I just got an e-mail from Bowser saying that they will be selling off all of their tooling for steam engine kits (including Arbour Models tooling), metal and O trolleys, Cary bodies, repro Lionel and American Flyer wheels, and turntables, as well as their old parts stock and various other tooling they’ve picked up through the years. They want it to be an all-in-one deal, and are currently looking for a buyer. I suppose this means that all that Bowser was will be officially gone.
I wish I had the money and experience to get all that tooling back in use, but sadly, I don’t. I really hope that someone dedicated to making this kind of stuff will pick up the line and get it back in full throttle, like when Dave Rygmyr purchased NWSL. It would be a complete shame if all that stuff went to waste and ended up as scrap.
Yes, Darth, it is a shame. Perhaps someone could pick up the tooling and hold it for licensing to an American-based firm. I would hate to see that stuff go offshore, but then, that seems to be where the money is these days… Cedarwoodron
Please don’t use this as an excuse to veer off into some political diatribes. I just want to address how this might have a positive outcome…
The most important parts of the puzzle that could keep these molds in use and supplying parts and kits are labor costs and industrial regulations. No way is continued US-based production going to be sustainable because of the labor costs. Overseas, that’s much less of an issue.
Then there are the extensive regulations that apply to the casting of metals. A potentially significant investment needed to keep the molds in production in the US turns into a much more simple contract job with production shifted overseas.
I’m sure that the economics of US production now make it impracticable for Bowser to continue production. I doubt anyone else can do better than those with the experience that tells them this. The best case is that the line gets sold to a US investor who moves production off-shore. Less favorable would be if a foreign company with the resources and facilities to continue production buy the package. I just don’t see a way for production to continue in the US for such items in cases that require significant additional investment – it’s just too large a risk for too small a market.
This leaves aside the many small model RR bizes that cast metal for their kits, especially in the narrowgauge/craftsman category. When it’s a labor of love and just you as the worker, it’s possible to financially justify things that big corps can’t.
BTW, I like my metal kits. I have a HO Stewart Oil Pump kit on the workbench right now. I’m not picky about where it’s made, if it means it keeps getting made, so whatever works, works for me. The best thing that could happen is that someone buys the package to keep it in production. The worst thing would be that no one bids. Which do you prefer?[;)]
Darth,The sad part is that’s dated tooling and there’s much better locomotives on the market plus the limited locomotive types…I really don’t see a buyer stepping forth.
I remember when those locomotives was made by Penn-Line-heck I grew up around those locomotives…
True, some of the tooling is very dated, like the K-11 and Challenger. But Bowser redeveloped a lot of those Penn Line steam engines into models with detail quality approaching brass, and some of the tooling is brand new or even unfinished. The Mikado in my signature was redeveloped in 1993, and the castings are both clean all around and extremely sharp in their detail. With a little more refinement here and there, and a few new parts, many of Bowser’s steam engines would make very manufacturable models that would stand up well against the rest. Of course, I’d still want them to be available as kits too.[:)]
If there is still a market of interested kit-bashers and kit-builders out there, I don’t see why this couldn’t become a retained-in-America venture for someone. I’m sure most of us would ‘feel good’ about it if nothing else. But, the reality must have been that, over the past decade at least. the market has shrivelled and fallen off. If Bowser could not keep it going, the obvious inference from my perspective is that it would take a miracle to get it to flourish under new owners.
I think the key to resurrecting loco kit building is to target a niche market. Most people don’t want to build PRR kits because of all the big manufacturers like BLI, Bachmann, and MTH are producing really nice, generally affordable, locos of PRR prototypes - most available with sound and DCC. Not to mention this has caused a lot of people who were holding on to their brass PRR to unload them on Ebay and buy the newer stuff, either because they don’t want to convert there older brass to DCC or they want sound and DCC. I have a Bowser I-1 sitting in a box half finished because I like my Brass I-1 better, not to mention the PCM model, which I don’t own, but looks beautiful. Kits are attractive to people who want a certain prototype but can’t afford the limited run brass versions, and don’t have the skills or desire to scratch build. This is why I say find a niche market of steam or diesel that the “big guys” don’t want to bother with, such as small steam (i.e., 4-4-0, 4-6-0, 2-8-0. etc). Also focus on popular roads that are lesser known. Another option is to perhaps focus on N scale or an earlier era such as the late 1800s.
