Atlas moved their production of freight cars to the US for a while years back. Then moved it overseas again. There is more than molding. I believe painting is pretty expensive, if you have to pay someone to do it. This is why MT charges more for more complex schemes.
Frank
There also are EPA issues in New Jersey regarding the painting. I know that was a factor initially in moving the freight car finishing overseas.
The track manufacturing also was moved overseas, including the Code 80 - the track-making machines ran practically 24/7 and were very impressive in operation. Since the track-making machines were hand-built by Atlas and amortized decades ago, the only assumption is that it's far cheaper to have even the original track manufactured overseas than in Hillside.
Regarding the tooling - it is far far less expensive to do it overseas than here. ESM has done both, and it's not even close. Regarding the painting/printing, it's less expensive overseas even with the import costs on short runs. Again, ESM has done both - the costs are closer admittedly, but it's still less expensive overseas and the overall quality is better.
