Tomorrow Night Don't Forget!

I'll be there! 👍

Awesome!

I really want to see this, but since I work nights here in the southwest, the timing prevents that. Bummer! Or as my kids say, poggers!

@Darrell posted:

I really want to see this, but since I work nights here in the southwest, the timing prevents that. Bummer! Or as my kids say, poggers!

Think you may be able to watch it later on TrainWorlld's youtube channel ?

I'm hoping!

Yes we will have a replay on TrainWorld TV

Landsteiner and madockwando haven't slept in days due to the anticipation

@RickO posted:

Landsteiner and madockwando haven't slept in days due to the anticipation

Or eaten anything for that matter…..😉

Pat

Great show, Ken Jr.  Thanks for making that happen!

Good show!

Thanks to Mike and the Ken’s from Trainworld..

I noted Mike made two quick remarks about wanting to do some tinplate in the future.. I hope to hear more about this, or to see an email announcing some new tinplate production.

Missed part of it. What I saw was great. Hopefully it will be up on the TW YouTube channel.

It was great as a "straight from the horse's mouth" deal.  A lot of good info given, and there are some lessons to be learned from it for all of us. 

So I just got done. What did I miss?? I have to catch up. So great to see stuff still coming out.

BTW, what happened to my 1 gauge UP SD70ACe order from like 2 years ago?

Good thing I build my own or the power pool would have been short......

I missed the first 15 minutes but it was good to see his ideas and thoughts concerning the hobby. Being that I missed the beginning, is Mike still running the company? Or, is he retired? I see a lot of neat products being produced by MTH, one is his Army cars with tanks, humbees, etc. Happy Railroading Everyone

I'm watching it now...

better sounds with PS3 coming!

@AGHRMatt posted:

Missed part of it. What I saw was great. Hopefully it will be up on the TW YouTube channel.

It is here:

TrainWorld TV (Youtube) Smash That Bell Icon!  as of 1900

Very well done.  Thanks to Ken for doing this!

Wow, what a great interview!

Mike was transparent about the inner workings of the hobby past and present. It’s amazing how the group manages to overcome the obstacles with other ways in continuing to produce product in these troubled times. It could be a domino effect with many workers and sub companies all trying to keep jobs as well. Kai-Zen 5S and lean is the only way to stay afloat these days.

MTH parts, wow! Never thought I could ever get some of the small detail items. Common parts that weren’t on the list, I eventually received by request. Fast shipping as well! Thanks to Mark & Mike.

Other than golfing, I too find my life paralleling many of Mikes retirement statements between Tn. & Fla. I can relate with work around the house, wife, and grandkids. I too was in the electronics industry over 45 years, I can appreciate his knowledge.

New offerings weekly, running over the competition, brilliant idea! Lots of colorful and fantasy items mentioned, I get it, it sells. I am enjoying the old-time graphics on the pup trailers like Sears and a few others along with diesel roads never offered in the past. Possibly a hint of newer freight car offerings in the future too.

A must-see video for any model railroader and a big thanks to the staff at T.W. Also looking forward to seeing the actual new RMT “O” car designs.

S.

I got through about half of it and had to pause to start the day.  But some very interesting takeaways thus far:

The biggest and most obvious is that MTH isn't going anywhere.  Mike has slimmed down his corporate footprint and the associated overhead and is running what I would call a "just in time" kind of operation.  Very similar to where Lionel is with the BTO process.

There was lots of discussion of his desire to go back to China to visit with the factories personally.  He did not say it explicitly, but my guess is that this is one reason why there has been no mention or rumors of MTH doing anything with new tooling, and that they are hewing to a conservative product approach.  Mike made it clear he is a hands-on type of guy and wants to check stuff himself.  

DCS is going to receive a lot of upgrades.  Some of the discussion was covered here a while back when the MTH person from Michigan - I forget his name - wen through some things that were in store.  This is real from what Mike explained.  Also, there are a number of changes in the works that will permit you to upgrade locomotive sound files and Wifi modules without need for using the Luci interface and what not - you would do it directly from the app to the locomotive.  

The supply chain problems right now are significant, and it was interesting to hear some real world examples about how it impacts MTH.  For instance, the chip that runs the whistle steam went from 70 cents to $10, but they had to eat it because the product was already in production.

