If lionel or MTH or maybe even menards offered locomotive kits.Would you get one?

Yes as it would be fun and may even customize it a little .

Not going to happen. It's one way for a manufacturer to make a small fortune from a large one.

Stevenson offers kits for locos now. An SP 0-6-0 goes for something like $600 and is not for a beginner After laying out that kind of money, what would be the advantage over buying a nice R-T-R loco? (I have a friend who does buy loco kits, but his entire version of the hobby is building models).
There are kits offered from time to time on Ebay, if you really must try one.
As for rolling stock, where is Intermountain? Or Red Caboose? Once again, there are rolling stock kits galore offered on Ebay.
There  might be a limited market for a basic loco (USRA, say) that could be modified readily for a particular railroad, but I believe it would need to be offered to the vanishingly small market that doesn't insist on diecast! or brass!

No way.

Pat

NO!

If the price was right, for sure. My guess is the cost of labor to assemble the engines is minimal so I doubt they could sell a kit for significantly less than an assembled engine. 

Pete

Modular components so you could "roll-your-own" version of engines previously not offered? Sure, why not. Kit version of engines produced ad nauseum for the last six decades, nope.

BTW you can still buy locomotive kits.

Stevenson Preservation NYC 0-6-0.

Pete

Eons ago Wiliams had GG1 kits. 

No 

Naahhhh, I llack the skills and interest. 

Layout and structure construction are my favorite parts of the hobby but I don't have room to keep building more and bigger layouts. Building engines and cars from kits would be a good activity for me, so I would try it.

MELGAR

Kits would be interesting......may i offer an low impact alternate...interchangeable engine shells....one day she is a Lackawanny, next day C B & Q...

NO!

Dave

If the price is right and I can pick and choose which features and parts I can buy for it, then yes, I'm all in. If it is just to save a few bucks to end up with the same thing I would get off the shelf at train store, then no.

I would like a selection of small conventional engines, of prototypes from around the country, where the electronics were in a kit that could be installed, IF WANTED, and was repairable and maintainable, the electronics kit made here and readily available. They do not have to be in kit form. We are offered reruns of reruns of the biggest, largest, and hugest, and little that can navigate a 4x8.  I am not interested in buying Triplexes that can turn into door stops with unrepairable, by owner, electronics.  And THAT is how l am voting my dollars 

rex desilets posted:

Not going to happen. It's one way for a manufacturer to make a small fortune from a large one.

Stevenson offers kits for locos now. An SP 0-6-0 goes for something like $600 and is not for a beginner After laying out that kind of money, what would be the advantage over buying a nice R-T-R loco? (I have a friend who does buy loco kits, but his entire version of the hobby is building models).
There are kits offered from time to time on Ebay, if you really must try one.
As for rolling stock, where is Intermountain? Or Red Caboose? Once again, there are rolling stock kits galore offered on Ebay.
There  might be a limited market for a basic loco (USRA, say) that could be modified readily for a particular railroad, but I believe it would need to be offered to the vanishingly small market that doesn't insist on diecast! or brass!

I like diecast but I will not mess with brass.Brass is not for me.

Plenty of kits out there for those of us who build stuff.  Problem is, a really nice 70 year old kit is $300; a new one of equivalent quality would be $3000.

Stevenson kits are a bargain in the sense that he is rolling them out because he loves the hobby and probably doesn't need to make a living doing it.

If the price is right yes. But you will need some way of quartering the drivers.

No.....what a bad idea.....

Norton posted:

If the price was right, for sure. My guess is the cost of labor to assemble the engines is minimal so I doubt they could sell a kit for significantly less than an assembled engine. 

Pete

This is why we can buy a fully assembled, painted, and detailed structure for only a small premium above the cost of a kit.  The people who provide this labor must be very fast, in addition to being low-paid.

Shipping from overseas would probably cost the same for a kit as for a finished locomotive.

I don't see it happening at a price point that will generate sufficient demand.

Mallard4468 posted:

 

This is why we can buy a fully assembled, painted, and detailed structure for only a small premium above the cost of a kit.  The people who provide this labor must be very fast, in addition to being low-paid.

 

That was brought home to me when I bought a Woodland Scenics structure kit. Most all of my HO structures and rolling stock are kit built as are a lot of my O scale but when I opened this kit and realized how many hours it was going to take to paint all of pieces I set it aside and got a completed structure.

I still would and have bought engine kits of prototypes never offered in 3 rail though. See above.

Pete

As much as I enjoy kit- and scratch- building, unless the innards on diesels were akin to Williams, I'd have to pass. I've taken apart certain Atlas and Lionel diesels for repair. They are a nightmare to reassemble, especially trying to get all the wiring stuffed back in so that the shell fits properly. Even with my thin fingers, I can't imagine fitting the small LED classification and headlights in the shell would be "fun." Plus, as others have said, the cost savings would probably be minimal. 

Terry

No

As I have been saying for many years now, if the kit was along the lines of the old AMT 3 in1 car kits, with plenty of parts to make different versions, I'm all in! 
Yet, there is still the old problem of them making the loco that I want to build, not something they just helter-skelter want to make.

No, not worth the effort.

Jim Berger posted:

No.....what a bad idea.....

Really?  To each his own, but c'mon...

I'm guessing you must not have been in this hobby back when almost everything came as a kit.

Of course, I'm talking "scale" models, not toy trains...

