inventory policy questions

imo the factories in china would rather make cell phones and other portable devices.

 

train items are very low on the production list.

Reminds me of a story I heard about the first batch of MTH's Proto2 AC6000s. They were all made, boxed, and en route to the USA via container ship when a mishap at sea occurred. Bad for us, but the fish certainly had a lot of fun playing with their new trains!

 

-John

You might try the bay.

Mikey

The MTH ITAD is a good replacement and readily available. I think the look better too

This is a boutique industry with annual sales (total) of not more than about $200 million.

That's spread over mostly 2 companies with thousands of different items to inventory.  Sales of many of these items are in the hundreds a year, not thousands.  So the economies of scale definitely do not apply.  Keeping even major items constantly in stock (such as transformers, control systems, much less infrequently bought track items like yours) is a challenge.  Just the way it is.  Not incompetence or stupidity. Economic reality.

I would imagine being at the mercy of the Asian manufacturing plants has something to do with it all. I think others are correct in stating the train items may possibly get pushed aside for bigger orders which may be more profitable for the manufacturing plants.

 

It also seems that the train manufacturers might be losing sales because of all this? I have some operating accessories ordered for my layout for my 10 year old grandson to play with and was thinking the other day that I sure hope they get here before he is too old to enjoy them. I will still like them on the layout, but the main goal was getting them for him as he really likes this sort of thing right now.

 

I realize the train companies are all fairly small businesses, but I think things like accessories, buildings, transformers, track etc. should available all the time. Personally, I think this would be a big benefit to all (consumers, manufacturers, distributiors and dealers) and would also help to promote the hobby. I'm sure the manufacturers probably all realize this too, and it's probably not an easy task to keep these things available, but it sure would be nice if they could get more items available all the time.

I decided the 6-12029 Fastrack Accessory Activator Pack was a more reliable, less intrusive and lower-priced alternative, but Trainz (a forum sponsor) has one on eBay if you don't use Fastrack. A 6-12027 Accessory Activator Extender (formerly called an insulated track section) can be added so the whole set-up offsets a 30" straight track section and extends the duration of accessory activation.

 

All of the above can be disregarded if you don't use Fastrack, which I personally think is the cat's meow.

 

 

 

 

What, me worry? 

There's one on ebay

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lionel...;hash=item5b148eaf7d

I'm with you on that, but it's not reality anymore.  The manufacturer doesn't want to act as a warehouse with product available if dealers need to order it, and the dealers don't want to be a warehouse with product available if customers want to order it. Make exactly (or a few spares for defect resolution) what is ordered is the model of today.

 

The only hope is if you have a LHS that happens to keep some things in stock as extras, but with all the items offered now, it's hard to predict the items "someone" may want a year down the road.  It's just as easy to end up with an item sitting on the shelf for 5 or more years that no one wants to buy. 

 

For those who like the post war style accessories, it seems to be getting worse.  There was a run in the late 90s into early 2000's when Lionel re-made nearly every PW accessory ever made.  Great if you were in the hobby at that time, but not so great if you've become involved in the last 10 years or so when accessory production has been scarce.  (though for those who are OK with the new Plug and Play system, they do seem to be offering some runs of accessories lately, but I don't think a lot of them have actually shipped yet)

 

Track certainly should always be available, but unfortunately that is not any different in fitting into the factories schedule to get a run made.  Most dealers are able to order some stock in that department I believe, realizing it is essential to their customers, but the scenario above still holds, so when the supplies run out, that's it until the next run and shipment from the other side of the world happens. 

 

Unfortunately it now falls to the customer to stockpile track for the layout they might want to build (at least with certainty of available items) in the near future.

 

-Dave

Alfred,

Thanks good suggestions but I use conventional track.

 

royboy,

Thanks for the heads up on ebay. It closes in two days and bidding is about at lionel list right now.  Most of our sponsors had them for prices in the 30s ( of course they don't have them .  

 

I agree with the theme of several of our group.  Our suppliers contract based on an annual demand estimate in large lots, long before the delivery.If demand is greater,  Too bad because of this business model.  Their prices are based on the large annual volume prices they get from the suppliers.  A small supplemental order (maybe 10-20% of an annual volume) to make up a shortfall is not apparently going to happen.  

Are you the REAL Alfred E. Neuman-- who was so influential in my early adolescent development-- or lack thereof????

 

I'll bet you have had a ton of fun with that!!

 

Jeffrey

Send an email to china and ask "why you no make, huh?"

And the reality would be because they have hundreds of thousands of other things (iWatch, etc). to make with bigger pocketbooks, therefore bigger schedule slices.

 

You know you can activate accessories using O or O27 insulated track sections, too, right? That's what I used (instead of 153C switches) before Fastrack or 153ir's came along.

 

 

 

 

What, me worry?

I'm not quite sure why getting the Lionel one is so important, the MTH ITAD is the same thing

Matt and Alfred, the track crossing lights and gate man I want to actuate are in the middle of an 072 curve. The insulated track I am now using is on a straight entering the curve and I have been too lazy to try to make an 072 insulated track with all of the close spaced ties to fool with. The straight insulated is too far away and it turns off the crossing stuff too soon. I decided I had always wanted to fool around with one of these sensors and previous threads seem to like the lionel over the mth for several reasons, one was sensitivity to false trips. Timer relays are another choice.
While waiting on the next shipment, I will work on the 072 insulated track. Worst case as a patience building exercise.

I have the MTH ITADs all over my layout and I never get false activations

Matt,

Do you have this one?  The price is right on these for sure. I don't use scaletrax.

Many items are only run once a year, including Lionel track. The retail stores have to try and guess how much they will sell for the next year and order on that bases. So one by one the retailers sell out till the next run.

Ya i heard they have another large order of drywall to make as well...




       

I think some here have reported that one of these ITAD's (Lionel or MTH) works better than the other, but I don't remember which one was the favorite?

They both work but these guys are saying the Lionel ones are hard to find. That could mean the Lionel one is preferred. Or it could just mean they didn't make enough  of them.

I'm really at a loss for some of this discussion, based on my own experience.

 

Both the Lionel 153IR and the MTH ScaleTrax ITAD (45-1028) work just fine with any track system....as long as you're not relying on track power.  Using a separate power source, they really don't care what track they're sitting beside.

 

I have a couple 153IR's, for instance, installed on my tax accountant's around-the-office-wall-down-the-hall-around-the-waiting-room-and-back-again G gauge layout.  It's powered with a separate supply that also powers lights, track switches, etc.  The 153IR's activate MTH crossing signals/gates, 30-1073 (Lionel 262 repro's), with the addition of the crossing bell circuit/speaker from MTH 30-11014 crossing flashers w/sound.  The 262's are certainly size-appropriate for G gauge layouts.  The addition of the sound really adds pizazz to the client's experience.

 

Both of the above ITADS have been very reliable in my applications.

 

BTW, Z-Stuff also makes a couple ITAD devices (different in ratings for the accessories they'll be controlling).  I have a couple for my own layout...haven't yet installed them...cant comment further...all of my Z-Stuff signals (w/built-in ITAD) have been flawless in operation, however....excellent products...besides Dennis (CEO, CFO, HWIC, etc.) is one of our hobby's best!

 

FWIW, always....

 

KD

I don't have their catalog but if Dallee makes one it will probably last longer than the trains.

Yup, that's the one. mounts independently of track