Maybe I missed something, but does anyone know if some other company has picked making Atlas Track and switches???? or is Atlas just taking a hiatus in this part of their manufacturing.
Kay Div.
Atlas had to switch factories in China and this has caused no end of headaches. There are numerous threads here already here with more on this. It's safe to say Atlas wants to sell more track, but getting it produced is a challenge. It has slowly been trickling in, but like a drop of water in a hit frying pan, it disappears in a cloud of steam when it hits shore here due to pent-up demand.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I have found Atlas code 83 track and turnouts by searching the web. I found them at little Mom and Pop hobby stores. One store had #6 and #4 turn outs in stock and flextrack at slightly below MSRP. E-Bay also had some,but you WILL pay for it on E-Bay.
Maybe they can make their track in New Jersey.
But of course you will have to limit work hours to 28 hours per week, so you will need more workers, but that is good for the unemployment figures. Hiring 75 people for 28 hours each is about the same as hiring 52 workers at 40 hours a week, but you get to save on the health care stuff.
Of couerse electicity and rent is higher in New Jersey too, but if that is what you gotta do.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Thanks guys, I have some Peco flex track, but it seems smaller on the rail base than Atlas, when I try to join the two, the joiners are a tight fit on the Atlas and a sloppy fit on the Peco and then when I give it the nail test there is always a very slight catch going from Peco to Atlas as if the top pf the rails are not even. Needless to say I am not enamoured with Peco.
Is there any other make that is a close fit to Atlas.
It's very easy to match up Atlas and Peco track by squeezing the Atlas rail joiners with a pair of pliers onto the Peco rail.
My solution was simply to use all Peco track and avoid problems with differences in size. It also avoided the problem of no track being available.
Kay.Div. Needless to say I am not enamoured with Peco.
Needless to say I am not enamoured with Peco.
You should become enamored with Peco for two reasons.
First, Atlas track and turnouts is simply not available.
Second, Peco is actually a better and more reliable brand than Atlas.
I have mixed Peco flex track and turnouts with Atlas flex track and turnouts without any problems whatsoever.
Rich
Alton Junction
Atlas, sadly, has been learning the same very hard lesson that many other model manufacturers who moved their tooling to China over the past 15-20 years have been learning: When you put your manufacturing capacity in the hands of another company half a planet away, you give up control of production, and pretty much put your company's destiny in their hands.
Some of the consequences can be:
These aren't speculation- they are all things that have happened to model importers over the past few years, as related to me by a couple of people I've done work for in the hobby industry. A number of these problems can just as easily happen when dealing with contract manufacturers in the model company's home country, but at least when dealing in-country, you have a legal system in common that can be less convoluted to deal with.
Getting tooling out of China, even tooling that a US company has owned for years and then shipped into China can be, under even the very best of circumstances, extremely difficult.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
fmilhaupt Atlas, sadly, has been learning the same very hard lesson that many other model manufacturers who moved their tooling to China over the past 15-20 years have been learning.
Atlas, sadly, has been learning the same very hard lesson that many other model manufacturers who moved their tooling to China over the past 15-20 years have been learning.
We can pontificate all day long about Atlas's choices. But the bottom line for the modeler is can you get what you need and for reasonable market prices. Nearly every time someone askes for where they can find Atlas track, somone sends a link saying "here you go" and shortly there after they come back and say, "not anymore!" It's like posting a link just points the masses to another one of those little drops in the frying pan.
The solution, like others have said, is to find other brands. Generally Walthers, Shinohara, Peco, Micro Engineering, and others seem to have a steadier supply chain and are generally better quality.
[/quote]
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Atlas has posted a track shipping schedule on their website; with the comment "Delivery dates are subject to change."
http://www.atlasrr.com/containershipping-track.htm
This link has been mentioned before in similar threads, and has had a 'don't hold your berath' response. As mentioned above, it will disappear about as soon as it hits the Atlas warehouse. I would bet that all of Walthers stock it totally backordered, so you will not see it from that source in general stock for some time.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Wow, I haven't heard that there is a shortage of Atlas track......
