Was dropping off a S scale brass model I did some repair work on at the shop in Indy and they were cleaning out the "closet" where layaway and stashed models are kept. I had a couple of mint/boxed Tyco cabooses to claim to go with my mint/boxed Tyco engines I have as keepsakes to my first childhood trains, then there was this old PFM/United K28. I had completely forgotten I had stashed that for myself. I look at the marked asking price and told him it was to much and to put it back out for sale, that I could get a boxed example for that(it lacked is original box and was in pieces). He asked what I would give for it and I named what I would pay right then and there in cash and he took it! It runs nice and smooth and just needed reassembly and some minor soldering work. Now it waits is turn for the paint booth. I really like the Blackstone track as I have worked with Kato's Unitrack before. But the lack of depth and its been years since turnouts have been discussed and nothing ever has been produced. Has this company given up with Peco bringing out thier HOn3 track and turnouts or what? I would use thier track if the company would get off thier duff and be more transparent about bringing items to production in a timely manor. At thier current rate, I might live long enough to build a layout with thier track line. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
In Blackstone's defense, they are a small company with a very demanding customer base. And their production, for the most part, is done in China. Which means a considerable investment upfront with nothing to show until a couple of years later when items are finally available for sale.
As you pointed out, the track is produced in cooperation with Kato. Kato has priority for the track production, just like Walthers has priority for Shinohara's track production.
I see plenty of Blackstone track still available in hobby stores and at Blackstone dealers, but almost no rolling stock. This tells me the track didn't sell as well as hoped, and that producing turnouts is going to be low priority. Frankly, I personally don't believe the market for track with built-in roadbed is all that great in HOn3. It just doesn't look like narrow gauge track from the late 19th/early 20th Century. And I'm not sure it's realistic enough for the guys who model the 1920s to 1950s, either. And as you pointed out, there is quite a bit of competition in HOn3 track - Micro-Engineering, Peco, Shinohara, Precision Scale, and handlaid come to mind.
Right now, I think Blackstone has to focus on gettting the K-28s and K-36s produced - they can only continue to milk the K-27 and C-19 for so long before the demand disappears. Personally, I would have preferred a C-16 - and I have told Blackstone that. But having taken a bath on the EBT hoppers, I can understand Blackstone reluctance to go outside their known customer base.
Just a thought - contacting Blackstone directly with your request rather than complaining in this forum is more likely to get the turnouts produced. Tell them honestly how many turnouts you would buy if they are available in less than 3 years.
just my thoughts and opinions, yours may differ
Fred W
I am not supprised they took a bath on the hoppers, maybe if they did one of the EBT's 2-8-2's to pull it first. Kind of a bad decision on that one, put the cart before the horse. Thier track isn't going to sell well till they get turnouts made to match. Release any of the track before you had matching turnouts was a bit half arsed in my opinion and basicly doomed track sales or limited them atleast. I know I would be reluctant to purchase a track system if no matching turnouts were there at the time. What they do make is awsome, just a bit off on the decision process at times. I also agree on a C16 over the C19. Mike
I think there is a a market for sectional HOn3 track. But when you produce it with roadbed, it's no longer plug and play with other track systems. You have to supply the matching turnouts, crossings, half size pieces, something larger/smaller than 19" inch radius all with roadbed.
I was interested. But if I have to hassle with doing my own transitions to the other code 70 products, why bother with Blackstone.
Paul
Thats my thought Paul, if your going to do it with a road bed, you need to have a more complete track selection before bringing it to market. The lack of more depth has hurt them in that aspect. With Peco's excellent flex track and turnouts, the competition is stiff right there, then add in the other brands out there. I had hopes they would move more swiftly when I saw the track come on the market a few years ago. The starter loops seem to have sold well, kind of hard to find that set now. Mike
I can only advise patience. People seem to think of Blackstone as some huge outfuit with deep pockets. They're a small corporation that has many irons in the fire that all require capital and staff time to bring tro market. Blackstone is a division of Soundtraxx, which finally began deleivering the new Tsunami roughly a year ago. That required investement in several new chiip/fab lines to build these updated decoders in new form-factors.
Soundtraxx has now shifted back to other projects, but these also take time. There has also been some turnover in personnel since the days of new Blackstone releases virtually every month. The K-36 that's in the works now seems more solid for 2018. The K-28 will follow, but this may be somewhere down the road aways.
My intuition on this is that release of the K-36 will likely be a catalyst to get the HOn3 turnouts into production to match the track. But the K-36 is likely taking up most of the resources available right now.
There are ither projects in the bin, also awaiting their turn. Don't despair, good things are coming.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Thats the problem Mike, they are doing to much and not finishing what they started, Its been several years since the track came out and turnouts were promised and spoke of. They have lost my business as far as track goes as I am NOT going to put layout construction on hold for several more unknown amount of years while they try to get things done. I do not think that is a fair business model to the customer/modeler that wants to use thier track system(unless they just want to run in circles!!), nor a very smart one either. I am sure they have invested quite a bit of funds into the track they have had made. They would have gotten a much better ROI if they had gotten turnouts in production right after the roll out of the track system. To little to late now as far as thier track system is concerned IMHO.