With the release of American Fruit Packers #27 Haystack and the National Park Series #30 Yellowstone, many might ask what is next. 

With the production for these at Micro-Trains taking almost four years, we might ask ourselves that very question. But let’s go back in time and see where we have been and how this all began.

It was June of 1996 that we released the very first in the American Fruit Packer Series. The Cascadian label car was introduced at the Long Beach National Train Show. This event hosted by the NMRA, was an excellent place to start.

Actually the cars were FREE when a cold crisp Cascadian Apple was purchased for $26. The apples were really from the Cascadian Fruit Packers in Wenatchee WA! That was fun!

After that an AFP car was released one at a time, with a rhythm of once per year. That annual release lasted until the Talent fire in 2020. That along with staffing issues, brought on by the fire and Covid, has put Micro-Trains on a tough road of recovery. Their ability to keep ‘Special Runs’ like ours in any type of regular production, has been impossible.

American Fruit Packers Series has been the longest running series of any kind in any scale. We are certainly very proud of that consistency. The #26 car Matterhorn was the first in the series that missed the ‘annual release status’. It was released in 2022 and two years into the debacle in Talent. Now the #27 Haystack car is finally three years after that, 2025. And while we think ‘better late then never’, please read on.

The National Park Series began in 2000 and all of the National Park Series cars feature original art from my brother Philip Smith. It has been very fulfilling to be able to work with him and bring these dream trains to reality. We all have a sense of national pride. This series has showcased our great National Parks in a wonderful way – that being on the side of railcars!

I remember when that series began. We had three cars in production before the first was announced, and all being produced at Micro-Trains with their amazing four-color process. Often it was more like twelve ‘hits’ of color to achieve the excellence in the art on the side of the boxcar.

We have wonderful memories of creating each of these cars. Since the release of every car was met with ‘wow’ and ‘wonder’, how can we possibly end this! 

Producing cars like the AFP and NPS in a ‘series’ has brought joy to so many. It would be very difficult to say ‘this is the end of the line’. We can’t count, the many letters and emails, we have received over the years with accolades and appreciation for the fun these trains bring.

Included in the National Park Series are two train sets, (to date).

(1) The Centennial Tour train of passenger cars celebrates the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. This short train has a mural car with Phillip’s art. The other cars are decorated in the colors of the park ranger’s uniform and named for those that had such great influence at the beginning of the National Parks. Those four being: John Muir, Stephen Mather, Horace Albright and Teddy Roosevelt.

(2) The other special NPS train set is the Gold Spike Special, a train to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Last Spike in 1869. This UP yellow train also came in a collector’s box and was released just as we launched our RailSmith brand of N Scale trains.  

End of the Line?  My friend Cody Grivno from Model Railroader Magazine did a review in the June 2025 issue on our latest RailSmith Dome Coach. He finished his great review by saying, “I can’t wait to see what cars Lowell Smith announces next!”

So while we continue to ‘Build-a-Train’ in our line-up of RailSmith classic passenger trains, for now we think that it is best to wait and see for the NPS & AFP series cars that MTL has produced for these past 33 years. Surely the quality of what Micro-Trains brings to this cannot be understated. So finding another manufacturer to apply the four color process is not that simple. When asked about future production, Micro-Trains has said ‘we do not know’. So at least it is not ‘NO’. But we would like more assurances before we move forward with confidence. We do have our RailSmith factory producing N Scale cars with great success. So while we might consider that option, any such announcement would be in our regular eNews letter. 

For now, let’s look back and appreciate what we have, while hoping for a bright future. No, it is not the ‘end of the line’.