Talk to me about Sanda Kan

[overall]

I have seen this name thrown around alot. Is this a person who owns a company that makes trains under contract to Lionel, MTH and others? Is it a man or woman?If it is a company, wouldn't it be called Sanda Kan Inc.? Thanks for the info.

George

[FJ and G]

He's one of the descendents of Genghis Kan and Kubla Kan, I'm perty certain.

[pbjwilson]

I think she was a member of Shakka Kan. They had some disco hits in the 70's. When disco faded she went to China and started making toy trains.

[brianel027]

Dave and Paul... you guys funny! Dave, when will the Leno appearance be?? Hopefully on a night Neil will also appear!

OK, Seriously don't try to type the name too fast: it's not Sandra Kan.

George, Sanda Kan is the manufacturing facility in China that pretty much makes all of our trains, save for the high quality models that often are made in South Korea. I also believe that MTH has built their own facility in South Korea.

Sanda Kan also contract manufactures trains in other scales as well as assisting with engineering. K-Line had been using Sanda Kan since around 1990-91. Lionel closed their US plant and went to Sanda Kan around 2000-2001. Although Lionel had been having lower level starter types of products, track, etc. made in China all through the 1990's. If you bought 027 track or accessories you will often see Made in Hong Kong on them. And despite the Made in America claim on the Chessie/NYC Flyer types of sets made in the early 1990's, if you pull apart the engine, you'll notice the casting was Made in Maccau (China).

At least by 1996, Lionel admitted in the intro of their catalog that most starter sets and related items were being made overseas.

Basically Sanda Kan is in simple terms a contractor. The train companies order their production runs (and can have them engineered or partially engineered) and have them shipped to the US. The tooling and dies are also all made overseas, where the cost for this work has always been substantially cheaper. Notice how much new product (new tooling and dies) was introduced by Lionel after the elimination of US based production. No doubt Lionel's statement that they couldn't compete with the others had as much to do with new tooling as any labor/production costs.

I don't know when Williams went to China. MTH trains have always been made overseas. Some MTH products were made in China until the big engineering theft and resulting lawsuit with Lionel.... Bob Grubba's first claim to fame.

[FJ and G]

Gee, Brian, you always amaze me with your textbook like knowledge. If you put it all into a book, I'd buy it!

I was just joking but now that I see Sanda Kan is in China, my joke might not be too far off the mark (a portion of Mongolia is in China).

[johnandjulie13]

I thought he was the nemesis of Captain Kirk and company. Beware the wrath of Kan!

Regards,

John

[1688torpedo]

I think that Sanda has a cousin here in the U.S. that makes Hot Dogs also. I believe his name is Porky Khan.[C=:-)][:P][:)][;)][:o)]

[Anonymous]

I know that Williams gets at least part of its production from Sanda Kan. Got my premium for joining the Williams Platinum Club, an Alaska RR hopper. It had “Inspected By: Sanda Kan” on the paperwork. Do not think I mind either; this is a top-notch car.

[dougdagrump]

What about Kal Kan ?

[FJ and G]

John: Beware The Wrath of Sanda Kan

[1688torpedo]

Dave- LOL! Looks like BB Tried to eat some Grits & thought to herself." What is this & why would anyone eat it?" Better stick to the Khan's Hot Dogs instead.( & Jif Peanut Butter).[;)][:P][:)] Take Care.

[Jumijo]

David,

Who's that character in the upper right? Kal Kan?

Jim[;)][:)]

[brianel027]

Hey Dave, the spot on Leno with Neil Young is becomming a possibilty... Neil has an unexpected anti-war, anti-Bush album coming out with the lead song "Impeach The President." HIs record company didn't even know he was making the album. Maybe the CD will be made by Sanda Kan and distributed under the new K-Line Records label. [:D] And we all wondered what would become of the K-line name??? [:D]

Wouldn't it be even cooler if Lionel was working on some non-commard affordable decent quality trains that were reasonably priced that know one knew about either?