The z4000 being made will be the last one for 3 or 4 years.  It requires a complete redesign due to the hardware and the chips.

Those are the highlights I can recall for those who haven't been able to listen.  Hoping that there is more information in the second half of the presentation.  

Finally, thank you to Trainworld for putting this together.  Much appreciated.  

Ken Jr and Sr. Thanks ! great interview and wonderful insights on our hobby. Guys thanks for the post to your YouTube Channel for those of us that missed the live showing. So happy to see and hear that MTH is still going strong. Luckily my LHS, Berwyn Toys and Trains, stocks full line of MTH and has great custom runs.

Tom

@Cheap&NothingWasted posted:

It was great as a "straight from the horse's mouth" deal.  A lot of good info given, and there are some lessons to be learned from it for all of us.

1) Never sell tooling in a world where tooling is so expensive.

@rplst8 posted:

1) Never sell tooling in a world where tooling is so expensive.

And the lesson that follows from that, since it is so expensive, particularly for scale steam engines, if the tooling doesn't already exist, your chances of seeing one made are slim to none.

@Cheap&NothingWasted posted:

And the lesson that follows from that, since it is so expensive, particularly for scale steam engines, if the tooling doesn't already exist, your chances of seeing one made are slim to none.

3rd Rail does it all the time, and now Lionel does with brass hybrids.

It’s one thing to charge $2000 for a wholly new model of a prototype. It’s quite another to charge that for something that’s been done ad nauseam for the last 20 years but blows smoke out a new hole.

SIRT, yes, it was great news because Mike Wolf has added so much to our hobby. I give him credit for waking up the sleeping giant, Lionel, with his many innovations. Competition breeds good business, like Toyota and Honda, both competing for our monies. I missed part of the interview so I’ll rewatch it soon. We are definitely in a vastly changing market and it’s a lot of fun to see what’s next for Us model railroaders to enjoy. I remember Peter Bianco with train world introducing Williams way back in the 1970’s (he was a great ambassador of this hobby) and it good to see the Family business lives on, bigger and better. I’m proud of his sons, and they are a great place to buy trains, friendly, knowledgeable folks. Happy Railroading Everyone

The issues with producing more Z4000 transformers sounds like a huge problem - having a power source is kinda important for running electric trains.  Since so many folks now use digital control, a lot of the controls on the Z4000 seem unnecessary.  Seems like an opportunity for someone to step in and build a simple power supply with a good circuit breaker.

I appreciate what Mike did to revolutionize the hobby, and he deserves to live the rest of his life on his own terms.  Unfortunately, his clumsy semi-exit has made life difficult for his employees, dealers, and customers.  That, along with producing some tasteless politically-themed items, has tarnished his legacy.

@Mallard4468 posted:

  Seems like an opportunity for someone to step in and build a simple power supply with a good circuit breaker.

Doesn't get much better than this one:

I thought it was a great interview!

I'm especially excited that the MTH high end steam is being made in Korea.  After seeing the Milwaukee Pacific I just picked up from Berwyn's, I can assure you that we'll see quality out of Korea.

@Mallard4468 posted:

The issues with producing more Z4000 transformers sounds like a huge problem - having a power source is kinda important for running electric trains.  Since so many folks now use digital control, a lot of the controls on the Z4000 seem unnecessary.  Seems like an opportunity for someone to step in and build a simple power supply with a good circuit breaker.

I appreciate what Mike did to revolutionize the hobby, and he deserves to live the rest of his life on his own terms.  Unfortunately, his clumsy semi-exit has made life difficult for his employees, dealers, and customers.  That, along with producing some tasteless politically-themed items, has tarnished his legacy.

I agree with you completely. The exit was bizarre. I guess when you ARE the company and there is not line-of-succession, it can happen that way.
i thought that Mike was retiring, period. Now I see that he has kept at least his toes in the water and apparently up to his knees, as well. As is his right, of course.

I also noted at least one political dig from him last evening against the present administration and I truly wish he would keep politics out of model railroading. It is one of the few escapes from toxic politics that we have left these days. He just can’t help himself there, I guess.
Oh, well, glad TW did the video; They are a class outfit and a credit to the hobby.

