S-Helper Service Now Officially Closed

I'll bet that SHS stands for something.

S gauge (or scale) Helper Service.

How sad! Now a major S company is gone. I hope MTH does them justice in S scale.

Ah!  Thank you. Another entrepreneur eaten by Big Business. What is anyone's prediction as to what will happen to the quality and quantity of product?

I can tell you this, S Helper was light years ahead in their design and detail and DCC applications.  You can place them next to Atlas O and the detail is as good or better.  After changing out (AF) wheelsets and couplers on about 50 of their cars , the details were/are impressive!
I wrote Don a personal "thank you", their work changed the scale much for the better!  Their wisdom in going to Mike Wolfe and his good sense to purchase the line speaks volumes!  A "win" all the way around!  Thanks Rusty for clarification!

That is the primary reason, along with the Sanda Kan purge.  It was going to require a lot of energy and resources to get up and running with another builder.  SHS was very involved with their builder to get things done right.

 

SHS has been with us for over twenty years, longer if you add in the years they were helping finance some American Models products, the pre-SHS "Trainstuff" resin kits and nobody's getting any younger. 

 

We have to remember that SHS was essentially Don Thompson and Mike Ferraro, plus a relatively small staff.  They fact that they were able to produce the consistent quality and quantity of product is truly amazing.

 

I think the boys have earned their retirement.

 

Rusty

Amen.

I wouldn't exactly call MTH big business. Mike Wolf is a dynamic entreprenuer and was probably the best alternative for SHS's tooling and business for all concerned. While DCS isn't my cup of tea, at least the PS 3.0 system is compatible with DCC so, I think the S Scale community should be grateful that the one entity capable of moving the SHS line forward now has the opportunity to do so.

New here.   I wonder if someone could explain the Sanda Kan problem and what the impacts were.   Thanks.

Search "Sanda Kan" for the story.

From the Model Railroader website, copyright June 2010:

 

"Chinese contract manufacturer will no longer make products for some small model train companies

Chinese contract manufacturer Sanda Kan has sent letters to a number of its customers worldwide, telling them it will no longer be able to make products for them.

According to industry sources, among the model railroad customers receiving letters from Sanda Kan are Weaver, S Helper Service, American Models, Bowser, Micro-Trains and Märklin/Trix.

Among those not getting letters were Bachmann, Lilliput, Graham Farish, Lionel, Atlas, Walthers and Aristo-Craft.

Kader Holdings, which purchased Sanda Kan in 2008, is also the parent company for Bachmann, Lilliput and Graham Farish.

Numerous model railroad companies that have products manufactured at Sanda Kan have seen delays in deliveries over the past 18-24 months. Some had already moved the bulk of their production to other companies like AFFA Technologies.

Also picking up some business from the turbulence is Rapido-Maytex. The company's Jason Schron says it has picked up a couple of customers and is looking for more. He says the facility specializes in runs from 1,000-10,000 pieces.

Sanda Kan's move is widely seen as an effort to focus its production capacity on its biggest customers. It also manufactures slot cars and other injection-molded hobby products."

 

Basically, they booted out the little guys in favor of the big guys and the little guys had to find new builders, of which some shut down since this was written.  From what I've observed, even the remaining customers are experiencing delays from SK still.

 

Rusty

So it was really just their smaller customers who were cut. Which is sad because they also had good products like all of these company's.