HOGTRAINZ Intermountain Update

[pdx1955]

They  ought to cancel all of those IM  passenger car pre-orders too as I sit on some approaching their 5th birthday. Although  I waited a decade for some Shasta Daylight  cars only  to have them come painted completely  wrong so I guess it's shame on me. IM's had this problem for a long time  of failure  to deliver anything on time that's not a covered hopper. Back when they were doing kits they popped those out quickly  after announcements ,  but now they just have over promised and their production way under delivers.

[mu26aeh]

I've said it before and will say it again.  They announce too much at the same time.  Example, 4750 covered hoppers are In transit according to their website.  26 roadnames, most with 6 road numbers each.  3281 Trinity Hoppers, 20 roadnames, between 6-12 numbers each.  5161 Trinity hoppers, 20 road names, 6 numbers each except for the BNSF heritage hoppers.  And then they wonder why they can't get enough reservations for some. 

[squirrelhunter]

Honestly their business model screams "company without enough working capital to make existing product lines and develop new product"

Also, they lacked the capital to do what Atlas did to resolve their factory woes, which was to buy a line of models made at a different factory.

Honestly IM should have sold out last year, when interest rates were low (financing) and hobby sales were probably the best they have been since 2008 (future revenues)

Their announcement strategy is clearly designed to use hobby shops/modelers to test market demand and box out competitors. The GP10 is a perfect example of this. They know Atlas has the mechanism, frame/sill and cab tooling to do a chop nose GP7/GP9 if they tool a new hood piece. But by announcing their GP 10, they keep Atlas from doing chop nose GP7/GP9 and also try to see how much market interest there is. But because IM has to tool the whole project from ground up, they will need more units to break even compared to an Atlas that just needs two new parts tooled. But there isn't enough demand for that level of investment, so the project lives in limbo. Which burns good will with retailers and modelers who don't pre-order vaporware. Thus IM limps along, sparoically releasing freight and passenger cars at random.

[flight2000]

I don't follow their N scale stuff anymore, but IM finally started cranking out reliable (almost monthly) deliveries of their HO stuff beginning with last summers release of the updated autoracks.  They are delivering their latest HO Tier 4 Gevo's this week, so maybe once their cash situation gets better, they can start to focus on the N Scale stuff more.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
Brian 

[davefoxx]

I don't follow their N scale stuff anymore, but IM finally started cranking out reliable (almost monthly) deliveries of their HO stuff beginning with last summers release of the updated autoracks.  They are delivering their latest HO Tier 4 Gevo's this week, so maybe once their cash situation gets better, they can start to focus on the N Scale stuff more.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
Brian

Except their HO scale GP16 project remains vaporware.

DFF

[sd45elect2000]

An open letter to Intermountain.

I have been buying your product since back when you were offering reefer, boxcar, tank car and gondola kits. I have hundreds if not a thousand or more of your products. I am grateful that you produced these models.

In this screwed up time of worldwide pandemic, collapsing economy's and the like I hope that the intermountain family is doing well. I have faith that after the madness is over Intermountain will make a strong comeback. I look forward to that day and wish the Intermountain family all the best.

Regards,
Randy Stahl

[learmoia]

I don't blame them (Hog Trains)  I've been dissapointed by Intermountain several times.. Months ago, I asked my dealer to cancel my IM pre-orders simply due to the fact that I doubt the items will ever be produced.

~Ian

Come to think of it..

In 2014 I put in a pre-order with BLW for the Intermountain ACF Hoppers in Conrail paint (when it was advertised with the large logo)

Fast forward 3 years (2017)
I was going to put in a pre order for the 4850 PS hoppers, but BLW wasn't going to put the Preorders on the website due to the delays, ect. So I put in a pre-order with my LHS

Fast Forward Several years

And several CC#s

And Pete's Diagnosis and Curing of Cancer..

In 2019, the ACF model finally releases in a different paint scheme than advertised.
... Hogz Trains never did contact me on the pre-order (which is fine, I didn't want them anyways..)

Fast Forward to 2021
... I still haven't seen those PS 4850 Hoppers.... but I have cars from 2 runs from Scale Trains...

[jereising]

@scaletrains - are you listening?

What an opportunity!

SD40-2s, SD40-Ns, SD70ACes... and SO much more.  People want to spend their money!

@scaletrains - are you listening?

That's a friendly nag to the one company who seems to "get it" these days.

@scaletrains - are you listening?

[Englewood]

Don't forget the tunnel motors!!!

[JMaurer1]

Add me to the list of people who ordered things that just never became...real. They announce a ton of roads and see which ones get the most preorders and them (maybe) make some of those. I HATE preorders and rarely do them. If you say you are going to do something, then keep YOUR WORD and do them. I have stopped buying anything Intermountain because of there lack of actually producing much. They are very quickly replacing ConCor as a company that somehow stays in business without making seemingly anything.

In the immortal words of the great master jedi Yoda:

[dougnelson]

I am very understanding of businesses having hard times and production issues.  It is a part of the hobby business.  What bothers me however, is dishonesty presented in websites and Facebook pages.  Honesty of what is going on would go a long way to at least wanting to support a business.  Intermountain has had many great N scale products.  I wish them well but would appreciate more honesty.  This also goes to some retailers that neglect to update their websites and Facebook pages to current status. 

[prr7161]

Honesty of what is going on would go a long way to at least wanting to support a business.

Agreed.  I've maintained for a while the IM's biggest problem is not the slow turnaround or plethora of road names per release (although it would be nice if these got under control), but the lack of transparency about what their actual lead times and production issues are.  I had an order for a pair of IM B&O F3's with Hogtrainz, and at this point after five years it's honestly a relief to be able to stop carrying the potential CC charge forward indefinitely.  I hope IM gets their production pipeline in order so that we can continue to get nice product from them, but I'll be waiting for stuff to actually hit the shelves before buying at this point.

It is possible to overcome this kind of a reputation - after an epically miserable delay with the M1s, BLI is now able to do all product development prior to an announcement and only take preorders when the run is ready to be made.  Whether or not you like their products, at least when an announcement is made the product will be in your hands within 6 months or less, which is a much better position to be in when asking for an advance order.

[flight2000]

Except their HO scale GP16 project remains vaporware.

DFF

What's a GP16...      I just checked and they say they are "in production" but that tag could have been there for a looooong time. 

I seriously doubt they'll ever get to the Dash 9's either given Scaletrains multiple releases and now Athearn's 2.0 version should be here by the end of the year. 

Cheers,
Brian

[davefoxx]

What's a GP16...   

It’s what you get when a GP9 and GP7 are involved in a cornfield meet. 

DFF

[CBQ Fan]

My original F7 order was June of 2014 with BLE.  Almost seven years ago.