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Post by peoriaman on Jul 30, 2015 12:07:08 GMT -8
I recommended to them articulated 2 or 3 car municipal waste cars. Like these. Plus they gotta offer the smaller containers since nobody else does. Yes!! Please!! Sign me up. I need these! |
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Post by bigblow69 on Jul 30, 2015 13:26:22 GMT -8
I think Shane is pretty Savvy and will focus on items which will have some fairly broad appeal. No company wants to produce products which are too niche that they will be mega limited because it's just not going to serve enough people on both sides if you know what I mean. A product needs to be a money maker so the company can continue to re-invest, be profitable and we all can be happy customers, by-and-large - to borrow a catch phrase from Wall-e, heh heh ;-) You just made the case for a SD40-2 with every bell and whistle imaginable. |
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Post by avel on Jul 30, 2015 13:57:17 GMT -8
I vote for Tboxes and Fboxes!! I see sooooooo many of them especially in the west.
One of the perks of being an OTR trucker. Seeing the nations railroads.
I need Tboxes, the Athearns are going for really high prices on Ebay.
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Post by stevef45 on Jul 30, 2015 14:26:46 GMT -8
We have several FCA models on our "to do" list. We've contacted FCA numerous times over the past several months and have not been successful finding the right person who can provide documentation. If any forum members know someone at FCA who can assist or point us in the right direction, please e-mail me at Shane@ScaleTrains.com. We would greatly appreciate the help. Sincerely, Shane Shane Wilson President ScaleTrains.com, Inc. in the link that is provided, when opened there is a "specifications" and a "drawings" tab at the bottom. The drawings tab has blueprints of the car with measurements. Is this what you need from the company but in much more detail? |
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Post by alcoc430 on Jul 30, 2015 14:37:30 GMT -8
I think Shane is pretty Savvy and will focus on items which will have some fairly broad appeal. No company wants to produce products which are too niche that they will be mega limited because it's just not going to serve enough people on both sides if you know what I mean. A product needs to be a money maker so the company can continue to re-invest, be profitable and we all can be happy customers, by-and-large - to borrow a catch phrase from Wall-e, heh heh ;-) You just made the case for a SD40-2 with every bell and whistle imaginable. At this point with so many sd40-2 models to choose from another sd40-2 would be like a niche model. A importer can make money with niche models, of course they will be priced accordingly. IMHO a pre-order system allows a importer to take a chance on a niche model. Personally in my case regarding the sd40-2 I would not upgrade the ones I have already and I don't need anymore. |
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Post by ScaleTrains.com on Jul 30, 2015 15:41:31 GMT -8
We have several FCA models on our "to do" list. We've contacted FCA numerous times over the past several months and have not been successful finding the right person who can provide documentation. If any forum members know someone at FCA who can assist or point us in the right direction, please e-mail me at Shane@ScaleTrains.com. We would greatly appreciate the help. Sincerely, Shane Shane Wilson President ScaleTrains.com, Inc. in the link that is provided, when opened there is a "specifications" and a "drawings" tab at the bottom. The drawings tab has blueprints of the car with measurements. Is this what you need from the company but in much more detail? Good question Steve. We like to work with real-world builders whenever possible so our models are as accurate as possible. We request builder's drawings which show both sides, both ends, roof, underside, brake arrangement, unique parts, and more. Sometimes there are multiple versions of a model so we like to have drawings for each variant. We also ask for paint and lettering diagrams (PLDs) for the railroads and private owners who purchased the prototype. This is the builder's intellectual property so it's often difficult to obtain plus we usually only receive a portion of the information. For older equipment, the drawings may no longer exist. Drawings and diagrams are just a few pieces of the development puzzle. Here are some other resources that help fill-in the puzzle. 1) Large high resolution images so the small lettering and details can easily be viewed - this includes roster shots for every owner; and pictures of both sides, both ends, roof, underbody, brake apparatus, and close-ups of important details. The more pictures, the better. BTW: Most images on the Internet are low resolution so they're usually not helpful. (2) Field measurements whenever possible - finding the prototype and obtaining permission to get up-close can be challenging and often requires travel. Over the past year, we've been to California (1x), Georgia (3x), Illinois (3x), North Carolina (1x), Pennsylvania (2x), Utah (1x), West Virginia (1x), and Wyoming (1x) to photograph and measure the prototype. (3) Owner's list by railroad and road number (4) Color chips for painting and printing accurate colors (5) And anything else that will help our engineers create the best model drawings possible - we've even provided real locomotives parts to ensure the design is correct! Thanks, Shane Shane Wilson President ScaleTrains.com, Inc. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 16:10:25 GMT -8
Hopefully this new company will have the business awareness to avoid a niche garbage car. At least out of the gate. For its long term prosperity I hope. The only thing that could be worse than a garbage car is an inaccurate garbage car  |
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Post by gevohogger on Jul 30, 2015 16:12:25 GMT -8
A modern carbon black hopper is needed badly.
