Title says it all - was hoping to be able to find one of these someday, but it doesn't appear that N is where it will happen. I thought they were going to re-release a NYC line J3, but I can't find anything on the site - and haven't had an email from them in almost two years now (and even then it was a whole lotta "maybe we will...someday"). Anyone happen to have heard anything otherwise recently? Brian~
Nothing new from them has been announced that I'm aware of besides the new run of Veranda turbines. You might need to rejoin their mailing list. The last email I got from them was about a month ago.
I once asked them if they would ever consider adding DCC support to their 4-6-4 and they said no (citing the age of the design). Given all the Hudsons that they're currently unloading on their "Yard Sale" page, my guess is that they are in the process of retiring the model. -Mark
The title or this thread sort of assumes that Concor had indicated that they would do a new Hudson. They never did. Therefore the question is moot. NYC people will just have to stand with us PRR people in waiting for the engines we would like to see. Your only other option is to go to HO which I am seriously considering and which other people have done. In general, the N scale manufacturers have a fixation on western roads to the almost exclusion of eastern stuff. A policy which I would think, would be self defeating.
Not having or even being a knowledgable person when it comes to DCC I have seen quite a few old locos converted to same. And just our of curiosity I googled for a Concor Hudson conversion to DCC and came up with this. http://www.trainweb.org/nrmrc/dccconv/cc464.pdf So it looks like it can be done and if you want one, and Concor still has them, the link may be what you need to to get your loco and have DCC.
They actually took pre-orders on the U50's and Gas Turbines, so I'm at least somewhat confident that those will eventually happen. As for a redesigned 4-6-4? Sorry, not holding my breath... -Mark
So what are they doing now? Have they backed off of N scale? That would not be good for us now would it?
Con-Cor should just give up, period. They're stuck in the '80s as far as products are concerned. Next to products by BLMA, ExactRail, or even the latest Atlas, Athearn or MTL, they're a total joke.
Baloney! Their Pioneer Zephyr and M-10000 models take a backseat to no one! Get a freakin' clue! -Mark
A few years back Concor announced that the boss was retiring and that they would be scaling back some. To that effect I believe we have seen that but they haven't totally left the field or the scale. And as far as any new products go they are experiencing the same issues others are in the manufacturing chain in the form of delays and other factors. But least we forget quickly Concor was there with a lot of locos in a lot of roadnames, albeit some were foobies, but most of what they had was quality for the time and some still are. And thier collaboration with Kato produced some locos that are still running today. And the recent releases have filled some unique niches in the N scale modeling arena that without them we wouldn't have. The Galloping Goose was and still is a little unique running marvel along with the Zephyr. Not to mention thier 4-8-4 S-2 team up with Kato that I wish I had bought ten of when they came out.
I agree with Mr. Moore. I was lucky to find a Kato S-2 last fall and I did not hesitate. They may not be perfect, but neither is b man. Or model power and we still select those. Its not easy to keep up with technology when the money is not there. And everyone else has beat you to the Chinese..
I agree, the special runs like the PZ are very impressive. The old runs of passenger cars and the old retreads don't do much for me but I am very happy with my PZ!
The special runs are nice no doubt. Yet it still leaves a gaping hole for those of us looking for a decent and most importantly of all available N Hudson. It was such a great fixture on such a famous line, I guess I'm just surprised that it's been put out to pasture - with no other option anywhere in sight. *sad sigh*
Considering how long it took them to get their MP15 to market I wouldn't be surprised that it would take them to 2020 before they are finally released, and then they may well be old shell tooling.
Not to forget that they advertized a cab forward for several years before Intermountain finally released one. Also, they have been advertising the turbines (Union Pacific veranda gas turbines) and the U-50's now for several years (both of these engines Concor has already previously released) and they STILL can't get them out. Even their website says that they should be available 'late 2013' (last I checked it's now getting late in 2014) with no product coming. http://www.con-cor.com/033021.html Not only do I not believe anything Concor says, I very highly doubt that they will be coming out with anything new (especially when they can't come out with things they already HAVE)...ever.
