# New MDC Monon hoppers available



## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Mainline America has set up a better commerce site to buy their products. They have a lot of old MDC stuff(not molds) and are selling some Monon hoppers right now with quite a few different numbers. I guess more products will be forthcoming. I have no affiliation with them at all, so just posting this as a public service.
MDC Hoppers


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Jerry. From the coverage on my site, they contacted me and told me the same. I'm hoping they will be able to do more in the future, but for now, it's great that they are making these products available now. I've always thought their 2 bay hoppers were very nicely detailed, and they are, of course, to scale, in 1:32.


Interestingly enough, they look good with many 1:29 freight cars. 


Regards, Greg


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

This is at least the second run of these Monon hoppers. I missed out on the first run and have never seen any of them listed on Ebay. I not paid $60.00 for any hopper I've bought so far, but it looks like I may have to bite the bullet and anti up for one of these. I have about 40 of the original MDC/Roundhouse 2 bay hoppers and they go very well with my 1:29th scale locomotives. 

Thanks for the info and link Jerry 

Randy


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## SNER (Sep 20, 2010)

I looked up the home site http://midwestcompanies.us/products/mainlineamerica.html and was surprised to see they have/had produced an RS-2 in G scale. Does anyone know if they are going to do another run of them soon, have any for sale currently, or if they ever produced them at all? Or any photos of them? 

David


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I've never seen them... I do likewise see the inference that they made them once before. Be aware, they are most likely 1:32... 

If you contact them and get some more info, please share here. 

Regards, Greg


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I think they are basing the RS-2 on the Aristo RS-3, but may be wrong.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Well, it seems that we might be speculating. 

The site shows 2 "sections", HO & N scale products under "Exact Scale" brand, and "G scale" products under "Mainline America"... "Detailed 1:32 Scale model trains made by us in the U.S.A." 

http://commerce.midwestcompanies.us/mainlineamerica.aspx everything else is 1:32. 

I searched the web, but could not find any reference of someone who bought one. 

But who knows, I called their phone number and got voice mail... I'll email the manufacturer, if it's 1:29 I would be interested... 

Greg


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## SNER (Sep 20, 2010)

I tried contacting Mainline America and,.....no response...yet at least. I'm curious though. Having been a HO modeler gone G myself, I know that MDC (now being made by Athearn) made an HO RS-2 that was pretty well detailed. In comparison to an Aristo RS-3, the MDC model would be considered brass. But I am curious if they are planning/ have taken the HO model and up sized the model through CAD or SolidWorks. I have done this myself when needing a part in G that can not be found, simply by scanning a smaller or large master in a 3D scanner at work, uploading a 3D SolidWorks image, and sending it out to be made in any size then, or print it myself with the U-Print. Technology these days can do almost anything, and if Mainline America did this, then the G scale RS-2 could be in either 1:29 or 1:32 and would be well detailed. 

Here's a photo of the HO model 

http://www.freewebs.com/nynhh/IMGP4586.JPG

David


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

MDC never made a RS series loco. This loco from American Mainline is of their own creation, apart from any acquisition of old MDC parts.. 

Regards, Greg


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## SNER (Sep 20, 2010)

MDC never made a RS series loco. This loco from American Mainline is of their own creation, apart from any acquisition of old MDC parts.. 

Greg, 

I meant that MDC had made a RS-2 in HO, not that they ever produced an RS unit in G. I was saying that if someone had scaled up that HO model to G scale (using a 3D scanner or somehow , then it would a pretty good looking unit. I never meant the MDC produced a large scale Alco. 

David


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I'm not an expert on the details on the RS units, but I love the look of my Aristo one. 

Regards, Greg


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## Chucks_Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

I've spoken with the owner of Mainline America at our local train show and he does in fact own all of the MDC 1/32 molds.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

OK. I think I confused 2 companies... 

Is Mainline America associated with Midwest Companies Inc? 

Also, besides my confusion between the 2 above, obviously Piko has some of the molds, since they sell the box cars and a few other products... I have not seen the box cars from Mainline America. 

I guess this is a more complex situation now that I go back and read the emails I have received. 

Greg


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I think they just have a lot of the old MDC inventory. Piko has the molds.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

I once had about 10 of the MDC hoppers! 
yes, very nicely detailed cars.. 
but I sold them all as a group because I felt they were simply too small to go with my 1/29 scale rolling stock.. 
and they were the only 1/32 that I owned, and am likely to ever own.. 

just be aware of the size.. some might think they look ok with 1/29..but others think they dont look so good with 1/29.. 
in reality they are quite small.. 

Scot


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

The Mainline America logo is a registered copyright of Midwest Companies, Inc. 

As far as hoppers are concerned, Mainline America has the molds for MDC's Smooth sode hoppers while Piko has the molds for the ribbed side hoppers. 

Both Mainline and Piko have refridgerator/reefer cars which look identical as far as construction. 

Piko has a box car made similar to the reefer. I haven't seen a Box car from Mainline America 

Piko also has the molds for the center copulas 4 axle caboose. 

Randy


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I have an email from Midwest Companies. This email says they do not have the molds (tooling was the exact word used in the email). The email was from Joseph Novosel Jr. He stated they own all the leftover inventory from MDC (but not the tooling).

I know Piko has the molds for several of the cars, I received several emails from people in Europe when I talked about someone getting the molds in the US, I was quickly corrected, and shown pictures of brand new cars made by Piko. 

So, we will see what develops, Mainline America / Midwest Companies did mention that they plan to produce new tooling and upgrade the cars. 

Regards, Greg


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By rlvette on 17 Oct 2010 12:57 PM 

The Mainline America logo is a registered copyright of Midwest Companies, Inc. 

