The idea that the manufacturer of a toy train should in any way be some kind of secret pegs my BS meter. So much for pride in the product.
Another casualty of the "superior global economy."
palallin posted:The idea that the manufacturer of a toy train should in any way be some kind of secret pegs my BS meter. So much for pride in the product.
Another casualty of the "superior global economy."
I like your eloquence.
OK, OK I will tell you guys the real story who makes Menards freight cars and soon to make passenger cars as Marty requested. All the workers are here on Maui. I found them in a secret valley living in a small cave with nothing to do. They are called Menehunes. They are tiny people that only come out at night and that's how I met them, on a full moon night. They asked for a job in their little tiny voices so I gave them one.
It was not easy at first because they had never seen a railroad before but they soon learned how to work a 3-D printer and soon had hundreds of cars they would leave at my front door every morning before the sun came up. They are wonderful little people and work long happy hours singing and dancing as they work. If you have a hard time believing this just ask Allan Miller. He lived on Hawaii for years and will tell you about the Menehunes. Don
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Scale Rail I absolutely believe you! I also heard these little people worship Cabinet Bob as the Great Kahuna! LOL
palallin posted:The idea that the manufacturer of a toy train should in any way be some kind of secret pegs my BS meter. So much for pride in the product.
Another casualty of the "superior global economy."
Generally it isn't. For example, Sears branded appliances were made by people like White Westinghouse and Whirlpool and Amana, and it wasn't exactly a big secret. Sometimes a 'brand' manufacturer will do contract work for cheaper brands, but will ask that the cheaper brand not make that known, with the fear that if it was known people would assume the cheaper manufacturer was the same item (and sometimes, that actually is true....). In the beer world G. Heilman, who produced all these cheap beers (basically buy the name of a good beer, like Canadian Labatts, and produce a generic, crappy beer, they produce illustrious brands like Old Milwaukee, and some of the other cheap brands), did contract work for beers like Sam Adams, and it was kept a kind of secret because they were afraid people would assume the beer was being made to Heilman's (crappy) standards (as soon as they could, Sam Adams bought other breweries so they could produce it themselves, contract brewing it did hurt their image).
Other than that, the only time who produces something for someone is a secret is when the production is very unique, where knowing where it was produced would give competitors an advantage, for example if a certain village in some place has a lot of master craftsmen doing fine castings, then knowing a widget was produced there that required a lot of those castings would allow competitors to horn in......but that wouldn't apply to toy train manufacturing, especially not the kind of things Menards is producing, nothing really that unique about producing those, almost any factory set up with the various injection moulding and tools and dies and such can do it. Usually if a factory is that specialized, they would have in their contract with the person hiring them an agreement not to work for competing firms. The fact that the firm that just shut down (the one Atlas and other companies used) wasn't unique says it isn't specialized. If companies don't talk about who they get to manufacture their items, mostly that is because in this world of outsourced production they assume no one really cares, and they also may not to remind people it was outsourced either, a company might say "proudly made by old world craftsmen in Germany", they won't say "Proudly made by outsourced labor in China".
Fredstrains posted:Fredstrains posted:I don't know who makes there Products or Care BUT:
One word of Caution on there 14 1/2 in. Flatcars. I recently ordered their Long Flatcar (14 1/2 in.) w/ U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter. The first one I received, two of the wheels on one truck were out of round, and it "Wobbled" as it was run. In addition, the Car was not completely Flat. The ends slanted down. I sent it back for a replacement, which I received very promptly. Upon inspection it was worse than the First one. It "Wobbled" worse and was warped at both ends. I think there problem is a Long Deck on a "Plastic" frame doesn't cut it!!! I own their Rocket on that same Car and it is fine! Also I have one of their Long Flatcars with a Halftrack on it, and no problem. Don't know what s going on. I have returned the second car, but have not received a replacement yet. Anyone else have a problem with this 14 1/2 in. car ???
Fredstrains
Comments..... Has anyone else had this problem? My Third replacement is on it's way!! Will let you know how I make out !!!
Fredstrains
Fred: I too had this problem when they first came out. What I did was take out the two small screws on each end and sand off the flange that went in the flange hole. you can see it when you take the deck off. It was just a little off and made the car body bend in the way you talked about. just takes a minute to fix and the flat car is nice and straight again.. Bob
My Mortons Salt hoppers came in shipper boxes marked "Made In Viet Nam."
Possibly reuse of boxes , but I suspect Viet Nam labor is now cheaper than In China.
Nairb Rekab posted:Methinks only two were made, you will be getting your first cat back!
Cat?????????????????
