Key imports still in business????

[71jeep]

Hi All...

I was just wondering if Key is still around there website is down you do not see there advertisements any where anymore so I was just wondering if anyone has heard or seen anything??

Take care

[Walkercolt]

Yes Key is alive and well, but not "pushing product" in N. They have some things coming down the pike in N. Expect to hear about them very late this year. The ads weren't cost effective and they are overhauling their web-site. They just released a "G" gauge engine....about $3 grand worth and all of them are sold before they are made. 

[71jeep]

Thankyou for the reply I was hoping they were not gone but with things the way they are you never know.

Thankyou very much

[FloridaBoy]

Frankly, I could care less if Key was around or not. Overpriced.  Not worth the buck to runners.  Best rating for performance is "OK".  I had a few pieces of steam, including an H4 GN Pacific that the N scale world considered good back then, but to me it was tender driven with sticky non-powered drivers, stiff, and I got rid of it thankfully to a brass collector who was as eager to buy it as I was to sell it.   I rated Kato Hudsons as much higher, and now the Spectrum, Athearn, and even Model Power locos had better detail and peformance and are much less now than the Key ones were back then. 

I had a brass Key NYC Mike same story only it had a "decent" mechanism, but the original owner told me the original motor was shegatz, so he re-motored it with a Sagami and flywheel.  It ran well, but was way too delicate for even careful handling, so again I sold it on eBay to another collector with the same eager attitude as mine. 

I rate Key stuff slightly above Hallmark, but considering the flexibility, adaptability, and standardization of parts in mainline manufacturers, I will take the Atlas, Kato, Lifelike/Walthers, Athearn, and IM any day of the week. 

Sorry for having a dissenting opinion, but N isn't better off with brass like HO is. 

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

[Walkercolt]

Ken, I agree with you totally that N-scale brass quality is all-over. I've got three great runners from three different importers, but I "cherry picked" every one of them. Rumor: Key is working with a Chinese company(could that be Kader???) to make split-frame mechanisms for their new desiels. I'm not supposed to say anymore, except Key may fill-in some voids in deseils, (How about Baldwins?) and the prices may drop dramatically. Around the end of the year you should be hearing about some new items, at prices much more in-line with plastic engines, I was told. This of course, could become "vaporware", but I don't think it will. We'll see. ??? ;D