Atlas acquires Microtrains

[Chris333]

Sounds more like MTL was going to shut down first. Then Atlas bought it. Not Atlas bought it so they shut down.

[MetroRedLine]

Brightside might be a sw1500 release.

And all Atlas products will be using MTL couplers.

[MetroRedLine]

In 10 years, all N scale products will be made by either Atlas, Kato or Scale Trains.

[jwaldo]

This is gonna be BLMA all over again. All kinds of vital detail parts and supplies just vanished into the void despite reassurances by Atlas that they would still be produced.

[squirrelhunter]

And all Atlas products will be using MTL couplers.

I wouldn't bet on that, I'm sure accumates are vastly cheaper to produce.

This is clearly a bottom line driven process.

[High Hood]

This is a disaster.

[JoeD]

Sounds more like MTL was going to shut down first. Then Atlas bought it. Not Atlas bought it so they shut down.

nope....

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I don't know why you guys are so down on Atlas.

They've now rescued a few businesses that would otherwise be gone if they hadn't stepped in.

I bet Craig would've moved on from BLMA anyway and do you guys honestly think that Walthers was a better owner of the former Life Like stuff?

It's a shame that MTL is shutting down but this feels like the best of a number of poor options.

[MK]

In 10 years, all N scale products will be made by either Atlas, Kato or Scale Trains.

Don't forget Tomix/TomyTec.  They are bigger than any of these.

[chessie system fan]

I'm going to miss watching the creativity that happened at Micro Trains.  Nobody else was doing the sorts of things they did.

[ns2688]

N scale just got more expensive. 

[Maletrain]

Well, now I can stop hoping for that Baggage/coach combine to come out each month.

[bbunge]

Curious about the non-molds and whatnot and not the machines.  I suspect they have a world class reference library for example.  A loss will be the human knowledge... those who understood trains, prototypes and trends in the industry.   Some in the industry seem to have better than others understanding, and MT was likely at the top of that game.

[garethashenden]

I don't know why you guys are so down on Atlas.

They've now rescued a few businesses that would otherwise be gone if they hadn't stepped in.

I bet Craig would've moved on from BLMA anyway and do you guys honestly think that Walthers was a better owner of the former Life Like stuff?

It's a shame that MTL is shutting down but this feels like the best of a number of poor options.

Atlas, while better than Walters, is an HO company that does N scale too. Micro Trains is an N scale company.

The problem with mergers is there aren't enough people at the company to do the work of two companies well. The best we can hope for is Atlas's current production volume, but now including MTL products too. It will be less than the two companies current outputs.

[Rossford Yard]

I doubt Atlas is thinking of on shoring production, but hey, maybe the PR of keeping some mfg (what is already in the MT production capacity) is good.

I wonder how many overlapping models there are and which will be chosen for future production, i.e., don't both companies have a lot of slightly different 50 ft boxcar models, covered hoppers, etc.?