Micro-Trains/Atlas Update - 1/20/26

[Maletrain]

What club are you in.  ?

They may not want to deal with it

John, I don't know why you got a down vote on that post, so I countered it.

I'm a member of the Delmarva Model Railroad Club.   

My club does sell donated model train stuff to benefit the club.  They used to also sell members' stuff on consignment, taking just a cut of the proceeds, but the paperwork for that burned people out.  So the club now only sells what it "owns", either from outside donations to the club or excess inventory from layouts.  It is a decent money maker for the club, similar to cash donations we get.  And, it tends to attract visitors in search of good deals. It also sometimes provides inexpensive starter material for a parent's young child to take home and get started in the hobby.

So, I am sure my club will know what to do with my "stash" when I am gone and Femaletrain has appropriated whatever she wants.  (She is mostly in HO, while I am mostly in N scale.)

[John]

John, I don't know why you got a down vote on that post, so I countered it.

I'm a member of the Delmarva Model Railroad Club.   

My club does sell donated model train stuff to benefit the club.  They used to also sell members' stuff on consignment, taking just a cut of the proceeds, but the paperwork for that burned people out.  So the club now only sells what it "owns", either from outside donations to the club or excess inventory from layouts.  It is a decent money maker for the club, similar to cash donations we get.  And, it tends to attract visitors in search of good deals. It also sometimes provides inexpensive starter material for a parent's young child to take home and get started in the hobby.

So, I am sure my club will know what to do with my "stash" when I am gone and Femaletrain has appropriated whatever she wants.  (She is mostly in HO, while I am mostly in N scale.)

1) I don't worry about the vote thing .. I can change it at will -- as Drew Carey used to say on Who's Line - A thousand points, but the points don't matter

2) I thought so, but for some reason I got it in my head you were in St Mary's .. 

3) I can see both sides of this -- it sounds like a lot of work

[ridinshotgun]

One thing I do find a tad troubling is that they are putting out these press releases but are not communicating with the dealer network. My normal MTL dealer who did a fair bit of sales can't get a response to queries from either his old MTL contacts or direct from Atlas on how they are even handling the dealer network now. And for sure no news on any new releases even though some dealers appear to be getting at least some info from them on the supposed mid month releases that just came out. There is a word for that but tender ears here would be less than pleased to hear it.

[Ike the BN Freak]

One thing I do find a tad troubling is that they are putting out these press releases but are not communicating with the dealer network. My normal MTL dealer who did a fair bit of sales can't get a response to queries from either his old MTL contacts or direct from Atlas on how they are even handling the dealer network now. And for sure no news on any new releases even though some dealers appear to be getting at least some info from them on the supposed mid month releases that just came out. There is a word for that but tender ears here would be less than pleased to hear it.

I spoke to my dealer last week, his rep was kept on by Atlas, and Atlas said they would fold the MTL dealer network into the Atlas one, so if your LHS has an MT account, they now have an Atlas account. If they had both, they will be combined.

[signalmaintainer]

Maybe this will work out better than it did with BMLA at least in terms of product availability.

Maybe

[signalmaintainer]

It smells like Atlas managing negative sentiment.  Hard to imagine Atlas seeing a business case to produce niche items like oddball trucks and couplers given their existing business model.  BLMA is a rational guide to how it is likely to play out IMO. 

I expect many things will quietly become unobtainable while premium products that have fewer risks and carry costs like the weathered cars will survive.

 Happy to hear a positive outcome for many MT staff.

I agree on all three points.

[KSTXFLID]

Patiently waiting to see what happens but seems like a "no brainer" to use the MT trucks and couplers on future Atlas offerings. If you're already making them for RTR, not a leap to offer separately.

Honestly though, I have been picking up coupler packs as I see them just in case.

[Maletrain]

Because Atlas has their own coupler design, I am not confident that they will just start making MTL coupler products to sell.  There may be an internal battle between "no slinky" and " trip pins that don't fall out". 

