RMT has introduced a number of new products over the last year or so, but it seems like a number of them have never been available. Of these products, such as the Bang diesel, the 70 ton ore car, the BEEF, the PEEP, etc., which of these can you actually buy right now?
I though most of the items were available.[%-)]
Nope, I’ve had the BEEFs on order since April 2006 and the PEEPs on order since June 2006. They haven’t been made yet.
Walter Matuch made a comment elsewhere that some of the new items would be on display at the fall YORK show, with the following: “PS: Working hard on the BEEFs, PEEPs and BANGs. Had some production concerns and needed to upgrade certain components. You should be pleased with the final results.”
RMT is a small company and it is interesting that the plastic figures and the offset hopper cars based on the Kusan/K-Line version were announced after some of these other products, yet were available sooner. There is also a covered version of the before mentioned hopper now announced.
I’m sure RMT has put some money into development of the BEEFs and the PEEPs. The RMT version of the K-Line S-2, the BANG, was announced about the same time that it became known that K-Lionel was bringing them back into production. This is one product that interests me, and I’d love to see some in modern roads like Conrail and Norfolk Southern, but even the ones announced in the “old hat” roads have yet to even have illustrations on the website. If this one operates as good as the BUDDY and I’m sure it will, GREAT!
Probably the figure sets and the hoppers were easier to finish and bring into production to generate some revenue. Still one wishes the announcements on the new products had been made in a more timely fashion and closer to actual release dates of the available products. This very topic of delays in anticipated product shipping seems to be one of the big criticisms of Lionel of late.
I’m starting to tire over hearing “production problems” about the “Peep” passenger cars. I mean, they don’t even have a motor! Ordered mine in '06 as well, for " probable '06 Christmas delivery".
I know that we have been waiting a long time on the BEEF’s. For me it’s been over a year & a half, but if the BEEF’s work and look as good as the BEEP’s, then the wait will have been worth it. (but gee, it’s been a long time coming!)[sigh]
It’s been posted that RMT has an announcement at York next month about the new products. soooooooo… Where’s the BEEF?![:D]
Dennis
Walter’s a great guy, and I’ve spoken with him a number of times. However, maybe they should just show new products for SALE at York. I realise that pre-orders give a company data on how many to produce (if any), but at this point, I’m not pre-ordering from them any more. My origional plan for the “Peeps” was under the Christmas tree in '06. I’ve replaced that idea with a Harry Potter set last year.
Pre-order items should be delivered in a timely fashion. Period. You’ve been waiting since 2006? That’s CRAZY.
Until everyone pulls their cash from late pre-orders it will be business as usual. Not ordering ‘next time’ doesn’t matter to the manufacturers. They build based on pre-orders.
I believe this to be true for all these manufacturers, including Lionel and MTH.
Would you accept this of an automotive manufacturer?
Kurt
I would agree that the one real blemish on RMT has been these very lengthy delays between the announcement of new products, their projected availability dates and the actual delivery dates. It does diminish some of the excitement and also credibility about new products and their anticipated availability.
It does go to show that, even though RMT is a very small company when compared to the others, they faces some of the same business issues. Modifications to existing dies and tooling can be expensive, nevermind producing totally new products from scratch. Sure, Walter is a nice guy and no doubt has passion for the train hobby. But he’s not actually making the products - Sanda Kan is. And there within may be a good part of the trouble. Available cash flow could be another reason.
I can’t help but think about some things I have read about Sanda Kan having some problems. I have read where SK got caught up in the lead paint troubles: Sanda Kan supposedly makes other toy products other than model trains. It’s been rumored that SK has laid off a large number of employees and is now having troubles meeting production schedules. IF there is any truth to all this, it would certainly explain some of the delay issues facing not only RMT, but other companies that are using SK as their production vendor.
Walter might have to move production to other countries beside China and Taiwan so that the items are all produced.
Andrew
Huh - I wonder if they were involved in the Thomas and Geo recalls due to lead paint?
Well, lets try to avoid speculation.
Chances are, that unless you hear it from Walter - be a skeptic.
The gear will get here when it gets here.
I just wanted to bring this to the top to see what people have actually had delivered of late from RMT.
DJ, I check the RMT web site very frequently, and everything seems to have either a late Spring/Summer or Mid-2009 delivery date, which includes the BANG S-4 switcher, the new ore car, the new depressed center flat car, the new cover hopper, and the delayed BEEF engine and the matching PEEP passenger cars.
And here, I do beg to differ with Bob. While I do agree, the products will arrive when they arrive, I don’t think any speculation above was too over the line. Matter of fact, this topic of product announcements versus anticipated delivery and the actual delivery is a problem that plagues all the other train importers to some degree or another. Lionel frequently has to push back announced delivery dates on products. I recall the first year of K-Line by Lionel production, most of the products had “announced” delivery dates of the November before CHRISTmas, and most didn’t begin shipping until February/March.
It’s not the acutal product arrival that’s the problem: it’s when a company announces a delivery date and then frequently misses the projected date by months. And this seems to be more than an isolated problem.
Another good case in point was the MDK K-Line self-published Collectors/Production guide, which was years late. I know for fact, K-Line recieved complaints and phone calls over the long delay. The problem wasn’t as much the actual publication date as it was the company making annoucements (and more re-schedule annoucements) about it being available long before it was.
So coming back to RMT, yes, the products will be here when they get here. But I can also understand the frustration of some, because very often products from many of the train importers seem to miss their announced delivery dates by a long shot… sometimes years. It might be better for companies to make the announcement for product shipping once overseas production is nearly complete.