A couple months ago, I started a thread about a China factory closing affecting multiple US model companies. Maybe I should, but I don't participate in other forums, though I do look at one with "Atlas" in the name.
Has anyone seen any real news on what is happening with other manufacturers.
What I know:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/271263.aspx?page=1
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/272684/3102527.aspx#3102527
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
As far as I know, AFFA is still closed as no further news on then; appears to be permanent.
A number of the other companies affected by AFFA such as Intermountain, Wheels if Time, Trainworx, ExactRail have found other factories and are moving ahead with production, albiet delayed. I can't find any updates on Atlas status but they appear to be moving forward with new announcements recently. That's about as "real" as it's going to get
From memory, Athearn, Rapido and Walthers were unaffected.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
BigDaddy Trainworld is still prediciting March for the Bowser RS-3's
But they don't say what year. Isn't going to be March of THIS year ....
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Only thing I want more of is RS-3s. Can never have too many of those. Maybe Rapido should do some, then there'd be ones to buy. Rapido covers a lot of eras with their stuff, plenty of 50's era stuff - only I don;t model the New haven or I'd have a shelf full of their passenger cars. They have their own factory in China, so no problems for them.
After watching a whole lot of Rapido videos - man, I think it would be a dream job to work for jason. Train nerd, Star Trek nerd, and Dr. Who nerd. What's not to love?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Since nobody wants to produce a PRR BP20, the point, as far as I'm concerned, is moot.
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
Uh, you guys might want to double check Rapido's production: U.S. RS-11's are coming along with U.S. B36-7's.
John
I believe Rapido actually has two Chinese factories.
PRR8259 Uh, you guys might want to double check Rapido's production: U.S. RS-11's are coming along with U.S. B36-7's. John
Yeah, Rapido is off topic regarding the Chinese factory closing topic as they were unaffected and have their own places in China.
I'm not a Santa Fe modeler but the B36-7 is very nice.
http://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/7230/rapido-santa-b36-first-sample?page=1
Who or what is the AFFA? is that the manufacturer in question?
Mike.
My You Tube
Chinese company contracted by multiple model companies to make their models that closed up shop suddenly.
mbinsewi Who or what is the AFFA? is that the manufacturer in question? Mike.
What Randy said.
Here is a link someone posted some weeks back. You can see Atlas and Bowser are mentioned.
https://panjiva.com/Affa-Technology-Ltd/33398944
They manufactured model trains for a number of other companies, some I mentioned earlier. A few others I believe were Tangent and Arrowhead.
OK, thanks guys.
Mark R. BigDaddy Trainworld is still prediciting March for the Bowser RS-3's But they don't say what year. Isn't going to be March of THIS year .... Mark.
Actually they do say 3/28/2019
I had one on order and canceled the order when arrival went from fall to December 2018 or Jan 2019
Bah, who needs preorders, you'll still be able to get one whenever they actually arrive. I'm holding out for factory painted Reading as-delivered anyway, I have enough Atlas undecs that need paiting to last a lifetime.
I spoke with someone at one of the affected companies a week ago (and I don't think I should mention the company, as I didn't indicate that I'd be spreading the comments made to me any further). Anyway, my query was about whether pre-orders were still being taken on a product for which pre-orders should have closed by now. The answer was yes. As for when the product might arrive, "we don't really know yet, lots of uncertainty." And when new products do start arriving from China, they'd be dribbling in slowly, like one road name of item X at a time rather than 10 road names at a time. (I wouldn't be surprised if some of that slow dribbling of new products is to be able to check for, and fix, any unexpected problems/errors in initial runs of the new supplier(s).)
1. Above I was responding to a comment that basically said or implied Rapido does not make anything American that U.S. buyers would want to own.
2. My friends at Bowser have stated that they will produce some "lesser" projects first, to make sure the new factory is capable of meeting the quality standard, prior to some engines being made. That means their delivery schedule might change a little bit. Anything that is not imminently due I am pretty sure they are still accepting pre-orders for. Don't we want the stuff to be "right" rather than "fast"?
3. Some other manufacturers continue to accept pre-orders "after" the deadline. I am not sure if this is just a recent trend or not. Just my opinion only, but I think they have to announce a deadline in order to get the reservations from the big buyers that would make a project viable. In some instances, those reservations tend to come in during the last couple weeks before a deadline. No deadline, no glut of big orders, then no project?
Latest from Lee English:
January 18, 2019
TO: Our Loyal Customers and Distributors:
Bowser Manufacturing just returned home from a week-long visit to China. We now have two factories in different locations to make our products.
Production of freight cars is well under way and we are expecting Ready-To-Run (RTR) car shipments every month. We have asked for a minimum delivery of one freight car project per month and were told that such will proceed without any delays.
Locomotive Production:
One factory will be starting loco production in late February 2019. Bowser expects to start receiving locomotives by the summer of 2019. The second factory will start production in March 2019 and it is forecast that locomotives should start arriving in late summer of 2019.
Locomotive delivery will at first amount to a couple paint schemes each month. So all the locomotive road names in any announcement will be spread out over a couple of months. Once the factories gain experience, Bowser hopes to increase the number of road names produced each month.
At this time, our primary effort is to get the first production run on time.
Projected Deliveries are currently forecast in the following order:
DS 4-4-1000 - Starting May 2019;
SD40-2F - Starting July 2019;
C628, C630, C630M - Starting August 2019;
SD40-2 - Starting September 2019;
M630 - Starting November 2019;
F units - Starting December 2019.
Regards, Ed
Good information here. Thanks everyone.
rrinkerI'm holding out for factory painted Reading as-delivered anyway, I have enough Atlas undecs that need paiting to last a lifetime.
Randy, I'm with you. One can never have enough RS3s. Especially Reading as Delivered, Post 1966 PRR, and PC.
Boris
Also from Bowser ....
"We haven't given up on the RS-3 project yet.Our new factories are good but given that they are new to our products.We want to build up their skills and abilities before we let them loose on the RS3.Once we are satisfied that they are ready and parts are ready we will re-schedule them. Most likely with just a few paint schemes / road names at a time.
Keep watching our home page and news letters for updates on the RS-3 project as well others not on the current list."
Doesn't sound like like the RS3 is going to materialize at all in 2019. Maybe March 2020 IS more realistic ....
Mark is that from a Bowser newsletter? I signed up a long time ago, but never received anything from Bowser.
H
BigDaddy Mark is that from a Bowser newsletter? I signed up a long time ago, but never received anything from Bowser. H
That's direct from their Facebook page.