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Post by atsfan on Jul 30, 2015 16:29:25 GMT -8
A modern carbon black hopper is needed badly. Modern Oil Tank Car would outsell it 50 to 1. |
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Post by atsfan on Jul 30, 2015 16:30:11 GMT -8
I vote for Tboxes and Fboxes!! I see sooooooo many of them especially in the west. One of the perks of being an OTR trucker. Seeing the nations railroads. I need Tboxes, the Athearns are going for really high prices on Ebay. Somebody did an Fbox didn't they? Hubert or someone. |
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Post by ddatrainman on Jul 30, 2015 19:03:45 GMT -8
A modern carbon black hopper is needed badly. Modern Oil Tank Car would outsell it 50 to 1. I second this notion |
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Post by stevef45 on Jul 30, 2015 19:23:14 GMT -8
in the link that is provided, when opened there is a "specifications" and a "drawings" tab at the bottom. The drawings tab has blueprints of the car with measurements. Is this what you need from the company but in much more detail? Good question Steve. We like to work with real-world builders whenever possible so our models are as accurate as possible. We request builder's drawings which show both sides, both ends, roof, underside, brake arrangement, unique parts, and more. Sometimes there are multiple versions of a model so we like to have drawings for each variant. We also ask for paint and lettering diagrams (PLDs) for the railroads and private owners who purchased the prototype. This is the builder's intellectual property so it's often difficult to obtain plus we usually only receive a portion of the information. For older equipment, the drawings may no longer exist. Drawings and diagrams are just a few pieces of the development puzzle. Here are some other resources that help fill-in the puzzle. 1) Large high resolution images so the small lettering and details can easily be viewed - this includes roster shots for every owner; and pictures of both sides, both ends, roof, underbody, brake apparatus, and close-ups of important details. The more pictures, the better. BTW: Most images on the Internet are low resolution so they're usually not helpful. (2) Field measurements whenever possible - finding the prototype and obtaining permission to get up-close can be challenging and often requires travel. Over the past year, we've been to California (1x), Georgia (3x), Illinois (3x), North Carolina (1x), Pennsylvania (2x), Utah (1x), West Virginia (1x), and Wyoming (1x) to photograph and measure the prototype. (3) Owner's list by railroad and road number (4) Color chips for painting and printing accurate colors (5) And anything else that will help our engineers create the best model drawings possible - we've even provided real locomotives parts to ensure the design is correct! Thanks, Shane Shane Wilson President ScaleTrains.com, Inc. Holy Moly, well if i compile anything i will certainly send it your way. It's a car i'de like to see made so i'll do some research on it if you haven't. |
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Post by stevef45 on Jul 30, 2015 19:23:34 GMT -8
Modern Oil Tank Car would outsell it 50 to 1. I second this notion Didn't Athearn make a modern oil tank car? |
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Post by ddatrainman on Jul 30, 2015 22:34:09 GMT -8
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Post by fr8kar on Jul 30, 2015 22:51:48 GMT -8
A modern carbon black hopper is needed badly. Modern Oil Tank Car would outsell it 50 to 1. Model railroading is not a zero-sum game. There is room for both. But I also know that a carbon black car may be of limited interest to certain modelers. Add to that the wide variety of cars out there and it's difficult to choose a prototype that fits several roadnames. Furthermore, the paint jobs often only differ by reporting marks. But, that's okay. I decided not to wait for anyone to make one for me. I fired up AutoCAD and came up with my own. |
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Post by riogrande on Jul 31, 2015 3:50:54 GMT -8
I think Shane is pretty Savvy and will focus on items which will have some fairly broad appeal. No company wants to produce products which are too niche that they will be mega limited because it's just not going to serve enough people on both sides if you know what I mean. A product needs to be a money maker so the company can continue to re-invest, be profitable and we all can be happy customers, by-and-large - to borrow a catch phrase from Wall-e, heh heh ;-) You just made the case for a SD40-2 with every bell and whistle imaginable. Sure, the SD40-2 has a broad appeal. But what you left out and alco430 added back in a follow up post, is that there are many SD40-2's already on the market and it may be a pretty big risk to bring another SD40-2 to market after Athearn, KATO, BLI and Bowser and especially now, Intermountain have all crowded the market with SD40-2's. Would you gamble hundreds of thousands of dollars of your own money to tool up a new SD40-2 so soon? I realize there are those who are not 100% satisfied with any of those models. It's