Intermountain, I am displeased

They canceled the DCC/Sound F7A and B in EMD Demo paint. I’ve had them reserved with a dealer since they were announced three years ago. Last fall they told me ETA was February of this year. I am displeased.

 

That is DARN unfortunate. Why would they do that? I wonder what else is vaporware at this point...

 

Glad to see the new classification system!

 

Are you sufficiently displeased to contact Intermountain, inquire as to how many units they are short of meeting the minimum production run and then placing an order with them for that quantity?

 

Was reserving an ABA set not enough?

 

Simple law of supply and demand. In this case it was demand or more exactly lack of to justify the cost to produce it. I have seen models of early EMDs in demo paint but I expect they were custom jobs done by the modelers and I believe at one time MS produced some decals for the early demos. However a check reveals that they do not carry them anymore at least for this model.

 

IM released their N scale EMD FT loco (and their HO F7) in the EMD demo paint scheme about a decade ago:

 

It could, and sure doesn't help, but the stores themselves are doing a good job of killing the hobby themselves. Even the vaunted big "retailer" in MD has reduced the size of their showroom to the point of having almost nothing on the shelves.

A local store lasted just over a year and closed because he couldn't get business. Well when your store front model is to keep very few things on the shelves, and what you do have you sell for MSRP, and the response is well if you want something I can order it for you (oh and if you don't want it when it gets here your still on the hook) it is no wonder the B&M stores are closing. And it isn't just one. The other storefront with 2 hours of me that stocks stuff has adopted the same attitude. And those decisions are not being made by the manufacturers that is all local.

 

I was waiting (as in reserved) for the Chateau Martin Milk Car for about 4 years before they finally cancelled them. I was sad to see them cancelled, but glad (for lack of a better word) that they finally said that they wouldn't be producing them. I REALLY WANTED these cars, but after two years of waiting I figured that they weren't coming...but couldn't be sure since they weren't cancelled for another two years. Unlike some manufacturers that keep promising to produce something but never seem to release anything (ConCor I'm talking about you)

 

Well, there is also the fact that this stuff isn't cheap to buy and a lot of model railroaders on the younger and older end of the age scale live with limited budgets or very little discretionary funds and that makes it difficult to commit to pre orders with no defined delivery date attached. Some in those spots don't know if they will have been able to put back the required sum in the time it takes for the release while other times they save and save for the item that never comes and miss out on something else because of that. No inventory on the shelves also means if you miss something, either it's gone or you will have to pay an above MRSP rate to obtain the item later. Again another deterrent to the hobby to those with limited budgets. Just another way of looking at how the current business model of both manufacturers and retailers (B&M and Online both) can negatively affect the hobby.

 

Wow you guys in "ivory towers"... criticising everyone for trying to keep business going and apparently doing nothing to stem it (yes- morally, an order placed is an order paid for- not a look and see or I'll think about it).
So off to the megaglomerates online (even if local discounters) because thats their only way to make margin.
I'm international, so have no LHS of merit that ever had everything available. Not that I could afford it anyway.

Seems IMRC gets no credit for "improvement" over the years. Perhaps they should shut down R&D and just stick with their basic range of boxes, gons and hoppers. Picking up 'surviving' small producers and some extinct ones hasn't garnered much enthusiasm either.
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I don't and won't pre-order or reserve anything. I don't buy that way...period.
Produce them, get them out to the LHS and I will decided at that point if I want them.
And I'm not alone.

 

Nope, you're not alone Rick. I too have never pre-ordered and don't plan to. My wants are often simple and if I "miss out", that's fine. Some products take such a long time to bring to market, that I've forgotten they were in the pipeline and have lost all interest in them by the time they appear.

 

I agree generally, but I also think more than ever these days, company reputation becomes a deciding factor. You can tell when many newbies to the hobby ask on this and other forums, "Which loco/rolling stock brands should I buy?"

We can all agree that when it comes to loco quality in N scale, Kato, Fox Valley, Atlas are the manufacturers that come out with consistently good product that modelers would rate as favorable. And now that they've had back-to-back home runs, ScaleTrains officially joins that list.

On the borderline category are Intermountain, Broadway Limited, Athearn and Bachmann Spectrum; Generally OK product, but with certain pronounced flaws, or inconsistently good and bad releases.

I've been in the hobby for nearly 40 years, and an N scaler for the past 11. I NEVER pre-ordered a product until earlier this month. This was for the ScaleTrains ET44 Tier 4 GEVO. I put my blind faith in that product due to their favorable experience with the 53' containers and reviews of the GTEL Turbine. If the Tier 4 was their first-ever N scale product, I'd be a lot more hesitant to buy it.

 

Well and good if you are near an LHS and that shop is willing and able to anticipate all of your wants and needs and (pre-)order them with no commitment on your part.

Recently I tried to find a shop that had in stock two recently released Atlas locos.
Since they were both a model of a very common diesel loco and in a major roadname, pre-ordering didn't seem necessary.
Turns out that the nearest shop I could find with any inventory of those items was about 500 miles away.

What's ironic is that the distributor from which the shop bought the locos is less than an hour away from me, but in the direction opposite of the shop. So, before I received them, the locos went past me three times - once on the way from Atlas to the distributor; a second time on the way from the distributor to the shop; and a third time on the way from the shop to the local USPS sorting center, en-route to the local post office and, finally, me.