Industrial Rail Closing Shop?

[Jumijo]

Does anyone know if Industrial Rail is getting out of the O/O27 market entirely? Yesterday I wrote to Industrial Rail's customer service asking about their O27 rolling stock's compatability with Lionel's. Here was the response:


Dear Valued Customer:

Thank you for your Email.

We're sorry, but the line of .027 model railroad cars and accessories
from Industrial Rail has been discontinued.  However, some items are
still available.  They are compatible with Lionel equipment.

We hope you find this information helpful.  Should you have any further
questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at this
email address.  (Please be sure to copy all previous emails into any
future questions.)

DID YOU KNOW that our web pages now all contain FAQs? (Frequently asked
questions)  Please drop by and take a look! We hope you'll find the
information helpful and valuable to you.

Sincerely,

Hobby Services
3002 N. Apollo Dr.  Suite 1
Champaign, IL   61822
USA

[wrmcclellan]

Yes IR closed up under United Model Distributors a couple of years ago. I thought their line had been purchased, but I do not recall the name and the one you posted from their web site does not look familier.

It is too bad because they made good quality 027 sized equipment for a very nice price.

Regards,
Roy

[Anonymous]

I think they've been closed down for more than a year. You can find plenty of IR on eBay and many hobby shops still carry the product.

[spankybird]

Roy, you are correct, they have been bought out, but the new owners are not making any of the product.

The only thing out there is what is in inventory. I have seen some real blow out deals on some of there stuff.

[brianel027]

Here's what I know on Industrial Rail. The original maker, United Model Distributors stopped making the product over 2 years ago. I've heard several conflicting reasons for this, so I won't repeat what may or may not be truth. Hobbyco picked up the Industrial Rail line, but it seems this turned out to be mostly a move of selling the previously made inventory. I've heard the final runs of the IR cars were bigger than previous runs. I've read that another company has picked up the IR tooling and there was some talk that there would be more offerings this year.

The Industrial Rail line by all accounts was successful sales-wise. No doubt the changing car numbers helped play into this. The early IR cars may be available in up to 4 numbers. I know many are available in at least 3 different numbers. The later cars are available in 2 numbers, except for the final flat car releases. Also UMD had the insight to release these "traditionally" sized cars in road names that still have yet to be touched by anyone else in this size range. Plus there was the high quality and reasonable price.

Dealers also liked the IR line because of the low wholesale price... better than anyone else's margin. It was possible for a small dealer to stock the IR cars, discount them attractively below list and STILL make a profit... something small dealers can't do with other product lines. And for a while there, the IR line hade a nice buzz going... new releases coming every year in a variety of roads, the previous releases in new road numbers, and then the hand car and the trolley.

Notice how K-Line's Train-19 and MTH's Rugged Rails lines came AFTER Industrial Rail. Believe me, I have heard the comments: Lionel, K-Line and MTH did not like the Industrial Rail line. But IR was doing something they were not doing - and doing it well.

Some have speculated on the future "collectbility" of the IR cars. Whether they ever in the future become valuable on a monetary level, they are absolutely run to run today - and are still affordable. Compare various makers of cars in the same identical road names, and I prefer the IR versions.

I've wished that Ready-Made-Toys had gotten the IR tooling... I think they could continue a good thing and do a good job with it too. Despite all the buzz on "scale" there is still a market for some of these tradionally-sized cars so long as they are well made and reasonably priced... not a bad formula for success.

[alton6]

brianel....Do you know anything about the origin of this line? Who was UMD? How (and when) did the company start, etc.

For the most part these were/are very nice products. There hasn't been a lot of information available about the early days of the company and it's personel, at least not that I have seen.

Carl

[brianel027]

United Model Distributors is a wholesale distributor outfit. They were having the train products made for them in China (like nearly everyone else these days). There had previously been Industrial Rail product lines in HO and N scales when in 1998 they introduced a line of traditionally-sized 0/027 trains for the 3-rail market that were all supposedly from brand new tooling.

The line expanded quite a bit in 2000 with new car types and more roadnames. There were even a couple of catalogs/flyers issued. By all accounts, the line was very successful - again for the reasons that the product was quality and the wholesale prices to dealers beat the pants off anything offered by Lionel, K-Line or MTH. We modelers may not think about this much, but it is not easy for small dealers to make money on trains these days (or anything for that matter).

Retailing in general, including our train hobby, is turning towards big box venues that do mailorder and internet sales. Volume is how the large outfits can sell at discounted prices. In some cases some of the big mailorder houses are also distributors making it even easier to sell trains at discounted prices. The various train importers also want to be paid ASAP for production runs, which also favors the larger dealers. The various companies can say they value their small dealers, but the truth is that the large dealers and mailorder places keep the money flowing quickly. The Industrial Rail product line was one that a small dealer could actually make some money with.

Either the last final runs of IR product were substantial in quantity or there were other production runs after UMD let the Industrial Rail product line go to Hobbico. For the past year or two, it seems there have been many blowout prices on Industrial Rail products. Of course, Hobbico may have just been trying to rid themselves of remaining inventory. One thing I've heard is that Hobbico picked up the Industrial Rail line with no intention of producing more product, but only to distribute the remaining inventory. Only now does it seem the products are becomming a little harder to find, at least on dealer shelves.

Again, I think the IR line had quite a buzz going for a while. New products kept coming and old products were issued with new road numbers. I don't think they ever advertised that they were doing that... modelers discovered it and then that created more excitement on the product line.

There has been a rumor that another company purchased the IR tooling and dies, and was intending to issue more rolling stock, but I haven't heard anything substantiated on this. Again, as I said above, I think it would be great if Ready-Made-Toys could obtain or lease the tooling and dies. I think R-M-T could continue to do good things with the tooling based on what they are already doing with the "Beep."

I don't think we've seen the final end of the Industrial Rail tooling and dies. As recent 3-rail train history has shown, some tooling keeps coming back again under new company names. Time will tell.

[choochin3]

Hello all,
I have a IR trolley with a stripped gear.
I sent them an email over 2 months ago and still haven't recived a reply!
Anyone have any ideas where I can get a new gear or replacment truck?
Thanx Carl T.

[alton6]

Thanks, brianel. It would be interesting to learn who the principles involved in launching this line were, and whether they are still involved in the hobby in any capacity.

What is the relationship with the name IDM with Industrial Rail, exactly? The name seem to be used interchangably.

The choice in car numbering must have been a new thing in o-27 at the time. Perhaps, their HO cars were offered this way, and it was a carry over from that. Does anyone know of multiple road numbers being offered in 0-27 products before this time?

Carl