Atlas Acquires River Point Station N Scale Vehicle Tooling

[pmpexpress]

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.

[eja]

Lets hope they don't pull another BLMA acquisition - acquire and never produce !

 

[Spades]

http://espee.railfan.net/picindex/sp-mow_vehicles/rap_spmowv03.html

and

http://espee.railfan.net/picindex/sp-mow_vehicles/spmw_ford-pickup_01-chris_l_arnold.html

[cfritschle]

http://espee.railfan.net/picindex/sp-mow_vehicles/rap_spmowv03.html

and

http://espee.railfan.net/picindex/sp-mow_vehicles/spmw_ford-pickup_01-chris_l_arnold.html

Thank you for the links to the SP Fords! 

[w neal]

And UP go the prices...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And UP go the prices...

Well, from currently unavailable to, something?

[basementcalling]

Lets hope they don't pull another BLMA acquisition - acquire and never produce !

Atlas has already released a number of their BMLA acquisitions: oil tankers, 62 foot beer boxcars, those ugly 2 bay dry flow hoppers, 1 run of 62 foot reefers (I think), and is showing the detail parts coming back this summer. Now they might not have released a BMLA product YOU wanted, but they are not just sitting on the tooling. 

I'm not sure it's good for the overall health of the industry for them to keep gobbling up small company tooling like they are, but Atlas is a top tier N scale company.  Growing by addition in the current pandemic plagued economy is probably a good thing overall. Better than letting the tooling vanish.

[w neal]

Agreed on all fronts. Plus, it'll be good to have them in more "roadnames".

[cfritschle]

Agreed on all fronts. Plus, it'll be good to have them in more "roadnames".

What road names would you like to see?  I am trying to put together a list with photo confirmation of all of the railroads that used 1992-98 Ford F-250 and F-350 trucks.

[bbussey]

I'm not sure it's good for the overall health of the industry for them to keep gobbling up small company tooling like they are, but Atlas is a top tier N scale company.  Growing by addition in the current pandemic plagued economy is probably a good thing overall. Better than letting the tooling vanish.

It's better than the tooling disappearing forever, yes?  All of that second-hand tooling that Atlas has acquired in recent years was either from manufacturers that were closing their doors or abandoning those product lines.  I'd rather see product appear every few years than never again, especially with Atlas improving the models as time progresses.
 

[peteski]

. . .
 I'd rather see product appear every few years than never again, especially with Atlas improving the models as time progresses.

Well, in case of the RPS tooling, IMO it will not need any improvement - those models are very well made (molding and decoration).  I am impressed by them (and I don't get impressed easily).

[muktown128]

That sounds like a Peteski stamp of approval

[davefoxx]

That sounds like a Peteski stamp of approval

Cue the Bobby Hill GIF.   

DFF

[peteski]

That sounds like a Peteski stamp of approval

[eja]

Now they might not have released a BMLA product YOU wanted, but they are not just sitting on the tooling. 

True ... I wanted, and still want, some of the detail parts that Craig used to make.