Mark in Oregon

Norton posted:

BTW you can still buy locomotive kits.

Stevenson Preservation NYC 0-6-0.

Pete

Nice.  And we've had others supply kits for engines that simply were not going to be available by any other means like Jan Lorenzen and Er Reutling.  I might posit that this is going to transition to 3D printing for everything except the drive mechanism parts to generate many of the engines that are otherwise unavailable. This is already happening in traction and trolleys where brass imports died years ago and very little else has become available.

Yes. I've always wanted a 700K (and FEET: the drivers on those were already quartered on the axles, and the axles dropped into slots on the frames). I run conventional, and a simple Dallee e-unit would be acceptable to me. 

But I don't see that happening. The cost of packing all the parts of such a kit would negate any savings on factory assembly.

No. Let’s get real. Mantua, Bowser, MDC and others offered kits in HO scale, by far the biggest scale train market, decades ago. The interest didn’t support the product.

The handful of people who will answer “yes” to this query wouldn’t be enough to induce any of the largest manufacturers to create a separate product line.

So, for those who want to build one, look to the boutique manufacturers or kits of the past. 

artyoung posted:

Yes. I've always wanted a 700K (and FEET: the drivers on those were already quartered on the axles, and the axles dropped into slots on the frames) 

@artyoung sorry but you're mistaken.  The 700K chassis was pre-assembled, with its wheels and axles pressed on at the factory (as has been every 700-series Hudson since.)

I don't have the tools for quartering drivers, or soldering together a brass superstructure.  But painting, screwdriver assembly, and a little bit of electrical soldering would be just fine.  I'm sure I could do a better job than the folks in China, even if it would take me ten times as long.  Of course I have a vested interest in getting it right, because I have to live with the results!  Maybe a solution to some of the recent quality control problems too!

IMO Menards should sell a kit of the K-Line (Marx-derived) steam loco, which does have pre-quartered axles that drop into slots in the frame.  BUT... they should do a little extra engineering, and fit a flywheel this time!  I've already figured out a way to fit the flywheel without a complete redesign.  So if you're listening Menards, hit me up!!

Strummer posted:

Jim Berger posted:

No.....what a bad idea.....

Really?  To each his own, but c'mon...

I'm guessing you must not have been in this hobby back when almost everything came as a kit.

Of course, I'm talking "scale" models, not toy trains...

Mark in Oregon

 

Yes..... "really"....you would have to be 95 years old when everything was in kit form....

No, they couldn't make them cheap enough to make much difference for buyers. I'm happy with MTH, Lionel, Atlas and Sunset. I've got enough building kits to keep me bizzy for a long, long time. I enjoy building them but wouldn't want to build an engine and think of all the new tools you would need. A company couldn't back them as they didn't build them. Think of the mess a Lionel or others would get into with questions, parts, angry people saying "you said this was an easy kit to build and I can't build it so I want my money back." Don

Jim Berger posted:

No.....what a bad idea.....

It may not be your idea, but it is not a bad idea, from a model railroader's point of view. So, yes, I would be in the market - I make my own "kits" anyway, by means of scratch bashing. I see many locos and cars as just a collection of parts (or a starting point) anyway, to be used to get (make) what I really want.

As a business model though, considering the general skill level (you know, skills are learned, not inherited) and mechanical curiosity of the typical American (approaching zip), well, kits are a lost cause, especially if you have to "do some figgerin' ".

This is a nation that can't even use a clutch pedal anymore.

No, as I have neither the time nor patience, nor do I possess the necessary skills, plus I am not a brass fan.

For an O gauge kit locomotive to have a chance of success nowadays, it would have to be diecast, which would simplify the tools and skill required for assembly. I would buy a diecast kit but not brass. However, I don't think this is financially viable for companies like Lionel or MTH, and I don't expect it to happen.

MELGAR

yes!!! if the price was right....love to customize... 

No.  I have more than enough trouble taking apart and putting back together a ready to run engine to make changes such as installing Kadee couplers or a decoder.  I would not have the patience to assemble a kit even if it was free.  NH Joe

There's not even a topic to debate here, if what I've read here and elsewhere is true.

With the current Chinese production, it's not going to happen. They want to do all the assembly work there, as it is work for their hourly employees. Which would be the reason why the train companies have to order extras of a production run, to then disassemble stateside in order to obtain specific parts for that item. Even if the Chinese facilities cooperated, I doubt there would be any profit incentive for the train companies to pursue doing engine kits. It'd probably end up being more headache than it would be worth.

Though there are obviously some parts that are assembled and shipped out, like truck sets and brake wheels, as they are being used for the assembly of the American made Lionel cars, from "US and foreign made parts."

Not to mention, that even before this changed happened in China, the trend in the train industry overall was towards "ready to run." That's why buildings once offered as kits only (like Plasticville or some of the Lionel buildings), now also come painted and preassembled. Or why most figures also come pre-painted from the factory.

D500 posted:

As a business model though, considering the general skill level (you know, skills are learned, not inherited) and mechanical curiosity of the typical American (approaching zip), well, kits are a lost cause, especially if you have to "do some figgerin' ".

Yes, skills are learned and those that have them took the time to learn them. Those folks that keep stating they don't have the skills....well.....haven't.

This is a nation that can't even use a clutch pedal anymore.

Most have never seen or heard of a clutch pedal,   Sadly, it's far worse - this is a nation that will pay a plumber $160+ to put a flapper bulb into a toilet tank.