New run Athearn Bay Window Caboose anounced

[Philip H]

Gary,
I'd love to help out, but the linl says I have to be logged in to view the photo.

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks Philip,

I keep forgetting that since I'm often logged in from an old session.  Here's the same photo:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2331279

It's those little police-style spotlights with the parabolic reflectors.  I'm thinking some kind of pinhead...

Cheers,
Gary

P.S. I just notice that Stan Lytle (head of RailCarPhotos) joined Railwire.  Maybe we can ask him to change that login policy...

[sirenwerks]

Nano LED and, in the stamped details section, one of dishes or cones. http://www.ngineering.com/lightng.htm

[ljudice]

Re: the state of the hobby and new products...   Euro N was like this a couple of years ago - nothing new, just retreads of old stuff. Suddenly some new companies started filling in the gaps as the big players sorted out their finances and supply chains. I think things will get better over time, but honestly it's a small ripple in the big economic picture.

A great relief valve for this mess would be improvements at Shapeways, et. al - and a fast turnaround, high quality, low volume, custom decal supply.  I have a lot of nice projects waiting for decals, and no way am I cutting letters and numbers anymore.

I've become a happier person by just forgetting about this issue and just enjoying what's out there!

 

[wm3798]

Well, I can say that now that my income has retrenched to about 1987 levels, I'm not buying anything anytime soon, and if I do, it's going to be from ebay at an obscenely low price.  I love the new stuff that Bryan, Craig et al are bringing to the fore, but for the foreseeable future, it's well beyond my reach.

While my circumstances may not be what most guys are experiencing, I can safely say that I'm not alone.  Hobby funds come from disposable income, period.  And right now, there ain't a whole lot of that being thrown around.  Atlas and Athearn are smart to pull in their horns.  MT can do what it's doing because it's a domestic operation, and they have a stock pile of tooling and artwork that needs little if any further investment to keep bringing in revenue.  Sadly, I can't afford to be buying any of their new work either.

So yes, there's an embarrassment of riches in terms of models that are being introduced by the smalls, but who's buying them?

Lee

[bbussey]

Your entire post is pretty much that attitude I had some months back.   But this excerpt...well, I guess I have to say...show me.   You say the perceived slack is inaccurate, yet...what have we really seen come down the pike in the past two years?   

It's definitely inaccurate.  First off, it's unreasonable to expect any manufacturer to keep releasing multiple new tooling year-in and year-out.  That tooling has to be paid for, and it's paid for by releasing multiple runs over the course of a few years.  We continue to see new paint schemes released on tooling that debuted (or older tooling that was refined/enhanced) over the last decade - that counts as new product.  It's not as if the major manufacturers have released absolutely nothing for three or four years.  None of them go more than a couple of months without bringing something to market.  How many new motive power models can any manufacturer afford to issue, and how frequently, if it doesn't recoup its investment?  You know, $50-75K doesn't grow on trees.

Oh, how spoiled we are in the 21st century.  As recently as the 1980s, prior to the introduction of the RS-3 - there weren't many releases popping out from the majors on a regular basis.

[wcfn100]

First off, it's unreasonable to expect any manufacturer to keep releasing multiple new tooling year-in and year-out. 

If it's unreasonable, then they shouldn't say it.

On average, we produce two new locomotives [each year] in each scale and one re-run in each scale per month.

Two or three newly tooled wagons in each scale per year in addition to monthly re-runs and reliveried versions of existing wagons in each scale.

Jason

[wm3798]

Jason, maybe you haven't been reading the papers, but 2007 was the beginning of the end of Western Civilization as the world economy began to collapse.  I made a statement in 2007 that my projected income for 2008 was going to be $140,000, and I can assure you, that didn't happen by a long shot.

Looking backward it certainly looked logical for Atlas to proclaim these numbers, but as the availability of capital began to dry up, unemployment began to mushroom depleting the market's expendable cash, and the cost of doing business in China and available manufacturing resources changed with the Kader takeover of Sanda Khan, you have to understand that "things happen"....

My god, if all you have to worry about in today's world is whether or not you get a damn N scale locomotive on time, buddy, you've got it made!

Lee

[SkipGear]

@ Lee .... +1

Just because Atlas and Athearn haven't brought out new stuff doesn't mean the N scale world is ending.....the whole world that's the bigger issue at hand.


New cars arrived in the past year.....many in the past couple months as manufacturing starts to stabilize.

BLMA Gon
BLMA Spine
BLMA ARMN Reefer
FVM Wagontop
Bachmann 2-10-2
Athearn F59 retool
Kato Amtrak stuff (lots)
MTL Heavyweights
MTL High side Hopper

I'm sure there are more I missed or misquoted.

If you expand that back another year....
Bachmann 4-6-0
Bachmann GP9
Bachmann 70T
Bluford Hopper
Kato Gevo's
MTL More Heavyweights
Etc...
I need to go back through my news letters anc compile a real list.

[Bremner]

I just want another GP35, 2 more cabeese, 2-3 tunnel moters and a SD45! Add in a ton of box cars, covered hoppers and tank cars and I am good to go

[wcfn100]

Jason, maybe you haven't been reading the papers, but 2007 was the beginning of the end of Western Civilization as the world economy began to collapse.

What?

Oh. That must be why I only get three packets of ketchup at the drive through. 

Atlas had the money to buy some K-Line tooling.

Atlas had the money to buy all the Branchline train inventory and molds.

Or are they buying these things with pigs' ears?


Jason

[Bob Bufkin]

Don't think K-Line and Branchline does N scalers a hell of a lot of good.

[Denver Road Doug]

Atlas had the money to buy some K-Line tooling.

Atlas had the money to buy all the Branchline train inventory and molds.

Well, I think here might be the answer.

With my n-scale blinders on, it didn't occur to me to think about the capital they shoveled into these two endeavors.  And they certainly aren't gonna forego HO releases in lieu of spending money on HO tooling.   N-scale takes the hit.   Got it.   That gives me hope that it's NOT a matter of backing off of n-scale...could very well be a short-term cash flow issue. (on top of the perfect storm....somebody's got a pair of big brass nickel-silver one's at Atlas, apparently.)

Blaming it all on "perfect storm" alone doesn't explain why they are still pretty much holding steady with HO releases.

[wcfn100]

Don't think K-Line and Branchline does N scalers a hell of a lot of good.

Right, which should be fair game to criticize as an N scaler.  The economy didn't stop those things from happening.  But N scale? Whoa, look at the stock market.  lame.



Jason

[Bremner]

Well, I think here might be the answer.

With my n-scale blinders on, it didn't occur to me to think about the capital they shoveled into these two endeavors.  And they certainly aren't gonna forego HO releases in lieu of spending money on HO tooling.   N-scale takes the hit.   Got it.   That gives me hope that it's NOT a matter of backing off of n-scale...could very well be a short-term cash flow issue. (on top of the perfect storm....somebody's got a pair of big brass nickel-silver one's at Atlas, apparently.)

Blaming it all on "perfect storm" alone doesn't explain why they are still pretty much holding steady with HO releases.

OR it was too good of a price to pass on....