Something going on with Olszewski and the Disneyland trains?

[WarriorPoets]

The title says it all. This is something I had not heard anything about until Cindy mentioned in her last trip report that Bob "may be attending an event at Disneyland in November in conjunction with the next exhibit at the Disney Gallery involving Disney trains". This is the first I've heard of anything since Bachmann Trains did a limited edition of the EP Ripley. Given Fantasyland is extending the track, makes me wonder if we may or may not see another train.

[forestlite]

I wondered about that from Cindy's article too. Might we be in for another surprise announcement?

[WarriorPoets]

Well, key word there - may. I truly hope we do get more Disney trains as there was always a demand when I worked for the Mouse. To make the Ripley a LE was extremely short sighted by Bachmann and hopefully that will be corrected. If not, I also know there has been demand for the Holiday for quite a while as well as the diamond stack is iconic in a lot of shots of the trains for the park.

[JiminyC]

Travis mentioned they were coming out with Gallery of Light boxes with The train stations from Disneyland and Disney World.

[Pezlort]

I LOVE Olszewski's stuff, and I'm a big train fan. But the fact that the E.P. Ripley toy train isn't to scale with the rest of the miniatures, has always bothered me. I know it's nerdy, but the real trains are actually narrow gauge trains. The E.P. Ripley electric toy is made in standard gauge...which is too big. Ah well, I have a standard gauge Bachman locomotive displayed with my Olszewski main street station...I should shut up. I just wonder if I'm the only one who wants an N scale narrow gauge Fred Gurley locomotive.

[forestlite]

Travis mentioned they were coming out with Gallery of Light boxes with The train stations from Disneyland and Disney World.

Thanks for the info. That would be so cool...hope it happens!

---------- Post added 09-03-2011 at 08:18 PM ----------

I LOVE Olszewski's stuff, and I'm a big train fan. But the fact that the E.P. Ripley toy train isn't to scale with the rest of the miniatures, has always bothered me. I know it's nerdy, but the real trains are actually narrow gauge trains. The E.P. Ripley electric toy is made in standard gauge...which is too big. Ah well, I have a standard gauge Bachman locomotive displayed with my Olszewski main street station...I should shut up. I just wonder if I'm the only one who wants an N scale narrow gauge Fred Gurley locomotive.

I was not fortunate enough to snag one when it was originally released, but the scale difference does seem a little weird. It kind of defeats the illusion of a real park to some degree...

[MickeysImagination]

I LOVE Olszewski's stuff, and I'm a big train fan. But the fact that the E.P. Ripley toy train isn't to scale with the rest of the miniatures, has always bothered me. I know it's nerdy, but the real trains are actually narrow gauge trains. The E.P. Ripley electric toy is made in standard gauge...which is too big. Ah well, I have a standard gauge Bachman locomotive displayed with my Olszewski main street station...I should shut up. I just wonder if I'm the only one who wants an N scale narrow gauge Fred Gurley locomotive.

I have wondered about the scale as well. Not sure how many you are model railroaders. I am one and the Olszsewksi miniatures are a dream come true and something we all agree. Again I have wondered about the scale difference between the buildings and the trains; a discussion I had with Robert when he first announced the product line. The problem I saw was from the manufactures of model trains and Robert's desire to keep the line as affordable as possible. Now Bachmann has produced 4-4-0 locomotives with straight stacks in the past, so the molds did not have to be redone, it was the paint job mostly. Thus despite being a limited edition (too bad it was), the cost was not totally out of line. If the scale was to be made correctly, a manufacturer would need to be found willing to create a limited production run and thus driving up the cost; and yes it would be limited as I see it, for the Disneyana group with trains may not be as large as we would like to think.

Just my thoughts.

-Justin

[forestlite]

Interesting insights Justin! I am sure a lot of things need to be weighed and balanced before making a final decision. From past articles and interview, it's clear that Robert puts a lot into the thought process, so I am sure he made the best decision regarding scale. However, with the prices the trains bring on the secondary market, I would be more than happy to pay double the retail price of the original release for a new edition in the proper scale.

[MickeysImagination]

There was something else I wanted to add to yesterday's post regarding scale.

Robert had designed the buildings to be "Z", or darn close to it. This allowed to a degree for vehicles, rolling stock and people to be "N", which is relatively close to what Disneyland would be in real life. Now my conversations with Robert (way back in Chicago), I was really curious has to how he was going to handle the overall scale. I had indicated that the first floor and ground items all needed to be "N" and then scale down the subsequent floors to finally end in "Z" for an approximate forced perspective. I do not believe that is how it all worked out and it appears to me, as I have not performed a scale analysis (my wife would think I am more nuts than I am ). The people and lamps are not quite right.

Now I may be a modeler, but overall I could not be more thrilled with what Robert has created. As I said earlier, this is truly a dream come true. Just wish we had room to set everything up.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.

-Justin