http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=2945
Guess its Official, Confirms my worst fears about pricing and availability outside of Walthers...
Have fun with your trains
And, the new head of North American sales, service and such for the LGB division of Wm. K. Walthers is a name well known to the LS and LGB community.
He did tell me it is for publication, but the "official" release won't be until "next veek", so, just until then, rest assured someone who knows what he is doing will be in charge.
How about Ron Gibson.
Oh well.
I heard this before
but Marklin IS producing them? As in they have the old molds or will it be new stuff?
Hope they upgrade the molds to other companies standards.
Is it REAL? or Just 1:29 scale?
Long live Outdoor Model Railroading.
Isn't Ron with Massoth (USA)? I had read some old forum chat a while back that implied he was pretty well respected ... formerly Nat'l Sales Mgr for LGBoA. That's an intriguing speculative guess (unless you already know for sure..). It would be good to have someone in charge who truly knows the product and it's history / mystique / market culture.
Marty - so far the info that Märklin has published indicates no American-profile products until next year at the earliest. They have been producing a limited amount of Euro-profile trains and the track products for many months now... It took quite a bit of effort to relocate the old LGB mfg ops between plants in Nurenberg and to relocate some operations to Hungary. Quality took a hit according to reports from some UK buyers of new Märklin-produced LGB, but that was probably expected given the new mfg lines and new workers. The reports in the LGB Club mailings have been very positive (of course) but IMHO we shouldn't expect much USA profile product until late next year and more likely not until 2010 (if they survive the global economic downturn).
AL
Whatever. I don't buy LGB anyway so I don't really care. Any chance they maybe will make something to some type of scale?
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
I'm kinda with you, Jack. LGB makes really nothing I like ....well with two exceptions, and I have them both. The D&RGW #50 Davenport and the LGB Porter. I ain't payin Accucraft's prices....although their models are really nice. LGB just makes stuff that's too dang European lookin for my blood.
Thanks Al for the info. It helps.
Thanks Jack for being so positive.
I guess its good news for those who like LGB. I would like like LGB more if the price was more reasonable. If Walthers sells them you can bet it will be expensive (at least for me)
I feel that some one we all know, J.B., went to Walthers. Could it be? He did say "don't cry for me".
Well, I'm with TJ and GDS, even thier American models have a european look to them in my opinion. Haven't bought yet, don't see as I will in the near future. I think they're overpriced for what they are. More fidelity to scale could sway me!
The price, ultimately, will be determined by the marketplace. Marklin wants to sell trains, and if its distributor keeps the prices above what the market will pay, then Marklin is not going to move a whole lot of product. (Or, Walthers will have boxes and boxes taking up valuable real estate in their warehouse.) I'm not expecting the prices to be bargain basement by any stretch of the imagination, but part of LGB's original problems stemmed from a failure to respond to the evolving marketplace. That marketplace has continued to evolve in the two or three years that LGB has been largely out of the mix. Marklin has to play to that if they want to be successful.
As for products, who knows? I would expect to see the staples such as the mogul or forney return to production in fairly short order. They've always been strong sellers, and still enjoy a reputation of solid performers that will help carry over the "new" LGB line. I would expect to see some of the basic US rolling stock follow suit. I don't have a lot of confidence that Marklin will all of a sudden start releasing more scale products in the LGB line, at least not for US prototypes. I can see new European releases probably being a little more scale, but Marklin's never had a history (or demonstrated any desire) to cater to the US market, and I just don't see this as a catylist for them to all of a sudden do so. I'd expect to see the old stuff trickle out in new paint, but not much else for quite some time.
Later,
K
Kevin probably has some inside info.
No, not really. Just my observations based on history and how I see things currently.
But, Kevin's intuition is usually pretty close to the mark!
I'd be happy to see the old US stuff but in more road names, for example the 2 pack 50' flat cars (ATSF, NYC, and PENN, I never saw them) and the (NYC) two bay covered hopper, etc. these are actually prototypes used by many railroads.
Happy new year, Rob
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