Jim R. posted:... The line has blurred somewhat in that, at times, some model railroad manufacturers seem to be bringing in "what's available" instead of playing a direct role in a model's production. And, in the case of China, almost all of the work, including research and development, is now being done overseas. There is also some question about whether the tooling can eventually be used for another company, since China wants to retain all tooling, even when it was made for a specific American company.
But, for the most part, O gauge manufacturers are still "manufacturers" at this point, technically speaking. They specify what product should be made, play a role in the development process (especially in electronic circuitry that is proprietary, such as Legacy and DCS command systems) and hold exclusive rights to those models.
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Jim, agree 100% that the line between strictly importing and strictly manufacturing has blurred.
In the case of Legacy and DCS, I don't doubt that the design of those systems largely occurred here in the States. But we've seen -- quite painfully -- that the manufacturing of the electronic components (and even the plastic housings in which the electronics reside) all happens overseas. It wasn't that long ago that prices for Legacy 990 kits soared into the stratosphere due to Lionel's inability to source them from their Asian suppliers. Those kits were back-ordered for Lord-knows how many months... maybe even 18+ months... reeking havoc on the secondary market until adequate supplies brought prices back to reasonable levels. And MTH is just now delivering its Scaletrax #4 and #6 turnouts after almost TWO YEARS of dealers having access to ZERO MTH inventory here in the States. Same phenomenon has occurred with Atlas-O track too. Seems overseas factories are often over-committed, and -- in the case of electronics -- they're very likely building components for much higher-volume US company contracts.
As to product specifications and such... I'd like to believe that most of that still happens here in the States, but I all too often have my doubts there as well. A couple of years ago when Lionel had catalog'd its California Zephyr cars, we couldn't even get a straight answer from Lionel as to whether the observation car would have a dome on it or not. Seems nobody here in the States knew the definitive answer, so enthusiasts needed to wait to see what was actually unloaded from the shipping crates. Now that very well may have been just bad communication on Lionel's part, but whatever the case... it gives us a bad impression, so we draw our own conclusions as to what gets done where. FWIW, as much as I'd like to call our toy train company "manufacturers", they just seem more like importers to me nowadays.
You know the old saying... "If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then...". 
Whatever we call them though, it's good to see OGR giving these toy train companies a venue here to more formally communicate with enthusiasts/consumers.
David
