MT just posted this on Facebook regarding MT1500

[mcjaco]

Per the MT Release:

The long wait is over!  The issues with the chassis we use for our SW1500 have been resolved and we are now in a position to order them again.  Prices have
increased due to cost increases to the outsourced chassis. We’ll be accepting orders for the locomotives and logging set listed on both sides of this insert
through the end of February.  Please be sure to place your order with your dealer before this pre-order window closes. Availability of each scheme will be
subject to sufficient pre-orders.

I don't see how the locos are gone after this run.....

[peteski]

Per the MT Release:

I don't see how the locos are gone after this run.....

So the statement on the bottom of this ad is just a marketing ploy?

[C855B]

I'm glad I jumped on two SP "cruds" with the second release.

I don't see how the locos are gone after this run.....

Reading between the lines on Joe's misdirected post (a glitch landed it in the Athearn thread), apparently the chassis supplier has been jacking them around on price as well as raising minimum order quantity, to the point where continuing to offer the model no longer makes business sense.

It's a real shame because this is such an epic prototype, but I so fear the production issues are shades of things to come, industry-wide.  

[central.vermont]

All I have to say is make it over here and not over there. 

Jon

[peteski]

Reading between the lines on Joe's misdirected post (a glitch landed it in the Athearn thread), apparently the chassis supplier has been jacking them around on price as well as raising minimum order quantity, to the point where continuing to offer the model no longer makes business sense.

That is fixed - the moderators moved that post to this thread (on the previous page).

[johnb]

There are other switcher chassis out there, the Kato NW2, the Atlas MP15, Bachmann NW2 and the Arnold SW1....and those are just the GM ones....how far off are they?

[johnb]

Someone at MTL really likes Southern Pacific.  So much so that they accidentally mislabeled the Southern item.

I'd love to have Kodachrome, Cotton Belt, and WP, but with that price I'll have to think about it.

they corrected it

[cjm413]

There are other switcher chassis out there, the Kato NW2, the Atlas MP15, Bachmann NW2 and the Arnold SW1....and those are just the GM ones....how far off are they?

MP15 is longer and has totally different trucks

[Rich_S]

They got the religion on capitalism   

Joe

Joe, Not sure what you mean by your statement? Capitalism is based on competition, two or more companies competing to separate your money from you  (said in a joking manor) China is based on Socialism, the government controlling all business. I think what really has happened, they've realized they have Micro-Trains by the "short hairs" and you're going to pay what every they want or your going to go without, because there is no competition. The sad fact is the majority of companies now have turned to China for products and I feel your statements will begin to ring true for other manufactures. This may be the prefect storm to bring manufacturing back to the USA? 

[MichaelWinicki]

Joe, Not sure what you mean by your statement? Capitalism is based on competition, two or more companies competing to separate your money from you  (said in a joking manor) China is based on Socialism, the government controlling all business. I think what really has happened, they've realized they have Micro-Trains by the "short hairs" and you're going to pay what every they want or your going to go without, because there is no competition. The sad fact is the majority of companies now have turned to China for products and I feel your statements will begin to ring true for other manufactures. This may be the prefect storm to bring manufacturing back to the USA?

What it's been doing is driving manufacturing to other areas of the world where the cost of doing business is less...

That's been the trend for decades US manufacturing to Japan then to China then to Korea/Mexico/India.

When the last "cheap" manufacturing stone is unturned then you'll see manufacturing move back to the US... But of course there are companies that have given up looking for the cheaper offshore alternative and have moved manufacturing back to the US mainland.

[learmoia]

I tried to order the Undec shell kits a while back when I got my True scale Couplers... (in case this happened) but my dealer was told (by MT) they weren't out yet..??... maybe they meant sold out...  Either way, hopefully as this production ramps up, I can get my shells..

I should throw in an order for a couple more..

I still say just produce decorated shells... Or at least keep producing Undec Shells.

There are still alot of Life Like SW units out there...

~Ian

[jagged ben]

Joe, Not sure what you mean by your statement? Capitalism is based on competition, two or more companies competing to separate your money from you  (said in a joking manor) China is based on Socialism, the government controlling all business. I think what really has happened, they've realized they have Micro-Trains by the "short hairs" and you're going to pay what every they want or your going to go without, because there is no competition. The sad fact is the majority of companies now have turned to China for products and I feel your statements will begin to ring true for other manufactures. This may be the prefect storm to bring manufacturing back to the USA?

China is hardly socialist anymore, only in name.  Businesses do compete against each other in China, there are several different factories US manufacturers could choose from for producing model trains, not to mention other products.  ScaleTrains even opened their own factory, or at any rate contracted to lease a dedicated part of a larger facility or something like that.  It's true that once you've invested your effort with one factory they may have you by 'the short hairs' since they have your tooling, and I gather legal recourse is weak.  We've seen some companies be unable to produce product they ought to own, but that could happen with a contracted US factory, or anywhere, too, if the factory were jerks.  But none of this has anything to do with China being socialist, because it isn't in any meaningful way.  Socialist ideas stopped really informing government policy in the 1980s. 

[wazzou]

@Shipsure  - really? No KCS white?

Or GN Big Sky Blue?  wth?

[C855B]

... Businesses do compete against each other in China, there are several different factories US manufacturers could choose from for producing model trains, not to mention other products.  ScaleTrains even opened their own factory, or at any rate contracted to lease a dedicated part of a larger facility or something like that.  It's true that once you've invested your effort with one factory they may have you by 'the short hairs' since they have your tooling, and I gather legal recourse is weak. ...

The tooling issue + legal recourse is the rub. When the Chinese factories adopted the firm policy of owning (or assuming ownership... gotcha!) of tooling, flexibility and the ability to negotiate pricing went out the window. Scale Trains probably had the right idea, notwithstanding the possibility of tweaks to trade policy.

When it comes to production contracts, Hànzì may as well be Ferengi print.

[mu26aeh]

Factories and tooling ownership discussions is reminiscent of Deluxe Innovations