The multi-delayed UP 4-12-2, delayed twice this year already, is now listed as ‘tba’. I expect it to take a place on the shelf of ‘never was’ with the Great Northern S-2 4-8-4.
Too bad.
Crandell
tba=never to be seen again…
Meh…I am really not surprised…the 4-12-2 would have been a real rail tester for most of us I think…
It would have been nice to have, but not really very practical for most of us. Mine would have spent most of its life in a display case of UP power. Looks like the GP9 wins in models as well as real life 
Hmm–too bad. There’s only two UP steamers I’d ever want to own, and the 4-12-2 was one of them. The other is the 2-8-8-0 “Bulldog”. Maybe someone will come out with that one, at least.
Oh well–(sigh)
Tom [:)]
Too bad about the 4-12-2 [:(][N]…but my NYC Steel boxcars have been moved up a month to September. Sweet! [Y][8D]
Tom
My guess is that they don’t have enough pre-orders to go ahead and start production.
Rich
BLI’s delivery schedule is written in pencil. I noticed a third run of Centipedes but the I1sa is not in the near future. The 4-12-2 is too long a wheel base for most layouts. Like a large articulated it looks really silly and toy like even on broad curves. My 2-10-4 J1 gets jammed on scenery at the clubs layout. The front overhangs so far it trims trees and tunnel portals.
Pete
If someone is planning to manufacture another big mallet, why not make one that actually would work on a model railroad??
The AT&SF class 3300 “Prairie mallets”, and then the 4 specimens with the hinged boiler!
Not only practical in model (as it was a disaster in reality…) but also functional on small radiuses!
(picture from “Steam locomotive.com”)
Weren’t they supposed to produce a USRA light Pacific a few years back? I was looking forward to kitbashing one to resemble the BR&P locomotives as they appeared after the B&O takeover in 1932:
I’m still waiting for a decent light pacific from one of these guys. I know Athearn Genesis did a nice one a few years ago, but their pretty hard to get, and they had gear problems, not to mention they weren’t equipped with DCC or sound.
-Stan
That’s not a manufacturing business, its a custom order business.
Sheldon
Excellent to see the next run of PRR T1’s announced. I wish they’d finalize the Shark announcement and make it official already.
Hi!
I’ve got 10 BLI locos - all with DCC/Sound - and they are great!
But their “arrival projections” are really off base. I recall waiting for the ATSF 4-8-4 for about two years, about 1 1/2 year after the original projection date. A similar wait is now going on for the “modern” ATSF 2-10-2. The wait - for which there may or may not be valid reasons - is understandable to a point. But what (IMHO) is just wrong is not keeping “us” updated.
I would much rather them say they need to get x quantity of pre-orders before they give the Chinese the go ahead to manufacture, or tell us the thing is still on paper, or whatever. Just give us some quality info!
Ha, it must be my old fashioned ways… Can you believe I actually expect people/companies to follow through with what they say? How quaint!
Do we need to rehash this? If they don’t get enough pre-orders to pay for the tooling and production costs they aren’t going to do the model. Period. This is sound business sense. Why should they spend $50k making a loco and only sell $25k worth of them? You notice that after their first few locos where they learned a hard lesson, there aren’t very many available to sell at close out prices. They made so many of their first runs that they ended up selling them off for 50% off or more, and it really hurt them. We can conplain all we want about the preorder process but the days of everyone just making umpteen thousand of everythign and letting it sit in inventory are over, I don’t CARE what Bachmann does, they are the ONLY ones still doing it that way. And I suspect if you really check their production runs are MUCH smaller than they used to be.
–Randy
How come Bachmann, Athearn, Walthers, and a list of others don’t have these problems? And I"ve never had a problem buying an Intermountain F unit when I wanted one? Bowser has trains on the shelf “for sale”? Why can’t BLI do this?
OK, Walthers may only bring a limited number of some items to market - and when they are gone, they are gone.
