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Post by The Ferro Kid on Oct 10, 2018 11:24:18 GMT -8
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Post by stevewagner on Oct 10, 2018 13:27:01 GMT -8
All of the following are HO announcements.
I received e-mail notices of the new monthly catalog about 4:30 p.m. EDT October 10. The all-scales schedule on the firm's website hadn't yet been updated.
The only all-new models announced are sets of 3D printed scenic details: cinder blocks, acetylene and oxygen cylinders, fire hydrants, pallets and propane tanks, with an ETA in 4th Quarter 2018.
73' center partition cars in five new paint schemes and two with new car numbers have the same ETA. So do 1973 model (year not specified in new monthly catalog) Ford F-100 pickup trucks in new paint schemes for eight railroads.
29,700 gal. tank cars in three new paint schemes and four old ones with new numbers have an ETA of 1st Quarter 2019.
Shown as shipping the week of September 28, 2018 is a previously announceed run of Ford 1997 F-150 pickup trucks.
Reported as shipping the week of October 8, 2018 are these previously announced runs: MP15DC switchers, GP40-2's (with a CP model captioned as CN), Alco RS-11's, NS Top Gons, 40' wood reefers, Trainman 70 ton ribbed triple hoppers, Trainman 3560 cu. ft. Cener Flows (with uncaptioned foobie ++ symbols for most schemes
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Post by riogrande on Oct 10, 2018 13:51:04 GMT -8
So these things are unaffected by the chinese factory closing? Atlas did say they had another factory where track was made but not sure what else.
On a similar not, Intermountain has updated their website that they have got a new supplier (factory).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2018 5:13:33 GMT -8
So these things are unaffected by the chinese factory closing? Atlas did say they had another factory where track was made but not sure what else.
There is an important letter on page 3 of the PDF giving information on the issues that Atlas is dealing with and specifically that only some pre-orders are guaranteed at the moment, other pre-orders have already had production amounts confirmed at a factory and thus aren't guaranteed, etc.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2018 7:34:09 GMT -8
Just curious, are the Atlas tank cars that good to be priced at $50.00?
Brian
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Post by simulatortrain on Oct 11, 2018 7:54:35 GMT -8
They're pretty good, but I wasn't buying at $35...
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Post by middledivision on Oct 11, 2018 8:15:59 GMT -8
Just curious, are the Atlas tank cars that good to be priced at $50.00? Brian No. But neither are Athearn single trailers at $25 a pop. Someone is buying them. Not me.
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Post by milgentrains on Oct 11, 2018 8:19:16 GMT -8
Just curious, are the Atlas tank cars that good to be priced at $50.00? Brian Sadly $50.00 is now the new budget friendly freight car. Not for me however.
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Post by riogrande on Oct 11, 2018 8:33:04 GMT -8
Just curious, are the Atlas tank cars that good to be priced at $50.00? Brian No. But neither are Athearn single trailers at $25 a pop. Someone is buying them. Not me. I am a guilty part then, but not for $25; I picked up 3 of the recent Athearn exterior post for $19 each (Reading, NP and PR) just to fill in some gaps. I needed PC and EL as well but fortunately I found both for #20 on HOSwap a few months back. The PC exterior post trailers from the recent run have sold out while the others were still in-stock last time I checked. Budget friendly eh? Other than Moloco, who is paying $50 for a freight car? Most of my budget friendly cars are at or under $30 if I shop around. I still pick up the odd ExactRail for $45 only one one here or one there. Now that ER free shipping requires $200+ orders, it's mostly singles these days. Back to Atlas, now that they have shopped the ATSF Bx-177 box cars and the FMC 5503 box cars, I don't see anything on the horizon that I can use.
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Post by ambluco on Oct 11, 2018 9:02:23 GMT -8
Intermountain is a joke right now. Their current HO reservation pages lists lines and lines of cars and engines that just say either confirmed for production or taking reservations. And this was before the whole Chinese thing happened this summer.
Any company can create a giant list of items that say confirmed after it without actually doing anything.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2018 9:20:23 GMT -8
I am guilty of paying high prices for freight cars, but I am getting to the point when I think it is getting a bit much for manufacturers to do this to us. I am starting to put a limit on about $30.00. Especially now that I am changing from RPM modeler to operations.
I have a good friend here that refuses to pay more than $20.00 for freight cars. he buys only at train shows. I have to say, although his collection is mostly RTR blue box type cars and a few better cars he found at great bargain prices, he weathers them nicely. He tunes them up and they run great and look great on the club layout.
Brian
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Post by brakie on Oct 11, 2018 10:09:27 GMT -8
I won't be buying $50.00 and up freight cars any time soon. Another thing that has help my hobby budget is I learn early the use market was a gold mine waiting to be pluck.
