I wanted to buy a few E8/9 sets when they where released . I could only afford 2 sets and wanted 4. I got my 2 and the other 2 I was unable to get… So now I’m out of luck unless I pay a premium or full list price. Basically their attitude is oh well. There was about a 2 week window of opportunity. So i got this bright idea. What if I could get a shell and use it on one of the units I already have or buy a less popular one. I’d have 1 and a half locomotives. Nope you have to trade your old shell or buy undecorateds. Really a stupid way of doing business. Limited runs? Why? They have a great product just a poor way of getting it to the public. If I can’t get your product and at a reasonable price then Proto 2000 guess what you don’t make any money or at least not as much.
Everything is a limited run (batch process), always has been, always will be. LL’s P2K line does quite well for them as evidenced by its continued existance and increasing variety of product offered.
Basically there is an assembly line, which makes HO locomotives. It can make any of the locomotives. It is scheduled a year or more in advance to make a batch of a given model. Then the line makes another model, and so on. The market demands variety, and thus there is a long time between runs of the same model.
Try Pacific Western Rails. They are rather expensive, but they are at least their attitude is good. They can pretty much do what ever you want because they specialize in custom paint jobs.
Where have you been? Limited runs are the way this hobby works nowadays, and has been that way for over ten years. That’s why manufacturers announce new products about a year before they’re actually released, so they can judge demand and not make too many.
Either buy them when they’re released, spend extra time and money hunting them down, or learn to paint. I do all three; it’s part of being a model railroader.
And I’d actually suggest watching Ebay for these engines. Retailers have a way of ordering batches of new releases (especially engines) and then dumping them on Ebay for much less than MSRP.
They may think they do quite well but they leave a lot of customers missed and wanting. I found 1 on Ebay and bought that. A 2 week time frame for availability just means they didn’t make enough. Their attitude is oh.? I’m sure many never make it to the shelves due to shop owners snatching them up for themselves or friends. That’s one of the benefits of owning a hobby shop. Still means there is not enough supply . You can use Walthers find it option and there are only 4 or 5 people that show to have them and that was updated last August! Searching the country side has nothing to do with modelling. What are people to do if they get in the hobby and the loco was made 2 years ago. Learn to paint? Rembrandt couldn’t reproduce some of the details.
If you are looking for a specific loco, such as Frisco, which was my case the limited runs can make it hard to come by one. The LHS told me the runs for a specific named loco come about every 5 years. My first Proto 2000 E8/9 I actually got from the LHS but it was second hand. The run was sold out and someone had one they put on consignment. So I bought it. I was told at that time it could be years before another run of Frisco came out. When they did I had 2 put back until I could get there and buy them. Now I have 3 E8/9s. [;)]
In order to get one when they come out you need to keep checking at your LHS. Being a regular there helps keep you up to date on when things will happen and helps get you what you want when it comes out. Yes you might pay full price then, but having one it better than not having one. The runs are too limited to risk not being able to get one when you really want it. [:(!] [:(!] [:(!]
This is why I buy brass. I reserve a model many months in advance. Make monthly payments at my local hobby store, and have the item paid off by the time it arrives. I have no desire to waste money on manufacturers swill locomotives from China. On cars I really have to make compromises but if Kadee had made more diverse offerings I’d buy all from them. Long live Brass Locomotives!!!
Overpriced? Check the new price of the old Athearn kits made RTR at the hobby store. One person pointed out to me that these kits cost $.50 at one time. And Now $21.99. Give me a break. Everything is over-inflated from the food on your table to the clothes on you back, to the car you drive. Every brass locomotive I’ve bought I’m more than happy with. That’s me. To each his own. Can’t get any locomotives I like in plastic(OK maybe a handful)., so have to buy brass.
As one with a little experience in these matters I will add only two pieces of advice:
Just because L-L is sold out a product doesn’t mean there aren’t any available.
when Life-Like first starting making PRoto 2000 engines they were obviously overproduced since I remember seeing the E units selling for $25 at shows (and not moving) a year or so after release. They obviously learned their lesson and don’t overproduce things now.
I would suggest calling around to a variety of mail order dealers and hobby shops – I bet the engines you’re looking for are out there.
Well,There are many Internet shops as well as E bay.Limited run or no you can usually find what you want by looking for it…These can be found at reasonable prices.Another option is local train shows…Just don’t give up or pay full price yet…Keep looking.
Be patient – some limited run stuff is redone. Limited run does not always mean “never again.” I see P2K stuff cheap at train shows BUT the thing is, it is the road names that are not popular locally. Here in Wisconsin you would mortgage your house to get Milwaukee Road or Chicago & North Western. But Southern Pacific? New York Central? cheap. Same is true for books. So somtimes shopping by mail or internet can find the things you want at distant hobby shops at good prices.
