Arnold U28C price change?

[peteski]

I am 70, but my rememberer seems to remember the company as Arnold Rapido in the 1960's, but the nickname Rapido, hence the coupler name. Maybe they settled on the Arnold nickname now since the Rapido Trains (Canada company) is using that name.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

Still, Arnold was the name of the company and rapido (all lower case letters) was the N scale product line (including the coupler of course).  They made models in other scales too. Arnold discontinued using the word rapido probably in the '80s.  Long before Rapido Trains was founded.  At that point the packaging only showed the Arnold name.

I pretty thorough history of Arnold (including their rapido product line) is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_%28models%29

[wmcbride]

So has anyone seen a price adjustment yet?

The few places I've looked are not showing an SRP of $99 yet.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Newest NSR now shows all U boats at $99, and SW1s at $89. Can't wait till those prices hit street. I'm all over the B&M SW1

[Cajonpassfan]

Well, I like lower prices as much as anybody, but sure hope this doesn't mean we've seen the last of Arnold N scale locos with these two. That would be a darn shame.
Otto K.

[ryan_wilkerson]

I'd be interested in an SW1 as Holly Sugar #1 (the first SP diesel) that is preserved at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The sub-$100 price is nice.

History:
http://portal.parks.ca.gov/CapitalDistrict/csrmdocentroundhouse/_layouts/mobile/mblwiki.aspx?Url=%2FCapitalDistrict%2Fcsrmdocentroundhouse%2FSitePages%2FSP%201000%20SW-1%20Full.aspx

Photo by Brian Schmidt:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/railohio/16661365007/

[OldEastRR]

Jeez, is this going to be like the massacre of hobby shop owners BLI did when they dropped their loco prices below what hobby shops had them stocked at, now all over again by Hornsby? Why don't they pull this ***** in HO? N scale gets enough bad breaks.

[reinhardtjh]

"Nothing sucks like a VAX"  (look it up)

George
<we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread drift>

and I drift right back..

<threaddrift>

My VAX doesn't suck. It's a very nice little machine.  A MicroVAX 3100 Model 95 rated at 32 VUPS ( for those who aren't familiar with that unit, 1 VUP is the equivalent of a VAX-11/780 - the original VAX machine) and a whopping (for a VAX) 128MB of memory and 32GB of disk storage.



</threaddrift>

[djconway]

VAXes are kind of like the Timexes of computers - they take a liken and keep on ticking.

Worked with PDP 11/44, VAX and Alpha since 1986, have 2 Alphas still in service that were installed in 1997.  Go ahead show me a Windows system with that kind of staying power.

[peteski]

VAXes are kind of like the Timexes of computers - they take a liken and keep on ticking.

Worked with PDP 11/44, VAX and Alpha since 1986, have 2 Alphas still in service that were installed in 1997.  Go ahead show me a Windows system with that kind of staying power.

That is because VMS doesn't have like zillion and a half updates every year, and no pretty GUI with pretty 3-D effects and sounds!  It is a stable and reliable operating system.    It is not designed to be backbone of corporations, not some gaming machine in someone's bedroom!  I cringe seeing how many companies are running their entire business on a bunch of Windows VMs.   But it is what it is.

[mmagliaro]

That is because VMS doesn't have like zillion and a half updates every year, and no pretty GUI with pretty 3-D effects and sounds!  It is a stable and reliable operating system.    It is not designed to be backbone of corporations, not some gaming machine in someone's bedroom!  I cringe seeing how many companies are running their entire business on a bunch of Windows VMs.   But it is what it is.

....and because Vaxen, both the hardware and software,  were made by one company, DEC.  Even if parts were supplied from many sources, ultimately, DEC took it on their head to assemble and service the machines.  Windows machines are hardware and software from
all over, so the stability is obviously not going to be there. 

And you get what you pay for.  A Vax 8800 in the late 80s cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  A small Alpha in the 1990s cost us about $30 grand.  For that kind of money, I expect stability, robustness, and service (and we got it).

[mmagliaro]

Drifting back...

... hard astern, Mr. Magliaro! 
Aye! Aye!

The SW1 at $89 would be a great buy.  I test-drove one of these and they run beautifully.

Plus... Portland Traction Company had one, #100, in the 1950s.  I have an excuse!  Yay.

[nkalanaga]

OldEastRR:  Probably not, as I doubt that there are many earlier Arnold locos sitting around unsold, and the new, lower priced ones aren't reruns. 

[basementcalling]

So, how does this new lower price actually work? Does one have to order direct from Arnold? Are they eliminating the distribution network and the LHS?  If the non pre orders must pay the previous full retail then I worry if this scheme catches on it will be another nail in the coffin for local hobby shops and further force N scalers to make purchasing decisions months ahead of product delivery.  I am not sure I would count on a hobby shop getting the lower price and then knocking off another substantial discount.

[CBQ Fan]

I just emailed Pete at BLW to see if he has any information on the price.

[wmcbride]

I just emailed Pete at BLW to see if he has any information on the price.

I emailed him last Tuesday night but haven't heard anything back as yet. Hopefully, we will hear somethign soon.