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Post by curtmc on Jun 12, 2012 16:07:29 GMT -8
June HO announcements now up on Atlas home page...
More 36' wood reefers...
More Trainman GP38-2s...
More 53' containers...
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Post by Dewey3 on Jun 12, 2012 17:08:51 GMT -8
More Zzzzzzzzzz ....
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Post by riogrande on Jun 12, 2012 17:48:16 GMT -8
Nothing for me there.
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Post by umtrrauthor on Jun 12, 2012 17:56:06 GMT -8
The 36 foot wood refrigerators are nice, but they're also $40 MSRP... yikes.
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Post by sd80macs on Jun 13, 2012 4:02:30 GMT -8
$42 for 3 containers !!!!!!!!!!!! WTF LOL. Now that's crazy no mater how detailed the item is.
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Jun 13, 2012 7:23:16 GMT -8
The P&W GP38's should be nice. I always like that scheme better vs. the chocolate & orange one they use today.
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Post by carrman on Jun 14, 2012 11:43:46 GMT -8
Atlas forgot how to tool new locomotives, and just recycle existing models with new paint and numbers. I've lost hope for them.
Dave
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Post by riogrande on Jun 14, 2012 12:09:40 GMT -8
Atlas forgot how to tool new locomotives, and just recycle existing models with new paint and numbers. I've lost hope for them. Dave Thats Atlas's loss then. If the can't run with the big dogs, perhaps they will be left behind. I've always loved Atlas loco's but they seem to have been flumoxed by the last 4 years recession and all the chinese plant problems. My guess is they are not done, but not to expect too much too soon. Till probably be a slow re-entry back into the market. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2012 12:17:04 GMT -8
Atlas forgot how to tool new locomotives, and just recycle existing models with new paint and numbers. I've lost hope for them. Dave Thats Atlas's loss then. If the can't run with the big dogs, perhaps they will be left behind. I've always loved Atlas loco's but they seem to have been flumoxed by the last 4 years recession and all the chinese plant problems. My guess is they are not done, but not to expect too much too soon. Till probably be a slow re-entry back into the market. I believe one of the hold ups for Atlas is the factory change. I'd give Atlas until 2013 to get the factory move digested. If by this time next year (2013), Atlas has not at least announced some new products, then there is reason for concern. |
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Post by riogrande on Jun 14, 2012 13:01:04 GMT -8
Yeah, and Haedrich's last notice in the website reports that these "issues" with factory change etc. are near resolution. I too would be concerned if "the spice did not flow" by this time next year. "the spice must flowwww!!!"
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bcrn
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Post by bcrn on Jun 14, 2012 18:59:45 GMT -8
hope they do the r.i. blue scheme again,,
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bcrn
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Post by bcrn on Jun 14, 2012 19:00:54 GMT -8
gp 38-2 , of course
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2012 17:17:52 GMT -8
Waiting for Athearn's GP38-2...Genesis...  |
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Post by middledivision on Jun 16, 2012 9:47:59 GMT -8
So, who buys Atlas?
Horizon, Kato or Walthers?
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Post by valenciajim on Jun 16, 2012 9:52:45 GMT -8
I don't see Atlas getting bought out. Didn't they just buy Walthers O scale stuff?
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jun 16, 2012 11:31:33 GMT -8
I don't see Atlas getting bought out. Didn't they just buy Walthers O scale stuff? And the Branchline HO cars. Ed |
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Jun 17, 2012 8:09:29 GMT -8
Atlas isn't going anywhere. Walthers, OTOH... One would tend to think that they sold the O-Scale stuff to Atlas for a reason. Hmm...
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Post by riogrande on Jun 17, 2012 11:23:39 GMT -8
So, who buys Atlas? Horizon, Kato or Walthers? Agree with Paul, Atlas isn't going anywhere. The have always been a major player and I don't see them selling out or getting taken over. The last 4 years have been rough on everyone, but the bigger players will ride it out and bounce back. I expect Atlas will bounce back and we will see more products coming in the next 12 months. |
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Post by espeenut on Jun 17, 2012 12:31:19 GMT -8
[/quote]Agree with Paul, Atlas isn't going anywhere. The have always been a major player and I don't see them selling out or getting taken over. The last 4 years have been rough on everyone, but the bigger players will ride it out and bounce back. I expect Atlas will bounce back and we will see more products coming in the next 12 months.[/quote] ...and I totally agree with what you've said here, Atlas is playing it slow and steady, we'll see new stuff soon enough, just be patient. Things will start to come back on track, sorry about the silly pun, couldn't resist...  cheers, Lorne Miller |
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Post by railfan4life on Jun 18, 2012 21:06:45 GMT -8
Nothing interesting for me this month.
