All in all he estimates it will take about 3 years before they have all of the SHS reruns out. I asked him about new tooling, and his answer was it all depends on sales of the former SHS products. He seems hesitant to invest in a market that he all but admitted that they don't quite have a handle on. I told him that it seemed strange to gauge interest for new products from sales of existing products that have been out for decades. His response was that he felt that the MTH PS3 electronics would make all the difference. So there you have it... It will be about 3 years before you see anything new from MTH, and only if they sell enough of the reissues.
This is why I maintain that both MTH and Lionel need to start making appearances where S Gaugers flock: S Fests, S Sprees and NASG Conventions.
Although they help to introduce S to the outside world, York, the World's Greatest Hobby and National Train Shows are not the best places to judge the S market as a stand alone entity.
It’s important also to remember that SHS wasn’t built in a day, it was built over a 20+ year period. Their origin goes back to 1989.
First, what was S-Helper Service did just that: Provide help, financially and if I recall correctly some product development. American Models was the recipient. AM’s RS3’s, FA2’s USRA 4-6-2’s, GP35’s and Heavyweight passenger cars were the result of SHS’s early involvement.
Plus even earlier, the founders of SHS were members of the New Jersey club that “helped” AM with their bay window caboose.
I've assembled this brief chronology of SHS based on catalogs I have. Admittedly, some of it is sketchy.
SHS began as their own product line began in 1994 with one car: the PS2- two bay covered hopper. The outside braced boxcar, stock car and SW9 appeared by 1997, with the GSC flat car variants, steel rebuilt boxcar and extended-vision caboose being set to arrive late the same year.
1999 saw the announcement of the F3’s, PS2-three bay covered hoppers and S-Trax.
2000 we were still waiting for the F3’s. The SW1 and starter sets were announced.
2001 and still waiting for the F3’s. Woodside reefers and double sheathed boxcars announced.
2002: the F3’s show up around October, going by my photographic records. As I recall, the F7’s were announced in late 2001/early 2002.
USRA 55 ton hopper variations and ore cars were announced either 2002 or 2003. There’s a gap here in my catalogs.
2003: 2-8-0 announced. F7’s arrive.
2004: NW2, SW8, E7(cancelled) and Bay Window Caboose(cancelled) announced. We were still waiting on the 2-8-0’s.
2005: No new tooling product announcements.
2006: 2-8-0’s arrive, again based on photographic record.
2007: No new tooling product announcements.
2008: Covered USRA twin hopper announced.
2009: Bethlehem Steel 55 ton twin hopper announced. Never delivered due to Sanda Kan reorganization.
Overall, freight cars came out pretty much within 12 months of announcement, but I think this pretty much shows that even in the "good old days" there were delays involved. New roadnames for most existing freight cars and SW's trickled in over the years. The reason for the cancellation of the E7 and bay window caboose was because the 2-8-0 sucked up more resources that originally anticipated.
SHS essentially "spoiled" us. It's been said by some they were the best, most responsive train manufacturer in any scale.
That's a hard act to follow.
Rusty
