I am not surprised, just a bit bummed out, that’s all. I predicted in a thread somewhere in the past month that BLI would let the UP 4-12-2 slip once more. It just went from January to May of next year.
[:(]
Not a big deal. Stuff does not happen sometimes.
Rich
Hopefully you don’t have money wrapped up in that wait.
Richard
I’m not suprised, but an engine gets a thread for a 4 month delay? 4 months?!?!? That it?!?!?!?! (no offense)
Try having to wait indefinately, it seems all athearn RTR engines are like that. I had been waiting for BN SD40-2 for over a year, then they change the status to TBD.
FWIW, I was expecting an F45 for christmas a few years ago. I didn’t get it until May…
The new song and dance…
Tomorrow Tomorrow, Maybe Tomorrow…
Naturally.
[8-|]
That’s why I don’t play the pre-order game anymore.
What I can’t understand (and this from the perspective of having been business myself for a number of years) is IF you are NOT selling merchandise
YOU (the Business) are NOT making any MONEY !
How are these companies making it go - if THEY keep putting the product back.
YES - it is not their fault - as the China MFG are causing problems.
BUT
It still requires SELLING Product as the fixed expenses (Utilities/wages/ins) still keeps coming in.
Where are they coming up with all this money to keep the business going?
BOB H - Clarion, PA
All I can say is GN S2 4-8-4 ordered November 2005.
Forgot about that one. I consider it vaporware at this point (was considering getting one, just to have a GN steam engine; a GN challenger is way up there
Forgot about that one. I consider it vaporware at this point (was considering getting one, just to have a GN steam engine; a GN challenger is way up there
Just don’t tell poor Crandell that you use to look just like Brad Pit when you ordered your Sunset Selkirk!
BLI, if it is smart, and with the economy the way it is, is altering its arrangement almost weekly with its supplier(s) so that it can keep bringing to market what actually sells for them. The Mikes have been done at least twice in the past 24 months, and they’re due soon for the third run? Makes sense if they are flying to needy customers with cash to spend pretty reliably. Same with the Centipede and the Penny’s I1 2-10-0…they sell every one they make.
I can’t blame them for going where the gold is. If it means that they’ll eventually get the 4-12-2 made, then that’s good enough. After all, it was first offered in 2008, and has been postponed at least four times since then, and even taken off the offering list altogether in late 2010 or so. I thought it was ash-canned for good.
And yup, I am getting older. I hope my eyes will still be able to appreciate this engine when if finally materializes, say in 2015.
Unless the mayans have something to say about that. lol
Bob and all,
The BLI business model clearly shows they don’t have enough money.
This delay may be a production problem, OR it may be a money problem.
If BLI was suitably capitalized, you would not see the blowout prices at Factory Direct Trains on stuff the way you do.
It clearly shows a pattern of needing to get ALL the cash out of one project to pay for the next one.
To those of you who are waiting for that next loco, or cashed in on the low price closeout of the last one, you are saying to me “so what”. BUT, in the long run this is bad for retailers, bad for the hobby, bad for BLI and by extension bad for you.
WHY you ask? Many people on this forum alone have expressed their displeasure with preorders - especially preorders that take years or never show up.
And, in my view, it shows a lack of moral respect for your customers - I’ll explain.
First you say that you are going to manufacture loco XYZ, and you put a price on it of $400, which will typically be discounted to let’s say $320. A bunch of people put in their preorders agreeing to pay $320.
You make 5000 copies of the loco, and sell 75% of them as soon as they hit the beach - at an average retail of $320.
Now your dealers still have a few on the shelf, and you have the rest, In the “old days” you would have just waited for new people to want them. They are not fresh fruit, they will not go bad on the shelf, they are in fact on a small scale, “durable goods” (economics 101).
BUT, you don’t have enough ready cash to pay for the next container of stuff about to be loaded in China - so what do you do?
You give away the last 25% of loco XYZ at 40% off through you own retail arm, and maybe by offering a deeper discount to your dealers. Now selling of the rest at $240.
Side bar - this might make sense if these locos had been sitting a long time, 3 years, 5 years, 8 years - but they have not, they have only been “on shore” for maybe
Yeah,Like the Atlas N Scale coil car-still waiting and waiting and waiting and well you get the picture.
I suspect you will see that 4-12-2 before us N Scalers see that coil car.
I’m still trying to envision exactly how BLI is going to manage getting 6 non-articulated driving wheels around anything less than a 30" radius without having to resort to that Gawd-awful ‘articulation’ that MTH has on THEIR 4-12-2.
This is assuming, of course, that the loco is ever released to begin with.
On another note: Athearns long-awaited (and now cancelled) SP MT-4 with ‘skyline’ casing (I said with a long sigh).
Tom
Yes, I was wondering that too. Especially the way I get flamed everytime I “suggest” that 36" or larger curves should be the minimum thinking in HO for long locos and full lenght passenger cars.
MT-4’s with skyline casing canceled? Possibly just delayed further by the China factory situation? Their web site says TBD - not canceled?
I think if I was completely canceling a project, I would take the picture off my web page pretty quickly?
http://www.athearn.com/Products/HO/
Sheldon
When I put the question to them on their forum, about two years ago now, the response from Matt Williams was that it would be a combination of flangless drivers and extra long cranks with axles permitting the drivers to move laterally more than usual on an HO steamer. I felt it was a sensible alternative to an articulated frame where there was none.
Ha, join the “club” !
When they first came out with the ATSF specific steamers ( 2-10-2, 4-8-4, 2-10-4) I waited years after the initial due date. And now, the modernized ATSF 2-10-2 has a due date that continuously slides backwards.
Of course this is frustrating and deteriorates one’s perception of the seller. I would like to think BLI would be more realistic about the whole process, and quit playing games with their customers.
Note, I do understand the possible reasons for the delays, but we - the customers - are getting the short end of the stick.