Interesting Times for small manufacturers ahead!

[Arjay1969]

I would not be at all surprised, in light of this latest industry development, to see most RTR items price themselves all but out of existence, in the same fashion brass largely has. I’m not saying that the RTR market will totally vanish from the scene, only that it will become a province of the very wealthy hobbyist. Just what will become of the vast fringe element of hobbyists who lack real modeling skills, or who are not desirous of learning them, remains to be seen?

It’s up to the people who DO have the skills to pass the knowledge on to others. that’s one of the things we always try to do at the local club here.

If I’m remembering correctly, Accurail discontinued their RTR line because of increasing labor costs. I can see the same thing happening with other manufacturers down the line as well.

Aha! Found the source. Second-to-the-last post in this thread:

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/164041.aspx

To quote:

Finally got an answer from Accurail. Answer is: sorta discontinued, sorta not.

I wouldn’t say that it’s discontinued as much as it is on hold, at least for right now.

Just in the last couple of years the costs of assembling our kits into RTR/Accuready models overseas has gone up significantly. Plus, we were never particularly happy about giving money to China when there might be the possibility of having the work done here in the States. So I wouldn’t expect anything more in the Accuready line in the immediate future, at least not while we’re exploring new places to have the assembly done. It remains to be seen what we’ll find (or not find, as the case may be).

Eric Cote

Plant Manager/Artwork

Accurail

I don’t really foresee either RTR or the hobby as a whole going away completely

[CNJ831]

I would not be at all surprised, in light of this latest industry development, to see most RTR items price themselves all but out of existence, in the same fashion brass largely has. I’m not saying that the RTR market will totally vanish from the scene, only that it will become a province of the very wealthy hobbyist. Just what will become of the vast fringe element of hobbyists who lack real modeling skills, or who are not desirous of learning them, remains to be seen?

It’s up to the people who DO have the skills to pass the knowledge on to others. that’s one of the things we always try to do at the local club here.

Robert, that suggestion has a nice ring, but you can’t teach complex skills to folks unwilling to go beyond opening a box and simply placing the enclosed item on the tracks. Look how many postings we see here complaining about very basic modeling aspects, like putting simple grabs of RTR cars. How often do you think the average hobbyist here is bringing each just purchased piece of rollingstock up to NMRA specs before setting it on the layout? I’ll bet not 1 in 5 here do the that, even though it’s absolutely basic model railroading practice.

A lot of folks that have entered the hobby in the past 10-15 years feel its all about just running store bought miniature trains, not sophisticated and realistic modeling. The latter is not a hobby interest for them. These folks basically aren’t looking for, or largely capable of, a more complex approach to model railroading. That’s just the nature of the situation. I think you’ll find that if RTR prices become too high, or RTR simply goes away, so largely will they.

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

I don´t know, for how many years - or is it decades? - some of us have sung the swan song of model railroading. Whenever there is a change, be it the closing of one more LHS, Athearn to announce the discontinuance of their BB kits, now the merger of Kader and Sanda Kan and the appreciation of the RMB v.s the Dollar, the patient is declared DOA, yet it is still alive, maybe not really kicking.

Difficult to foresee the future, but I do see changes to the better, as well. Public interest in trains will rise with trains becoming more and more an issue of political interest, also for passenger transport. This may be a slow process, but after many years of a constant decline, there seems to be a slight upward trend again. Kids take an interest in anything moving, and when they are able to see trains again, they also will develop an interest. It is up to us to foster this interest, be it as a parent or grand parent.

We have some extraordinarily gifted young model railroaders being a member in this forum. When viewing their work, I don´t worry too much about the future of our hobby anymore.