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The containers go to the port of Los Angeles and then get sent by truck to Scott.  Don't quote me on this, but the Port of Los Angeles to China has the most favorable shipping rates, not that shipping rates are that favorable anywhere at the moment due to the supply chain mess and COVID.

Johnathan, that is good news, I was afraid they would stay on the ship and it would next go to Oakland.  Our next waiting game it how long it takes to offloaded and onto an outbound truck.  

Would it be neater if it was loaded onto a northbound UP train and we could guess which container is "ours"

Container vessels have to wait to dock at the port for about 1 week.  The ship is moored off the coast of Long Beach. Then they will steam to Oakland Port (1-2 days) and wait 1 more week to dock there. Then we wait 7-10 days for a truck to pick up the container after customs inspects it. Still looking at late August arrival to us, and early September shipping. F3s are quick to ship, the Amtrak cars have to be sorted and packed per order. That's going to take time.

This 20ft container cost us $10,000 door to door. Normally this costs $3250. The "H" in S&H  is going to go up in price.  The stories I am hearing about factories in China, no being able to ship their goods, warehouses backing up as they can't get a ship date, and their customers (importers) can't afford the prices.  I read that a shipment of Nike shoes to the UK had to pay $15,000 each for their 40ft containers, and the cost of the shoes and freight was more than their contracted sales. That can't go on long. Inexpensive things will have to go up in price to absorb the higher freight costs. More expensive items, such as these model trains will have to get higher prices to offset these higher costs, but can still be in the game. That's my 2 cents.

How it works... You are asked to pay $12,000 for the container, and you throw a fit and tell them $8,000 is the most i will spend... Then you wait for the Ship Lines to accept your offer to get schedule on a vessel. We were bumped twice, but I stuck to the $8,000 price. If I had offer only $6,000 the models would still be in China as the vessels are accepting containers from the highest bidders.  It's that crazy.  $8,000 + $1,500 misc fees and duties + $500 trucking. And I was worried about Tariffs!!!  Then this happens.  The decisions are made by the ship lines and the freight forwarders interact with the importers (US). I know we are getting the best deals possible as manager at the freight forwarder is a long time close friend. No way to get around this one.

Last edited by sdmann

I've been waiting to point to this pair of videos from a Japanese freight forwarder that explain a lot about the current mess:

Note that when "Iino-San" says "ocean freight", he's usually referring to the price of ocean freight (english as a second language and all that). His channel contains a bunch of topics revolving around freight forwarding, presented in the same animated info-graphic fashion seen in these two.

---PCJ

Last edited by RailRide

"I just dumbly scanned and then posted..."   Not dumb to copy that scheduling info. No where on any of these sites do they predict the delay at the port. Docking date remains blank until they actually dock. If your not in a rush, it's no big deal. If you have goods in containers that will expire, then your in trouble. ;(

I am already planning what to do when the C&O Hudsons, Krauss Maffei and SP Daylight cars are ready. I want to load up a container with all of them and pay the big fine once. Probably will get all these in December.

Scott

Scott, you continue to rise above the common attitudes and really serve your customers, even when it becomes difficult.  I'm going to take a look at every Sunset and GGD item on my layout and think about all the careful design, negotiating, checking, quality control, and shipping involved in each car or engine, and reflect on what you had to do, just so a bunch of us fussy model railroaders could have small-batch O gauge model trains at reasonable prices.  You don't have a department or a manager of this or that.  Although you have some dedicated people who help, it's you who does most of the work and who takes all of the responsibility.

You are a gentleman and an outstanding businessman.  I do not have the proper words to describe the respect I have for you.

@Number 90 posted:

Scott, you continue to rise above the common attitudes and really serve your customers, even when it becomes difficult.  I'm going to take a look at every Sunset and GGD item on my layout and think about all the careful design, negotiating, checking, quality control, and shipping involved in each car or engine, and reflect on what you had to do, just so a bunch of us fussy model railroaders could have small-batch O gauge model trains at reasonable prices.  You don't have a department or a manager of this or that.  Although you have some dedicated people who help, it's you who does most of the work and who takes all of the responsibility.

You are a gentleman and an outstanding businessman.  I do not have the proper words to describe the respect I have for you.

Can I second that?

Im not Amtrak at all but it would be nice to see the now aging soon to be replaced on long distance trains Genesis P42s. Also why not the new ALC-42 Siemens units. You guys deserve this!

I'd much rather have GGD ALC-42s than GGD P42s.  I agree with you.  In the coming years, I'd rather have a model that's going to serve as the face of Amtrak for the next 20 years.

P42s themselves aren't very intricate.  I have a bunch of the MTH ones that have sufficed.  GGD could really shine with the ALC-42s and maybe the other charger variants.

People model what they have seen and the P42 has been seen everywhere.  We have 2 on the Crescent twice a day, one on the regional twice a day in our little city of Lynchburg, VA.  They are all over the CSX in Virginia on the regional trains to tidewater and the north south trains from NY to FL.

With the different main Amtrak paint schemes thru the decades and all the 50th Anniversary schemes

I'm sure Scott would get enough reservations in two and three rail to make some money.  Not much detail so it should have a good power unit.  I could handle some dummies as a reasonable price.