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Post by riogrande on Oct 11, 2018 10:43:07 GMT -8
Complaining isn't probably going to change anything. Of course most have known for the past 5+ years to take the Current Advanced Reservations List with a huge box car of salt. They did finally realize what they had been doing was meaningless and made some changes to make it a little more representative of item status. But that is the danger of announcing products in advance. The alternative (might be better) would be to go with a Tangent way and not announce anything until it is here, or "on the water" so you have a pretty close idea when item will be available to buy. Regardless, I like some of their products and try to stay as informed as I can to plan for future releases because then their item to hit vendors, they seem to sell out very fast; at least the items I want. So planning for those items budget-wise for me was helpful. Heck, by way of example, those IMRC drop bottom gons sold out in a few days and now very hard to find. I am guilty of paying high prices for freight cars, but I am getting to the point when I think it is getting a bit much for manufacturers to do this to us. I am starting to put a limit on about $30.00. Especially now that I am changing from RPM modeler to operations. Yeah, it's getting nuttier and nuttier. I'm bracing myself for the ExactRail GSC bulkheads - price not yet announced - which are due in about a week. Unfortunately I'm finding some models that get produced that I really want like the Arrowhead hoppers. It really depends on what your poison is and whether it's poison enough to shell out for. Unfortunately the trend toward ever more expensive freight cars and engines shows no sign of stopping. Different strokes. He's happy and thats what it's all about.
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Post by riogrande on Oct 11, 2018 11:03:02 GMT -8
I won't be buying $50.00 and up freight cars any time soon. Another thing that has help my hobby budget is I learn early the use market was a gold mine waiting to be pluck. Ain't many Moloco box cars on the used market so far. But like I said, it depends on what your poison is. There will likely come a time that each of us has to say, ain't got the money, anymore. Either that or sell off enough stuff to buy that must have car. It's that old - prices keep going up faster than our income - story, we are mostly well acquainted with.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Oct 11, 2018 16:04:26 GMT -8
[ I've bought a couple, but nope, not running an operations layout. Too many
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Post by fr8kar on Oct 11, 2018 17:29:56 GMT -8
Trainlife has pages of cars under $30, including Athearn Genesis and Exactrail cars, not to mention Walthers Mainline and Scale Trains Operator. The former LBF coal gondolas that are now sold by Intermountain are $21 each. Those are a bargain with metal wheels and Kadees compared to the old kits. I bought a couple Exactrail waffle boxcars from them a few weeks ago for $25 each. That's just one online retailer. I'm sure there are more with even lower prices.
Now if you're talking about super ultimate detailed cars with all the plumbing, rotating bearing caps, every door and running board variation and so on, yeah fifty bucks is the norm. If you want a Cadillac, you're not going to pay Chevy prices. Lots of good looking, good running lower priced stuff out there right now, though.
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Post by lvrr325 on Oct 12, 2018 8:50:40 GMT -8
FWIW, $50 MSRP means you may see it as low as $30 actual street price.
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Post by riogrande on Oct 12, 2018 9:23:05 GMT -8
FWIW, $50 MSRP means you may see it as low as $30 actual street price. Bachmann? There are some models MRSP at $50 that sell for $30 but IIRC, not IMRC, Tangent, Moloco, ExactRail, Genesis. Which can you see $20 knocked off of $50? Maybe I'm not going to the right vendor.
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Post by lvrr325 on Oct 12, 2018 9:42:35 GMT -8
FWIW, $50 MSRP means you may see it as low as $30 actual street price. Bachmann? There are some models MRSP at $50 that sell for $30 but IIRC, not IMRC, Tangent, Moloco, ExactRail, Genesis. Which can you see $20 knocked off of $50? Maybe I'm not going to the right vendor. I believe we're discussing an Atlas product here. Everyone you mentioned has a different means of distribution and/or price structuring.
I routinely price $150 Atlas locomotives at $109 and see people undercut that. I've never even attempted on most of the more expensive Atlas cars because to price them competitively my profit margin might be just a couple bucks. I don't do the volume to justify that. On a $50 list Atlas car I expect you will see a few vendors in the low $30s range on them.
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Post by riogrande on Oct 12, 2018 10:11:17 GMT -8
Ok. Atlas MRSP $50. Which rolling stock that is marked at $50 MRSP can you get at a vendor for $30?
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Post by jonklein611 on Oct 12, 2018 16:58:34 GMT -8
Ok. Atlas MRSP $50. Which rolling stock that is marked at $50 MRSP can you get at a vendor for $30? Not quite $50, but decent discount:
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Post by lvrr325 on Oct 14, 2018 23:03:25 GMT -8
There's still more room to cut at that price. Which is probably intentional.
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Post by brakie on Oct 16, 2018 4:21:56 GMT -8
There's still more room to cut at that price. Which is probably intentional. Atlas has to make some profit just like the other model companies.
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Post by riogrande on Oct 16, 2018 5:40:44 GMT -8
I don't see many stores or vendors do a $20 discount on a $50 MRSP model, which is 40% off if you look strictly at the math. If you didn't mean $30 street price for a $50 MRSP item, but really meant $39 off of $50, ok, that is a 22% discount which makes more sense. I've seen discounts off of Atlas, Athearn and some other brands in the 20 to 25% range, and sometimes 30%.
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Post by lvrr325 on Oct 16, 2018 23:10:44 GMT -8
There's still more room to cut at that price. Which is probably intentional. Atlas has to make some profit just like the other model companies. You've missed the point. Atlas sets an MSRP and then sells them to a wholesaler at a discount who sells them to a retailer at a discount. By the time it's in the retailer's hands, Atlas has already made their money on the items. I know what they cost the retailer and I'm telling you they can lower that price and still make money. People keep mentioning Athearn in the same breath as Atlas and that's an entirely different animal. We discussed right here on this board where they maintained the same prices but reduced the margins. They also have much tighter control over who even gets their product in the first place. Even then, when it's out for you to buy, Athearn has already made their money selling the majority of the run to the retailer.
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