@H1000 posted:

Doesn't get much better than this one:

Yup. All my stuff is command, so no need for throttle handles or a transformer with them (Z4000, ZW-L). I run a PH180 through my TIU and have no issue with DCS or TMCC locomotives.

@Ray Lombardo posted:

You know, it's funny, there are people on this forum who will always take an adversarial approach to either Lionel or MTH, depending upon the person's preferred brand.  But, after listening to about half the interview, where Mike explained various challenges associated with things like the supply chain, redesigning hardware due to electronic obsolescence, the need to get to China to be "hands on", etc. as a hobbyist, I have a different and frankly more sympathetic view of the challenges that Lionel is facing with getting reliable factories there, the criticisms with moving away from the handheld with the Cab 3 app, etc.  

Complaining about people complaining is the worst kind of post.

This is a tough business and a challenging clientele, and I for one am very glad we have competition and firms that are delivering terrific products relative to what was available in the 1980s and early 1990s

A tough business is coal mining. Or deep sea fishing. If there wasn't money to be made people would do other things.

Guys...keep the comments about politics out of this discussion.  The next reference to politics will get this thread closed along with the commenter's forum membership closed as well.  We are sick and tired of politics entering our daily lives much less our hobby.

@H1000 posted:

Doesn't get much better than this one:

You're right, as long as they're available.  Looks like they're available now, but for how long?

@Mallard4468 posted:

You're right, as long as they're available.  Looks like they're available now, but for how long?

Should be around for a long while. Lionel just got done doing a redesign to meet updated UL regulations and the updated units have shipped. Prices on eBay aren't outrageous and many dealers have a good supply.

"Landsteiner and madockwando haven't slept in days due to the anticipation"

Nice that I'm on your mind and that you care about me so much.  Pretty sure Madockawando is appreciative of the caring too.   But to paraphrase Mark Twain, "reports of my caring one way or the other have been greatly exaggerated."  . I'm not buying much in the way of trains, much less transformers or command control equipment at this stage of life.

Watched the interview, thought it was interesting and useful.  But with four employees,  total,  in three companies, it's going to be more like 3rd Rail/Sunset or Lucy's Lemonade Stand than like the old MTH.  C'est la vie.   No one can predict the future, not even Mike Wolf.  It will be interesting to see what actually transpires.

Meanwhile, I've got about four or five pieces of custom run MTH rolling stock on order from various dealers.  And a cab-1L .  And I'm sleeping just fine for a humanoid my age.

One can only imagine the scope of what Mike discovered when it came time to auction off production samples from their warehouse...I was able to get in on a couple of them, and an example is this unpainted Premier caboose, which came in a wholly unassembled condition, and upon laying out the parts, gained a new appreciation of the labor that goes into assembling even the 'budget' product. Can you imagine the size of the task at hand before all this stuff was sent off to Cabin Fever?

---PCJ

@rplst8 posted:

3rd Rail does it all the time, and now Lionel does with brass hybrids.

It’s one thing to charge $2000 for a wholly new model of a prototype. It’s quite another to charge that for something that’s been done ad nauseam for the last 20 years but blows smoke out a new hole.

Are they? The lastest Im hearing from Mr.Mann is brass steam is too expensive to make. 3rd rails target is 75-100 units for $3500.00 ea street price. At that price yhe mfg. Has to have a model proven to sell. For all intensive purposes, new models not as popular that cant command a $3500.00 price tag are dead at the gate.

There's been a lot talk about DCS but so far I see nothing.  Ill believe it when I see it.

1. @prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Are they? The lastest Im hearing from Mr.Mann is brass steam is too expensive to make. 3rd rails target is 75-100 units for $3500.00 ea street price. At that price yhe mfg. Has to have a model proven to sell. For all intensive purposes, new models not as popular that cant command a $3500.00 price tag are dead at the gate.

I find it amazing that on a planet with 8,000,000,000 people, we can’t find 2-300 interested in a wholly new steam locomotive never done in O gauge before for around $2k. Especially when about 20 years ago Mike Wolf was able to do like 20 models never before done in O gauge, in die cast.

I’m not saying Scott is wrong, I’m not saying you’re wrong either. I just find it amazing that things have changed to the extent where it can’t be done.