@Keith L posted:Tooling costs for a diecast model are extremely high--much more than for a brass model--and require many more units to be produced and sold before those costs can be recouped.
3rd Rail's brass offerings are limited and have been for going on 10 years. The main business model is plastic shelled diesels with road specific detailing and to the floor plan accurate aluminum car sets. This year there is only one scheduled brass model to go forward, while at three to four newly tooled diesels will be arriving depending on production schedules including the Krauss Maffei, the GP7/GP9s, and the SD40-2s. There may be another one, but I suspect it will push into early next year. Typical run is about 500 units and not all of them have been rerun in the 10 years that 3rd Rail started in the injection molded diesel market.
