A variant of this topic heading could be "Where I don't want my trains made".
My heart went out of collecting new Lionel when some years ago I was shocked to see my Reading T-1 was made in Korea (they actually did a great job). That stuck a big pin in my Lionel balloon. We can fast forward to today, and I have come to accept that my trains will not be made here. Korea doesn't seem so bad today as they are our friends and ally. Even with that said I have deflated my balloon of enthusiasm for collecting new stuff.
Unfortunately, it is more negatively driven than positively driven. I don't have much positivity that train production will return to the US by my not buying foreign made trains. The negative drive has been (and is much stronger now given current events) not to buy from China. Yes, the Chinese QC is not that great, but probably good enough (whatever that means these days). I just cannot support such an abject adversary of my nation.
During WWII an expression was that: The bedsprings that Johnny slept on that were sent to Japan as scrap metal were used to make the bullet that killed Johnny.
My wife just needed a new sauce pan. I searched and searched for one not made in China. I finally found one made in the USA, but it cost three times as much as the ones made in China. It was of much higher quality and with nothing but multiple rave reviews. Fortunately, I can afford it, but I know not all people could. Will this sort of consumerism drive companies back to US production? Probably only on a limited basis.
I've got one pre-order from Chionel pending. It will probably be my last new train order unless made other than in China.
Alan