Last edited by VGN64
@VGN64 posted:

People model what they have seen and the P42 has been seen everywhere.  We have 2 on the Crescent twice a day, one on the regional twice a day in our little city of Lynchburg, VA.  They are all over the CSX in Virginia on the regional trains to tidewater and the north south trains from NY to FL.

With the different main Amtrak paint schemes thru the decades and all the 50th Anniversary schemes

I'm sure Scott would get enough reservations in two and three rain to make some money.  Not much detail so it should have a good power unit.  I could handle some dummies as a reasonable price.

And how will a GGD P42 differ from the MTH P42 to justify the GGD price of $800+?

And how will a GGD P42 differ from the MTH P42 to justify the GGD price of $800+?

Yea. I don't see this happening. After the initial buzz, I thought we would have had Sunset E60s by this summer. Instead, it's the F3 2nd run that's sitting in containers off the coast. I was really looking forward to having an E60 pulling my GGD Amtrak 5-car set. I would buy Sunset P42s. Reality, however, is I'm more likely to end up with a MTH, ATLAS, or Lionel scale loco.

And how will a GGD P42 differ from the MTH P42 to justify the GGD price of $800+?

It’s all in the eye of the beholder and in the end, depends on ones budget. Then it’s choose your pleasure. I’ve upgraded (my opinion) to 3rd Rail whenever Scott has offered my two primary roads - MP and T&P and I am quite pleased with what was delivered. And I don’t always get all that I want. Recently, Only 1 of 4 MP-TP GPs were done to my disappointment. But that 1 was better than none !!!!!!
Product roll out is painfully slow but we are talking about a tiny company. And It’s even more difficult to get a model on the “offering” line-up. Patience is always a “rule” with these models - though it is often difficult to have.
Cheers

PS. I appreciate a “second chance” at the F3s as I couldn’t afford everything at once in the first run. There must have been a few more like me too !!!!

Last edited by TrainBub

Personally I have not been advocating for a Sunset P42.  Like others have said it represents the past of Amtrak and the Siemens locomotives represent the future.  I have no doubt that a Sunset P42 would be much better than the MTH one in every aspect as the MTH tooling dates to the 90s.  However, there are plenty on the market in 3 rail.  For the 2 rail modeler this is of course a different story.

Having said that, there isn't the licensing issue required with GE like there is with Siemens. 

I also would have liked the E60 to move forward and had three reserved as they represent fond memories from my childhood in the as-delivered version, the rebuilt version, and the NJT version.

@GG1 4877 posted:

Personally I have not been advocating for a Sunset P42.  Like others have said it represents the past of Amtrak and the Siemens locomotives represent the future.  I have no doubt that a Sunset P42 would be much better than the MTH one in every aspect as the MTH tooling dates to the 90s.  However, there are plenty on the market in 3 rail.  For the 2 rail modeler this is of course a different story.

Having said that, there isn't the licensing issue required with GE like there is with Siemens.

I also would have liked the E60 to move forward and had three reserved as they represent fond memories from my childhood in the as-delivered version, the rebuilt version, and the NJT version.

I don’t do Amtrak but I Love the P42 and Would be a buyer of a Sunset model. I’ve not picked up a MTH model because it rides high, and has the horrible front pilot. I just have this vision of a Sunset model with a fixed pilot for starters , and an EASILY Removable claw coupler with an option pilot/kaydee replacement for us 3railers.
I don’t think MTH offered this model with 3-2 capability. So I’d bet the 2rail crowd would carry the “lions share” of reservations for this model.  
In spite of what’s in the market, I believe this would be a nice seller. I think it would get much more interest than the E60. The P42 has coast to coast appeal. The E60 has a popular appeal on the east coast But Likely limited beyond there.
Of course this is just my opinion.
Cheers

@TrainBub posted:

I don’t do Amtrak but I Love the P42 and Would be a buyer of a Sunset model. I’ve not picked up a MTH model because it rides high, and has the horrible front pilot. I just have this vision of a Sunset model with a fixed pilot for starters , and an EASILY Removable claw coupler with an option pilot/kaydee replacement for us 3railers.
I don’t think MTH offered this model with 3-2 capability. So I’d bet the 2rail crowd would carry the “lions share” of reservations for this model.  
In spite of what’s in the market, I believe this would be a nice seller. I think it would get much more interest than the E60. The P42 has coast to coast appeal. The E60 has a popular appeal on the east coast But Likely limited beyond there.
Of course this is just my opinion.
Cheers

I suppose I could get behind a P42 also if it were being offered.  I agree on the MTH model.  I have the Phase III heritage version and it has issues on scale fidelity.  I would likely go for two in the wave scheme.

@GG1 4877 posted:

I suppose I could get behind a P42 also if it were being offered.  I agree on the MTH model.  I have the Phase III heritage version and it has issues on scale fidelity.  I would likely go for two in the wave scheme.

I Love the Wave Scheme !!!!  That’s where my money would be !!!
I guess there is just not a lot of interest in the ”electrics”. Zero from me. I don’t see any enthusiasm for Mlk. Road EP3 electric either. I pushed for the Erie Built Olympian but I guess there was no support for it - in spite of it being a handsome brute. (And other roads to add needed numbers)

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