Kato East vs. West?

[davefoxx]

Another eastern U.S. passenger train manufactured by Kato that I don't believe has been mentioned yet is the Virginia Railway Express.  In addition to the bi-level passenger cars, there's F40PHs and an M36PH:

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/KATO-VRE-N-Scale-s/3420.htm

[mcjaco]

And you always can strip and repaint Kato engines.

That would require getting off the internet and modeling.

[johnh35]

U30C Production since 1989.

UP, UP, SP, SP, RI, BN, ATSF, ATSF, ATSF, ATSF, BN, BN, BN, UP, UP, ATSF, ATSF

SBD, PRR, D&H, Chessie

USDT

No East Coast Raods since 1st release ('89).

Jason

And how many releases have there been?

[wcfn100]

And how many releases have there been?

Best I can tell, three.

Jason

[nstars]

There are actually quite a patchwork of railways that eventually made up the national system in Germany - like the Prussian State Railways, Bavarian State Railways, etc...   Even after the German railways merged (and not all of them did), there was the Imperial Railways,  the DR  of the WW-II days,  the DB of the post war era and multiple re-brandings since the re-unification (although steam was gone by then).

And today, things are even more diverse than the US/Canada in that respect, with dozens of private companies running trains over the public owned infrastructure.

As far as B&O having a more diverse fleet than ALL of Europe, I mean really, there is some incredible variety out there! 

And in France it's not much different with the Nord, Est, PLM etc.

If I look at Kato these days I get the feeling they do have a different technical and/or market approach compared to for instance Atlas. Kato seems to be more interested in short runs with few differences while Atlas is capable of making runs with several different paint schemes. Based on some discussions I had with Kato people, I get the impression that it's quite difficult for them to change something, especially paint schemes. Look for instance at the NW2, how many different paint scheme's have been offered sofar? My guess is that this engine has been used by most of the railroads, certainly more than offered sofa. I had a similar discussion about the PRR baggage car from the BLW. As far as I understand it's very difficult to change the number on the car if it would be sold separately. I can tell you, I would buy several of those right away.

On the other hand, I have to respect Kato for the choices they make, they have to earn a living, not me. But I'm glad, that Atlas is also there as they provide for some great stuff.

Marc

 

[lock4244]

It clearly sucks to model Mexican railroads.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing.

Painful western bias by Jason's posts. Yet no MILW SD45 or U30C? Must be a bias against the mighty MILW as well.

[Bob Bufkin]

I know the Milwaukee made it to Seattle (I've actually seen a switcher working there many years ago) but for some reason never think of it as a Western road.

[peteski]

Bob -  Not so sure from Kato though!   There is a little bit of munging around who makes what - a lot of Lemke products are branded Hobbytrain, which are made by various plants around the world.  Then there is Kato/Lemke which is true Kato.  Most of the Kato products are electric or diesel locos, passenger cars and Electric Multiple Unit trains (EMU).  But a lot of stuff is called "Kato" in the US - like tamper model that came from Hobbytrain a couple of years ago.

Trix and Fleischmann (owned by ROCO) do a lot of steam of course, and it would be interesting to study why they get
a lot more steam than we do.  One thing is that the price of those models is in the $300-500 range most of the time.

- Lou

I can confirm Lou's statement that Kato/Lemke items are truly made by Kato while Lemke/Hobbytrain items are not Kato made. The latter are made by Chinese or Korean factories. I own several items from both ventures and the Hobbytrain stuff (like the Plasser tamper machine, Zeppelin car, the Leopold rail gun or steam and diesel locos) are made by Aijin or some unnamed Chinese makers.  The "genuine" Lemke/Kato models are clearly packaged in Kato boxes.  There is a big difference in quality between Kato/Lemke and Lemke/Hobbytrain items.

Too bad some of the US distributors pigeonhole all those items under Lemke/Hobbytrain brand. So you never know whether the item you are buying is a higher quality Kato item or a more generic model (which still has a premium price).

As far as the price of other the European-made stem loco models goes, partial reason for  the high prices is the Dollar-Euro exchange rate.  I recall that back when Euro was just introduced (and worth about half a dollar) I was buying lots of European models for very affordable prices. 