not a perfect world, and it may never be. But there appear to be some good SD40-2 models on the market, I've seen some very respected and reputable modelers out there make some good cases, for example, for tweaking the Intermountain SD40-2 to make it what they would call a very good version in some forums recently. Case in point see this topic in Train Orders: www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3791731 There are those it seems who can objectively believe that there are models on the market that can be worked with - but may take a little work to bring them up to snuff. Hopefully IMR will, in a future run, take their SD40-2 and tweak it so those issues will be resolved and folks like you will not feel the need for yet another new version. From what I understand, IMR does listen to feedback and make improvements in future offerings. Cheers, Jim Fitch |
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Post by atsfan on Jul 31, 2015 5:00:42 GMT -8
Didn't Athearn make a modern oil tank car? No, it they did tool a Tank Train from 30 years ago. Interesting but niche. If there is money to do that.......... |
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Post by atsfan on Jul 31, 2015 5:01:40 GMT -8
You just made the case for a SD40-2 with every bell and whistle imaginable. Sure, the SD40-2 has a broad appeal. But what you left out and alco430 added back in a follow up post, is that there are many SD40-2's already on the market and it may be a pretty big risk to bring another SD40-2 to market after Athearn, KATO, BLI and Bowser and especially now, Intermountain have all crowded the market with SD40-2's. Would you gamble hundreds of thousands of dollars of your own money to tool up a new SD40-2 so soon? I realize there are those who are not 100% satisfied with any of those models. It's not a perfect world, and it may never be. But there appear to be some good SD40-2 models on the market, I've seen some very respected and reputable modelers out there make some good cases, for example, for tweaking the Intermountain SD40-2 to make it what they would call a very good version in some forums recently. Case in point see this topic in Train Orders: www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3791731 There are those it seems who can objectively believe that there are models on the market that can be worked with - but may take a little work to bring them up to snuff. Hopefully IMR will, in a future run, take their SD40-2 and tweak it so those issues will be resolved and folks like you will not feel the need for yet another new version. From what I understand, IMR does listen to feedback and make improvements in future offerings. Cheers, Jim Fitch If I was tooling up an engine I wouldn't do a C430 for example. But it was done. |
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Post by atsfan on Jul 31, 2015 5:03:21 GMT -8
Modern Oil Tank Car would outsell it 50 to 1. Model railroading is not a zero-sum game. There is room for both. But I also know that a carbon black car may be of limited interest to certain modelers. Add to that the wide variety of cars out there and it's difficult to choose a prototype that fits several roadnames. Furthermore, the paint jobs often only differ by reporting marks. But, that's okay. I decided not to wait for anyone to make one for me. I fired up AutoCAD and came up with my own. Carbon Black cars would sell some. I would get, one. That is the problem with them. Nobody needs a fleet. |
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Post by peoriaman on Jul 31, 2015 5:15:29 GMT -8
Carbon Black cars would sell some. I would get, one. That is the problem with them. Nobody needs a fleet. I'd buy one too. That's the beauty of it. There's probably thousands of guys who would each buy one. The right car would probably suffice for anyone modeling 1980s-present. That's a lot of modelers. Contrast that with the handful of guys who want to build an oil train. Five guys buying 50 tank cars each... That's only 250 cars. Plus various others who decide to buy just one, not wanting or needing a full train. Or some might want a unit train but only have a small layout. Maybe another 250 cars. Total: 500 cars. Just a drop in the bucket compared to the HO juggernaut that a good carbon black car would be. |
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Post by atsfan on Jul 31, 2015 5:28:07 GMT -8
Carbon Black cars would sell some. I would get, one. That is the problem with them. Nobody needs a fleet. I'd buy one too. That's the beauty of it. There's probably thousands of guys who would each buy one. The right car would probably suffice for anyone modeling 1980s-present. That's a lot of modelers. Contrast that with the handful of guys who want to build an oil train. Five guys buying 50 tank cars each... That's only 250 cars. Plus various others who decide to buy just one, not wanting or needing a full train. Or some might want a unit train but only have a small layout. Maybe another 250 cars. Total: 500 cars. Just a drop in the bucket compared to the HO juggernaut that a good carbon black car would be. Handful? Five guys? 500 modern oil cars is the total sales projection? Humor obviously. Have you been trackside lately? Juggernaut? The carbon black car has never been made in decades. Everyone makes many tank cars. So all manufacturers in decades have missed tooling a sales juggernaut wasting time and money on modern tank cars? |