Maybe you could use your "infuence" Dave and get me a spot too and I'll do a song off my new album "Impeach The Prototype" with the lyrics

We all know labor at Sanda Kan is cheap
Which really explains why the prices are so steep
One thing for certain for the determined Anerican train buyer
List prices in the next released catalog will certainly be higher

By the way Jaabat... you and I have had our different takes on FasTrack in the past. The stuff will never be for me until Lionel decides to introduce it in tigher radius curves, but I must say, the photo of your layout looks very nice and the FasTrack looks good. And I am glad that the track seems to have found an audience despite the criticism. It kind of reminds me when a non-scale non-command loco comes out and every one dumps on it - but then it becomes a success, such as the RMT Beep.

Just goes to show, what doesn't work well for one train buyer, is absolutely perfect for another! [8]

[johnandjulie13]

David:

I love the poster!

Regards,

John

[Jumijo]

Thanks, Brian. My only nit with FasTrack is the noise. Someone on OGR's forum suggested using pink insulation under each piece to lessen the sound. Haven't tried that yet. Mostly because of all the cutting involved.

The FasTrack is selling faster than Lionel can make it. It really is a very good track system. I wouldn't be surprised to see tighter curves offered in the future. Then again, O27 is very limiting as to what you can run on it. Maybe 31" curves? If you haven't tried it, you owe it to yourself to do so.

Jim

[cnw1995]

You know how some one around you mentions a song or lyric and you can't get it out of your head for the rest of the day? When I read this thread, I immediately thought of ..."Sanda Sanda Kan - I want my trains from Sanda Kan" to the tune of the old Village People song 'Macho Man.'' You can thank me later.

[dougdagrump]

Jaabat(Jim), use the pipe wrap insulation, it's already icut down. Probably not as cost effective though as cutting your own from batts.

[brianel027]

Jaabat, I haven't tried FasTrack at home but have played with it elsewhere. One trick I dicovered which I have mentioned before is to use plastic MPC wheel sets on cars or at least some cars.

The plastic wheel sets are a very effective way to reduce the noise level from the track. Of course I can't hear many cries of approval if Lionel decided to go back to those.

Seriously though, even if you were to alternate wheel sets on one each truck, it would help reduce noise. When I read of all the ideas being bantered around on FasTrack noise level either the plastic wheels or using pink styrofoam as the base of the layout seem to be the best, less labor intensive ways of cutting noise levels some.

Of course there are those who don't feel it's noisey at all, so to each his/her own.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program dealing with the Wrath of Kan.
PS: I wasn't joking about the new Neil album. I was joking about K-Line being the record label.... but stranger things have already happened!!!

[mkwelbornjr]

Didn't Lionel ship some tooling to Sanda Kan as well like for PWC stuff. There are still some MPC markings on the current products that have been covered up.

QUOTE: Originally posted by brianel027

Dave and Paul... you guys funny! Dave, when will the Leno appearance be?? Hopefully on a night Neil will also appear!

OK, Seriously don't try to type the name too fast: it's not Sandra Kan.

George, Sanda Kan is the manufacturing facility in China that pretty much makes all of our trains, save for the high quality models that often are made in South Korea. I also believe that MTH has built their own facility in South Korea.

Sanda Kan also contract manufactures trains in other scales as well as assisting with engineering. K-Line had been using Sanda Kan since around 1990-91. Lionel closed their US plant and went to Sanda Kan around 2000-2001. Although Lionel had been having lower level starter types of products, track, etc. made in China all through the 1990's. If you bought 027 track or accessories you will often see Made in Hong Kong on them. And despite the Made in America claim on the Chessie/NYC Flyer types of sets made in the early 1990's, if you pull apart the engine, you'll notice the casting was Made in Maccau (China).

At least by 1996, Lionel admitted in the intro of their catalog that most starter sets and related items were being made overseas.

Basically Sanda Kan is in simple terms a contractor. The train companies order their production runs (and can have them engineered or partially engineered) and have them shipped to the US. The tooling and dies are also all made overseas, where the cost for this work has always been substantially cheaper. Notice how much new product (new tooling and dies) was introduced by Lionel after the elimination of US based production. No doubt Lionel's statement that they couldn't compete with the others had as much to do with new tooling as any labor/production costs.

I don't know when Williams went to China. MTH trains have always been made overseas. Some MTH products were made in China until the big engineering theft and resulting lawsuit with Lionel.... Bob Grubba's first claim to fame.

[Anonymous]

Wasnt Sandra Kan married to Sammy Cahn, you know the movie producer?