In response to the December 2020 announcement that River Point Station would be ending the production of their N Scale vehicle line, Atlas has just announced that it has acquired the tooling for River Point Station's N Scale 1992 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Pickup, 1992 Ford F-350 Service Truck, and various accessories. The official Atlas announcement is as follows: Atlas Acquires Select River Point Station Vehicle Tooling Hillside, NJ – Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc. is proud to announce the purchase of N Scale vehicle tooling from River Point Station Fine Scale Models of Warwick, RI. Vehicle molds acquired include the 1992 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Pickups and 1992 Ford F-350 Service Trucks, as well as various accessories. “In December of 2020, River Point Station announced that they would be streamlining their product line and would cease producing N Scale vehicles and we did not want to see a void left in the market" said Jarrett Haedrich, COO of Atlas. "We are happy to have acquired this tooling and will continue to supply these and other N scale vehicles to modelers." River Point Station Fine Scale Models was founded in 2006 by Ron Elsdoerfer to supply HO accessory kits to modelers. In the 14 years that followed, River Point Station grew their offerings to include HO & N Scale Vehicles. In December 2020, River Point Station announced a scaling back of certain aspects of their business which led to this acquisition. More information can be found on their website: http://www.riverpointstation.com/pages/latest_news.php Founded in 1924 and incorporated in 1949 as Atlas Tool Co. Inc., present day Atlas Model Railroad Co. produces locomotives, rolling stock, track, and accessories in N, HO and O scales for its Atlas Master, Atlas Classic, Trainman, and Atlas O lines. For more information on Atlas announcements, visit https://shop.atlasrr.com.
At least the tooling is not being lost to the community, as so many fine products have over the years when the owner gets out of the business (Sunrise Enterprises, TrainCAT, and others come to mind).
I'm was waiting for Atlas to re-release the LifeLike FA1 and 2's in DCC but I'm beginning to think that the age of getting models of first generation diesels is over with the possible exception of switchers like the SW9/1200 or others of like kind.
Some years ago Semroc, a major producer of model rocket parts and kits closed its doors. This was the Model RR equivalent of loosing Atlas, Kato and Intermountain on the same day. Thankfully another company purchased all the plans, materials, machining etc. and Semroc was reborn. Good to know this can happen in this hobby as well. Now, when will I get my SP&S C424's?
The Atlas site/production section still lists the FA1 as coming. Atlas takes forever to get things produced at times. I saw that the GP40 is now shipping (I've been waiting on this for the B&O units). From the time they were announced, to the time shipped to the dealers was basically three years (yikes!). So given that same time frame, three years from announcement of the FA1 would put delivery at the end of 2021.
