Joe, no problem - thanks for taking the suggestions here... I hope you take a look at gondolas, in particular some of the 52' cars from the 1960's on forward - fishbelly silled, perhaps smooth and corrugated side types - would be a great complement to your existing gons... Lou
The main problem with the FT's may be the endless bashing done by "modelers" on another Forum. My set of ABA SB FT's will pull a house of Lincoln Logs! I can easily pull of a whole train with ALL the SB cars + Troop Sleepers for the forest crews. I'd like to see MTL do some equipment flats. Maybe you can do a deal with Norscot & others to have some excavators or logging equipment. Perhaps MTL could add a depressed center flat to the lineup? For the Marines & Army perhaps you could do some flats with tanks, jeeps & other vehicles?
It's interesting that many of the newest models are rolling up what used to be the brass market in N Scale. First there was the Daylight from Concor and the cars from Kato, then the tunnel motor, the UP caboose and on to the Challenger. The only two models I can think of that are in brass, and not in plastic, are the bay window cabooses (SP) and the Jordan spreader.
How about 1968 built ACF 4650 CuFt Covered Hoppers. These were the earlier cars with the smooth angle at the top of the sides and the stiffening rib running the length of the car. These are the correct covered hopper for the Great Northern, Northern Pacific and many roads that are mistakenly painted on the version of the covered hopper made by Microtrains.
There must be a reason MT did one and only one ever engine in N scale (at least to my knowledge). I am not a rivet counter. My MT FT's have problems with both diaphragms installed and I've had to re-glue a rear window glass. They are a tight fit with a decoder, but they are quiet, run at virtually the same speed, and pull like crazy. I just found and bought the second pair I did not have.
The reason they did the FT was for a "billboard", in my opinion...a place for Smokey the Bear and Santa Claus and USA and so forth. Not a bad idea, really.
FT You might have a point there, but really...a billboard! With Intermountain releaing their's at the same time, sales were diluted for sure and I know management was trying to pay for tooling and the like. It's our only child so it has to wear all the stuff you wouldn't want to wear in public! I got into this a little on the Z board this morning, but the Cliff's Notes version is that we are a small company and have limited resources and to do an engine is a huge, HUGE investment in time, resources and money. With Atlas and Kato and Lifelike churning them out almost monthly, the major prototypes have been covered or soon to be. Steam is out of the question, few comon prototypes and the cost is unreal. So..here we are... But really...we did all the major roads that used the FT, and a lot of the road numbers as well. Short of more tooling (chasing bad after even worse) we are stalled. And, those Smokey and Navy and Mary Poppins cars really sell...really. Slap my fanny and call me Sally, but they sell... Cheers Joe MTl
Joe, I wasn't criticizing the fantasy items there, if that's what you thought. I've never had any problem with M-T doing that stuff.
FT ..and where you are is fine. We'll all be happy to see some of the ideas suggested here the past few weeks turn into great MT products. No more MT locos need to be produced.
Oki Doki Doug, just to out polite you..I didn't think you were being mean, but if you thought I was then I am sorry too. :O) Actually it's ok to express dislike for stuff we do...I do it all the time in product develoment meeting and when customers say something stinks it's important to listen and think it through on our side of the Rockies. I do get tired of the relentless MTL Bashing on another forum, but that is to be expected. I read it all, and get involved with almost none of it because it doesn't change anyones minds. Some folks are Glass Half Empty...I gotta full glass and that's all that matters. I appreciate you sharing how you felt! Thanks Joe MTL
Well, I'm not blowing smoke....I really don't have a problem with it. I don't really buy any....I did buy a couple of the Texas boxcars...but I want you guys to make as much money as possible. (hopefully not all from me!) About the only thing I complained about was going to OKC and seeing a science project display board for n-scale "railroad" cars vs. a massive booth full of Halloween dioramas and fantasy cars and ornaments....at a TRAIN show. But I digress...like I said, pay the bills, but keep model railroading "somewhere" in the mix, and I'm happy.
Perhaps the problem is that you have two glasses, each half full? MicroTrains conundrum is that they are two companies in the same body. One is the champion of the ribbeters, and the other is the champion of the "I don't care" set. Nothing wrong with that, but the two together form a cold front meeting a warm front that forms lightning storms and the odd tornado. Perhaps a good solution would be to split the company into it's two distinctly different parts? Atlas came out with Trainman, which insulates their different lines...
This sure is a popular thread. I hope Micro Trains is getting a lot of ideas for new car types. :thumbs_up:
To Tony's point, there is a separate domain and website "Micro-Seasons" which handles the holiday themed items, perhaps with the exception of the 12 Days Cars (I have to check on that on that website). Although I've been told that much of the MTL booth at some shows has been consumed by those offerings. I'm not sure that that has changed recently since there is no money in the UMTRR Budget to attend any of these. Is the split wide enough for everyone... nah, of course not. There are some who'd prefer that it be set adrift in the Pacific, I'm sure. The Special Editions are, of course, another story. The State Series ends next month (right, Joe?) so that's one big "love it or hate it" group that winds down. Everything I've heard or read (other than the usual polarizing troll-ery) has indicated that the State Cars have more than "squeaked by"...
I know I'm late to the game and I do think they were mentioned already, but some spine cars, any 5 unit car, would be great.
Joe, Have you considered moving some of the tooling for the older cars to China and create a premium line (made in US) and a train-set line (made in China)? Increase the quantity of the train-set line's offerings to fund the premium line. Oh, and 86' boxcars would be nice...
...but, both lines of cars are called "MicroTrains". It's like Chevy and Cadillac. You have to separate your business if your customers are confused by the branding. Flame wars are the result of marketing failures. I'd sure hate to be the owner of a company that is both loathed and loved! :teeth:
Boy, would I be 1000% against that idea. No, make that 10,000%. QC is all over the board with outsourcing, whether it be customer service, programming, or model trains... there have been some lucky exceptions, but in large part it's "you get exactly what you pay for." I could provide examples but I'd be veering way off topic and into a discussion to which it would not be fair to go on this venue...