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Geared Steam Wow, I haven't heard that there is a shortage of Atlas track......
G Paineand has had a 'don't hold your berath' response.
Let's not break that tradition then..
Don't hold your breath.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
O.K. so I like many others got started with Atlas and have most of my layout set up with Atlas track. I can get around the loose fitting joiners by crimping and soldering, but whats to say that Peco will not go the same way as Atlas. Where is Peco made, U.S. , Britain or E.U.???
From what I can see about 90% of our modelling stuff is made in China, maybe we should look at a list of whats made in U.S. and other reliable sources of production and quality. We all like to get a deal but if the supply is unreliable then its no deal. Personally I would be willing to pay a bit more for reliability of supply and quality of product.
Kay.Div.
I wonder who spends more per annum on their hobby/sport, Hunters, Fishermen, Golfers or Model Train nuts???
You should just switch over to Micro Enginnering ........it`s more to scale....AND it is made in the USA......American jobs....American money.
Dennis Blank Jr.
CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad
BroadwayLion Maybe they can make their track in New Jersey. But of course you will have to limit work hours to 28 hours per week, so you will need more workers, but that is good for the unemployment figures. Hiring 75 people for 28 hours each is about the same as hiring 52 workers at 40 hours a week, but you get to save on the health care stuff. Of couerse electicity and rent is higher in New Jersey too, but if that is what you gotta do. ROAR
Kay.Div. O.K. so I like many others got started with Atlas and have most of my layout set up with Atlas track. I can get around the loose fitting joiners by crimping and soldering, but whats to say that Peco will not go the same way as Atlas. Where is Peco made, U.S. , Britain or E.U.??? From what I can see about 90% of our modelling stuff is made in China, maybe we should look at a list of whats made in U.S. and other reliable sources of production and quality. We all like to get a deal but if the supply is unreliable then its no deal. Personally I would be willing to pay a bit more for reliability of supply and quality of product. Kay.Div. I wonder who spends more per annum on their hobby/sport, Hunters, Fishermen, Golfers or Model Train nuts???
Every HS I go in their track selection is wiped. It'll be good when Atlas can start selling more.
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
You can rail (pun somehow fits ) against the vagaries of the global supply chain all you want, but it will have little effect. The economic forces at work are far stronger than any effect consumer buying decisions are likely to bring to bear, as much as it pains me to say that. While we think our niche in the model railroad world is huge and influential, when it comes to manufacturing, it represents a small part of total model railroad production and that's a small part of a much larger world of various recreational and hobby production. Most of it is in China for economic reasons. Far and away, China is able to offer the lowest cost while maintaining acceptable quality.
Which is not to say we should not encourage efforts that are domestically sourced. The reality is that takes great expertise and high volumes. Very few MRR vendors have that as part of their portfolios. Kadee and Soundtraxx are two that do. But even that example of an exception to the rule has implicit recognition that rule does govern. Blackstone, offering RTR HOn3 models which is a divison of Soundtraxx, is made and assembled in China. Much as they would like that production in the USA, there's no way it's economically viable to do so.
So some may say "Do it, doesn't matter what it costs." OK, you read the forums like I do. Exactly how big is this crowd you say is willing to pay more for their models? I don't see anything buit evidence that many people think things are already too costly. I think that's a bit extreme -- model railroading ranks right up there with buying race horses in term of use of disposable income, rather than it being a necessity of life. This is a discretionary purchase, like the difference betwen buying a sub-compact that's basic transportation versus a Corvette.
Being a small market, a discretionary purchase, and further segimented into nearly endless scale and gauge combinations, I'm rather surprised we get the quality we get for the price we pay most of the time. I've also done enough work building models to understand what a task it is to deliver a great looking model to the end-user. But there are still people who expect the world for the price of a bus ticket. There are oceans in between their dreams and their reality. That is why many people started building models, rather than buying them RTR. If you want to find out what value something has, get your hands dirty and you'll have a better appreciation of that task and that value.
