In spite of all the assertions that relocating production to the USA is unrealistic, manufacturers had better seriously consider the feasibility because relying on other, less stable countries with numerous production stoppages will eventually ruin said companies' trust from their customers and may be the demise of these companies. I would hate to see that happen to Atlas, having been a customer for over 50 years. Doug
I buy my locos and most of my freight cars used. The last new item I bought were some of the beautiful NE steel cabeesr from Bachmann... At about 22 euro each ( from a vendor in the us) and I believe msrp is 28.95 each, more than most of micro trains' cars!
According to Bob The Train Guy, "The list so far includes Intermountain, Bowser, Atlas, Fox Valley, TrainWorx and Bluford." Manufacturing shut down in China. What is sad is nobody gets it. China should have never been the business solution for manufacturing. The question always has been do you really want to trust them? Just my two cents.
When you put all your eggs in one basket, you get scramble eggs. Saw this coming as history duplicates itself time.
Stand by for a new chapter in frenzied eBay bidding as modelers throw themselves into the ring to gain an edge on thinned out inventories …..
Sorry Brad, Here's the list of officially announced affected companies: (So far) AZL Atlas Bowser Bluford Shops ESM(albeit minimally) Exactrail FVM IMRC WOT Trainworx Wolf
I have always felt (from the beginning back in the 90's) that developing a reliance on a foreign power with an ideology so much different than ours was a very bad idea indeed in addition to the damage it was going to do (and did) to the American economy. One poster on a machinist forum I belonged to at the time commented that it was going to be a great thing because poor people could buy stuff cheap at WalMart. All I could think was "Stand by. There are going to be a lot more poor people before this is over with." I just didn't think it would take us 20 years to figure it out. Only had 2 cents left,
I believe that at one time they were when they were on their own. But somewhere along the way as the bigger fish ate the smaller fish the production got moved offshore.
Well that stinks. I have fond memories of those old metal PRR loco kits; maybe offering more products in kit form like that again would help keep costs down for businesses debating a return to the US? I'd rather have some fun building a kit anyways.
For the record, the latest news is that the reason it is shutting down is the owner wants to retire and his kids don't want to run the place. So it has nothing to do with it being in China...In fact, it's just as bad or worse for our US hobby resources. Sent from my SM-T377V using Tapatalk
An east coast hobby dealer reported this morning that a Chinese factory which supplies at least 5 US manufacterers of model trains has closed down. These manufacterers are trying to get products moved to another facility... but are concerned that their shipments may be delayed several months or longer. A large shipment from some of these companys has arrived... but future deliveries are not certain. Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk
Btw... title should read 'Hobby' manufacturer. The five companys listed were: Atlas Bowser Fox Valley Intermountain Trainworx Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk
According to a reliable source the following are affected: AZL Atlas Bowser Bluford Shops ESM(albeit minimally) Exactrail FVM IMRC WOT Trainworx A real shame. Seems this factory was doing a LOT of what I like. First Deluxe, now this. I feel especially bad for Matt at FVM - most of his line was being produced there. As if he doesn't have enough problems.
This is a duplicate thread http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/more-bad-news-from-atlas.118857/
It certainly is. We will be merging this into the original (and possibly updating the title of that thread)
What about the LifeLike N scale tooling Atlas just purchased from Walthers? I did not see anything on Walthers' website.
I'm guessing that Kato is unaffected then, probably not sourced from the Chinese factory which now appears to manufacture most of the planet's model trains.