ScaleTrains will import GE Tier 4 GEVO diesels this summer - and there are already phases - early and current. Price of the highly detailed rivet counter version with sound will be about $260 direct from them. Do they only sell direct? Wish I was in HO for these. But they also do N gauge so there is still hope.
They're $224 on their website, but the less detailed ones start at $99. I'm not sure where you got the $260 from.
They do sell direct, and also from "select" hobby stores. I have one of the NS ones on pre-order.
The $260 was due to faulty memory but how can they sell it so cheap? Normally a fully featured HO diesel would retail for about $300. Are they starting a price war - hope so.
The GE and not the Cat SD70ACe-T4? Sad
But I'm in N, not HO, so still waiting.
i have my perorder in
I hope they have plans for the Siemans/Cummins SC-44 Charger Tier 4 locomotive. I would really love a train for the "All-Aboard-Florida" program.
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HOPING!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
NS1001The $260 was due to faulty memory but how can they sell it so cheap? Normally a fully featured HO diesel would retail for about $300.
Low overhead due to small company. I asked at Amherst Show. They also sell from their own warehouse. Your typical hobby shop is usually the 3rd hand that the locomotive goes through. 1) Manufacturer, 2) Retailer Warehouse (Walthers, Hobbytyme, etc) 3) Hobby Shop (internets or brick and mortar). Each time a product moves from one to the other a profit must be made for the parties involved for them to stay in business.
NS1001Are they starting a price war - hope so.
Not really, and you probably wont see other manufacturers lowering their price all that much. The parent companies/owners/investers etc, want the investment back on the tooling on the first run of the locomotives, preferably on pre-orders, not on the second, third run of same product etc.
They did look good at Amherst. I passed on it as a few days earlier I orders 2 of the SD40-3 CSX DCC ready. I couldn't pass up this engine. I'm a CSX-aholic!!
Neal M.
BMMECNYC NS1001 The $260 was due to faulty memory but how can they sell it so cheap? Normally a fully featured HO diesel would retail for about $300. Low overhead due to small company. I asked at Amherst Show. They also sell from their own warehouse. Your typical hobby shop is usually the 3rd hand that the locomotive goes through. 1) Manufacturer, 2) Retailer Warehouse (Walthers, Hobbytyme, etc) 3) Hobby Shop (internets or brick and mortar). Each time a product moves from one to the other a profit must be made for the parties involved for them to stay in business. NS1001 Are they starting a price war - hope so. Not really, and you probably wont see other manufacturers lowering their price all that much. The parent companies/owners/investers etc, want the investment back on the tooling on the first run of the locomotives, preferably on pre-orders, not on the second, third run of same product etc.
NS1001 The $260 was due to faulty memory but how can they sell it so cheap? Normally a fully featured HO diesel would retail for about $300.
NS1001 Are they starting a price war - hope so.
Actually, most of the big discounts at big retailers, online or brick and mortar, Trainworld, ModelTrainStuff, etc, are a result of the product going directly from the manufacturer to the retailer, cutting out those distributors.
And this is nothing new, been going on in varying degrees since the 60's.....
That is why the little shops cannot compete with those prices.
The wave of the future is direct distribution to retailers and direct sales to the customer.
Sheldon
But even that is nothing new - back in the day, Walthers was just another manufacturer. Bill Walthers saw an opportunity by having retailers deal with one company instead of hundreds of small manufacturers. But back then, many of these manufacturers were really just some guy working in his basement after coming home from his day job, so it was a benefit to the manufacturer as well, no need to correspond with hundreds of shops or thousands of modelers, just send a box to Walthers and let them handle getting it in the hads of the consumer (for a price, of course). These days, getting a product made in quantity isn't nearly as difficult and more than a few have switched to direct sales. Some always did have direct sales, like Atlas. Notice the latest Walthers catalog is not as big as it once was and puts HO, N, and Z all in one - there used to be just an HO catalog, and a seperate one for N/Z. The trend definitely is to direct distribution and direct sales, the tools and infrastructure are in place and eliminating the middleman can enable the manufacturer to earn a reasonable profit while still keeping consumer prices down. Add it's not just happening in the hobby market. My latest multimeter comes from a fellow down in Australia who is selling them direct on his web site, he found it to be less hassle and more profitable to hire an intern to generate mailing labels and package them up instead of using a distributor to do all the work and take a cut.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
NS1001 ScaleTrains will import GE Tier 4 GEVO diesels this summer - and there are already phases - early and current. Price of the highly detailed rivet counter version with sound will be about $260 direct from them. Do they only sell direct? Wish I was in HO for these. But they also do N gauge so there is still hope.
ScaleTrains sells both direct and to hobby retailers. ModelTrainStuff/MBK sells ScaleTrains products, for example. I believe also some brick & mortar hobby shops sells ScaleTrains products, as they're packaged for store display.
I hope ScaleTrains comes out with the ET44AC in N scale, but something tells me Kato will beat them out of the gate. Within 5 years, every major N scale loco manufacturer (save for Atlas, of course :)) will make an ET44AC.