Scale Trains has announced they acquired MTH HO and S Scale product limes

This is quite an announcement, and one we have been hoping for (any purchase, actually) for a while. There was a contact email in the posting to a Hollie Smith, Hollie@ScaleTrains.com. (I am assuming “Hollie” is a female name, hope I haven’t committed a major blunder here). Anyways, I sent the following to her (?), and I would suggest others send something similar to encourage them to use the tooling soon. David Dewey Ms. Smith, Just wanted to congratulate you on your successful acquisition of what many consider to be the finest S gauge/scale RTR product tooling in recent years. SHS implemented a masterful marketing ploy by combining both high-rail and scale products in a single box. I would say your company is poised to become a marketing leader in the S marketplace. Some have said that it will be some 2 years before we see any product, but I would like to point out that the most recent S product, the “fish-belly” hopper cars, has completely sold out. This tooling was just in use, and there is a pent-up demand for versions of this car, so a fast re-run should be quite possible. Note the high prices being seen on eBay for them. Looking forward to seeing what happens next! S’incerely, David Dewey

Did not see that address , but I will follow up on your letter with a similar request, but for more TOFC cars!

That is great news - now, if we can only find a buyer for the O Scale product line!

"That is great news - now, if we can only find a buyer for the O Scale product line!"

Go buy a lottery ticket, and you can be that lucky boy who owns his own train company.

Geeze, they just bought the S tooling.  They have to figure out exactly what they have, make any changes and how to integrate S into their production facilities.  Plus they have all the HO tooling to go through.

Mike didn't begin making stuff right away and it took him 4 years for the F3's.

It's going to be 2-3 years before any S product is released.

Rusty

Roberto, That's great, but I didn't mention the Belly Hoppers as something I WANTED, but as tooling that was just in use, and should be ready for reuse without any work. And as an item that there apparently is an immediate need. This would give them an immediate "toe in the water" with little work on their part. A chance to show a real desire to "be a player." We can get around to, "Gee, I wish they'd make. . . ." later (Like, I would REALLY LIKE an SP GS-4)--MUCH later!! Let's not scare them off right away! They still have to come up with a brand name, packaging, etc. etc. . . .

PS, The word has gotten around FAST--after all, I'm on internet dial-up, no Facebook here, no videos, no live streaming, Zoom or any other digital media platforms, yet I am aware of the purchase!

David, just curious... Where do you live that you are still on dial-up internet?

Product "limes"?? That should be interesting, just how long will they stay fresh?

Hi Jerry, I live in RURAL Northern California, east of the town of Oroville, and in a canyon that seems to defy satellite coverage; my only outside communications is by copper wire, although AT&T has strung fiber optic cable past the south-side of my property, they have informed me that it is only to provide signal to a 5G transmitter up the hill from us--and no, we don't get any signals from it. No cell coverage here at all. Population density apparently isn't enough to warrant interest from any supplier. And sadly, the copper wire connection is so bad, that 36K is the average speed. When the FCC forced TV to go to digital signals, we lost almost all our TV signals too. Depending on weather we can sometimes get 3 channels, but usually they start pixilating either during the news or the last 5 minutes of a show that, up to then, was being received just fine. AAAAUGH! Just spent 20 minutes getting the photo of what Scale Trains bought to download. Interesting, the 2-8-0 is not listed. Hmmm. Lost tooling?? Oh, and my old ISP stopped supporting dial-up--no money in it, they said--and my new ISP works OK, but disconnects my phone every 20 minutes, and they don't know why they are doing that.

The 2-8-0 tooling is not lost.  It falls under the heading of "not produced."

Rusty

I think it is going to be a tough road getting someone to invest in MTH O Gauge line.  I recently wrote to Exact Rail about adding O Gauge to their line of detail parts, etc. and they answered my email explaining:

"Hi John, O scale was originally part of our company's initial market study over ten years ago, but since HO scale accounts for around 70% of the hobby, and N scale another 20%, and all other scales including O wrapped up into the final 10%, we couldn't justify the costs of tooling up molds for such a massive size in such intricate detail as our products are designed to have. That may change in the future but at this time it is not on our radar."

John

@Former Member posted:

Roberto, That's great, but I didn't mention the Belly Hoppers as something I WANTED, but as tooling that was just in use, and should be ready for reuse without any work. And as an item that there apparently is an immediate need. This would give them an immediate "toe in the water" with little work on their part. A chance to show a real desire to "be a player." We can get around to, "Gee, I wish they'd make. . . ." later (Like, I would REALLY LIKE an SP GS-4)--MUCH later!! Let's not scare them off right away! They still have to come up with a brand name, packaging, etc. etc. . . .

I meant the same too! As far as to writing to Scale Trains! Mainly as to support their decision! And the rest was meant for the Forum! As far as wish list I would love to get a TTX 89 ft TOFC made by any manufacturer including brass! Lionel /AF is already selling $550 dollar locomotives! But still selling their 50!year old boxcars! So it’s good to see MTH S scale survive!