I made several inquiries as to how soon these cabooses will be available and got a reply yesterday. I know these folks are busy and have to deal with the inevitible delays in working out production details.
http://www.springmillsdepot.com/i-5main.htm
I thought I’d pass along the reply I got from Bill Carl:
Hi Ed,
The I-5s will probably be in our hands early this summer. We discovered 3 major items during our R&D that we wanted to include in this run. These new items made us go back and retool some major components. The announcement is in the January and February issues of Model Railroader and we are scrambling to get the site updated so we can start receiving preorders.
We will be producing the B&O I-1, I-1a, I-2, and I-3 at the same time as the I-5s. Otherwise they probably would never get their own tooling. We do believe the delay will be good for everybody who is a B&O, Alton, GM&O, BOCT, SIRT, and Buffalo Creek & Gauley caboose fan.
We will air freight from our factory the I-5s, I-1s, I-2s, and I-3s first. We will QC the I-5s and get all I-5 orders shipped first. We will get the N-34s shipped behind the I-5s, get the N-34s QC’d and get all N-34 orders shipped second. Then we will already have the I-1/2/3s in hand from the I-5 shipment, QC them, and then get them shipped ASAP.
All customers who preordered the I-5s or N-34s will receive this email shortly. We have just fallen behind with the holidays, our day jobs, family commitments, and year-end inventory/duties with SMD. Plus we have two major shows coming up that are back to back and the Chinese New Year behind them. We hope to announce two new cars this spring. To say we’ve been busy is an understatement. However, we fully expect to pull it all to