I think it's more likely Bachmann or BLI will bring out a Hudson; Bmann because they seem to be committed now to steamers and BLI, once it comes out with the M1b and sees the entire run disappear quickly, may think a Hudson worth doing. Given the new state of model manufacturing, there might be railroad-specific versions instead of just the NYC type. KATO is a distant possibility but they are not keen on eastern US RR steam.
Some more commentary to go along with post #12 earlier. As far as Concor making anything I am not sure they ever did or do now. They have for the most part been an importer of much of what they sell. Many of the firms that produced items for Concor have since disappeared from the scene most notably in the steam end of items. Their partnership with Kato ended a long time ago and that pretty much ended the excellent F-3 mechanism and the S-2 Northern. The subsequent Chinese made version of the S-2 didn't hold a candle to the Kato version. In my humble opinion about the only thing that is keeping Concor afloat right now is their old line of passenger cars, some containers, and some HO offerings. A little research showed that Concors yearly profits barely match Atlas's contributions to their 401 K plan. So I don't think they have deep enough pockets anymore to come out with much new. Their website has not been updated for almost a year as far as any releases still having 2013 dates showing. And they are caught up in what I call the China Syndrone and standing in the back of the line. For further information here is a clip from Concor's website reference production. [TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable, width: 100%"] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 4"] Here is a typical timetable for new Items Once a project is "picked" it can take 4-5 months just to gather enough information from Historical Societies, Museums, old books etc. to begin the design stage. lst Stage of Creating all the Cad-Cam design drawings usually takes 3-4 months depending on complexity of the project. But once Stage #1 is finished, we usually find Protoype Information we are missing and have to go back and do more research, this can take a couple of more months to get the information and revise the Cad-Cam drawings. Once the Cad-Cam drawings are finished we have to "wait out turn" for the Tool room to have an open window to start our project, this might delay the start of tooling for 2 months or so. Tooling on average project takes about 4 months, complicated locomotives might take more. All of the Con-Cor tooling is made from steel molds, the same kind of molds that are used to manufacture high volume items such as Cell Phones, and it costs about the same to make a mold for a Model Train where we sell only maybe a few thousand, or a Cell phone mold where they sell hundreds of thousands. That is why the mold cost is a very large percentage of our total costs in producting model trains. Once we have "test shots" from the molds, we usually find some items that need correcting, these changes can take another 2-3 months. Once all molds are approved, the factory will provide us with an "Engineering Sample" where we can double check everything, and still make "tweaks" to improve the model. Once the Engineering sample and sample decorations are 100% approved final production usually takes about 3 months. Once the models are finished it takes about 1 month for transport to our Tucson warehouse from say for example China. Once in our warehouse it takes about two weeks for models to start appearing in the retail stores, or at your front door if you have Pre-Ordered directly from us. So you can see, a complicated project such as the M-10000 can take upwards of 18 months from starting out until it reaches your door step. Some Mishaps over the years... Since we have been around for 47 years some of the "Murphy's Law incidents we have run into: Ship looses propeller 1000 miles from Asia at sea. They had to send out ocean going tugboats to tow ship to safe harbor. Delayed our shipment 45 days. Crane unloading containers at Long Beach drops another container onto one of ours,crushing container. Not much damage to our cargo, but they had to cut off the doors of the container with torches and wait for insurance company inspection, 30 day delay to us in freight arriving UPS Truck with about 50 packages going to dealers of a new item crashes, slides down an embankment and burns. UPS Paid the Insurance claim, but we did not have enough stock left from that new item to re-fill all dealers orders 100%. --We could go on, but I think by now you understand delays happen that are well beyound our control. © 2013 Con-Cor International Ltd. Updated: 10 May 2013 All rights reserved. E-mail concor@con-cor.com (We reserve the right to correct errors and change prices or product specifications without prior notice.) (Not all items listed are in stock at all times. Even if we are out of an item, we continue to list it, for it might be instock at one of the hundreds of dealers or distributors that buy from us, and need to use our website as a reference tool for product descriptions and pricing.) [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"] [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable, width: 100%"] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 4"][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
