Not true. We've done cars two different times. The first batch was auction only, to help raise funds necessary for paying our expenses. The next offering, cars were made to order. No order, no car. How many do I have? None. Boxcab E50
The club (Belmont Shore) had several special runs - I have the car pictured, as well as a reefer and an open hopper. The latter was made by Deluxe Innovations when George Johnsen still owned it - George and Craig were B.S. members. The B.S. initials were used for both the official name and the Bullshipper nickname. Awesome club - great group of guys!
As for MTL special runs - they do them regularly, for a 300 unit minimum. The N Scale Collector organization does many. Chuck Ciaccio and I did one just a few years ago (SP Overnight black boxcars). That run sold out pretty quickly, and Chuck tells me he saw one sell for three digits on eBay recently. Our goal wasn't to make money, it was merely to assemble a train without waiting 30 years for MTL to make enough of them. But the exercise proved that special runs can work, and we like to think the success of that exercise may have contributed to MTL's concept of runner packs...
Yes was MT and if you still want some I have two plus boxes of them left and they are on my web site. rich www.rslaserkits.com
Now that I know, I would but they have sold out since this past summer. There were only like 4 or 5 of them. I did pick up some old Kadee reefers.
Well, once someone posted a notice about ordering Trainboard cars and it was removed. I asked about them and I was told it was posted to the wrong forum and the run was not available for order by members. Maybe those were the auction cars, but apparently somebody was ordering extras or the post wouldn't have made sense. It didn't bother me, and I'm glad I wasn't able to get one now....what limited "collecting" I did has now been sold off. I'm simply a model railroader and railfan, not a collector. I'm glad you guys were able to sell/auction some off for the cause.