02-28-2009, 01:21 PM
That is a problem for distributors. I don't know if it has changed recently. I have an Atlas Alco Rs1 I bought in the 1980s from my local hobby shop. It was $39.95 brand new in the box when the Atlas Rs1 with the Kato drive was going for $89.95 if I remember correctly. My locomotive was decorated fro the Southern Railroad. A local distributor was stuck with a bunch of Rs1's in East coast liveries, and the local hobby shop bought them from him at "fire sale prices." It is now in Santa Fe zebra stripe. A few years ago the lhs had cases of powered Athearn gp40-2 in Conrail. He sold a bunch of them for $10.00 each, then he offered a Conrail gp40-2 for $1.00 with the purchase of another locomotive. Eventually he got rid of all of them, and I think he made money on them. I was at a GAT Show a few years ago where there was a seller with P2k Sw-7 for $29.95, but they were all for midwestern and East coast roads. I bet I walked past 3 times before I realized that all I had to do was paint it and put on decals to make a Santa Fe version. I bought a MoPac because that model had the most black. Painted it all black, and put on zebra strip decals to make it a Santa Fe. The hobby shop owner used to get close out deals from distributors that were stuck with locomotives that had no market out in So Cal, but I haven't seen any lately. It may be that the manufacturers are letting the distributors pick and choose more so that a West Coast distributor can order only West Coast road names. Of course, with modern locomotives, and pool power, anything can be seen on any train at any time. The only exception being that Amtrak seldom runs anything but Amtrak power. I think I have heard of them having help from a freight railroad when a power unit broke down far from one of their facilities, but that is not a regular situation. I think the only place in the country that doesn't face the problem of trying to move locomotives painted for out of area railroads is Florida. When visiting my inlaws in the Tampa area a few years ago, I checked out a local hobby shop and noticed locomotives from all over the country on his shelves. I asked the owner about the market, and he said that there were so many people from so many areas that retired to Florida, that he had a market for just about any North American railroad.