Ongoing Saga of Walthers SW9/1200: Was "Another one bites the dust."

Even though Walthers website idicates otherwise I am being told that Walthers has cancelled the shortly expected run of SW's.

Walthers sucks beyond all belief.

If there was not enough interest in the product than you should announce you are going to cancel it when you make the decision, which is long before their "Expected Date".

I have seen other companies cancel items and have handled it with a lot more class. That is what, the third straight item cancelled in N scale by Walthers. How long until the DL's get chopped as well.

I was not overly impressed with the GP-20 I got when it came out and do not see me buying any more engines from Walthers.

 

I have to wonder why on earth they bought out Life-Like in the first place. Yeesh.

-Mark

 

It's not been our first and I'm afraid that it won't be our last . This economy is not quite come back as yet

 

Considering that particular locomotive saw a widespread use and a 2nd life as shortline and logging power it kind of suprises me that there isn't enough demand to run another batch. And the locomotives are still in use today at any number of small industries from concrete to power plants. Heck there are at least three, or were, in use as plant locos in my general area. Twas a shame to see LL go as a separate entity since they had good service, a nice line of locomotives that continued to get better, a good price, and a ready availablity of parts when you needed them. I haven't bought anything from the aforementioned entity for some time except for an occassional sale product in their flyer they send out when they are liquidating something at a decent price. Last months flyer had 9 pages of N scale out of the total of 82 pages and two of those pages were half pages so really only 8 pages devoted to N scale.

That locomotive has been one of my favorite mechanisms to kitbash critters on and I probably have at least 16 of them either as the SW-9 model or in use as a mechanism for something else. Fortunately the Bmann 44 and 70 tonners have taken thier place as kitbash fodder and in the process has freed up enough mechanisms to keep my small fleet running because parts are basically non-existant. I can imagine that what is out there on Ebay will take a huge price jump soon.

 

No one else is cancelling wholesale runs like this and especially with no communication to the customer base who is ordering these or waiting for them to come into stock. There is no giving a pass to Walthers.

 

I'd better hang on to my noisy one for dear life. Do you think that being such a PITA to install a decoder had something to do with it and they didn't want to invest in changing the mech?

I hope Kato will release those NW2s.

 

The HO stuff... I've been looking forward to the DL-109 in McGinnis, but who knows if it will ever come out.

 

Hopefully they are retooling to be dcc ready.

 

This is just my theory on this. I have read that Walthers expects the N scale numbers to be about what they are in HO scale. With that said, I expect that until the N scale numbers are somewhat close to the expected numbers in HO, we will continue to see cancelations from Walthers on upcoming N scale products. So in other words, I doubt we will be seeing much more from Walthers in N scale in the future.

 

If there is any truth to that than Walthers is even dumber than I give them credit for! There are not the same number of people in N scale as there are in HO so there will never be the same product demand.

 

You and I know that as well as many others on this forum. But that is the reason I heard that Walthers decided to discontinue the modulars based on the fact they weren't selling as well in N scale as they were in HO scale. This is also the same excuse they have stated for not doing a passenger train like they did in HO scale.

 

If Walthers would produce some of the buildings they do in HO for N-scale I can see orders pick up

 

You mean like making all the outbuildings with the Mountain Lumber Co sawmill like they did in HO scale? (sawdust bunker, debarker, and woodchip trailer specifically) Those of us in N scale have to scratchbuild these items.

 

If I had millions, I would offer to buy out the tooling and set up my own company. With minor tooling changes, the GP38-2 would be good for at least 10 more runs in 30-40 paint schemes. The SD7/9 could use a minor re-tool and updated chassis but they could crank those out like Atlas has done with their early geeps.

Think of all those FA1 and FA2 schemes, The PAs and Erie Builts, the low nose GP18 and SW8. God they have so much and care so little. It is just pain sad.

Why can't FVM, Blueford or BLMA step up and purchase the tooling? We need someone to do this right.

 

BLW has it up on their website and it is a real shame. Walthers is shooting themselves in the head as far as N-scale goes and at the rate that they are going there is little hope that the entire N-scale line will ever be continued... not to mention the damage that they have done to potential customers.

I have said it before and I will say it again... I do not buy Walthers as a rule since there are very few models I am interested in. I would rather find something used on eBay than to buy new, at least until they finally wake up and change their ways (yah, I know... a snowball's chance...)

 

I think it's simpler then most think.

Walthers is using all of N Scale as a 'Loss Leader' for HO Scale !!!

They may throw out a few bones now and then (reruns) and N Scale customers will go to their website and see the massive lack of N Scale products. Their HO products pages are massive. Walthers hope is that the new consumer will be so frustrated they will simply go with HO in the first place (Walthers mainstay)...or...current N Scalers will simply give up on N Scale and go HO.

The loss leader strategy is more than just a nifty business trick...it is a successful strategy if executed properly.

All this complaining aligns with " Bad press is better then no press." Everyone wants to bad mouth Walthers (and rightly so). This still keeps Walthers on peoples minds. They may still go there to check things out. Once again they find little or no N Scale and may just make the jump to HO.

Walthers stupid ? I dont think so. Conniving and underhanded...yes !

 

We can always hope Kato picks up the torch and tools up the shell to fit their NW2 mechanism. It is sad that Walther's has apparetnly thrown in the towel, but I can't say I am totally disappointed. With the pending release of the B'mann and Atlas Alco switchers my wish list will be closer to completion. If the B'mann S4 mechanism is done right, it could provide fodder for SW1000/1500's, NW2, SW600/7/8/9/1200, HH660, Alco S6/T6, and maybe others that I left off. Isn't it great that Bachmann is steppping up to the plate nowadays?

 

Funny, the guys at Kato told me that Walthers is one of their biggest distributors. Apparently, Walthers likes to sell N scale, they just don't like to make N scale.

 

With all the new releases and great success I think Walthers is way off track. If they aren't smart enough to understand the nscale market they aren't smart enough to bring over converts.