Looks like Atlas is sorting out their issues!

[CBQ Fan]

I saw this on the A-forun and thought some here might find it interesting.  I am hoping they get the issues sorted out soon so I can plan some new purchases.  It reminds me of the story of Sears, they would look to buy such a large percentage of a companies production run that they could dictate price, delivery etc and if they did not get what they wanted the company would look at loosing 80-90% of their sales in one shot when Sears cancelled their order.  This was years ago though. 

"I'm cross-posting this from the HO forum since it applies here as well.

There has been a lot of speculation in this and other threads and I think we need to clear a few things up.

As most of you have noticed, we have slowed down the amount of new announcements and have even held off on formally announcing several items that were included in the last catalog. There have also been ongoing delays in the delivery of announced products.

It would be time consuming to address each delayed/unannounced item on a case-by-case basis. Suffice it to say, we have been experiencing heavier than normal delays from one of our primary overseas suppliers. We recently made a decision to delay most planned product announcements until we get a better handle on delivery and lead time. At the same time, we are currently working on a new set of announcements for both HO and N-scale.

As always, thank you for your patience and support of Atlas products.

 
Rob Pisani
Atlas Model Railroad Co."
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=65820

[Mark5]

Nothing new here ... if you've been paying attention

[daniel_leavitt2000]

So much belly aching over there... one guy was listing how everything they designed in the last few years sucked, but criticizing them for not introducing anything new in the last year....

"The food is so bad... and in such small quantities"

[tom mann]

So much belly aching over there... one guy was listing how everything they designed in the last few years sucked, but criticizing them for not introducing anything new in the last year....

"The food is so bad... and in such small quantities"

Um...that guy was you!

http://forum.atlasrr.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=54128&whichpage=5

[CBQ Fan]

I have never been disappointed in a product purchased from Atlas!!!

[Dave V]

There are a lot of complex reasons why the flow of relatively inexpensive trains from China has slowed...  Anyone who takes the time to educate himself about the larger world can imagine any number of possible reasons Atlas is having to regroup.  For the greater good of our trade balance I would be happy if we could convince the Chinese to float the Yuan, but it will dramatically change the landscape of this hobby.  Made in the USA (and likewise priced) may be the way of the future.

I respect John's desires to keep gossip and bashing of other forums of the Railwire.  In that spirit I'll simply voice my extreme disappointment at the way the A-board has been lately.  The signal-to-noise ratio has become almost intolerable.  I visit much less frequently.

[sirenwerks]

There are a lot of complex reasons why the flow of relatively inexpensive trains from China has slowed... 

I blame it all on Liu Zhijun. Do I make the edumicated list?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I would like to see more Atlas stuff, we all would but I don't think any of their new products aside from the C40-8W had any real problems.

[Chris333]

Micro Trains is currently unable to make Z scale track for the same reasons. And in most places the track is sold out.

[Packer]

Made in the USA (and likewise priced) may be the way of the future.

Shouldn't have moved in over there in the first place, IMO.

There's not that much of a difference between the price of American-made frieght cars and China-made frieght cars.
Kadee (USA): http://www.kadee.com/ca/40ps1/40ps1.htm
Intermountain (China): http://www.intermountain-railway.com/ho/hoboxcars.htm

About $3 in difference

[wes_sutton]

I blame it all on Liu Zhijun. Do I make the edumicated list?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Its still rather scary to think one company in China could derail so many model projects here. Even Kader owned Bachmann has been very quiet lately.

[Ian MacMillan]

I blame it all on Liu Zhijun. Do I make the edumicated list?

+1

[SkipGear]

Its still rather scary to think one company in China could derail so many model projects here. Even Kader owned Bachmann has been very quiet lately.

Bachmann, a year or two back, changed their announcement strategy. There would only be one major set of announcements a year and the products announced would be in process or production when announced. They got burned when they first announced the 4-6-0 and the Russian 2-10-0 and couldn't make them happen about 5 years back so now nothing gets announced till they know they can actually make it. Last year they announced 4 all new loco's (GP7, 4-6-0, 70T, Trolley) and a new freight car in N. I lost count of the stuff in other scales. I expect a similar group some time around the NMRA show.

The volume coming from Bachmann is probably part of the Atlas problem considering they are coming from the same factory. Would you give up production capacity of your own product to make things for a competitor?

[cv_acr]

In my experience the ETA of a new model product almost always gets pushed back at some point. Atlas is certainly not unique there.

While some people do the whole Chicken Little "the sky is falling" every time something gets pushed back several months and wonder if anything's wrong, I pretty much expect it to happen to some extent on almost every announcement.