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Post by peoriaman on Jul 31, 2015 6:22:57 GMT -8
Handful? Five guys? 500 modern oil cars is the total sales projection? Humor obviously. Its the very definition of a niche market. A few people would probably buy an entire unit train. But only a few. Like Ryan said, there's room for both. But no modern oil tank is going to outsell anything by 50 to 1. Humor obviously. |
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Post by atsfan on Jul 31, 2015 6:30:01 GMT -8
Handful? Five guys? 500 modern oil cars is the total sales projection? Humor obviously. Its the very definition of a niche market. A few people would probably buy an entire unit train. But only a few. Like Ryan said, there's room for both. But no modern oil tank is going to outsell anything by 50 to 1. Humor obviously. I didn't say anything I said Carbon Black car Which it would |
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Post by drolsen on Jul 31, 2015 7:15:21 GMT -8
Have you been trackside lately? The operative word there is "lately." Many prototype carbon black cars have been around for 40 years and appeal to modelers over that entire time period. The contemporary oil tank cars have a limited appeal to people modeling the contemporary scene. As mentioned, some people, especially club members, will buy a large number of them. Other people may buy a handful. A lot of modelers will have no use for them because they're too new. Give it another decade or so, and it will open up the field of interested modelers. With many people on a limited hobby budget these days and prices rising, I think manufacturers are better served by finding prototypes that will sell a handful each to a wide audience, or an older unit train prototype (like the ExactRail and Tangent quad hoppers) that covers a few decades of operation. Dave |
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Post by atsfan on Jul 31, 2015 8:24:15 GMT -8
Have you been trackside lately? The operative word there is "lately." Many prototype carbon black cars have been around for 40 years and appeal to modelers over that entire time period. The contemporary oil tank cars have a limited appeal to people modeling the contemporary scene. As mentioned, some people, especially club members, will buy a large number of them. Other people may buy a handful. A lot of modelers will have no use for them because they're too new. Give it another decade or so, and it will open up the field of interested modelers. With many people on a limited hobby budget these days and prices rising, I think manufacturers are better served by finding prototypes that will sell a handful each to a wide audience, or an older unit train prototype (like the ExactRail and Tangent quad hoppers) that covers a few decades of operation. Dave I have not seen a carbon car trackside in years. And I am all over, often. The best car for someone to make is the ACF hoppers like the 4600. But given the choice of Carbon Car or Oil Tank Car, it is an easy choice. |
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Post by MONSTERRAILROAD on Jul 31, 2015 8:51:34 GMT -8
Here is my question that no one here has the nerve to ask. (Scared) How does Athearn feel about this newly created company consisting of their previous top notch employees? Hmmm? Drop the knowledge Shane.  |
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Post by Donnell Wells on Jul 31, 2015 9:26:13 GMT -8
Here is my question that no one here has the nerve to ask. (Scared) How does Athearn feel about this newly created company consisting of their previous top notch employees? Hmmm? Drop the knowledge Shane.
Hi Al,
How Athearn feels is irrelevant. Their best bet is to fill those vacancies with equally qualified personel so that they can keep pumping out good products.
The non compete clause is almost up between Scale Trains and Athearn, and at that point, it's open market!
Donnell |
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 31, 2015 9:49:33 GMT -8
I vote for Tboxes and Fboxes!! I see sooooooo many of them especially in the west. One of the perks of being an OTR trucker. Seeing the nations railroads. I need Tboxes, the Athearns are going for really high prices on Ebay. Somebody did an Fbox didn't they? Hubert or someone. Or someone: exactrail.com/collections/archive-1/products/x-trinity-50-hy-cube-box-car-ttxI suppose the comments by the above quoted persons could imply it's time for Exactrail to re-issue these cars. I don't think I bought enough........... Ed |
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Post by kcjones on Jul 31, 2015 10:14:28 GMT -8
I wonder if Horizon had anything to do with this?
JL
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Post by Donnell Wells on Jul 31, 2015 11:09:16 GMT -8
I wonder if Horizon had anything to do with this? JL
JL,
I'm certain Horizon had EVERYTHING to do with this! 
Donnell |
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