American Made ?????

[Dick Elmore]

If you want good detail, the Intermountain kits, including diesel shells, are made 100% in Colorado. The RTR rolling stock and diesels are made in Colorado and assembled in China, even though the box says "Made in China" Thier steam engines are 100% Chinese.

Dick
Texas Chief

[toptrain1]

Originally Posted by Russ Bellinis

Top Train, you mentioned Walthers reproducing Train Miniatures cars. The catalog doesn't list Train Miniatures. What name are they producing them under now? I looked in my Walthers catalog and it doesn't mention any kits under the Gold Line, they are all r-t-r with dimples cast into the car body to drill for the included metal grab irons.

Walters is using their own name. They list the cars as 40' box car wood ends, 40' refrigerator car, 40' DS wood reefer w/wood ends, 40' steel box car, 40' DS wood box car w/dreadnaught ends, and others. When you hold it in your hands you can tell. the only difference is TM used black plactic in it's floors. Walters uses tan plastic and it has a coupler box with a removable cover. If you want I'll put some photos on. toptrain

[Russ Bellinis]

Thanks, Top Train. I was hoping to find some kits listed in the Walther's catalog, but apparently they are making the ex-Train Miniatures as r-t-r only with the exception of needing to drill it to add grab irons.

[toptrain1]

The walters ( X TM )cars I have were all kits. Walters doesn't make the white boxed cars anymore. Tho you can find them. toptrain

[tomustang]

Originally Posted by nkp174

Manufacturing in China requires something very, very expensive...trans-pacific shipping.

According to an article I've read about plastics, A CEO in china compared shipping from China to US price is like shipping from US East coast to US West coast

[GeorgeHO]

I read someplace (probably Business Week or a newsweek or a railroad magazine) that it cost approximately $20.00 to ship an intermodal container from China to the east coast of the US. That keeps the dollar stores in business.

[rhtastro]

None of my Marklin stock was made in the USA. Most was made in Germany with some track from Hungary. The very latest rolling stock is from China. All of the locos and most of the electronics are from Germany or Hungary. The quality seems comparable no matter the country of manufacture. But the buyers must demand good quality and the manufacturers must inspect the plants and shipments and use adequate quality control. Marklin was sold to a British group a couple of years ago and so far the quality has been maintained. I've heard that if the US dollar keeps declining they'll begin production over here in the future, although I doubt that will happen. Their base and main market is still in Europe. Over the years they put out many American models such as Big Boys, Mikados, PA's, F7's, and much of the rolling stock for them, both passenger and freight. They were not cheap but all were very well done and many have increased in value over the years. However, I've noticed lately there has been a shift away from this market and more towards their European base. They recently had a big sale of American models and I really loaded up but now they have depleted that stock and it's getting hard to find and even more expensive. But the detail and reliability, well, it's hard to beat. It just keeps going and going. bob

[Triplex]

Over the years they put out many American models such as Big Boys, Mikados, PA's, F7's, and much of the rolling stock for them, both passenger and freight. They were not cheap but all were very well done and many have increased in value over the years. However, I've noticed lately there has been a shift away from this market and more towards their European base.

Maybe, but remember that most Marklin US-proto equipment is sold to Europeans... isn't it?

That reminds me - I've heard that western US prototypes sell better than eastern US on the international market, and that's why Kato favors western roads.

[Russ Bellinis]

Originally Posted by Triplex

Maybe, but remember that most Marklin US-proto equipment is sold to Europeans... isn't it?

That reminds me - I've heard that western US prototypes sell better than eastern US on the international market, and that's why Kato favors western roads.

I've heard that Kato is a father/son company. The father does not like American prototype at all, but the son does. The father/founder of the company lets his son "have the factory" on a limited basis to do a production run, then he takes it back to do more Japanese prototypes. I understand that the son is a U.P. fan, so virtually everything he makes is based on U.P. prototype, and is then decorated for whatever other railroads had the same prototype locomotives.

[Fluesheet]

Originally Posted by rhtastro

None of my Marklin stock was made in the USA. Most was made in Germany with some track from Hungary. The very latest rolling stock is from China. All of the locos and most of the electronics are from Germany or Hungary. The quality seems comparable no matter the country of manufacture.