This limited run thing works both ways too. I remember that when Bachmann first announced the Amtrak F40PH and GE 44 tonner, they indicated these were limited runs that would never be seen again. So I rushed to buy and of course, paid a premium price for stuff that they proceeded to flood the market with. So if they are going to say limited run you’d like to think it is not some joke.
Dave Nelson
It’s too bad that limited run is the standard now. It assures profits for the manufacturer and puts a little pressure on potential customers. (Budget / penny pinching time!)
What specific road were you looking for? You didn’t say.
BTW:
Don’t feel bad. I posted recently that I got a great deal at GATS for a P2k E7 in Southern for $39. The catch is, I want a Seaboard Coast Line E7 (several, actually) so I’m going to have to give the E7 body the old “91% alcohol body bath” and whip out the airbrush and decal sets. When my budget allows, I may get another P2k E7. Happy Hobo also sells Protos at a reasonamble discount.
It’s likely that the units you want will show up on E-bay soon. If you’re not particular about road names, my LHS (Happy Hobo Trains) has several E9s in stock. Telephone number is (813)-886-5072.
Ya, you could say that!
I emailed them last fall inquiring about producing a D&H PA.
They said at the time that they had no plans to produce that model at that time.
Two months later, I find out through a friend that Proto is producing a D&H PA.
This is a good point–here in northern California, Western Pacific, SP and (to a lesser extent) AT&SF (or BNSF) goes quickly–but whenever I take a trip to Chicago, I find quite a bit of stock decorated for West Coast lines in the “discount” pile because people want BN or CNW or other local lines. I even found Sacramento Northern (the line I model) decals for a pittance because, well, who in Chicago models Sacramento Northern?
So when you make trips to other parts of the country, always check their hobby shops! It’s definitely a fishing expedition–but it just might pay off!
That 's some good points. I see tons of certain Proto 2000 units in some places here. Many have been around a while. What I was looking for was UP E8’s not the 949/951 E9’s. I’ve been to shows, looked on Ebay and no luck. I did purchase a pair of Amtrak E’s. Just before the new release Ebay had the old ones coming out of the woodwork. The part of the country may be true. I know where a Milwaukee Road yellow E is sitting right now. It has been in the same spot for years and not moved. I’ve thought about getting it and patching it up for Amtrak. It looks like the UP and would need minor work to get it to Amtrak. I could do the same with the new RI. I’d rather have the UP because I could run UP or Amtrak and have 2 time period flexibility. I’ve made a few phone calls and zip, nothing. Maybe what is needed here is a search board where people put what they are looking for and others help them if they know where it is or have it.
Well I disagree with you on everything here; the Korea brass locomotives are light years ahead of that plastic junk you call models. No they are not over priced, if you would sit down and look at a brass locomotive and compare the same model made in plastic, the brass one wins hands down!!! Remember real locomotives are made of a metal and so are my models, BRASS.
As far as cars go Kadee is better, than the ones you have listed, for one they have sprung trucks, and now come with scale couplers. Atlas is junk, they need new couplers and trucks before you put them on the track. Intermountain cars are nice but the paint on some are think and the grabirons and other details are to thick, and they are in limited runs. Red Caboose are nice, I will agee with you on that, however they are not stocked in my local hobby shops so I always have to wait for them. Branchlines are nice too, but I don’t have time to build them, however, they are nice once finished. The biggest plus on a Kadee car is this, they are made in the USA.
$1,200 for a hunk of soldered-together scrap metal is ridiculous, and the only R-T-R car I have has been modified. I don’t bother with RTR, for the reason that half the time you have to change someting on them, plus if you like the high-end cars, I’m not about to pay $30 for a RTR car that I could build myself in a kit that might cost half as much.
And you’re griping about limited runs in plastic, brass is far harder to get than any plastic models ever will be.
Today’s brass units are very attractive but up unitl a few years ago, most of them were “rough running” units. Years back I became excited when an HO U50 became available. My LHS rep told me back then “You wouldn’t want it!” The thing runs like a Rock Crusher!" [:0]
Wow, guy! Plastic Junk? I’m not “downing you” but that’s pretty abrasive!
With all due respect, they are models! Having been a teen modeler in the late 1970s I see, IMHO, that the new plastic models are “light years” ahead in workmanship, details, and performance. ( I was so shocked when P2K models first hit the market, with doors that opened!! That had been unheard of! Now it’s no big deal----how quickly we become complacent! ) There will always be little problems “here and there” with plastic models as this is expected with anything made by man. [8)][:p]