Intermountain - Has a Longstanding Logjam Been Cleared?

[C855B]

I do realize that a sample size of one is statistically meaningless, however…

I received notice this afternoon that a pre-order from six years ago for 12 PFE 57’ mechanical reefers had arrived at my fave online dealer. They were asking if I still wanted to buy them despite a 50% increase over the announcement price.

All things considered, I was OK with that, and gave ‘em the green light.

Anybody else similarly surprised recently by a long-overdue Intermountain release? Is it possible they finally have their act together?

[mu26aeh]

Personally, no.  I'm still waiting for the 3281 cement hoppers to go into production.  I pre-ordered them 7 1/2 years ago and they are still taking reservations last I saw.

[reinhardtjh]

Nope. They don't sell anything I am currently interested in.  I had a reservation 10 years ago for F7/F7B but I backdated to and those are now too new.  Even before backdating I got several Kato F7's for cheap to fill my needs.  The only other thing are the various version of the 1937 AAR 40' box and anything I wanted there was cancelled with no others in site.

[GaryHinshaw]

I received notice this afternoon that a pre-order from six years ago for 12 PFE 57’ mechanical reefers had arrived at my fave online dealer.

Personally, no.  I'm still waiting for the 3281 cement hoppers to go into production.  I pre-ordered them 7 1/2 years ago...

Nope. ... I had a reservation 10 years ago for F7/F7B...

Hey, get in line Mike!

[basementcalling]

Personally, no.  I'm still waiting for the 3281 cement hoppers to go into production.  I pre-ordered them 7 1/2 years ago and they are still taking reservations last I saw.

We need these far more than a rerun of a body style made by multiple companies over the years.

The variety of covered hoppers in N scale is pathetic.

[GaryHinshaw]

The 3281s have been on my top-5 list for 10 years now.

[thomasjmdavis]

Would those be the R-70-20's they recently announced as shipping Nov. 6?
https://intermountain-railway.com/new.html

As with others, my various boxcars were all canceled. But I am glad some folks are getting long awaited orders.

[basementcalling]

The 3281s have been on my top-5 list for 10 years now.

And because IM announced them, even 10 years later, no one else will bring a model to market.

[C855B]

Hey, get in line Mike!

He made me do it, Dad! 

The reefers were existing tooling. I guess the holdup was enough orders to justify the re-run. My not-so-humble opinion is anything you guys are wishing for that isn’t standing tooling is going to arrive on the 12th… of never.

[davefoxx]

I couldn’t even begin to tell you how long I’ve been waiting on the IM HO scale GP16s.

DFF

[nkalanaga]

I've reached the point that I assume anything announced by Intermountain will never be seen.  I'll still reserve it, but so far, over the last six years, I might have received half a dozen items.  Most of my reservations have eventually been cancelled, so I don't expect anything now.

[jargonlet]

I would love to have a dozen 3281. I sure wish there was a way to tell how many more reservations they need to actually produce the model. I know it’s been said before but if they would be more transparent on that front then more stuff might go to production.

[lock4244]

I was miffed at their cancelling the 4785 cuft covered hoppers. No, I didn't reserve, they've been something of a joke in terms of delivery times as we all know, so I won't reserve from them. Two years out is about all I am willing to wait for a reservation... anything beyond that is vaporware afaic. Fortunately for me Prairie Shadows has done the 3800cuft cylindrical covered hopper, so my need of the 4550cuft cylindrical IM produces has evaporated.

There's some bi and tri level autoracks I'd buy if they get released, but I'm not reserving them.

[GaryHinshaw]

The Intermountain web site is a complete mess of confusing and/or conflicting information.  If I go to their home page, I am presented with a bewildering variety of links to lists of one kind or another.  What do these links say about their offerings?  Here are 3 examples:

1. A PS 5277 BN box car, recently released and available at Lombard, MSRP $36.95 >> $27.99.  According to Intermountain themselves, this car is simultaneously Cancelled, In Stock Contact Your Dealer, $36.95, and available for Advance Reservation, $45.90? (and features etched metal roofwalks...).

2. A BNSF bi-level auto rack, released several months ago, available at Lombard, MSRP $69.95 >> $39.99 (great price, BTW!).  According to Intermountain this car is In Stock Contact Your Dealer, $69.95 and available for Advance Reservation, $96.80!.

3. A 4750 hopper in Frisco/BN green is simultaneously listed as Cancelled and available for Advance Reservation, $41.45.

I hadn't looked at their web site for a few years.  Now I remember why.

[C855B]

And because IM announced them, even 10 years later, no one else will bring a model to market.

I would tend to believe that’s not the case any more. MRR manufacturing is a tight-knit community and (almost) everybody knows everybody’s reputation. I can picture a “future products” meeting at one of the active manufacturers where somebody says, “But Intermountain is doing that particular variant…” and the entire meeting comes to a halt as everyone tries to catch their breath from the belly laughs. A standing joke, IOW.

I don’t think anybody respects anybody else’s “franchise” any more. BLI has seen to that, Bachmann to a lesser extent. We kid around about the Big Boys and GG-1s from multiple makers, but to me it was telling when Atlas announced their SD45, stepping on Bachmann’s and even Kato’s toes, for chrissakes! When the long-established makers are mumbling “$#!+ or get off the pot” about each others’ offerings when they believe there’s a demand they can service at a profit, they’re doing it.