Can MTH move forward with catalogs?

Nope.

Rusty

I don't think the MTH entity will last very long.  Right now...it looks like Mr. Muffin is driving MTH production.

How much MONON can you sell/buy?

NO!!!!! 

Yes

MTH should do a digital catalog, showing all their special announcements in one location, The high cost of printing & publishing makes a paper catalogs just to expensive.

A digital catalog would be well received by their customers.

Gary

@trainroomgary posted:

Yes

MTH should do a digital catalog, showing all their special announcements in one location, The high cost of printing & publishing makes a paper catalogs just to expensive.

A digital catalog would be well received by their customers.

Gary

That’s what I was thinking. A bi annual small digital catalog would be cool. Supplement it with the limited dealer exclusives. With menards entering the mkt, anything could happen, including a new entity in the game (unlikely but stranger things have definitely happened).

@SD60M posted:

How much Monon can you sell/buy?

I'm still trying to figure that out because I can't stop buying it.

@trainroomgary posted:

Yes

MTH should do a digital catalog, showing all their special announcements in one location, The high cost of printing & publishing makes a paper catalogs just to expensive.

A digital catalog would be well received by their customers.

Gary

It would certainly be a way of gathering up enough orders (across all dealers) to do larger runs, especially for popular roads. I also love catalogs, so it would be nice if they did something again like they used to, but it's OK if they don't. I'm enjoying all these special run announcements, and I'm looking forward to what MTH ends up doing in the future.

@SD60M posted:

I don't think the MTH entity will last very long.  Right now...it looks like Mr. Muffin is driving MTH production.

How much Monon can you sell/buy?

Berwyn Toy and Trains has also been fairly active.

However, I wonder how long relying solely on the custom run business model can hold up.

Rusty

With MTH retaining 80% of their tooling, I’d say at least a digital catalog would be well within their abilities provided they have someone to do the desktop publishing part.  Heck, I’d volunteer to do it if given the assets used to make previous catalogs.

https://mthtrains.com/news/706

Paper train catalogs were never accurate and have become a thing of the past. You don’t always receive what was shown, especially colors.

I would like to see a rotating 360 view of the item like the automotive sites have. Web access to everyone and real time changes / updates could be made by the OEM's on the fly.

Example: It’s important to me to see the numbers on the front / back of an engine along with head lamp and railing details. We could never get that view from a catalog. Car dates and trucks are also an important detail for period modelers as well.

@SIRT posted:

Paper train catalogs were never accurate and have become a thing of the past. You don’t always receive what was shown, especially colors.

The same can be said for online versions.  Plus, not everyone's monitor renders colors the same.  When I was working, my work computer showed colors a little differently than my home computer.  Same for my laptop vs. my desktop.

Rusty

I doubt given the current business model of MTH that you’ll see a catalog in any format. It appears ( at least for the moment) the “new” MTH is only doing custom runs for its network of dealers. It’d be a nearly impossible task given the already multitude of custom runs in the works, and being delivered already,…..perhaps on their website they might have a listing on what’s being made, and who’s selling it, but that’s not likely either, I’d imagine trying to stay lean and trim to survive, they’ll leave the advertisement part of the program up to the retailer that initiated the custom run,…

Pat

@trainroomgary posted:

MTH should do a digital catalog, showing all their special announcements in one location,

Gary

I am fond of the MTH 36' Premier Reefers.  With so many custom runs being announced recently I would like to make sure I don't miss any that I would like to purchase.  I do receive the emails, but things do get lost.  I too would like to see a central place where I could see any custom runs.

@Frank Mulligan posted:

I am fond of the MTH 36' Premier Reefers.  With so many custom runs being announced recently I would like to make sure I don't miss any that I would like to purchase.  I do receive the emails, but things do get lost.  I too would like to see a central place where I could see any custom runs.

I thought there was a place on MTH’s website listing all the New issued items? Maybe someone here can confirm and/or post the link.

Edit - here is the link from the Mth newsletter for all the newly issued post catalog items - https://mthtrains.com/prod-sea...field_catalog%3A7742

here is the newsletter - https://mthtrains.com/news/701

@Up & Down the Monon posted:

It would certainly be a way of gathering up enough orders (across all dealers) to do larger runs, especially for popular roads. I also love catalogs, so it would be nice if they did something again like they used to, but it's OK if they don't. I'm enjoying all these special run announcements, and I'm looking forward to what MTH ends up doing in the future.

Astute observation. Dealer limited runs need a wider platform to reach a bigger customer base, beyond the usual sources, like hobby magazines and Internet forums. A manufacturer’s catalog, real or virtual, would go a long way to meeting that need.

Another option to see everything made this year is to click on the FG FH FI and FJ catalog link on one of the 2020 or 2021 announced products on their website.

Edit: I just realized FG and FI were 2020 printed catalogs.  That leaves FH and FJ for the new stuff.

Here’s the FJ listing.

https://mthtrains.com/catalog/fj-2021-all-scales

And it looks like dealer custom runs go under ZZ…

https://www.mthtrains.com/cata...zz-uncataloged-items

@MTH if you are reading this, you should consider separating ZZ un-cataloged items by year so folks can track what’s getting made.

I would bet we would see something like what 3rdrail does.  All on the website until the project is done.

It appears that MTH at least for the present will rely on special orders from their big dealers. Offer it, sell it, build it. Already sold just pack and ship. No inventory, no investment on their part.