Sorry for the JKP "spam", no intention to offend

[Mark5]

I think the President series should be era appropriate.  I mean, James K Polk?  Shouldn't that be a 30' wood box with truss rods and wooden trucks?

Had they invented box cars in the 1840s?

[sizemore]

I don't really care what they do. I have enough cars to fill up my layout and then some. I will get what I need / want, and ignore the rest. Someone is buying this stuff, and good for them.

Exactly. I've got too much other stuff to spend my money on, like decoders (and parts for the Jeep!).

The S.

[DKS]

I don't really care what they do. I have enough cars to fill up my layout and then some. I will get what I need / want, and ignore the rest. Someone is buying this stuff, and good for them.

Actually, good for the rest of us, too, since the novelty collectors are probably helping to subsidize the stuff we happen to want.

[bbussey]

Not just the novelty collectors, but MTL collectors (or MTL accumulators) in general.  And yes - let boxcars representing the House of Representatives, European holidays, NASCAR racing, Warner Brothers cartoon characters, NASA, Godiva chocolate and whatever wild and wacky theme be next if it allows MTL to offer more prototypical models.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Not just the novelty collectors, but MTL collectors (or MTL accumulators) in general.  And yes - let boxcars representing the House of Representatives, European holidays, NASCAR racing, Warner Brothers cartoon characters, NASA, Godiva chocolate and whatever wild and wacky theme be next if it allows MTL to offer more prototypical models.

And like the Kato want's to make money idea, I think THAT should be a subject of N Scale Mythbusters... does MTL's creation of all the fantasy stuff really enable them to make the stuff that WE (the Railwire) want?

Does it REALLY take 25 different state cars to enable them to cover the loss (?) on one run of plain TTX cars flats (that are still ~$22 each)?

Or is this just some conjecture that we've been making for so long that we hold it as truth?

Where's Joe?

[wcfn100]

Remember when MTL didn't do any fantasy cars?  And apparently now they can't be in the black without them (three this month). 

What happened in between?  And don't try and blame the modelers or the market, because no one else had to go this route.


Jason

[bbussey]

Rising domestic costs, labor mostly.  They are the only major manufacturer that still makes product in the U.S.  Everyone else that used to manufacture in the U.S. went overseas either due to production/labor costs or to tighter environmental regulations.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Bryan, is that fact or conjecture?

[Mark5]

Everyone else that used to manufacture in the U.S. went overseas either due to production/labor costs or to tighter environmental regulations.

FWIW, there never has been much in the way U.S. manufacturing in N scale (as a percentage of N.A. prototype)

[bbussey]

Bryan, is that fact or conjecture?

Ed,

I'm not going to get into specifics, but that is fact.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks!

Just so you know, no offense was intended, but when it comes to online fora, you never know...

[wcfn100]

Rising domestic costs, labor mostly.  They are the only major manufacturer that still makes product in the U.S.  Everyone else that used to manufacture in the U.S. went overseas either due to production/labor costs or to tighter environmental regulations.

Doesn't Kadee still manufacture and assemble in the USA?  Being HO, they have to compete with many more companies that work overseas, but they've never had to go the fantasy route.


Jason

[bnsf971]

I think the President series should be era appropriate.  I mean, James K Polk?  Shouldn't that be a 30' wood box with truss rods and wooden trucks?

They should at least let the rivet counters have that  much fun!

Lee

Maybe the "Richard Nixon" car could be a leaking water tank car... (snicker)...


Okay, going back to my room now...

[Ian MacMillan]

I want Super Troopers cars...

[Bob Bufkin]

I suggest to Joe that they do a series of Railwire cars based on the members.  Each car painted up specifically for what road or what expertise they are really good at.