TheRailwire
General Discussion => N and Z Scales => Topic started by: CONRAIL FAN on March 06, 2007, 08:58:10 PM
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I know its good news that kato is producing more locomotives, But they got to make some more new models and get away from the sd40sand the 40-2s for a while . Just like their SD70 craze and coal porter craz. LIke bring out the c30-7s again and make more road names for the nw2s that they produced! or produce the c40-8 and Ws that would be a big seller. What do you guys think?
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I wouldnt hold my breath waiting for those. ;)
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i hope so my wallet would be empty then
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I think Kato marches to its own drummer and is far more interested in what will sell in the Japanese market than in the North American Market. Obviously Santa fe and UP are popular in Japan.
Why Kato is not announcing items until they are loaded in containers bound for the US is another question. Perhaps all the complaints about choices prior to release keeps Kato from announcing earlier. :-X
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We are just a small tidbit in Katos sales. They gear most of their releases toward Japanese prototypes. We get a bone thrown to us now and then.
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We are just a small tidbit in Katos sales. They gear most of their releases toward Japanese prototypes. We get a bone thrown to us now and then.
Don't forget they also produce European and Spanish locomotives for those respective markets so Katousa has to fight for production space with not only Japan but Europe as well (Spain is in EEC). You can't expect American dominance in a company headquartered in Japan. Japan will always come first. Atlas is an American company and you will get more traction talking to them. Kato just sell USA stuff as cream on their dollar (Yen) cake! If you want a loco made talk to Atlas.
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I just don't buy the "US is a tiny fraction of Kato"... They have an office building,
distribution network, etc... This is a major investment.
They also seem to be bringing in one new model every 1-2 weeks now. They may not
be of any use to you (or ME!!!) but they must be selling.
The US models must be 25-33% of their worldwide volume, or they would never
have handled it as a wholy owned subsidiary...
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Nevertheless Kato remains an enigma. :-X
SD40s are a good thing though. I have a bunch now. The long SD40 drought was painful for me.
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I just don't buy the "US is a tiny fraction of Kato"... They have an office building,
distribution network, etc... This is a major investment.
They also seem to be bringing in one new model every 1-2 weeks now. They may not
be of any use to you (or ME!!!) but they must be selling.
The US models must be 25-33% of their worldwide volume, or they would never
have handled it as a wholy owned subsidiary...
I had the chance to sit down and have a conversation with a Japanese model railroader a few years back. He told me everything, and I mean everything that runs on Japanese rails will be made in N scale at one time or another. So we are talking a huge volume. And I know Kato isnt the only producer of model trains in Japan. but even though they do have a large presence here in the US, it still pales in comparison to the Japanese sales. IMHO of course..
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I had the chance to sit down and have a conversation with a Japanese model railroader a few years back. He told me everything, and I mean everything that runs on Japanese rails will be made in N scale at one time or another. So we are talking a huge volume. And I know Kato isnt the only producer of model trains in Japan. but even though they do have a large presence here in the US, it still pales in comparison to the Japanese sales. IMHO of course..
I don't think that is nearly as difficult as you think. Remember, the Japanese railway system was a government entity from the beginning, so there was nowhere near the proliferation of different prototypes you had in North America, with hundreds of individual companies buying, and designing, locomotives and cars. I'd be willing to bet that the total number of steam locomotive designs in Japan are in the low dozens and may indeed be no more than some single railroads in the USA. I haven't seen Kato make much of an effort to model the private Japanese light electric railways. Some of the bigger interurbans, yes, but the street railway type, no.
I had heard from a reputable source that North American sales represented less than 20 percent of total Kato sales.
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Bottom line they still wont do anything but western roads... ;D
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Bottom line they still wont do anything but western roads... ;D
:P
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Kato does Canadian stuff. Are CN and CP western or eastern, both, or something else (like Canadian)?
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Kato does Canadian stuff. Are CN and CP western or eastern, both, or something else (like Canadian)?
Kato considers all of Canada to be western. :P
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Kato does Canadian stuff. Are CN and CP western or eastern, both, or something else (like Canadian)?
Kato considers all of Canada to be western. :P
Ah, they why did they do the VIA P42's? They are only used in eastern Canada, mostly in the Windsor - Quebec City corridor. Someone must have told Kato that VIA uses the P42's on the Canadian.
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Kato does Canadian stuff. Are CN and CP western or eastern, both, or something else (like Canadian)?
Kato considers all of Canada to be western. :P
Ah, they why did they do the VIA P42's? They are only used in eastern Canada, mostly in the Windsor - Quebec City corridor. Someone must have told Kato that VIA uses the P42's on the Canadian.
Man this is so easy, VIA runs in western Canada! ;)
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Kato definately has a bias towards certain roads. Throw in a few ounces of mystery choices (Algoma Central was on the top of everyones list as a must have no doubt!).
Actually, I am not even sure there is a bias. But one could write a thesis pondering the motivation for ommitting certain roads form appearing on Kato releases.
For instance, there were B&O lettered RDCs running up into the late 1980s (on MARC by then). B&O owned a large fleet. Did Kato do any in B&O?
There are countless other mysteries.
I like my Kato stuff, but they are also an enigma to me.
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Kato definately has a bias towards certain roads. Throw in a few ounces of mystery choices (Algoma Central was on the top of everyones list as a must have no doubt!).
Actually, I am not even sure there is a bias. But one could write a thesis pondering the motivation for ommitting certain roads form appearing on Kato releases.
For instance, there were B&O lettered RDCs running up into the late 1980s (on MARC by then). B&O owned a large fleet. Did Kato do any in B&O?
There are countless other mysteries.
I like my Kato stuff, but they are also an enigma to me.
The biggest BS with Kato over the RDC thing was the Boston & Maine.... The B&M owned the largest fleet of RDC's yet Kato thought to do NONE.
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Kato definately has a bias towards certain roads. Throw in a few ounces of mystery choices (Algoma Central was on the top of everyones list as a must have no doubt!).
just imagine how many SD40 they could have sold if they would have put some other colors on like FURX, GCFX, HLCX, Alstom, ex Alstom GTW/CN, ex Alstom WC/CN instead of this more than just boring YouPee or ATSF, even a BNSF patch job would have been much more of a seller...
...but hey, good for us custompainters, we will provide you with all those engines mentioned above, you just have to ask
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Yes Besides producing Santa Fe UP, and BNSF road names. Leasing Roads would be sweet in the Sd40s and 40-2. Those would sell pretty good. But I think they should please the eastern modelers as well too.They used to in the 90's and early 2000s. They produced an array of good Locomotives, and it was alittle bit of everything. But its like they say Good things take time