slow one? And my lawyer will be in touch with your lawyer.
Don't leave town........

Actually, I want to say concerning your piece..........well said.

No one does it 100% right, so let's be very thankful for what we have and hope to have in the future. Rob K has pointed out a number of times that Z is moving forward inspite of occasional snafus and goofs.


A great time to be in Z scale for sure.

We have had an overwhelming response to these releases. AZL is now sold out of the Pullman two-tone heavyweights. Please contact your authorized AZL dealer for availability as many dealers still have stock of these cars in stock.

We are also sold out of the 17071-10 Big Boy road number 4023. The other road numbers are in very limited quantities.

Due to the demand, we will be expediting the release schedule of the heavyweight passenger cars. Look for an announcement this week on a new road name release.

Rob Kluz

ztrack wrote: sold out ... sold out

No, how could this be??? I mean really... already sold out, you've go to be kidding!