ST C39-8 and PS 4785 hopper pushed back

[daniel_leavitt2000]

https://www.scaletrains.com/pages/product-schedule

Originally these were supposed to be arriving this November. They are now pushed to Dec 2019.

That will give me a little time to save my nickels for a few more hoppers. I hope they use this down time to add a proper baffle to the speakers.

title edited: see post from Shane below.  -gfh

[u18b]

WAY back????   

I clicked expecting it to be a year or two because of low reservations.

[jagged ben]

WAY back????   

I clicked expecting it to be a year or two because of low reservations.

Um... Dec 2019 is over a year.

[u18b]

hahahaha....
I obviously need to go to bed.

Good night!

[Peter Amling]

I saw this too and was frustrated as I have two on preorder. I guess they still need more preorders.

[unittrain]

Some manufacturers are able to market plenty of N scale without these preorder ordeals others hmm. At least we got Atlas, MT, Bluford and Trainworx ect I ordered a half dozen PS 4785s and a C39-8 but not sure when or if I'll see them at this rate. They are becoming more Exactrail like in their view of N scale. I guess some companies need a lot of preorders while some don't or don't need as many, as most manufacturers don't get to concerned with preorders, or at least as far as I know don't voice it as loudly. I'm no expert on the industry just my 2 cents worth.

[Englewood]

The hoppers in HO and the crude tankers also got pushed back to December 2019.  I thought the tank cars sold pretty well.
Maybe some parts in their models were affected by the China factory closure?

[GhengisKong]

Maybe @scaletrains can clear up some confusion, hopefully give us some insight as well.

[Scottl]

Were they affected by the China factory closing?  We are always so quick to second guess companies.

[scaletrains]

Maybe @scaletrains can clear up some confusion, hopefully give us some insight as well.

@GhengisKong: thank you for tagging us in this thread.

When I provided content to the person who maintains the ETA page yesterday, I must have had an out of body experience because I accidentally passed along incorrect information.

Here are the actual ETAs.
N C39-8: January 2019
N PS-4785 Covered Hopper: February 2019 (our website will say Winter 2018/2019 when corrected)

Our website ETA page will be updated today.  Please accept my apologies for the mistake and any frustration or aggravation I may have caused.  This was certainly not my intention.

Shane


ps: we were not affected by the recent factory closure.  Our models are made in another factory.

[Peter Amling]

Thanks for clearing that up Shane.

January 2019 is waaaaay better than December 2019. 

[unittrain]

Thanks Shane, I'll take that rant back sorry.

[scaletrains]

Thanks Shane, I'll take that rant back sorry.

Thanks @unittrain.

FWIW: We utilize preorders to help us determine the interest level in a project and how much extra we should order for stock.  This also helps us figure-out the profitability of the project.

For example, the product development cost for the N Scale C39-8 is around $100,000.  At the time preorders closed, we had 454 preorders.  When you divide the development cost by the number of preorders, the product development amortization is over $200 per model.  This does NOT include the manufacturing unit price or decoder cost per model.

When you consider we sell the non-sound C39-8 for $134.99 and DCC & sound version sells for $224.99, we're losing tens of thousands of dollars on the first production run and will not make a profit to help pay our overhead.  As a young company with limited financial resources, we have to divert money from other areas of the company to offset this loss.

To look at this another way, the more we increase preorders, the less money we lose.

Shane


Shane Wilson
President
ScaleTrains.com, Inc.

[delphiz302]

I think these are going to be a sleeper hit once folks see them in action on layouts and at shows.  I pre-ordered a pair after seeing (and hearing) the functioning preprod unit at the Salt Lake convention.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Shane @scaletrains, Just curious, how many T4 engines were pre-ordered in N? I have two on order. If it makes the difference between being produced and not, I'll add a third.

These are a hard sell. They were used by few roads and were only on the rails for a fairly short time.

I was always hoping you would do a popular model, then something eccentric, and repeat. We could use another SD40-2. Or a good GP40-2 and GP50.

For something a bit more eccentric, I think the CF7 would prove incredibly popular.