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German structure maker Faller declares bankruptcy
they were too expensive anyway
It would be a terrible blow to the hobby if we lost this valuable resource! An unfortunate sign of the times…
and this was the vehicles that I need for my railroad but looks like I mite miss out on this co.
Now to go to Walthers and buy the stuff I was looking at!
Seriously, it reflects the economy, and it hurts to see another manufacturer go belly up.
A sad thing for model railroaders all over the world:(
Another one bites the dust. These tough financial times are killing our hobby. Faller will be missed.
Sounds like their financial problems had started before the current world financial crisis, so they were in a weakened position when it did hit about a year ago. Combine that with a third generation family management team who were totally unprepared for the unprecedented credit crisis that was coming (as so many businesses were). In addition, Faller was founded after WWII, so current management wasn’t able to tap senior corporate memory/ history/records on how the company survived the financial whipsaw of The Great Depression. Current Faller management was operating in uncharted territory.
Not good news, however it is my understandig that when you file for bankruptcy in Germany and a provisional liquidator is nominated, he might help save the company from going belly up, otherwise just look at Marklin. I hope they can survive the difficult times!!
Hopefully they can come through this. While the structure buildings are too German, the scenery details were not and somewhat unique. They have an extensive product line not duplicated elsewhere. (Unless Walthers is going to discount, there are better places to buy Faller items from.)
Time to revisit my needs and get things before they disappear from shelves (an issue with Faller items).
I was quite shocked to read this - Faller has been around for so long. But then again, I see the same tendencies in the past few years that have also taken down Märklin. The American Model of making trains etc (as in taking orders first and then produce that number + n ) is more efficient and less risky.
A great blow to our hobby nonetheless. However, insolvency in Germany means that the company has high chances of getting back into business rather soon 
It is always sad to see one of the key players of our hobby getting out of business. Some 45 years ago, the first kit I assembled as a 7 year old, was a Faller kit, which I still have!
Unfortunately, Faller´s insolvency was foreseeable - a product range with a strong orientation towards southern Germany kept customers even in Germany from buying Faller, moving to Kibri and Vollmer as well as many new, smaller and more flexible producers. Faller´s “professional” management , i.e. unattached to our hobby, tried to fight dwindling sales through pricing - a boomerang, as we now can see!
I will miss Faller, but for reasons of nostalgia alone. They will not leave a gap, as there are better and cheaper products already available in the market.
I’ve always been a Kibri and Vollmer fan … even if Faller dissolves and goes the way of Tyco and AHM, I’m not really sure there’s going to be a “hole” left behind in the hobby. Faller was a bit expensive for what the kits were, very region specific, and almost always out of stock. :^) I was in a hobby store some years ago in southern Germany … and even they couldn’t get Faller kits! Realistically, I can see Kibri buying up the Faller dies. Or, dare I say it, Model Power buying up the dies. :^) Sad to see Faller go … but that’s what happens when you have company officials who make poor business decisions because they have little to no interest in the product they are producing. Is it me, or are today’s business executives in ANY industry getting way too disconnected from the base products their companies were based on? I worked for a company once where the executives were great grandsons of the founder and because they had the company handed to them (they didn’t build it themselves), took no interest in it and knew little of what their company made or its customers … but were confused when the company went belly up due to bad business decisions they made.
I refuse to purchase products from big box stores because of the sweat shop conditions of the people who make those products…at the same time it is apparent that you can not manage by price increase…not sure what the answer is but as someone who prefers German products it is a sad time indeed.
So sad to hear that, but they were to expensive for me. Still, I feel for the workers.
losing a supplier is always sad. SO even in these hard times try to budget a couple of bucks each week for the hobby. But make your purchases from those struggling small mom and pop shops.
Try and buy Cambell scale. Or scratch supplies from clover House or the newly reformed N.W.S.L.
IF we spread our purchases around, then just maybe we as
consumers and train fans can insure our favorites will still be around when this down turn ends.
I hope they can reinvent themselves for their car kit system alone.
Another victim of our difficult economic times, this is a real tragedy. Faller dominated the landscaping side of most people’s model railways back when I got started in the hobby (early 1960s) and they are still a mainstay. However, as with all things of German or EU origin, their prices have soared beyond affordability while their quality has flagged somewhat. I will miss Faller when they go but I’m sure that Kibri or Vollmer, or some other smart company, will pick up their product lines.
I have been a fan of their slot car structures as well as some of their slot cars based on Aurora and AF/X for many years. This is also a big loss for the slot car community. I have bought a number of their older products on eBay for years, and this means that they will become even dearer when buying them.
Sad news indeed.
Faller falls! At least it didn’t happen in the fall.