iHobby

[TiVoPrince]

Atlas
has not released a loco recently.  Boo flickin Hoo.  More importantly they have returned Code55 flex to us (in a reasonable time frame) after a completely unexpected loss of the tooling. 

Unless you are currently collecting/accumulating, the lack of track is a larger blow across the hobby.  Hard to sell trains when the track is on permanent backorder.  Relplacing that tooling must have cost much in resources that could have been applied to new locos.  Capital is not unlimited and must be applied reasonably to allow the business to survive.  N is still a minority scale, if you wanted everything right now, changing to the majority scale is a reasonable course of action for you.  HO will eventually run out of things to do in plastic and my top desires will get built, simply because they will run out of other projects.

Would you be complaining if they hit my top three (all highly SP specific) SDP45, SD45X and DH643?  Of course you would...

[asarge]

Amen JJ, They have to get the items that contribute to consistent cash flow out. Cars and Loco's can be hit or miss, but the staples are consistent cash flow and they are just now catching up to that. Considering the fact that they still have to pay the overhead and then develop new products, cash was and probably still is tight for alot of the big guys. The new guys may not have quite the overhead costs and there fore have a little more flexibility.......for now.

[Dave V]

You know, I'm actually a little relieved right now that Atlas and Athearn aren't coming out with new stuff that would interest me.  I'm pretty set for the next year with what I've got on pre-order from Kato, BLMA, ESM, and Bluford.

Only the announcement of one of three things right now would send me into a seizure:

1.  A PRR-prototype steam loco from any manufacturer of any class
2.  Another PRR or PC/CR-appriopriate electric (P5a, E33, E44)
3.  A Conrail-correct SD40-2.

I would venture to guess that #3 is the most likely of my three to happen, yet in the grand scheme of things, very unlikely.  I might also get excited over an SW1500, but not as much.

The other trouble is so much of what I want has already been released in limited production runs, and for those things I wasn't lucky enough to snag (PC F units from IM, for example), I expect to pay top dollar.

In the meantime, there are a few Atlas re-paints I'm interested in such as the CR/PC NE-6 paint-out cabin car and some new road numbers in CR for the Trainman 90T hopper.

[ljudice]

Not really sure why you guys seem to miss my point every single time...

I said Atlas has had NO new models announced in 17  months.  That's all I said.  Since you have no idea of what I buy or want to buy, I wouldn't go making assumptions about my wanting "more". It's also no criticism of Atlas - except for the C40-8W, I've been happy with everything I've ever purchased from them.  I also appreciate the new roadnames on old models.

Let me say it again: based on their website, no new models in 17 months.  That's all I'm discussing.

By the way - at iHobby did ATLAS announce any new models?  Sounds like yes!  In N???  No.  Why??  

If Kato or Athearn or Intermountain announced nothing in N for 17 months, you guys would be jumping up and down "questioning their committment to N".  But for Atlas - a total pass!!!  

It's amazing!!!

[Bob Bufkin]

Got the same wish as Dave only I'll add a decent PRR/PC SD-45 to the list.

[m301]

Dave Vollmer, Didn't Bachmann come out with an E33?

I too would like to see a CR correct SD-40-2

Although I applaud Atlas for the Dash 8's, I'm very upset at the quantities available. Man did they disappear fast.

[ljudice]

Try tophobbytrains.com - they had most of the Dash-8's last time I looked and ship very quickly...

[bbussey]

... All I said was that it's just kind of strange that Atlas hasn't announced a NEW model since May, 2009 - about 17 months ago, while everyone else seems to be able to churn things out.  And oddly, they've announced about a dozen HO models in this time period (who knows how many O things as well)

Makes you wonder...
 

And why aren't you counting all of the N scale vintage motive power that Atlas has upgraded over the last few years, that is now DCC-ready or DCC-equipped?  That is all new tooling, no?  I'm not going to go to the Atlas website and check release dates, but the RS3, RS11, GP7, GP9, GP30, GP35, GP38 and U25B all have had face lifts in recent years, and some of them have gotten additional phase variations as well.

[bbussey]

If Kato or Athearn or Intermountain announced nothing in N for 17 months, you guys would be jumping up and down "questioning their committment to N".  But for Atlas - a total pass!!!  

It's amazing!!!

Atlas hasn't announced "nothing" in the last 17 months.  They just haven't announced any all-new motive power models.  They've announced new tooling in other areas, as well as new paint schemes on existing equipment regularly and bring back motive power long unavailable, such as the Trainmasters.  There absolutely is no grounds for bashing Atlas in regard to their commitment to N scale.  Totally baseless, and absurd.

[CBQ Fan]

Maybe I wasn't clear in my comments...

All I said was that it's just kind of strange that Atlas hasn't announced a NEW model since May, 2009 - about 17 months ago, while everyone else seems to be able to churn things out.  And oddly, they've announced about a dozen HO models in this time period (who knows how many O things as well)

Makes you wonder...
 

There is a post on the Atlas O forum that is complaining about all of the new things the HO and N guys are getting.  Very interesting....

[sirenwerks]

Only the announcement of one of three things right now would send me into a seizure:

If a seizure were a sign of new product, then in my world there'd be new products every day.

[MichaelWinicki]

Got the same wish as Dave only I'll add a decent PRR/PC SD-45 to the list.

Don't tease me Bob.

I about cried when I saw Kato's list of to-be released SD45's and no PRR, PC or EL listed.

[Puddington]

Frankly; short of someone releasing Alco switchers or a steam engine that isn't so large that it needs a freakin zip code of it's own, I don't really care if I see any new power for a while......

[Dave V]

Dave Vollmer, Didn't Bachmann come out with an E33?

Not in N.  There was a very short-lived rumor they might, but never confirmed.

[One of One-Sixty]

I guess with me, not modeling anything factual this decscion is lost on me.  But did anybody ever think that maybe they hit a dry spell, or maybe it is taking longer to get things develop.  Who knows, but with all this bickering back and forth we are starting to sound like the A-Board which is one of the reasons why we left it for greener pasture.

I will say that there is a small company coming out with GM Fishbowl Buses soon