Having taken a look at the new MTH catalog, ...

[G3750]

What I find interesting is that Andy E. said on that Notch 6 audio show that, (paraphrasing here, but hopefully not losing his meaning) in the Premier Line they are not producing any new steam, whats in the catalog is all stuff that is already in inventory.

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I have watched that show "The Profit" where the billionaire guy comes in and invests and takes over to save and build the business, and I know I have seen him fire-sale the unsold leftover stuff that nobody bought to cut the losses and move on to profitable stuff. IDK, something doesn't seem right about resting on inventory of stuff that nobody wanted and viewing the unsold stock as evidence of a poor market and not producing new stuff that will sell.

Granted, I am a PRR guy, and I am one of the few who does think there are some better sounds in PS3 than PS2, so I don't mind that they merely regurgitate PRR stuff that they have done before, especially in the current market where new tooling seems out of the question.

I, too would have thought that another run of Pennsy steam, particularly the I1s Decapod (there has been nothing new there since MTH's 2005 PS2 version) would have sold. Of course, based on my own bad experience with DCS, I'm not a candidate for it. I think (don't quote me) that there have been more frequent announcements of the L1s.

Apparently, if MTH is sitting on a lot of inventory, they must have the necessary resources to do so. To hold a fire sale is to admit they are in trouble. And if they do that, things only get worse from there. Given the state of the economy, they should be doing OK. Although, maybe the number of old geezers spending money on $1,500-$2,000 locomotives is finally starting to dry up.

Or alternatively, MTH may be experiencing some sort of manufacturing pipeline delays / glitches and is looking for yet another source.

As you say, who knows?

George

[healey36]

I suspect it's a combination of the demographics running away from the hobby, the rapidly rising cost of manufacturing, together with the overabundance of stuff in the secondary market. A business situation commonly referred to as the-shit-hitting-the-fan, lol.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Apparently, if MTH is sitting on a lot of inventory, they must have the necessary resources to do so. To hold a fire sale is to admit they are in trouble. And if they do that, things only get worse from there. Given the state of the economy, they should be doing OK. Although, maybe the number of old geezers spending money on $1,500-$2,000 locomotives is finally starting to dry up.

Or alternatively, MTH may be experiencing some sort of manufacturing pipeline delays / glitches and is looking for yet another source.

As you say, who knows?

I'll file all of that under NMP and give a big "Oh my, and a Boo-hoo!" for MTH

[bob turner]

Can I paraphrase that? You are saying that if a model does not sell well (lots left over in inventory) the smart thing to do is re-issue it? Or better, dump the old models at a loss, and then produce new ones with upgraded “features”?

If I were running a business, I would do the exact opposite of that. If they don’t sell, don’t bother making more.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

If they don’t sell, don’t bother making more.

No fair. You are applying good rational thought to the problem.

[jlong]

The MTH story will come with a happy ending. You just have to be patient. When Lionel absorbs MTH, all the great MTH models will come equipped with TMCC Legacy.

[G3750]

The MTH story will come with a happy ending. You just have to be patient. When Lionel absorbs MTH, all the great MTH models will come equipped with TMCC Legacy.

Let's hope so. I would love to see some of the beautiful MTH locomotives running a command system that really works, i.e. TMCC. But Lionel has already moved on to something more complicated - Legacy. While it works better than DCS, it is not as reliable as TMCC. In any case, I don't see Lionel doing this or anything else for that matter at a reasonable price.

George

[J. S. Bach]

The MTH story will come with a happy ending. You just have to be patient. When Lionel absorbs MTH, all the great MTH models will come equipped with TMCC Legacy.

[jlong]

Let's hope so. I would love to see some of the beautiful MTH locomotives running a command system that really works, i.e. TMCC. But Lionel has already moved on to something more complicated - Legacy. While it works better than DCS, it is not as reliable as TMCC. In any case, I don't see Lionel doing this or anything else for that matter at a reasonable price.

George

MTH or Lionel, the packaging of the electronics is an afterthought and a poor one at that. Basically a rats nest of wire, wire nuts, tape, hot melt glue, etc. It should all be racked in modules that simply plug into the rack like a sim card in a cell phone. Giving you the choice of a simple reverse module, Lionchief module or TMCC module along with sound modules. Kind of like Burger King. Have it your way.

