Dusty Solo wrote: "I have no clue to what the state of China's rail is these days"
Today´s trains in China make look trains in the US look like dinosaurs. Main cities are linked with high speed rail services similar to Japan´s Shin Kansen, the French TGV or Germany´s ICE trains. China Rail is a clean, well-organized and efficient carrier. We have to correct our view on China. It is not a developing third-world country, it is a modern, highly industrialized nation.
Steam is gone for good!
Tired of modeling US prototype trains - go Chinese - look here!
I'm not so sure. As much as I would like this to happen I see that as manufacturing costs rise in china, the companies state side who take advantage - in a good way -of low wage manufacturing costs will possibly move their orders to the next country where labor costs are cheaper than in the US. It may be to countries in SE Asia or just south of the border to Mexico. Who knows.
Dusty.
Yep, that's what good old Capitalism will do for you, or I guess the pseudo thing they got going on over there in China. It will take time but I believe we can bring more manufacturing back into this country as costs rise in China. I definitely would like to see more model railroad stuff US made.
Chris
I haven't looked at it in years, until again just now, but I have this book here, "To China for Steam". By Robert Adley. The publication date is, 1983. The book is a record of sorts of what was current there at that time. However the author writes that China National Railway's was at a transition period & that China's deseilzation would see the last of the steamers within the next decade or so. I have no clue to what the state of China's rail is these days, but I imagine that their steamers have mainly gone now as they have almost every where else
I have heard that prices in China are rising, so they are lossing the advantage of being cheap. Not to mention QC issues and working with China can be a pain. Atlas found that out with their track.
I am surprised the environmentalist don't protest against manufacturing in China, industry isn't regulated that much, and they pollute a lot. I believe they are still using steam engines which pollute a lot morethan the diesel electrics we use in the US.
I use a lot of Badger jars for my airbrush and a few years ago, I noticed something that just wasn't right. Since I've used these things for decades, I noticed that the lid did not fit as well as they once did. The lid was thinner and didn't provide a good seal. Needing to paint something, I poured in a little Floquil and some thinner and screwed the lid on anyway. I shake my paint before spraying and I noticed that the paint was looking weird and thick. I removed the lid and found that the seal in the top of the lid had melted. I looked at another jar and the seal was now made of foam! Doesn't work real well with paint thinner! That was when I noticed that the jar was made in China. I couldn't believe that these things could not be made in the US.
I promptly emailed Ken at Badger and was told that this was the first that they have heard of the problem. Not sure I believed that, but they did send me a dozen lids. I did find that after I ran out of the dozen lids, that by removing the foam seal, they worked OK. So that is what I have done for the past, I don't know, four dozen jars.
Last week I purchased more jars from my LHS. Today, I opened them up to do a little painting and right away I noticed the lid fit better. So I looked, and YAY, the lids have the good seal in them again. Made my day. I guess others had the same problem.
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge