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As you experienced model railroaders are able to discern, when it comes to this wonderful hobby I am a neophyte at best. From what I have been able to glean to this point, manufacturers appear to market a product, say, locomotive, for a given period of time and then discontinue it. In short, one cannot count on, for instance, BLI to continue to market Hudson locomotives. Do I have this right? And if so, what motivates manufacturers to "run" a product for only so many units before discontinuing it?


Thanks,

Tom
 
yes each mfg makes a model in whats called a "run" some times they do 2 or 3 runs then discontinue it. some times they will re release them after a few year of no production .

I think each run is baised on the projected sales of a new model or sales of the last run. after a point the market becomes saturated so production slows or stops.
 
Tom, you have entered the hobby at a time when what you describe is now common but it wasn't always so. You could buy an Athearn UP BB F unit any time between 1957 and probably 2000 and there was always a run in production. Except for brass, most model companies kept engines in productions for years, if not decades. I suspect the difference is that these "limited runs" help drive up the price and profit margin for companies now in much the same way brass engines were made more valuable by scarcity. At one time, the model railroad business was a high volume, low margin business. That works as long as everyone wants the same engines and the choices are limited by technology. There are fewer people buying engines than there were 40 years ago but the variety of engines available was undreamed of in 1970. An HH660 is not going to enjoy a profitable 10 year production run but a thousand units sold over one production run may be very profitable. As long as we modelers want more and more rare and obscure engines produced in high detail plastic, limtied runs will be the norm.
 
Trent & Jim,

Thanks for your excellent insight. Because I can't know for certain how long a given product will be available for purchase, I will have less time to figure out the order I want to buy stuff. For instance, I wanted a UP F-7. Genesis does not make such a model. I had to jump on a BLI model because I learned that BLI was ceasing production of this model. Now when Genesis releases its ATSF F-7 Passenger, I will have to jump on one. Ditto for Paragon2's Hudson. But I would have much preferred the ear of which Jim wrote when model railroaders knew they could pick up a certain product at their leisure.



Thanks,

ST
 
Tom - To elaborate a bit on Jim's post, let me point out a few additional facts regarding the situation.

A number of factors have change in the hobby and in business in general over the past decade, or so. Among these were a slow general decline in the number of active hobbyists/customers; a shift in business concepts toward the elimination of the lengthy stocking of any products; an influx of new hobbyist largely with less modeling ability than their older generations (who modified available models into new variations through super detailing them, rather than looking for some RTR example), and a desire by the manufacturer to create an immediate demand and similar return on their investment, rather than through longterm sales of a given item.

Something that is becoming increasingly common is for manufacturers to produce about 10% fewer models than what they have determined as the existing demand, forcing hobbyists to pre-order rather than wait and see how reports judge the model to be...the old "buy it right now or loose out" concept. Likewise, this allows the manufacturer to push the prices ever higher.

One of the most extreme examples of under production involved the first run of the DL-109 a few years back. The NH version of the DL-109 became essentially unavailable just two or three day after it appeared on the market. This $75 locomotive was bringing up to $300 on eBay by the end of the month! However, 2nd and 3rd run ended up glutting the market because of over production.

Unfortunately, the above conditions are likely to be the future of the hobby.

NYW&B
 
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NYW&B,

Thanks so much for sharing your expertise. And what you have written is right on the money! I called Athearn to inquire about release of Genesis HO F-7 ATSF Passenger. I was told it will be released on its target date, and then the Athearn representative told me I should act quickly if I wanted to assure that I would be in position to buy one!

Being the committed capitalist that I am, Michael Moore be damned, I will not begrudge companies' maximizing profits. However, as a consumer I want to be reasonably certain that I will be able to own as I plan.

HO model railroading is really my first and only hobby. I do own nearly antique American Flyer trains that I used to "play" with when I was a kid. Since delving into the fascinating hobby I've become captivated -enthralled maybe- by the essence of it. Until very recently I had no idea that quality HO trains are nearly exact replicas of the real thing! Furthermore, I am amazed at how you professional model railroaders are able to re-create actual railroads.


Take care,

Tom
 
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