What to do after MTH closure

Go on living, what are you planning?  I have tons of MTH as well as Lionel, Williams, Weaver, 3rd Rail, etc. locomotives.  I'm sure most of my MTH stuff will be running years from now,

The world isn't ending, we survived the closing of K-Line, Weaver, etc., and I'm sure we'll survive the closing of MTH.

Richard, I have several MTH engines, a DCS system, Z4000, and numerous cars.  I plan on not changing anything.  Supposedly an employee group will be taking over the electronics portion of the business, so I am hoping when I have an electronics failure there will be parts available for me or a service technician to fix it.  If not, I'll probably convert the electronics to the Lionel TMCC compatible ERR electronics.  When something mechanical breaks, I'll see what is on the market at the time.  I think it is too early to make a major decision to dispose of any of my MTH investment that I wouldn't be doing anyway.

I have 3 PS2 that will probably fail. I'm intrigued with BlueRail. 2 of my PS2 are ABA with 2 powered units. With DCC sound; expensive, but something I think I can manage to do myself. If the new DCS company actually exists, then maybe I would do a PS3 upgrade. We'll see.

A friend of mine just renewed his MTH membership.I am puzzled.Why?Is there something going on behind closed doors with MTH?

I remain optimistic. Someone in the know with money could pick up the Premier items and RK engine line while networking with the new DCS group as well. There is still much more to offer the true O modelers in this hobby.

We just need a knowledgeable R.R. person with good marketing experience to carry the torch a few more years. Maybe a V.P. modeler with a layout as well.

The non-scale lower cost toy items can carry on with Menards, RMT and WBB Type companies.

With 3D printing, long term cost shouldn’t be an issue while allowing the pricing to be affordable to everyone concerning NEW offerings. The other two companies have driven themselves out of the true O marketplace on pricing.

I believe the election outcome will also help decide the future of O scale.

@Nycfan posted:

A friend of mine just renewed his MTH membership.I am puzzled.Why?Is there something going on behind closed doors with MTH?

Maybe he decided he wanted some of the 2020 club cars? While they have shipped earlier this summer, MTH may have some still to sell if people want them.

Agreed other than that, there is no remaining benefit that I can think of.  No more catalogs.  Unless they have PS3 upgrade kits available?  I think there used to be some level of club discount for those.

Or he just wanted an ID card for the final year...

As to the OP question, I intend to do the same thing I did with my Mercury automobile when Ford folded the Mercury brand.  Which is "nothing", until it became too challenging to continue repairing it as a daily use vehicle.

-Dave

@SIRT posted:

I believe the election outcome will also help decide the future of O scale.

HUH?

I hear that there are still MTH/Railking replacement train parts available at Brasseur Electric Trains.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

HUH?

Yes, for a buyer it will have an impact. 

Watching the Trainworld York show on Thursday if there is a second wind for MTH, Andy and Rich should play poker for a living and drop the train gig.  I hope there is but with little news from MTH I won't hold much hope.  It would be a shame if they wait too long and let some long time dealers close up shop and then make that "Big Announcement".  While it would be great news for the MTH folks and us, it will be lousy timing for some retailers.

Even without any real news I'm hoping for the best though.

That's a BIG concern of mine.

My one and only local source for great support, advice, supplies, and equipment is heavily invested in MTH.

#DixieUnionStation

@MartyE posted:

It would be a shame if they wait too long and let some long time dealers close up shop and then make that "Big Announcement".  While it would be great news for the MTH folks and us, it will be lousy timing for some retailers.

Even without any real news I'm hoping for the best though.

MTH won't be able to announce a deal (if there is one) until the deal is done.

One would think the "big announcement" would have already been made.

How many times has Lionel changed hands and the wasn't even really a big announcement, as much as just a change of faces.

@Oman posted:

MTH won't be able to announce a deal (if there is one) until the deal is done.

Yep and that could be unfortunate.

Honestly, I'll be drop-dead amazed if there a deal this late in the game.  If there was a deal to be had, it would have been done by now.  Announcing the closure and selling off all the stuff in the warehouse in a monster auction isn't the moves I'd expect if there was a continuation in the wind.

Obviously, I'd love to be proven wrong, it sucks that MTH will be going away, but I have to face facts.

@1Irishrover posted:

Hello group,

I'm curious what other MTH'ers are planning to do without MTH no longer in the market?

Looking for thoughts, advice, and encouragement in this journey.

Thank you all in advance,

Richard

My two cents;

Enjoy what you have, I'm an operator and I am grateful for the variety of trains MTH/ Railking has introduced into the hobby.

As far as I'm concerned, Im going to run em and enjoy them until they dont run anymore. Then I'll deal with it at that point, life's too short to worry about stuff i have no control over.

Lionel, Atlas 0, and Williams by Bachmann are still around, and who knows who else may come around later.

I am NOT amazed that MTH is selling off most of the holdings in the showroom and warehouse. The majority is PS1 or PS2 and car/building proto types or items no longer in production. When you sell a large company why would you keep dead product? A new company will have no use for it and the old company can sell or auction, as is the case now, and make some money off of it. The real funny part is watching the auction and seeing people bid higher that what the item originally sold for. But the extreme fun is watching them do this and the item is still available. I was bidding on a car, decided to check retail on MTH web site, found 2 dealers who had it. Bought it for less than retail with shipping. Final  price at auction was $20 over retail and they still had to add sales tax and shipping DUH!

As for the MTH membership, Yep I did it as I always do. Premier membership and RailKing car extra. Why? Cause I wanted to and wanted the items. My choice.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Honestly, I'll be drop-dead amazed if there a deal this late in the game.  If there was a deal to be had, it would have been done by now.  Announcing the closure and selling off all the stuff in the warehouse in a monster auction isn't the moves I'd expect if there was a continuation in the wind.

Obviously, I'd love to be proven wrong, it sucks that MTH will be going away, but I have to face facts.

I’ve worked for several Major companies through my 44 year career. VP’s don’t tell you anything. When someone is axed, you don’t know until days later when they don’t show up.

So maybe someone can tell us where all the tooling, jigs, molds and production equipment is going?  Certainly not on ebay where Perrystoyexchange has been selling their odd ball items for MTH for years. 

Some company must be interested in the tooling. Maybe not the tooling in China, since it can't be moved out of China, but I believe premier steam tooling is in Korea.