A bit off the track topic, but a tie-in to made in USA. The Bowser website is proudly displaying their new 110 ton injection molding machine
http://www.bowser-trains.com/bowsernews.html
Enginehouse Services, a very good hobby shop in Green Bay WI, sent this out on Feb 27th to those of us who get its regular email updates:
We finally received some Atlas Code 100 Flextrack and turnouts! In addition to the Atlas track, we received a restock of Peco track since it has been selling well. Athearn released the beautiful SDP45 locomotives in Erie Lackawanna, Great Northern, and Southern Pacific, which are almost all sold out! Along with the fast moving SDP45 locomotives we received some Genesis GP38-2 locos and 60' Auto Boxcars. From their RTR line we received their 20' smooth containers, 40' boxcars, and their N Scale 60' Auto Boxcar. We received Intermountain FP7 locomotives in various roads in both sound and non sound versions.
Dave Nelson
Interesting email. I have to believe that Peco is benefitting from this prolonged Atlas shortage. And, longer term, Peco may be the winner because we are all finding out that Peco is superior to Atlas. This will be a tough pill to swallow for Atlas.
rdgk1se3019You should just switch over to Micro Enginnering ........it`s more to scale....AND it is made in the USA
And ME out of stock from time to time – I know, I have waited for it for months in the past before buying PECO HO track. Nothing is perfect.
Given that it would take years to retool for US production, that is no short term solution anyway.
G PaineA bit off the track topic, but a tie-in to made in USA. The Bowser website is proudly displaying their new 110 ton injection molding machine http://www.bowser-trains.com/bowsernews.html
Interesting that they still import the locos from China.
... and they do not make track.
I have received 2 cases of c100 Flex track just last week and also a few c100 #6 turnouts!
These were all on backorder from last year
So the stuff is beginning to come in!
Now c83 - that is still not anywhere to be seen!
BOB H - Clarion, PA
What I find amazing is how many people keep on insisting that Chinese-made Atlas track is so low priced. If a person would go back a few years , when their code 100 was still made in USA, and compare it to what it costs today they'd be in for a surprise. The price has gone up a lot. Moving production to Red China didn't even stabilize the price, much less reduce it.
Not long ago I was reading about a publisher's comments on Red China production. They said that a book made in China cost $.60 to produce. In the USA it cost $.63. But, using the foreign printer avoided tons of regulation. The commissars don't care about OSHA or the EPA or the FLSA or affirmative action or unions or Obama Care or if their workers drop dead from forced overtime.
And even at that the Chinese are hardly the masters of the world's economy. Companies are shifting to cheaper contries all the time.
Benny
b60bp If a person would go back a few years , when their code 100 was still made in USA, and compare it to what it costs today they'd be in for a surprise.
Atlas has not made track in the US for a long time. Everything has gone up in that amount of time. Using those prices as a basis for what Atlas track would cost today if made in the US ignores unpleasant reality.
It must be nice in that fantasy world of no inflation, though.
I have used Model Power flextrack when I had code 100 on my layout but they also make code 83 and it is a close fit with Atlas. I think Trainworld sells it in 100 packs at around $3.00 per pc. I haven't checked it in a while.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
alco_fan b60bp If a person would go back a few years , when their code 100 was still made in USA, and compare it to what it costs today they'd be in for a surprise. Atlas has not made track in the US for a long time. Everything has gone up in that amount of time. Using those prices as a basis for what Atlas track would cost today if made in the US ignores unpleasant reality. It must be nice in that fantasy world of no inflation, though.
Check a little closer, if you venture out of you own sneering fantasies for awhile. Atlas code 100 was made in USA for quite a few years after the code 83 moved over to your worker's paradise. You can actually find inflation charts in the internet. See what's happened to Atlas track prices over the last five or six years. If you think the rise in price matchs inflation you might want to consider a remedial math class or two.
current prices on the net: code 100 flex
Modelpower $3.20 pc- 25 pack
Atlas $3.60pc- 25 pack
Peco $5.00 pc- 25 pack
Shino $6.71 pc- 10 pack