And, Atlas already makes trucks for the cars they make.  They don't roll as friction-free as MTL versions, but is it profitable for Atlas to try to use MTL products to "up their game", or will the lack of competition allow them to just sell more of their own trucks, while we buy them and swap-in ESM wheels?

I worry about how long this uncertainty will go on.

[Scottl]

Seems like an obvious outcome if we strip our emotions out of it.  MT trucks and couplers were a competitor to Atlas' products, albeit in a minor way.  Producing, warehousing and servicing them is a non-starter.

I think the real uncertainty lies in the rolling stock.  I expect most MT tooling is done and only a few select products will see the light again.  The two companies had a lot of overlap in products, or at least close enough. 

The weathered cars were really unique and could be adapted to Atlas models as a premium product.  The staff were a big part of those , hence why I was glad to see them retained by Atlas.  Sadly, I expect the work will move offshore given the production is there anyways.

[basementcalling]

Seems like an obvious outcome if we strip our emotions out of it.  MT trucks and couplers were a competitor to Atlas' products, albeit in a minor way.  Producing, warehousing and servicing them is a non-starter.

I think the real uncertainty lies in the rolling stock.  I expect most MT tooling is done and only a few select products will see the light again.  The two companies had a lot of overlap in products, or at least close enough. 

The weathered cars were really unique and could be adapted to Atlas models as a premium product.  The staff were a big part of those , hence why I was glad to see them retained by Atlas.  Sadly, I expect the work will move offshore given the production is there anyways.

If they had overlap, Atlas can pick the better model and keep that in production. There are actually a few older MT body styles that I hope they don't keep running, like rib sided 50' boxcars or others that suffer from prototype dimensional inaccuracies. Maybe with the increased truck selection they can fix the ride height of some of the MT cars, like the otherwise excellent 56' tank cars.

I don't know that we will see random monthly releases continue the way MT did for years though, and that saddens me.

[bbussey]

Didn't the last Atlas press statements indicate that the trucks and coupler products would remain available?  You guys are acting as if there has been radio-silence out of Hillside.  It's been only one month since the changeover, not two years.  It's waaaaaaaay too early to restart the drumbeat of doom and gloom. 

Also keep in mind that it takes months to execute a production run on a rolling stock model, with months of planning before that.  IF Atlas decides to move to Micro-Trains couplers and/or trucks on their rolling stock, it will not happen overnight and will be eased in, over the next couple of years most likely.

[Ike the BN Freak]

Because Atlas has their own coupler design, I am not confident that they will just start making MTL coupler products to sell.  There may be an internal battle between "no slinky" and " trip pins that don't fall out". 

"Their" design is a license from Accurail, and I spoke with a rep a few years ago, and they were looking to make a new in house designed coupler to replace the accumate. This was I want to say 2019, and only reason it never came to be was the factory that shut down around that time was the one doing the design/tooling, and once they shut down, they lost everything.

[nkalanaga]

And, the body-mounted Accumate boxes, at least on my relatively few models, already accept MT 1015 couplers.  No need to redesign anything, just start using them.

[mu26aeh]

Doom and gloom !  Doom and gloom ! 

[packers#1]

The weathered cars were really unique and could be adapted to Atlas models as a premium product.  The staff were a big part of those , hence why I was glad to see them retained by Atlas.  Sadly, I expect the work will move offshore given the production is there anyways.

Not necessarily, it’s not uncommon to produce parts/pieces/products in one area and then ship it halfway around the world and do more value add to it. If the printing is running the pieces through the printer to add the weathering graphics and it’s a skilled operator running a machine, that’s a pretty reasonable thing to still do in the US.

Fun fact for everyone that is completely off topic. BMW builds X series vehicles here in the Upstate and then ships them world-wide. They do ro-ro service to some continents, but the way the tariffs are set up in Africa there’s actually a company here that takes completed vehicles, disassembles them into essentially a flat pack kit like the old WW2 Jeeps, and then those get shipped to somewhere in Africa (if memory serves me right it’s Egypt) where they are reassembled.