I was curious to know how Genesis, Atlas, Intermountain cars are selling in the US. The reason why I ask, is that I do not see too much activity / new car releases in those brands. The choice of models also amazes me sometimes. There are so many types of cars in the US and you see that manufacturers often stick to the same types: ACF centerflow’s, corn syrup trinity tank cars, container cars, … Compared to Athearn RTR and Walthers, the choice is really poor.
Obviously, producing such models is longer and they are also more expensive, so I thought that the price could be the reason.
Price is always a consideration for any of us when we purchase hobby items and most of the newer highly detailed cars are much higher in price.
If you need a hundred or so cars, most of us will purchase them over a period of time and buy cheaper multiple cars until we can afford the higher detailed higher priced cars.
It would seem new variations of freight cars will sell even at higher prices, but our budgets must be included in the process. Most of the larger clubs run the better cars since they have better wheels, couplers and details and tend to work better.
Juanfran2,Genesis is Athearn’s top line…As far as intermountain they have a very nice selection of cars…Atlas seems to specialize in HO locomotives while in N Scale they have a wide selection of both locomotives and freight cars.
As far as pricing there is low,middle and high end cars…The added details and is the difference in those cars which in turn leads from low to higher prices.
I was just wondering. Such a slow motion looks strange to me with the US and Canada being such a large market. I remember a couple of years ago, I was amazed by the speed of reaction of some manufacturers in the US, partially switching from kits to RTR cars in all categories. That happened in just a few months !!! This is a strong contrast with their relative slow motion (stagnation ?) today.
Here In Europe, we are used to high end freight cars and all metal wheels for a long time. Actually I even can’t remember the time when cars were sold as a kit (I am 40 years old). Only some very local craft brands are kits. Of course you will argue, Euro freight trains are not that long. True But a freight car here from a brand like Roco, LS Models or Fleischmann may cost you up to USD 51,00 each for the most recent models, … and I have seen even more expensive, like Brawa. So for the price of 1 car, you get 2~3 US cars of a similar quality (Genesis or Atlas).
As far as I know the last new tool high end car from Atlas is the Thrall articulated auto carrier. Of course several new cars been added to their Trainman Line…Athearn seems to be focusing on new Genesis locomotives then new Genesis cars.