Given the long years Bowser made locomotive kits, I suspect there is no viable way to make money with the kits.
It’s a shame, I have fond memories making the K4 Pacific and I still have an E6 Atlantic kit I plan to make one day - even though HO is no longer my primary scale.
Probably the only way to make any actual money with the Bowser tooling would be with the mechanisms. I hate to think that way, but the way the market is these days, its unlikely that kits would sell. MAYBE in the hands of a company like, say, Custom Finishing, some of the stuff MIGHT do okay.
I do have to say that I love some of the Cary shells, myself…put them on an Athearn drive, and those things will pull nails out of the wall.
I would think the best buyer for the Bowser Kit line would be the PRRT&HS. There had almost the whole alphabet in PRR steam. If they could update the tooling for the G,H and L class locos they could make a killing. With some assembly jigs they could even do RTR with a few well chosen employees/ volunteers.
I think their decision to sell the inventory is strictly a business one. If and thats a big IF someone wants the inventory they’ll buy it. If not then most likely it may be sold off by bits and pieces.
The Hobby industry is a difficult market to make money in… I still have a bowser loco from back in the 1960’s I think. I’ts a steam something. Mountain maybe but I never got it finished. The drive rods were way to difficult for me to work with.
First off I’d like to see what condition the molds and dies are in.
Then I’d like to see whether the dang things would be worth it to buy…which they might…but…they may not be either.
With my health the way it has been behaving itself lately I might just consider them…then incorporate them into the stuff we are hopefully going to get off the ground by next spring…
What is interesting of course is that Bowser often bought the parts and tooling for a variety of lines that they never actually put into production – bought them on spec so to speak. That is in addition to their own lines.
The challenges are many frankly. One is, how is the stuff to be sold? Compete for shelf space at the LHS? Not many hobby shops actually carried the Bowser steam and trolley models, much less the parts. I doubt if many hobby shops are interested in carrying a line of kits even if they are refurbished and improved – particularly if you know that at every swap meet there is someone selling the older versions at likely bargain prices.
And as others have pointed out, even if every item in the old Bowser line and those that they acquired was refurbished they still would not be state of the art. Their Penn Line T1 is a hulking monster of an engine to be sure but somewhat blunt in detail. These days shelf space is too valuable to allocate to a product that might sit for years waiting for just the right customer to come in the door. I remember when Walthers phased out its old passenger car line and for some time thereafter you’d see some shops try to sell those old boxes that got more drab looking each year.
Same problem for parts – few hobby shops want to carry a line of parts now, much less add a new one. And I happen to think the real value in the Bowser steam/trolley/Cary lines is in the parts.
And I think it is a mistake that by simply acquiring the Bowser line you’d instantly be where Bowser was before they phrased it out in favor of plastic freight cars and Stewart locomotives. What Bowser had going for it – they were reasonably large, respected, important, had an excellent catalog, and had (and still have – shouldn’t talk in the past tense like this) distribution. Distribution is probably the biggest challenge to the tooling being sold to anybody not already a major p
Bowser could have just sat on all this stuff, and we’d have no hope of EVER seeing any of it made again. But they are selling off the tooling instead, which at least leaves some possibility of seeing product again. Not likely in this market, but still a chance. Bowser tooling has changed hands before - the Englishs have owned it for so long people tend to forget Bowser was originally formed in California and operated here before being purchased by the Englishs.
I really like their metal trucks. I built the Challenger kit, runs great. I learned a lot about steam locos building that kit.
Somebody please post when it is found out where it ends up.
BTW, a part of one of my businesses is manufacturing metal products–machining, etc. Right now the US worker direct labor costs are less than 5% the cost of many products mfg in the US today. It’s competitive with many offshore locations. The problems are regulations, overhead, health care costs, etc.
