Micro-Trains To Re-Release Its Very Unique Union Pacific Impact Car In 2018

With the exception of the included interior load, the Micro-Trains® Line stock number 020 00 157 Union Pacific Impact Car that was announced in the February 2018 copy of The Micro-News appears to be a re-run of a car that was originally released as part of the special run NSC 00-95 Union Pacific and Southern Pacific "Impact Cars" set that commissioned by the N Scale Collector in 2000.

The first such models to incorporate clear bodies, at the time, an extremely difficult project to produce, production challanges limited the original run of cars to ninety sets.

Since 2000, Micro-Trains® has produced numerous special run, clear bodied cars for the N Scale Collector (e.g., the "Money Cars" and the Gold and Silver "Bullion Cars".

While casting the clear plastic body shells was probably not an issue, the intricate painting and pad printing was extremely challenging.

Very difficult to see in the photo, the clear side of each car has a very fine mesh like look, with additional data, logos, and reporting numbers pad printed over the simulated screening.

For the original run of cars, the factory rejection rate must have been quite high.

Micro-Trains® Line's current printing process has likely resolved some of the issues that were encountered during the production run of the earlier models.

Interestingly enough, originally sold by the N Scale Collector for $95.00 a set, with an MSRP of $49.95 for the Union Pacific car (i.e., the more intricately printed model of the pair), the retail price for this single model has pretty much remained the same as it was in 2000.

Nearly twenty years since this model was first released, I am looking forward to comparing the latest run of this very unique piece of rolling-stock to the original special run release.

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