Has anyone heard word if Mehano did go bankrupt or was an investor found?
Apparently production in Slovenian was moved out of country to China in an effort to increase productivity. A last ditch effort I guess.
I was surprised to see how large the Mehano line was, their North American model production was only a small part of their total production, very similar to Rivarossi.
A check of vendors that carry the IHC line certainly have stock in place so there is no sign of any shortage of product.
I guess the move is intended to try to keep things afloat, maybe they joined with another company? I haven’t seen anything since the initial reports.
To my knowledge, Mehano has closed its factory in Slovenia, laid off all employees and sold the land to some developer. The factory was situated right in the midst of an urban developement project area and Mehano intendently went broke to be able to sell the land at a huge profit.
The US prototype locos were built in China, this is supposed to continue.
Personally, I will “honour” Mehano´s way of treating their employees by writing their products off my shopping list.
I was surprised to find out that they were a major player in the production of European locomotives.
Their premier line of European diesels and electrics was DCC and Sound equipped. The products were considered to be upper end as far as detail and by no means cheap. I would imagine that at the right price a buyer will come forward.
Yes, I heard that production had moved to China and that there is no shortage of Mehano items.
Was there a story published that indicated Mehano purposely went bankrupt?
I read that in a press release from a news agency.
I would not want to call Mehano a major player in Europe. In the 1980´s and 1990´s, there locos were usually available from some mail order sources and super markets, but not being sold in your average LHS. The quality improved when some of the production was moved to China, yes, it actually meant an improvement! I don´t know who did the engineering for mehano, it could not have been Mehano themselves. Maybe I am wrong with that.
In terms of pricing, they were usually at the lower end - but don´t forget, that we have to pay much more for our locos than you do in the US. A Marklin Big Boy runs for $1,000 here…
I was amazed to see the difference between their US and European lines. (kind of like Bachmann)
No shortage???[%-)] Klein is out of most stock except 0-8-0’s and 2-10-2’s. Pickins on the IHC site are pretty slim. I want one of the C&O Hudsons they claim to have in stock, but with all that’s going on, I’d be afraid to send them any $$$.
If you just do a little bit of “Googling” you can find several sites, in English, that provide information about Mehano. For example:
Been to this site a long time ago. It appears that they may well still be in business, or someone has taken over. Thanks.
Klien has a lot more IHC stock that Proto in the Steam catagory. Note that there is not one Proto 2-8-4 or 0-8-0. Klien has IHC 4-6-0’s, 0-8-0’s, 2-8-2’s and of course 2-10-2’s. My local hobby shop recently received a number of IHC Steam engines…
I see that IHC is advertising the Hudson at a bargain price, I would certainly order one if I was in the market for one. The IHC engines are very good running engines.