Paul's signature says Acting COO, not CEO. If you recall, Richard N. Maddox, formerly from Lionel, took that position last July, I believe. Generally, people don't sign "acting" unless their predecessor is actually gone. This would not be appropriate for a short-term fill-in. So Maddox is probably gone. Could be another opportunity. Could be disagreements with the owners. Could be a merger - and the impending elimination of his job. If so, it would point more to Atlas being "acquired" than aquiring. Oh, and BTW, it's no big secret that some people at Atlas have wanted to kill the forum for some time... I think the previous poster got it right on - this is a confluence of issues all at once.... Lou [ 08. June 2004, 20:47: Message edited by: ljudice ]
If everyone adopted your attitude, thousands of man hours, blood pressure pills, and gigs of Internet bandwidth would have been saved. What are you, some kind of radical. Charlie
Truth be known, so do I. IMO, a lot of the frustration and smoe of the anger seen from posts can be attributed to being suddenly made "homeless". I can understand that. Which is what we're here for- stay for the summer, stay longer (longer would be nice ) Not being too computer-savvy, I'll let Charlie, our administrator, answer that one. PS- it's good to hear you're not into flaming- my last post to you on that subject was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, although it may not have seemed that way.
You know, all of the talk about how busy Atlas was makes me wonder. I look at the way this site is dissected into very specific groupings and come to the conclusion that if all of the topics were lumped together into N, HO, O and DCC like at Atlas, this would seem just as busy. Not only that, but you'd probably get a lot more commentary from the cross overs. This is such a large site I'd probably get lost if I ventured off of the modeling forums section. So, I'll probably just stay here and ask all of my inane questions.
-I still don;t know what was so obsolete about the Atlas forum...so it didn;t have spell checker. which does nothing for grammar, but otherwise, if spelling is so important, compose your posts in MS Word! I will be honest. I am more then certian that I have flamed in my lifetime. When Appropriate, of course. And at Trainboard, I don't recall any moments when it was ever appropriate to flame. Flaming may not be politically correct, but then, a lot of appropriate things are no politically correct. Truth typically requires a difference of opinion and an objective task force to clear up the subjective opinions. This process usually brings out a higher degree on knowledge, so without the objectivity, there isn't any reason to improve the past. Now if the upgrades are being done for the sake of upgrading, then I have to groan. I use these forums to explore model Railroads! A jolly good and prosperous summer to everyone!
BTW, I started a topic in the Inspection Pit regarding the Atlas Switch Tower Kit Challenge. I put it there because even though the kit itself is HO, the act of building and modeling is far from being a monopoly to any one scale! So on the 14th, (I think that was the old due date, lets get those pictures posted!!!
I felt that way too when I first started coming here Jake. Then I got to lurking into some of the different forums, and pretty soon it wasn't a problem anymore. A lot of "other" scalers cross-over to another scale just to see what the other guys are up to. Often they contribute some excellent advise that helps everyone. What is your interest Jake? I frequent the Real train forums, as well as the model forums because being retired, I now enjoy them all.
I have been through two mergers/downsizings. I agree that The "Acting Chief Operating Officer" title is not a temporary stand in while the powers that be are on vacation. Remember Atlas closes for two weeks in July for their vacation and everyone takes it at the same time. I'm thinking that if Athearn was bought out by a distributor like Horizon who could be seriously hurt. Somehow the name Walthers keeps popping up. If horizon freezes Walthers out of the Athearn line maybe Walthers needs to do the same and acquire its own manufacturer. I would think that Maddox is out. Now what about Tom & Diane Haedrich? He was the CEO and Diane was president. She was the only child of Stephen Schaffan who, with his father founded Atlas. First the forum is abruptly shut down with no prior notice then Paul gets a new, albeit, temporary title. Something is fishy here. My experience in prior mergers tells me we have not heard all the shoes drop yet.
I know of you (is Mike on TB?), John W, Keith, Darren and Grif (Geeky). That qualifies for a BBQ, don't you think? Agreeing on a date will be tricky, though, especially this time of year. Who all are interested? </font>[/QUOTE]Mike is Alaska GP49, but he has yet to log in for a a while... I think he has just forgotten. Count me in! I live in Cheyenne, WY, but that's only an hour and 15 for me to get to the Mile-High city. </font>[/QUOTE]I started a thread for all of us Denver TB and Atlas forum folks to perhaps get together and hang out. I suggested a central location, but if someone has a layout we can run on maybe we can do a layout party at someones house. I don't have a layout and most of my house is under reconstruction.
WELCOME!!!!!!! You have come to the right place. </font>[/QUOTE]It seems that this place is getting a lot of Atlas refugees. I am not visible in the picture that is posted, because I am actually underwater fixing a flat tire on the truck on the right.
Oh well.. I guess I'll come over here and lurk around.. I had registered for this board a while ago but kind of forgot about it unitl I got lucky and found it stored in my favorites folder... Tom
I don't know who is where at Atlas, and who came from where, but I note the following... 1) Someone suggested that Maddox, formerly from Lionel, held the COO post at Atlas which Paul just took over. I don't recall the exact position Maddox held/holds. 2) MTH wins a lawsuit for $40 million over Lionel over stolen designs. http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/005/196ppdsg.asp One might put the two together and suggest that, guilty or not, Atlas did not feel comfortable with having the connection. (The above conjecture is a work of fiction until proven otherwise.) [ 09. June 2004, 01:37: Message edited by: keystonecrossings ]
BINGO!!! You took the words right out of my suspicious mouth! I'd almost be willing to put money that Maddox was in the group at Lionel involved in "borrowing" MTH's tooling. The timing is just too coincidental. BTW, you can't convince me that were Walthers and Atlas to merge, that it would be the Haedrichs that were bought out and not Phil Walthers. I don't think that's likely either way, though.
Jerry, Dick Maddox was COO. There is a press release on the Atlas site you can search for. Obviously this explains a lot, especially the removal of the forum, it is my understanding that certain people at Atlas have long wanted to kill it. Frankly, I'd rather see these guys focus on products than on the forum anyway! My last words on the subject!!!
Whoa! That is a huge judgement for a case like this. While it might be reduced on appeal, it's still huge for this small industry. Pete
Here's the official scoop, from an insider. I was contacted directly and asked to forward a summary... 1) None of the theories floated on the Internet are true. The downtime truly is related only to software upgrades, shows, AND vacations. 2) "Dick Maddox is still at Atlas." That is a verbatim quote. With Paul as acting COO, that might suggest a promotion for Mr. Maddox. That was not divulged at this time and I have no additional information on why he is not COO any longer. 3) Atlas is not for sale and Atlas has not been sold. (Though nothing has been said about Atlas not acquiring!) Hope this helps. And again, it comes from the inside.
Watash, I'm just being silly, but sometimes I do feel like the "world" is a little big and try to stay in my corner of it. To answer your question though, I have O, HO and N trains, with an emphasis on N. My interests are to learn more about scenery to make more and more realistic models. (for some reason this never became an issue when I was solely into O) Then of course I sponge information about how to fix the myriad of problems that arise with the mechanics of modeling in N. So, anyhow that was my official role on the Atlas forum. Sponge.
Jerry, I've been told Dave Maddox is at Atlas "O" which apparently is run as a completely separate entity, explaining perhaps to some degree Paul's new title... Perhaps you have more accurate info to confirm/correct
