Interesting post by Charlie Vlk about Kato's business plan

[C855B]

OMG! Thanks!   

[Mark5]

Mark,

And, while I am not very much different from you in what I have on the workbench or storage shelves loco wise, an impartial and indelicate observer (like a wife, perhaps!) might wonder why you need even more Kato locos if you have 40 unfinished products already stalled in making their way to your layout?  Of course that gets into the whole discussion about wants and needs and how we N scalers sometimes get those two mixed up and intertwined!

Hey Jeff,

Ya gotta remember were here in this forum to have fun, and maybe learn something. This whole hobby is kinda useless to someone that aint interested in it eh?

But if you must know, I have all these locos becuase I love this certain railroad, and I want to model it. The fixer upper house, long hours working, and concentrating on raising my kids means that my layout is still benchwork for now - and all the loco projects are "on the shelf" waiting for me to have some time to mess with them (which should be very soon!)

I'd like to add a few more high nose SD40-2s to my fleet, but I can wait until someone (not IM BTW) usurps Kato on these.

Mark

[bbussey]

Just zipped through three pages.  A couple of thoughts:

Kato is taking some hits here for the sound business decision to concentrate on its primary market.  However, Kato was the first manufacturer to release prototype-specific complete passenger consists, and continues to do so on a semi-annual to annual basis.  They also continue to reissue the previously-released consists with new car names and road numbers as the demand warrants.  With the largest number of manufacturers and the greatest diversity of product in N scale history currently in force, Kato should be commended for releasing such specific finite-appeal multi-component models for such a small percentage of their consumer base.

When two models of the same prototype hit the market within the same timeframe, generally it's not a case of the second manufacturer trying to step on the sales of the first manufacturer.  GP38-2s from Kato and LL, FT units from MTL and IMRC, PAs from LL and Kato, SP bay window cabooses from MTL and Athearn, PS-4000s from BLMA and ExR ... none of these were purposely duplicated, and its usually too late to abort the projects by the time the respective manufacturers learn of the other.  Some of the manufacturers communicate with each other yet others don't, so there is bound to be a double release every so often.

[Rossford Yard]

Bryan,

Well said.  No company has unlimited resources and those in MRR cant' afford to duplicate projects.  Kato has focused on some exciting new projects that are prototype specific beyond anyones wildest dreams even a few years ago.  They did announce a while back that their interest was in "iconic American trains" so this is not a surprise to any of us.  Perhaps they are seeing other mfgs can more easily step on the locomotive turf and are looking to make even more money by selling bigger and bigger related items, like whole trains and collectible sets of the SD70ACE.  

They take the knocks for not doing the SD40-2 repaints like other companies do with their stuff. I actually get the impression that Mr. Kato just likes to like the product he makes. I know he was in DFW measuring up the Big Boy for the love of it, I guess, since they never brought it out.  Maybe he heard Athearn was ahead of him and stopped it.  

Of course, MT and their collectibles and Walthers not releasing enough locos and cars and BMan still mostly hovering in slightly ower quality all recieve complaints, too.  So, perhaps most of us are just mainstream modelers and make up the bulk of the market with more "normal" stuff.  But someone must be buying MT collectible and Kato passenger trains or they wouldn't keep making them.

Mark,

I am with ya on loving certain railroads and just liking the idea of having engines around. My layout is half the garage, and my display shelves are on the side wall where I get out of my car.  Basically, I get a little rush every time I come home, lookin at my little trains.... 

[Mark5]

Leo, with all due respect, I don't see a big market for that sort of thing (cheater boxcars).  Maybe because I'm not an N trakker, but even there, I don't see much of a need.  Saturday I ran a 30-car train behind a single Bachmann 2-8-0 with few if any hiccups.  Steam era would be the only practical application for such a beast, and newer steam locomotives are getting better, or can generally be made better.  Also, steam era trains tended to be shorter anyway, so where's the need?

I have no use for cheater boxcars as my steamers mainly lug coal cars. But ... as for short steam trains, on N&W Class A and Y locomotives routinely pulled 200 cars on certain parts of the railroad.

Of course it is absolutely ridiculous to expect N scale steamers to pull 200 cars, but 30 cars is a dinky train for late steam.

Mark

[bicknell]

I have no use for cheater boxcars as my steamers mainly lug coal cars. But ... as for short steam trains, on N&W Class A and Y locomotives routinely pulled 200 cars on certain parts of the railroad.

This would be a more advanced project (due to the trucks and short frame size), but an auxiliary water tender, powered, would also be excellent.  Most all roads used them from time to time when there were needs for water tower maintenance or other issues, plus it allows for present day excursion runs to look right.

Also, while mainline coal trains would have been hoppers only, it was not uncommon for mine runs to include 1-2 box cars, tank cars, or flat cars with equipment and supplies to and from....

[John]

Leo, with all due respect, I don't see a big market for that sort of thing (cheater boxcars).

I agree ..

[Bruce Bird]

Ahh- Charlie's old post keeps returning again and again on forums, and this one has led to a very interesting discussion.  And a rapidly-expanding one at that!

When we used to have the FuN RuN at the UAW hall in Bloomington, IL Charlie and the Northwest Ntrakkers would come down for the weekend and we'd just run trains.  And talk about trains.  Charlie was always a wealth of info and was almost always able to give us a heads-up on what was coming down the pike.  He worked for Kato during this stretch and this same discussion was held several times over- and this was 15 years ago.  The more things change the more they stay the same.

I do like Kato's quality but since I model a specific line at a specific time I don't have very many of their models.  I learned from Charlie a LONG time ago that to wait for WM SD40s in either one of the 2 schemes was an unfulfilled promise, and if I wanted them I needed to get the undecs and do them myself.  I like the results better anyway.

I do remember one time Charlie came down and was quite excited to meet me.  He knew I was big into WM and he had a head's up that couldn't wait.  He said something along the lines of "I bet you can't guess what Atlas has coming that you'll need about a hundred of!"  I paused about 2 seconds and asked "Fishbelly hoppers?"  And he just laughed and said "I didn't expect you to get it the FIRST guess!"

[Nato]

   Yes there were 2 KATO Milwaukee GP 38 body shells. The first had wrong colored numbers so KATO USA offered a shell swap,your wrong one for a correct one. I kept one of my two locos with the wrong color numbers and swaped one. Yes there are Japanese modeling forums for N out there at Yehaw (Yahoo!) and other sites. I belong to one and I'am sure Japan has several forms for native Japanese modelers in Japan. One of the first N Scale Brass Trains was from Key Imports with a dummy mogul locomotive and three 1890's passenger cars, think Overton Style. The baggage car was the cheater car.This was a cute looking set,alas I never bought one. On my home layout anything much over 30 cars would look out of place and if I take large modern steam to shows to run on the Wasatch N Scale (WNS) layout I will double head if I wish to pull extra long trains. The old Con Cor Kato GN S2 4-8-4 will easly pull 50 cars on level track I and several other modelers use to run them at shows on the old Utah N Rail N Quack layout,the new made in China copy version and the Daylight 4-8-4 version are almost as good. Nate Goodman (Nato).