As far as hoppers are concerned, Mainline America has the molds for MDC's Smooth sode hoppers while Piko has the molds for the ribbed side hoppers. 

Both Mainline and Piko have refridgerator/reefer cars which look identical as far as construction. 

Piko has a box car made similar to the reefer. I haven't seen a Box car from Mainline America 

Piko also has the molds for the center copulas 4 axle caboose. 

Randy 

Actually, Piko's hopper is also a smoothside, so I was wrong about the ribbed hopper.

Something else, the MDC hoppers were also sold under the Roundhouse brand with different road numbers.

Randy


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Not to confuse things further, but I was looking at the difference between having stock of parts and the molds to make more. 

I have not gotten any communication from the US company that they have molds, just parts. These emails are from December 2009, so maybe things have changed since then. 

Only the hoppers are shown on their site. 

Regards, Greg


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a link to their Reefer 

http://midwestcompanies.us/manufacturedproducts/mainlineamerica.html


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Umm... it says: 

"The cars will be sold exclusively through the Society and will help with fundraising activities for the preservation of railroad equipment in Northwest Indiana." 

They were apparently a special run for the Northwest Indiana Railroad Preservation Society 

Greg


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 17 Oct 2010 05:52 PM 
I have an email from Midwest Companies. This email says they do not have the molds (tooling was the exact word used in the email). The email was from Joseph Novosel Jr. He stated they own all the leftover inventory from MDC (but not the tooling).

I know Piko has the molds for several of the cars, I received several emails from people in Europe when I talked about someone getting the molds in the US, I was quickly corrected, and shown pictures of brand new cars made by Piko. 

So, we will see what develops, Mainline America / Midwest Companies did mention that they plan to produce new tooling and upgrade the cars. 

Regards, Greg 


Yes Greg,

I heard the same thing LOL









I guess we will just have to wait for new arrivals to see Whats what...LOL


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

It was a nice line of products. The trucks were crap, they cracked where the couplers attached and the screws to the sideframes. 

The US company has new and better wheels, better contour and better plastic. I did not hear anything specific on the trucks themselves, but I'll bet they addressed this issue also. 

Regards, Greg


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## SNER (Sep 20, 2010)

I finally got news from Mainline America about the RS-2's. They did in fact produce them, and from what they had written, it sounds like it is their own molds. Not a modified ART RS-3. They also mentioned another run should be coming out early 2011 for anyone who wants one. 

David


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks David... did you verify that there were 1:32? It has not been stated, but it would be strange for them if it was anything else. 

Greg


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## SNER (Sep 20, 2010)

Exact scale was not mentioned unfortunately.


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## jnovosel (Dec 29, 2009)

Greetings All. I was asked to provide clarification on what we are doing and update the G-mmunity on our company.

We do own the remainder of the 1:32 production inventory from MDC. It is located in our plant in Indiana. The inventory includes hoppers, box cars, ore cars, cabooses, hustlers and speeders, and most of the associated detail parts. We are not going to produce the hustler locomotive but we are going to build more speeders both powered and unpowered. The rolling stock is being painted, decorated and assembled at that plant as well.

We do not own the tooling associated with this inventory. It is a very long story, but to be brief, we had both the tooling and the inventory brought from China back to Athearn in the States where we reviewed and inventoried it. There was an understanding that they would work closely with our company to consumate the deal, and after our proposal was submitted we were informed that another company (not PIKO) would be purchasing the tooling. The other company closed shortly thereafter and the tooling somehow ended up at PIKO. Draw your own conclusions from there.

Our intention is to complete the inventory we have on hand and then to also work on designing new tooling for the 1:32 scale market. We will most likely start with the hopper tooling as that is the smallest inventory we have and is going to be sold out soon. We have added some B-end brake detail to these hoppers to make them more complete. ALL of the production and assembly will be done by our workers in our plant. We are not outsourcing ANY labor and would only buy raw materials from offshore should they not be available here.

Our first hopper run was in 2007 and was for the Monon Historical Society. The hopper numbers were 4006-4010 and they sold out quickly. Our second run is also Monon hoppers and six new numbers are being produced, plus we are re-running the first five numbers.

Our second project is for the Northwest Indiana Railroad Society and that will be a refrigerated box car that is a replica of the one at their site for the George Hammond Meat Packing Company. This project is currently going through production and will be completed in November.

The RS-2 project is on hold, pending some tooling design changes.

We also tooled up and produced a search light target, finial and signal base that can be assembled using brass rod for the pole. We are now working on the ladder design after finally finding one of these still in service locally on the NS.

Lastly, in 2007 we tooled and produced 1:32 scale plastic wheel sets. These are made from an engineered plastic and then pressed onto stainless steel axles. They look very nice on the hopper cars versus the 1:29 sets. They also do not melt on the track!!!

Thank you all for allowing us to provide this information to you. We look forward to serving YOUR needs in the 1:32 scale market. Please contact me directly with any suggestions or comments using my e-mail posted here on myLargescale.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the comeback and the information. Please also share your product information on your signal parts, since there are very few manufacturers of same, one just "quit" G scale. 

I have updated my web site page: *http://www.elmassian.com...trong>**

Please email me with any corrections, or amplifications you have, glad you have help "save" this excellent line of cost-effective 1:32 products. 


Regards, 

Greg*


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Too bad they shelved the RS-2 

That could have been interesting.


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## SNER (Sep 20, 2010)

Agreed. The RS-2 and RS-3 have to be my favorite locomotives to model and a nice looking RS-2 would have been nice to see be produced in G.


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