Attempting to fathom the decision making process, acquiring the whole of, is appropriate discussion fodder. It's outcome has directly effected N scale. The conversation goes where it flows.
Well, we aren't going to change any minds here, but I doubt that there is any legal responsibility for "meeting customer expectations" involved either........not that its not a good idea, or course. Given the complaints noted above about the LL products that DID come out in N, maybe the complaints on these types of forums convinced them that they just weren't going to be able to meet our lofty expectations, so why try? We would complain about no product, but louder about mediocre product, which, given old mechs and tooling, it would most likely be. As to Glennac's commentary, of course, if you add the word "affordable" and maybe the implication of "always available" yes, agreed, it does change the meaning of my post. But, I stand by it. Many models are available from others, or have been and could be again, but maybe not at the price/timing you may want. It's also an old argument, which has been shown to not be practical in the MRR biz, as blue box Athearn went away. The pre-order system isn't a convenience to avoid poor order estimating, its probably a critical point to staying in the business by avoiding large scale failures on specific projects. Also, it makes sense to me that limited popularity locos (like Erie Builts or even E7 by Broadway) would cost more, splitting the overall cost over fewer units. It also makes sense to me that those kind of locos would appeal to mostly veteran modelers who have high expectations, maybe even higher than those participating here. LL were pretty much entry level locos.....which IMHO is a mismatch to some of those semi-unique units, like BL2,etc. If the Rapido FL9 is making only 300 units each over a few road names for that fairly rare loco, (as hinted on forums, maybe Railwire, can't recall) I can't imagine some of the older cab units would be a lot more popular, probably less so. How many modelers are calling for these? Two dozen? Two hundred? (Hint, no one asked on the Athearn and Atlas "Please Make These" Threads.) Would you risk $100K in tooling, retooling and/or marketing for perhaps 200 locos sold, affordably of course, but with the mfg take at about $45 per locos? It's probably a break even proposition, which no one is going to take. Granted, the RS2 and 3 have always been more iconic units with lots of popularity, but Kato or Atlas must still have that tooling.......and I would bet we see some reruns at some point. Hopefully not too argumentative, but I can see the mfg side, and always have. I agree we are all guessing as to what goes on behind the scenes. I am just predicting that there are some fairly smart (probably by negative experience!) folks in the MRR mfg. game, and in all likelihood, what happened was what had to happen in the vast majority of cases, if for no other reason than they had to make the right decisions most of the time to stay in biz.
I feel like Life Like is the N scale equivalent of Athearn Blue Box, bot in terms of product positioning and the rose colored glasses. Example, like BB, you can still find LifeLike engines new unopened at many trainshows. Just like blue box.
Yoho, I agree. I recall seeing the GP 20 on blowout sales over ten years ago, for maybe $20 each. Also recall SD7, BL2, and many other LL locos not selling well. No way Walther's can expect anything other than we expect not to buy them, even if a few of us complain loudly that we want/need them. I do recall being pleasantly surprised by the GP 38 and 60 and SW1200. (9? whatever it was) That said, the new MT SW 1500, based on the LL SW1200 frame, so in a way, that N scale asset IS being used) aren't quite as good a runner as the Kato NW 2, but back in the day, it was great that someone came out with a switcher. And the SD7 had noticeably thinner hand rails than what was available at the time, which I bought a few just for that to support an mfg who was trying hard. Ditto the GP 60 which was an excellent loco and ran closely with my Atlas Geeps in pre DCC days (a big stumbling block for any new loco maker) Most industries have a big 2 or 3, and then some hangers on, who are just short of being good enough to make people buy in numbers big enough to be successful. I get the impression that N scale locos, probably a declining market after the recession is in the same boat. Kudos to FVM for their few but successful releases, IM for the tunnel motors and SD40-2, and a few hits for Athearn, along with misses. But, they just weren't all going to survive and thrive, given the market. Concor (also with a few high quality special trainsets) Athearn and LL/Walthers are the apparent losers in the N Scale Loco Wars, relegated by US, the N scale consumer, to 3, 4, and 5 place finishes. Perhaps each will find a good niche locos (like the FP45 for Athearn) to occasionally release. It's called the free market......and we make it brutal, don't we?
