What’s up with the Industrial Rail line from Atlas O?

I emailed Atlas about a month ago asking about the Industrial Rail roadbed track. I think it's the best looking roadbed system in O but has not been expanded. I asked when the O36 turnouts would be available. They were announced about 4 years ago I believe. I got a nice reply that they were having issues with the manufacturer and that they hoped to get whatever issues resolved as quickly as possible but no time frame was offered. Did not ask about othr IR items. Mack

Yes, interesting times we live in.  I've heard in other industries where companies have orders for finished product but can't get anyone to make and assemble them fast enough if at all! 

Today Atlas O announced new Industrial Rail Tank Cars.

 

 

http://www.atlaso.com/IR/irtankcar3.htm

 

 

Andrew

with all the things happening at atlas

I wish they would make a self-contained non-de-railer.

I know about their non-de-railer add on. 

just wishing here.

4 years is too long to wait. Where are the switches Jerry?

By sheer coincidence, I went to their site yesterday to see what was added in order to beef up the consists of the contemporary equipment I have and the recent tank cars are really colorful and affordable. I am thankful for an alternative to $80.00 cars that are not embarrassing to look at. Between Williams and Industrial Rail, ( thank heavens) we still have alternatives to budget busting offerings from the major players. If I hadn't used tubular track, I would have used the Industrial Rail track as I have to agree, it is the best looking track on the market. My fear is that this product line will go the way of K-Line as it seems underexposed and a "hidden gem".

 

Industrial Rail is like a cat with 9 lives. I started carrying them in our shop in 1998 They were proprietary to United Model Distributors. Quality products at reasonable prices and excellent graphics they were good sellers. After UMD went bankrupt the line was taken over by Great Lakes Distributors, but it seems their only interest was to sell off UMD’s remaining stock. Atlas purchased the line a few years later and made many improvements and added new tooling. In recent years, three-rail O gauge moved toward scale-sized equipment, but I think there is still a bright future for traditional sized O gauge. After all, Bachmann and Atlas made large investments in it.

Because I do some MKT passenger stuff, the yellow express box is great.  I have it on a siding near the passenger station when I run my TX SP or M&E trains!

I probably have 35-40 Industrial rail cars.  They are a well kept secret, I've bought them for $10 or less on eBay, many of them brand new in the boxes.  I hope they keep they keep producing them, it allows me to have a large variety of rolling stock at bargain basement prices.

I noticed something the other day. I have Industrial Rail and MTH Rugged Rails and the trucks look almost identical.. hmmm

That would be my guess, although I don't have any real information about their plans one way or the other.

 

As I've noted before, this is a time of change in the hobby, so nothing really surprises me all that much.  If you take a top-to-bottom look at the various things going on in the industry, the trends become fairly evident.

 

Again, just guesswork on my part as one who monitors this stuff on pretty much a daily basis. 

A combonation of a number of things. Many of us have more than enough 'traditional' size rolling stock. And after I bought a number of scale engines I no longer buy anything but scale stock.

IR by UMD was Fantastic! I worked part time at a hobby shop during that era and was allowed to order them at cost which was around $10......a deal for sure.

 

So a shift in buying, both scale and overall cutting back, and Atlas' lack of attention for whatever reason and a big increase in cost comparatively  may be the 'what'.....

Looking at this, I thought of recent discussion about the absence of LionMaster engines, and Lionel's explanation that the current cost structure is creating pricing problems, because it now costs almost as much to make a LionMaster engine as a similar scale version.

 

I wonder if the same issue, at least to some extent, is going on with production of traditional size rolling stock these days.

The Industrial Rail Box Cars are coming soon. Look on the Shipping schedule.

 

I bought the small number of IR cars I have at Retail Price at Riders Hobby Shop. 

 

Andrew 

At this Spring York I spoke with one of the reps and was told they had a hard time finding new contract manufactures. He said they solved that problem and new items should be coming down the pipeline soon.
I have been waiting for the Trainman L&HR RS-3 for at least 2 years

Yes.....The basic cost of manufacturing in China is not going to vary greatly between a IR box car and a Trainman level car.  So I'd think there is less incentive to spend development cash on anything new in a basic line over a higher level unit that retails for much more.

 

A few years ago I brought up cost vs profit of any item manufactured in China. Why one item, die cast model cars, sell for $10 but a box car with very similar raw materials needs to sell for $35.....volume can be the only answer. It may be the volume is even lower today then before.