What will happen to RMT?

What a shame!

I used to enjoy going to Polk's Hobby Shop in Manhattan back when it was a six story hobby shop, but that was years ago. The last time I was there, the store had been consolidated down to one floor, which may have been in the basement (its been quite a while).

 

It was earlier this year that I purchased my first RMT/Aristocraft trains. While certainly not scale, I thought they were well made, and an excellent value. 

I hope the RMT line will continue.

Sad but not surprising.

I suppose we'll have to wait to hear from Walter about that.

 

I know some here will say "who cares...that's just Large Scale," but those folks need to wake up, smell the roses, and take a good look at the larger picture.

The Large Scale forums should be interesting this week.

Just received the email from Aristo-Craft early this morning.  Anytime a legit business shuts down, it saddens me very much.  Whether or not we operate large scale trains, it does affect people, first the employees and then us as a viable outlet is now gone.  Personally, I don't have any large scale trains, but always liked the look of the items Scott and team had produced. 

 

Hopefully, Walter will chime in later this morning.  This summer have been purchasing some shadow rail for a train layout and was going to order more this week. 

i said i'm sorry, not glad.  i would have rather had them see the errors of their ways and switched to 1:32 scale.  it surely would have attracted a number of buyers who, since MTH seems to have abandoned that scale, have very few options these days.

 

frankly i never saw their point.  talk to 1:29 scale people and they pretty much say they don't care about scale.  talk to #1 scale modelers and 1:29 is of no interest to them.  unfortunately even leaving the hobby, they have already flooded the market with their products which will probably remain for quite some time to come.

Dear Allen, As far as "Wake up and smell the roses" your comment is well taken. Come on guys! Doesn't 80 years of doing a quality business count for something? Look we all respect market forces " if you build it they will come!" but when they don't come anymore that hurts! As a member of a long standing family business myself, I have to stand and salute a leader who has been at it so long (carrying the banner, I mean) even though I have not formally had any dealings with them. It is a sad day, when a player with such clout leaves the field! IMHO!

This is definitely a sad situation for the hobby as a whole.  It leaves me wondering who will be next.

 

Andy

This is sad. It's also a sad indicator of the real state of the economy.

 Aristo did a lot for the hobby. It is a sad day.

That is an old name that appears in ancient ads in old MR's.  I thought I had previously read on here that G scale was in trouble......LGB was gone...they're not kidding.

It is too bad as various companies disappear. I am not up on G trains, but besides USA trains (Charles Ro), who else makes G scale trains?

I remember Polk's very well. They were a block form the Empire State Bldg on 5th ave. Each floor had a different hobby.

high end 1:32 would be Aster (live steam).

 

Accucraft makes both narrow gauge (1:20.3) and standard gauge (1:32) trains for #1 gauge track, though i wish they would produce more rolling stock.

Mr. Burfle, don't you think it's about time we meet. How about 12 noon friday at Jeff & Alan's table in the blue hall???????????????????????????????????

G scale is what got me back into Model Railroading, and particularly the American rail designs that Aristocraft was doing vs LGB.  The lack of new designs and operating accessories is what moved me back to O scale.

 

Bought one  Aristo loco, several pieces of rolling stocks and good amount of track, transformers etcc from them.

 

The Polk's and their employees were good to deal with.  This was easy to see coming though.  Their farewell letter explains the economic environment well.

 

Sad to see them go.

I think part of the problem with this is that many of us have ALL THE TRAINS we will ever need.  I am at that point.  (Unless somebody makes an O S-70 LRT car for Houston METRO.)  And I think that point comes quicker the larger scales.  Sounds like the situation with Stardard trains in the 1930's.

 A lot of G scale guys were attacking Aristo for different reasons. They won't be remembered. Aristo helped the scale and the hobby. It's sad if even part of the reason was due to this unfair, unbalanced attack.

 G scale is a mess. I'm not sure it will ever straighten out. Time will tell. It may take more time than we have.

Kinda the 'Canary in a Coal mine' if you will.  The economy is always listed as 'returning' but real folks on the front line know different. This is a important event that I know other hobby biz folks sat up straight, as I did when I got the e-mail this AM, and start thinking about the future. 

Please don't make this a politics battle....but part of this announcement may be based off what Polk's feels will happen in 2014. My insurance is going up....but my sister in law showed me her letter telling her her premium will go from $200 a month to $600 a month 1/1/14......think how that affects disposable income........