[ljudice]

.
As far as the price of other the European-made stem loco models goes, partial reason for  the high prices is the Dollar-Euro exchange rate.  I recall that back when Euro was just introduced (and worth about half a dollar) I was buying lots of European models for very affordable prices.

The high price of Euro stuff doesn't look QUITE so high anymore thanks to rising prices here!      But there are still a lot of eye opening differences.  I always wonder if it's the price for a smaller run of a more specialized model - and wonder if that would work here if people were offered the option.  Ie.  would you pay $75 street for a UP C44-9W - but pay $125 street for an NS C40-9W that has all the right details?

Sorry for going OT again.  Wait, this may be getting back OT!

[nstars]

I can confirm Lou's statement that Kato/Lemke items are truly made by Kato while Lemke/Hobbytrain items are not Kato made. The latter are made by Chinese or Korean factories. I own several items from both ventures and the Hobbytrain stuff (like the Plasser tamper machine, Zeppelin car, the Leopold rail gun or steam and diesel locos) are made by Aijin or some unnamed Chinese makers.  The "genuine" Lemke/Kato models are clearly packaged in Kato boxes.  There is a big difference in quality between Kato/Lemke and Lemke/Hobbytrain items.

Too bad some of the US distributors pigeonhole all those items under Lemke/Hobbytrain brand. So you never know whether the item you are buying is a higher quality Kato item or a more generic model (which still has a premium price).

As far as the price of other the European-made stem loco models goes, partial reason for  the high prices is the Dollar-Euro exchange rate.  I recall that back when Euro was just introduced (and worth about half a dollar) I was buying lots of European models for very affordable prices.

Hobbytrain used to be made by kato in the past, just like Lemke is today. In a way they have the same commercial relation that Atlas and Concor used to have with Kato in the past.

As a european I can assure you that the costs of model trains have always been considerable higher in Europe than in the US. A diesel locomotive for 100 dollar was already common during the time of the 40 dollar US diesels and these days it's probably around 150 dollar. But there was a time shortly after the introduction of the Euro (wished they never had done it) that the dollar was quite strong against the Euro but unfortunately that has changed unfortunately.

Marc

[Mark5]

I've got well over a hundred Kato locos in PRR, NYC, DL&W, B&O, C&O, D&H, EL, RDG and others. What's the origin of this "bias" that so many people claim?

No comment on the bias, but I'd wager that most of the roads you list have not been run this century.

Mark

[wcfn100]

No comment on the bias, but I'd wager that most of the roads you list have not been run this century.

Mark

For the sake of discussion, how many of those were released in the last ten years?

Jason

 

I will say that D&H PAs were only 8 years ago and are still available!. 

I don't care if there is a bias as I wish there were no decorated models at all, but a case can easily be made that Kato has narrowed it's focus to the easy money.

Once these Heritage units get released, the field will even up quite a bit.

Jason

[Mark5]

 

Honestly I don't really care what road names Kato does as long as they supply undecorateds (assuming they make a loco I want/need). The odds of seeing an N&W loco from Kato are quite remote.

For others there might possibly have been pent up demand for F units in endless roads - this demand may have been somewhat alleviated when IM started doing Fs. Still others want SD40-2s - for those waiting these past 13 years for another run of the Kato early SD40-2 patience has been rewarded.

Mark

[Scottl]

I honestly can't see the problem if you are already prepared to paint and finish yourself.  Why does it matter if you have to strip off another paint job?  It costs almost nothing, takes little time or effort.  It does no harm to the shell.

I can understand why those not willing or without time to finish models would want specific road names.  But what is the deal about undecorated units?  They are all undecorated if we get off our  .

[pnolan48]

I just paint them and change details if need be. When I started there were two road names in my LHS, Santa Fe blue and Santa Fe red--oh, and PRR buried on the bottom shelf. I think my LHS had perhaps six locos total in N.

Probably spend less time on a PRR paint job than I do moaning and whining here. Or reading about the moaning and whining. By all measures, Kato is a small company (as is Atlas) and can do only so many new products a year. There are only so many people there to shepherd along a new project.