[G3750]

Let's hope so. I would love to see some of the beautiful MTH locomotives running a command system that really works, i.e. TMCC. But Lionel has already moved on to something more complicated - Legacy. While it works better than DCS, it is not as reliable as TMCC. In any case, I don't see Lionel doing this or anything else for that matter at a reasonable price.

George

MTH or Lionel, the packaging of the electronics is an afterthought and a poor one at that. Basically a rats nest of wire, wire nuts, tape, hot melt glue, etc. It should all be racked in modules that simply plug into the rack like a sim card in a cell phone. Giving you the choice of a simple reverse module, Lionchief module or TMCC module along with sound modules. Kind of like Burger King. Have it your way.

John,

I think that would be fabulous for consumers. Unfortunately, both MTH and Lionel (specifically as it pertains to Legacy) are intent on building and protecting their proprietary systems. I recall hearing Jerry Calabrese speak at one of the OGR Forum meetings at York. This would be shortly after he joined Lionel (2004? 2005? I'm not really sure). He lamented the placing of TMCC codes into the public domain. To my mind, he was totally incorrect. That simple act cemented TMCC as the defacto standard and made possible the add-on products invented by IC Controls, Z-Stuff, TrainAmerica, Digital Dynamics and Electric Railroad. Things like the Data Wire Driver (DZ-2001), Accessory Motor Controller, TPC-300/400, Accessory Switch Controller, etc. all came about because the standard was there to be followed by inventors.

The other aspect affected by your suggestion would be the repair / installation / upgrade business. A bunch of these would go away if modularization and standardization took place. At this point though, I don't think there's much economic upside to doing that standardization work.

George

[rogruth]

Some forums will have posts about the changes to come in 3R trains. No importer/seller is in good financial condition and will go under any time now.
Lionel and MTH are both doing fantastic. Every possible scenario has ben discussed over and over. So far just some small companies are gone.
Lionel will take over MTH. MTH will take over Lionel. Wishful thinking? Any real factual info about any of this?

[jlong]

Let's hope so. I would love to see some of the beautiful MTH locomotives running a command system that really works, i.e. TMCC. But Lionel has already moved on to something more complicated - Legacy. While it works better than DCS, it is not as reliable as TMCC. In any case, I don't see Lionel doing this or anything else for that matter at a reasonable price.

George

MTH or Lionel, the packaging of the electronics is an afterthought and a poor one at that. Basically a rats nest of wire, wire nuts, tape, hot melt glue, etc. It should all be racked in modules that simply plug into the rack like a sim card in a cell phone. Giving you the choice of a simple reverse module, Lionchief module or TMCC module along with sound modules. Kind of like Burger King. Have it your way.

John,

I think that would be fabulous for consumers. Unfortunately, both MTH and Lionel (specifically as it pertains to Legacy) are intent on building and protecting their proprietary systems. I recall hearing Jerry Calabrese speak at one of the OGR Forum meetings at York. This would be shortly after he joined Lionel (2004? 2005? I'm not really sure). He lamented the placing of TMCC codes into the public domain. To my mind, he was totally incorrect. That simple act cemented TMCC as the defacto standard and made possible the add-on products invented by IC Controls, Z-Stuff, TrainAmerica, Digital Dynamics and Electric Railroad. Things like the Data Wire Driver (DZ-2001), Accessory Motor Controller, TPC-300/400, Accessory Switch Controller, etc. all came about because the standard was there to be followed by inventors.

The other aspect affected by your suggestion would be the repair / installation / upgrade business. A bunch of these would go away if modularization and standardization took place. At this point though, I don't think there's much economic upside to doing that standardization work.

George

I wasn't touching on standardization and they can maintain their proprietary systems. The packaging of it all (boards layout, not the boards themselves) is just totally retarded. It's just thrown together like a hillbilly shack wired with extension cords dangling all over the place. It's obvious their entire engineering budget goes into R&D of new features. Hiring a competent packaging designer is not in the equation.