Sad on many levels......

 

 

PS....I have some Aristo G scale...PCC is fantastic.....nice rolling stock...glad I bought them.

 

You're so right.  I lost all interest in G "scale" when the manufacturers decided that "G scale" (aka "large scale") meant anything they wanted it to mean.

 

But to keep on the original topic, the loss of Polk's is bad news for us all.

 

 

If you kept the 1:29 stuff away and on its own from all the other proportions used in G, the Aristo stuff didn't look too bad.

 

And it's not like O gauge is immune from running different proportioned trains on the same track, from the undersized "traditional" to the oversized K-Line Shays and Porters and everthing inbetween...

 

Rusty

Unfortunately, this shows the direction of the hobby industry in general. People just don't have the extra money to spend on this stuff, and that's not going to improve anytime soon. After all the lies about the economy "improving", things like this tell the real story.

A real shame.

Maybe that's what all the big sales are about, clearing out the inventory!  I hope they're still going to be around...

 

Nobody likes to see a business fold but I was puzzled that the main reason given was the federal debt ceiling battle?

i owed a number of their rolling Stock items and thought they looked very good,used them with some aster 1/32 scale engines.

my own business was crippled by the 2008 downturn , it limps along now.

Fred 

I sure don't think the economy is in recovery and most folks I talk to don't believe it is either.

 

RMT, Williams, and Lionel has been offering big time blow outs the entire year, certainly not a indication of a healthy business base.

Thanks to the Polk family and many others that gave the hobby community so many great trains and other products for the 80+ years. So sad to see a company away. 

Sorry to learn of Polk's demise.  I wish them the best.

 

I'm hoping that RMT will survive or spin off. 

 

RMT products under Walter's leadership with his enthusiasm for our hobby is something that I will miss should they go out with Polk's.

I re-read the email I got this morning and still got the impression that they're referring to the retail hobby shop Polk's (who's Google listing specifies R/C planes and G-gauge trains) and not the manufacturer Aristo-Craft. Anyone else get that interpretation?

 

---PCJ

I got the e-mail this AM....I just went back and read again. I seems the business itself not just a retail shop. Talking manufacture cost and loss of proprietary products makes it sound like the company not a shop....but that's just me. 

Sounds to me like it's the whole shooting match.

 

Here's the on-line version of the announcement: http://secure.campaigner.com/C...n8b-i0f6h09&_v=2

 

The "several million" in R&D doesn't sound like a retail shop expenditure.

 

 

It is the entire Aristo-Craft operation.  How it impacts RMT is not known at this point, but Ed is seeking clarification.

Sad to hear.  There goes my plan to buy some of their LS stuff in a few years after my O layout was done.  But then it may not matter much, if my premiums go up any more, I'll be dropping out of the model train hobby all together as I won't even have the monies for my needs, let alone my wants.

I got the impression RMT sort have got revitalized with the merge with Aristo-craft. I'm sure this hit Walter hard as well. Maybe this is why not much new has been coming from the RMT camp.Best of luck to all involved.

I called this morning for parts..nobody answered the phone. *($#!!!

Now I have more orphans,,makes you wonder who is next..Here comes the musical chairs..who will buy the assets..Or maybe no one will..No wonder RMT had a continual fire sale these last months.

This is sad.  I have been out of G since I went over to O back when Lionel's Fastrack was new.  They have been an important part of the hobby for a long time.

Best wishes to the Polk/Aristo folks.

 

Here is to hoping that Walter can make a separate go of it with RMT.  -Ken

What will become of the Train Engineer remote control command system?

Was that part of Aristo Craft also?

 

I hate to say it, but when Aristo went direct and then RMT it is the "kiss of death" for any company. You need a inferstructure of retailers to support your line. You can't sell direct at a lower cost than your dealers and expect them to reorder. How can you sell a track line direct as RMT was doing? It needs to be in retailers. As for G scale, it was way over saturated market. Only the outdoor railroaders survived. It lent it's self to to large a indoor layout and almost impossible to collect. In a declining market the manf.'s wound up competing with their past products. There was too much out there. I wish Scott and Walter the best.

Charlie,

 

I think you hit the nail on the head. When you undercut your dealers, you end up with no infrastructure for your sales. After seeing what Lionel and MTH is doing, especially Lionel..I hope they don't end up the same way.