Micro-Trains November

[VGN50]

Burlington RPO
Mandan Ice Reefer
Great Northern 40' DD Boxcar 2 road numbers - Orange, Green, & Black
Penn Central Bay Window Caboose - PC Green
Another RBB&B Billboard
2009 Christmas Car with Micro Mouse
James K. Polk Car

Reprints are
C&O Chessie Covered Hopper
CP Bulkhead Flat with Pipe Load

Runner Pack is Trailer Train in yellow

Plus
Coke Container Load (3-pack)
6-wheel passenger trucks and 36" wheel sets
Swing motion caboose truck with Generator
Military Barracks Kit

3-car Circus runner pack, 2 flat cars with containers and 1 flat car with tent poles.

You can't say they haven't been busy.

[up1950s]

I wish MTL would have their website updated on first release of the new monthly cars . I subscribe , but I always hear the news before  I get the newsletter . The first news never has pictures , and with their website is parked on the previous months stuff making the wait for photos annoying .

[John]

I wish MTL would have their website updated on first release of the new monthly cars .

I agree ..

[DKS]

Photos here:

http://www.nscalesupply.com/MTL/MTL-New0911.html

[up1950s]

Photos here:

http://www.nscalesupply.com/MTL/MTL-New0911.html

Thanks David

[C855B]

Hmm... I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to see those TTX cars. It seemed like a year ago the shops were taking the pre-orders.

[Dave V]

I ordered up a 4-pack of those TTX cars some time ago.  I can't wait!

[Nato]

   Jees,The other two parts of the RBB&B Circus Train has not  even been released yet and they are making people pre order the next part,flat cars due for May release. Good thing most Reserve (Pre Orders) are not pay upfront, but pay when released. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake,Utah.

[asarge]

The reason you see them before they are posted on the website, is that dealers are getting their monthly Micro-News a few days before the website is updated and dealers are posting on their website early. Since MTL doesn't tell dealers to keep quiet until it's announced publicly, they feel it's ok to upload early. I have noticed however that lately, some of the e-tailers haven't been updating their sites so early.

[C855B]

Speaking o' which, my usual retailer is already listing the TTX runner pack as "sold out". His entire allocation was committed from pre-orders.

Allocation. Hmm. I know it's a pre-order world in N scale these days, but how is it that the manufacturers intentionally under-run? Kato, MTL, even Athearn are under-running known demand significantly, shipping fractions of committed orders. Do they not want our money? Craziness!

[wm3798]

I think what they don't want is a lot of surplus inventory, and they recognize that more than a few of us may have other financial priorities during these trying times...

I know I've experienced pre-order excitement only to have it replaced with shipping anxiety when the box shows up at my door when there's no money in the bank.

I don't think they're wrong to err on the side of caution at least for the next little while.  They get what they need to cover the cost of the run, and pretty much guarantee themselves a sell-out.  At the same time, they can gauge the demand for the next run.

Consider that the TTX yellow runner pack is announced just a month or so after the TTX brown was...  This after almost 20 years between runs of either.  Better to have short, frequent runs than long runs with an eternity between them.

Lee

[Mark5]

Allocation. Hmm. I know it's a pre-order world in N scale these days, but how is it that the manufacturers intentionally under-run?

I'm not sure about the others but MT may be limited by capacity.

[mcjaco]

Actually, it's all just a big conspiracy. 

[SkipGear]

Speaking o' which, my usual retailer is already listing the TTX runner pack as "sold out". His entire allocation was committed from pre-orders.

Allocation. Hmm. I know it's a pre-order world in N scale these days, but how is it that the manufacturers intentionally under-run? Kato, MTL, even Athearn are under-running known demand significantly, shipping fractions of committed orders. Do they not want our money? Craziness!

MT is producing the runner packs pretty close to pre-order with no over run. A few times I have had a customer come late to the game and ask for a runner pack inbetween announcement and production. I have had about a 50/50 sucess rate getting closed out pre-orders. Most of the time they come from a shop that cuts back it's orders after pre-ordering or was behind on previous commitments, not from over runs. I think they learned their lesson trying to guess the runner pack market with the Santa Fe hoppers. These were produced without taking pre-orders. Now they are getting turned into weathered cars.

[C855B]

> I think what they don't want is a lot of surplus inventory, ...

Nope. That's clearly not it, Lee. I'm talking about under-running committed orders. Nothing is going to be languishing in their warehouses. Kato shipped... what?... maybe half of what they had on order with the UP Heritage locos? Just try to find one in SP Heritage. I dare you.  

Then, all I have to do is waggle my index finger at Athearn and MTL over the SP bay window cabooses - there are the zillions of foobie-paint versions starting to gather dust on dealer shelves, oh, you wanted SP paint and details? Vanished literally in hours. Athearn jumping on board with that model was supposed to "fix" the MTL instant-collectors-item problem, but the Athearn hack in SP sold out even faster than the MTL, and they are not announcing or pre-cataloging any replacements, at least not now... just more foobie paint schemes. What are they thinking?

(I just realized in typing this that that both of my 'rant' targets are SP versions of [whatever]. I'm not especially an SP fan - I would like a caboose, tho' - but what is obvious here from the sidelines is the very high demand for the recent fallen flag that the makers are shorting. Repeatedly. Again, do they not want our money? Seems that way.)