0 Line Reproductions - Who Are They?

O line was formed after the demise of k-line to get rid of excess k-line inventory. I havent seen any new O-Line products. Supposedly kader owns the kline tooling and WBB has brought back the RS3 and superstreets so far.

Heartland Hobby Wholesale.

RMT may have new Kline type track

In between K-Line and O-Line Reproductions, there was RMT (Ready Made Trains). To my knowledge, all RMT packaging was replaced with packaging labeled "O-Line Reproductions," but the products are the same. I bought some RMT switches a few years ago, had to return them, and the replacements came to me in O-Line Reproductions boxes.

The O-31 switches are still somewhat readily available on ebay, but the supply of O-72 switches is dwindling. They are fantastic switches, and I'd love to see someone start producing them again.

I purchased  several boxes of supersnap 30" and 40" sections at a good price from RMT years ago and began the process of replacing my tubular track as I liked the look of supersnap track. Dealers like Trainz sold 31" switch track at a pretty reasonable price and I used them on my 9' by 12' layout. Curved track were harder to find and I couldn't find 054 ones so I settled for 042. Every once in a while I do see 072 curves and 072 switches. 031 curves are still available.

There is something called shadow rail with the same darkened center rail but they are attached with track pins. I did hear that some Chinese company has had a large inventory of K-Line stuff and RMT gets a shipment now and then. EBay sells supersnap but prices are rising and when you add ridiculous shipping costs there are no bargains.

Are there corporate headquarters for 0-Line and perhaps they can come forward with what they actually do and what their future plans are. I am still in the market for 042 and 054 supersnap curves so anyone out there have some?

John

I called o-line a few years ago when they were selling o72 switches on eBay for ! $35 !   I bought at least 10 of them. All of that inventory has dried up.

Recently there was the newer style k-line o42 switches on ebay for again $35. All brand new. I bought 6 of those.  Do some research, o42 k-line switches were also sold in orange boxes with a 6-xxxx part number. You just have to watch. Occasional deals are out there.

I did an ebay search for O-line Reproductions. Came up with 2 pages of re-branded K-line accessories, trains, people and track

Heartland Hobby Wholesale purchased the unpurchased orders from an RMT run when RMT "went out of business??" for awhile, they were never in the business of making product as they are a warehouse distributor.  O-Line Reproductions are identical to late K-Line.

ACDX Rob has it right. Hartland Hobby Wholesale is a distributor of model train products.

And it wasn't excess K-Line inventory but rather RMT products, though they were made from K-Line tooling. If you look at the OLR rebranded products, in particular the rolling stock and locomotives (K-Line never made a short F-3 or short GP diesel), you'll realize the paint schemes had been cataloged by RMT and not cataloged by K-Line, save for an exception or two, like the Penn Central Flexi-Flow hopper (which RMT changed the road number on). Obviously the track is exactly the same.

After the K-Line bankruptcy and the $3.8 million dollar debt K-Line left Sanda Kan holding, the rules changed where all products had to be paid for in full before shipping to the US. Actually before the end of the original K-Line company, K-Line could no longer get new products shipped to them without them being paid in full. Which is why some of the last cataloged K-Line products are the hardest to find: The ones actually made were made in very small quantities.

For clarification to those who don't know, Sanda Kan was at one time the largest single factory complex in China where nearly all the model trains sold by anyone were made, save for very high end models made in South Korea. Sanda Kan was eventually sold to Kader Industries who owns Bachmann. Some years ago, Kader dropped some 60 model train companies as customers, who were left scrambling to find new manufacturing vendors. A small handful remained with Kader including Aristo Craft Now out of business), which at that time, RMT was affiliated with, so Kader continued to manufacture the RMT products, most of which had previously been K-Line products, or made from K-Line products (The BEEF F-3 engine and short passenger cars were not from new tooling, but from the K-Line molds and then the shells were physically cut shorter).

I don't wish to knock RMT, but obviously they had products made that they were unable to pay for, just incase any one thinks starting a model train company and having products made for you isn't all that difficult. You need to have products to sell in order to make money. And those products need to sell in a timely fashion, not sitting in inventory somewhere. For the 60 some companies dropped by Kader, this was a hard learned lesson, which they probably already knew.

Brian, I am glad you provided the correct story!

That O-Line was created to sell off a large train product orders destined for RMT, which RMT did not have the money to pay for.  After this stuff was sold, no more "O Line" inventory was made or sold.

@prrhorseshoecurve posted:

O line was formed after the demise of k-line to get rid of excess k-line inventory.  I haven't seen any new O-Line products.  Supposedly Kader owns K-Line tooling.  WBB has brought back the RS3 and SuperStreets so far.

Sorry Horseshoe Curve.... O line was formed to sell unpurchased RMT products.   See above.

Note that RMT is still selling trains. You can check availability on their website.