But as I said before - this is not manufacturing it is custom building. If they don’t have the money to be in the manufacturing business they should get out - stop devaluing their own product, and the rest of the market by dumping what they can’t sell quickly, and leave this market to those who can supply it.
This business model hurts the hobby in several ways:
It makes it harder for them to get a fair price for the next model they release. I surely won’t pay more than 60% of list for ANY future or current BLI product - why should I? Every one I have ever bought was eve
I am leaning toward Sheldon’s view of things with respect to BLI. The past three years, while they have had some winners, have been all over the map. It must be due to their being able, on some runs, to get the better assembly plants doing the contract for them. Also, and I am strictly guessing since I know next to nothing about the industry from the point of view of capitalization and bringing models across the pond in containers for retail purposes and distribution, I wonder if BLI has two problems of being able to pay, but also at the better assembly plants where they feel comfortable writing the cheque (check). As Matt has stated on their website, many of their latest releases are brass, and brass is not cheap, nor easy to assemble. For some reason, I think they keep getting bumped in favour of another client.
Does this sound like it is a reasonable assumption?
Crandell
Of those mentioned, only Bachmann seems to have unlimited quanitites available. CHeck the sold out list at Athearn. Walthers, ditto. Atlas, too. And Bowser - there’s very little ‘on the shelf’, especially with respect to locos. Nearly everything not made int he past year is sold out, and the latest announcements are over a year out now. They FINALLY got the C630’s with hi-ad trucks delivered.
It’s the trend for ALL manufacturers, not just BLI. ANd it’s not JUST because of the economy. With few exceptions, generics just won;t do any more. Bachmann has got themselves in a decent spot building basic catalog steam locos for which being somewhat generic works - and I am also glad no one else is jumping on the same bandwagon, we don’t NEED 5 makes of the same loco. We need 5 different locos. I totally believe the EM-1 will be delivered. I just wonder how they will sell a ton of them the way the sell everythign else - the various 4-4-0’s, 2-6-0’s, etc are generic yet accurate enough to work for many roads, them EM-1 is very specific.
BLI tried with a few - the Reading T-1 is one. They offered it in every possible scheme so it had an appeal for anyone from 1945 right to the present. The only first run ones you find available are people who bought the new ones and want to sell off the old one, but other than the sound and smoke, they are identical mechanisms. My first run one even has a spot on the circuit board by the headlight marked for the smoke generator applied to the later ones. And that’s the thing, you don’t get them for 60% off when there are leftovers, because there aren’t anymore. Clearly they aren’t perfect, not by a long shot, but they did learn fro the early mistakes. Maybe it is now more like a custom builder rather than a manufacturer, but it’s the trend of ALL, not just BLI. It may not be what you want, it may not be what I want, but if everyone who posts here really reflected the overall industry then why would there be such a trend towards limited production and pre
I agree about the Bachmann offerings in steam. Although they run well, they are too generic for me. Their 2-6-0, 2-6-2, and 4-6-0 are NOTHING like the NYC prototypes so using them for kitbashing purposes would be more work than it’s worth.
While I do like the detailing on the BLIs, I have also become less than enamored with the hit and miss quality issues. And I’m not as keen on the Paragon2 decoders either. The new QSI “Q2” decoders, OTOH, are now exceptional and run as good as if not better than the Loksound decoders.
Tom
I have to agree with the “Everyone has this problem” sentiment. I can’t track down an undecorated CF7 with a round cab roof or a GP40-2W. Rolling stock too. Like those Atlas 42’ coil cars. I feel like I have to buy certain types of rolling stock now or I won’t be able to find them in the future when the layout needs them.
If you find the dang steamers as too generic…detail the things yourself then…[:-,]
Tom, are you refering to the regular line 2-6-0 and 2-6-2? Yes they are just “generic little train set locos” - even if the quality is good.
The Spectrum 4-6-0, while it may not be correct for the NYC, is an accurate model of a number of Baldwin built locos, including those on the Ma & Pa.
Sheldon