I had an interesting conversation with a Marklin representative at the Detroit NMRA show this past year. Regarding production, Marklin at one point had some manufacturing going on in China, but would send the raw plastic they wanted the factory to use. Unfortunately, this high-grade plastic was finding it's way to the black market and the factory would substitute cheaper plastics - a serious QA issue in Marklin's view (never mind the theft). I'd gotten the impression that that ended the Chinese experiment. Hungary is now their low cost "outsourced" location - unionization is much less pervasive - for assembly and lower skill jobs. Higher skill manufacturing is still done in Germany.

Originally Posted by Triplex

Maybe, but remember that most Marklin US-proto equipment is sold to Europeans... isn't it?

This same gentleman told me that many older German adults grew up reading an author that wrote adventure stories about the American West. He said to this day, Germans that come to visit the U.S. operation will ask where the Indians are! He also mentioned that many American-prototype model railroads built in Germany have a "southwest" scenic feel, including Teepees. So, it would surprise me if your comment is correct, Triplex.

Something else is that Marklin is three rail AC, so American protoypes under that brand are more likely to end up in Europe. Trix, the two rail DC division of Marklin probably does a greater American share of the same prototypes (excepting for the high cost!).

As far as quality is concerned, I've been quite impressed with the Trix locomotives I picked up (when they were on firesale).

[rhtastro]

Fluesheet may have a valid point about Europeans interest in the "Old West" and therefore model RR's with a western theme. ie: Marlkin and Trix models. I first encountered this as a soldier in Germany in the 40's and early 50's. Often in a bar, when German men found I came from the West coast ( Oregon, Northern CA) we spent hours talking about the people, geography and of course Indians. Some even knew the names of the local volcanoes. Hood, Shasta, Lassen, St. Helens, etc. Another time when crossing the U.S., going west, on a bus in the 50's there were a lot of Brits and Germans riding along. They kept asking me when we would see Indians. And then it happened, somewhere in Wyoming we saw a guy in full costume with feathers and all. I don't know how it came about but that handsome dude made my day. Also, my Swedish brother-in-law is a huge western fan even though he lives 10,000 miles away. It comes, of course, from the old western books and also Hollywood. It's the romance of freedom and the relative anarchy that prevailed in that early day out here. My grandfather was a successful gold miner and my father travelled the west on horseback in the early 1900's as a teacher. Really, it's still a little like that now as it's horse and cow country and gold mining is big again. The Old West hasn't completely disappeared except that the local Indians are now lawyers and business men and the bad guys are chased down using choppers.

[Russ Bellinis]

The direction this thread has taken reminds me of an incident that occurred when I was about 12 years old. My dad was born and raised in California. My mother was born in New Hampshire and grew up near Syracuse, N.Y. In the mid 1950's my dad sold a business and we took the summer to travel back to the East Coast to visit my mom's relatives. Driving through the Ozarks, my dad stopped for gas at a "mom & pop" gas station/general store. When the lady who waited on us saw the California license plates on the old station wagon, she said "There isn't anyway you could get me out to that place!" "If you don't get shot by outlaws, you'll get scalped by the wild Indians!"

[sgtcarl]

Speaking of the "wild west," when my family moved from Iowa to Arizona, it was not uncommon to see "indians" dressed in their tribal clothes for special occasions. The first palce we lived was very close to a family of Yavapai Apaches. I became friends with the oldest son, named Eddie. For many years, we told the story of us playing "cowboys and Indians." And I always had to play the "Indian!" We got a lot of strange looks, before people would start laughing at our joke.

[Santa Fe Jack]

Originally Posted by tomustang

American-Made, that's a rare phrase, even if it's made in america the guy building it might be 'non-american'

Meaning that s/he is not an American Indian, I presume.

[Colton_modeler]

Another reason I've found that many Europeans, and it seems Germans in particular, are interested in the Southwest is that the landscape is so different than anything they're accustomed to - densly packed cities, mountains, valleys and trees cause for a lot of curving roads and blocked views. If you're ever on a trip to Death Valley, take note of how many German or French tourists you'll encounter - not only do they find the landscape intriguing (as you likely do, if you're also taking a trip out there), but they've likely never seen a stretch of road with no traffic that disappears at the horizon, with nary a curve, 12 or 15 miles long. Or a roadside sign reading "Next Gas - 55 Mi".