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Post by drolsen on Jun 19, 2012 2:11:09 GMT -8
...and I totally agree with what you've said here, Atlas is playing it slow and steady, we'll see new stuff soon enough, just be patient. I agree too - I think Atlas is playing it safe by not intruducing anything big at a time when it could be risky for them. I'm just glad to see the new FMC 5077 box car coming out later this year - they may not be releasing new diesel models lately, but the freight cars are still coming. Atlas is still a huge player when it comes to track, and N scale too, of course. Their O scale line continues to expand too (tempting me to buy something for the display shelf). They're not going anywhere. Dave |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2012 4:24:02 GMT -8
...and I totally agree with what you've said here, Atlas is playing it slow and steady, we'll see new stuff soon enough, just be patient. I agree too - I think Atlas is playing it safe by not intruducing anything big at a time when it could be risky for them. Dave Atlas is a family run business that has survived for nearly 80 years. I'm sure the current family member owners don't want to be the one's that make the wrong decision and see the business fail. Atlas is one of the top three N-scale manufacturers along with Micro-Trains and Kato. You'll notice that Atlas continues to keep a pretty steady flow of N coming. Its in HO where they've pulled up the reigns. This could be in response to the flood of product from the competition, like an Athearn. There is still weakness in the US economy and discretionary spending is still poor. I'm also sure the MSRP price monster is alive and well at Atlas, just like it is at Walthers, Athearn and all the manufacturers. The new Athearn just announced is nice and pretty, but with the reduced discount to the dealers the street price is going to be a lot higher, lets see how Athearn and Walthers fair with their "new math" and future reservations. If I am Atlas, I'm watching those two companies and their experience with the much higher street price like a hawk. I don't blame Atlas at all for being tentative at this time, there is a lot of upheaval, especially with prices, and I don't think anyone can truly predict what the outcome is going to be. |
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Post by el3637 on Jun 19, 2012 11:13:54 GMT -8
lets see how Athearn and Walthers fair with their "new math" and future reservations. I'm sure everybody has done their boardroom analysis and all, and they're aware they can't please everybody and that no matter what they do, someone won't like it ya ya ya.... Kraft downsized their Cracker Barrel cheese. Quite a bit. To where if you slice it and place it on a saltine, it's clearly smaller. Used to fit the cracker. I emailed them about it. They said that they did it to avoid raising prices. Excuse me? Downsizing a product IS raising prices, and when they change the physical dimensions, it's actually a diminishing of the quality of the product - such as the incredible shrinking toilet paper - you're not just getting less, i.e. paying more for the same total square footage - but the product being cut to 4" or 4.1" instead of 4.5" width, it's less useful. Even Scotts, the last "premium" TP downsized in September of 2010. So much for premium. Anyway, I got a nice letter from Kraft saying most of their customers aren't as observant as I am. I haven't responded to that one yet, but obviously their marketing strategy depends on their customers being "not observant". Or, simply too fed up to bother complaining. I think far more people are "observant" of this kind of flim-flammery than they like to believe, and it impacts their bottom line in ways that their market research can't predict or quantify. When they go out of business... some years down the road, I'm sure they'll have something to blame, but lost to history will be the fact that it all began with cheapening the product. Price increases are to be expected, but when it's disguised in the form of product degradation, it's nothing less than flipping the bird to customers. We think you're too stupid to notice, or that you'll be ok with paying $3 for 7.5 ounces but $4 for 10 ounces would be too much. LOL. Anyway... I would hope that hobby manufacturers are closer to their end users than Gigacorporate food companies. But sadly, smaller companies these days have been trending toward borrowing techniques from the big guys - techniques that have been proven to alienate customers (like telemarketing) while perhaps showing a short term gain on the balance sheet. And the big guys who seem to think they are big enough to shuffle customer support offshore without a long term impact may be finding out differently. I was shopping in Menard's this past weekend. I like the store. I don't like the loud, obnoxious Menards commercials that play over the store's satellite radio system every three minutes. I'm serious, the same 4 minute song interrupted twice. Every three minutes. I'm already in the store, I don't need a commercial. I doubt if Menards cares what I think. But... they are expanding into territories dominated by Home Depot and Lowes, who do NOT bombard their customers with in-store ads. Menards is better in some ways, but it will be interesting to see how they fare. Any business that is on an expansion drive is subject to making really big mistakes. Anybody remember Mars Music? Or, closer to home - the Great Train Store? Oh yeah... short discounts to hobby retailers... LOL. I've long believed that distributors gave only lip service to supporting the retailers. The requirement for a brick and mortar storefront seemed only there to be selectively enforced to handicap otherwise high volume, very successful roving dealers, while really doing nothing of consequence for the stores playing brick & mortar by 1955 rules. I understand that manufacturers - and distributors - would prefer to sell direct, especially now that the internet has made it a lot more practical to do so. Just wish they'd come out and say so, instead of talking up the friendly neighborhood hobby shop in the front door, while bulldozing it at the back door. Andy |
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Post by riogrande on Jun 19, 2012 14:24:22 GMT -8
Well, there used to be an old saying that more and more business are straying from: "The customer is always right". Well even if we weren't always right, they listented to the customer and took our opinion to heart since we paid their bills. I"ve found more and more these days, too many businesses take the arogant attitude that "we know best" and shove it down the customers throat. As my wife form the UK would say, "crack on"! Just keep on doing what your doing (you companies) and the customers will eventually vote with their wallets, and we see the consequences in time - in many cases companies shrink of shut their doors. /general rant
Anyhow, I think Atlas will hopefully do better than the Menards or the Gigacorps. Hobby Retailers seem to be disregarded in the future business model of the sales of model trains. Brick and mortar stores which do not join the evend trend, will one by one drop from the radar - for better or worse - as much as we lament the loss, I don't think we can prevent it. Soon there will be precious few of those.
Remember The Great Train Store? Yes, believe it or not, I worked in one for a few months during a period of low employment and it was "interesting". Of course the whole chain shut down - it was kind of cool while it lasted.
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Post by atsfan on Jun 23, 2012 6:13:24 GMT -8
I am not sure how having no train stores will help their sales.
Especially Atlas which wants to sell track, signals, etc.
Hard to build a layout simply online.
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