Scale Trains President Shane Wilson, Michelle Wilson (and their dog bear) visited our Upstate Model Railroad Club (Glens Falls, NY) on Wednesday for several hours. It was a wonderful visit led by our Club President joined by ~ 15 members representing the S, HO, N, O & G scales of the Club. We shared information about our activities, as did Shane and Michelle. We also ran trains. We are most appreciative that Shane and Michelle took time from their busy schedule to visit us.
That evening Scale Trains held a meet and greet “Scale Trains Road Trip” organized by the National Model Railroaders Association - Hudson Berkshire Division at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in Troy, NY attended by ~ 100 members & guests. Shane’s presentation of ~ 2 hours was excellent and well received. He covered the history of Scale Trains, showed a video on how their model trains are designed and made, provided general information on upcoming models to be produced and future directions of the company, concluding with an extensive question and answer session.
Scale Trains is clearly well led, managed, and organized with many projects in the works. The company has grown tremendously since its founding a decade ago, and now has ~ 50 employees. It recently acquired the ExactRail HO & N Scale line, Fox Valley Models and partnered with Virtual Railfan. Shane & the firm, in my opinion, are enthusiastic, dedicated, knowledgeable, experienced and have great integrity.
The firm is committed to the hobby, and generally optimistic about the future reflected in investments being made. For more information about the company, I highly recommend exploring their website and videos, and if possible, attending one of their “Road Trips”.
Importantly for us, Scale Trains will announce later this year one new product in S Scale, and next year two.
As I understand it, and I will later correct any errors in my reporting, Scale Trains is uncertain at this time as to their longer-term commitments to our beloved S Scale based largely on overall disappointing purchases by us of their S scale product line to date (sales numbers).
Again, as I understand it, sales of the first freight car S Helper Coal Cars were good at about 1,000 units as planned, recognizing many wanted to support them in their initial offering. [It was reported the firm needs sales of 1,000 units or more to keep prices attractive]. Sales of their second offering S Helper Box Cars declined to ~750 units and this was surprising and disappointing. Sales of their third offering S Helper Cabooses declined again, surprisingly and disappointing to ~500 units, scheduled for shipment this month. There is serious concern and uncertainty as to how sales will be for their next offerings, and this is bringing into question how the firm allocates its limited resources to S Scale, particularly beyond the next three scheduled offerings.
No information was provided about the upcoming offerings, but I believe it is likely to be similar to the most recent, the reissue of prior S Helper (MTH) models using existing purchased tooling. Specifically, due to time investments (generally it takes 1 year or more (new engine closer to 2 years) for new product, tremendous costs for new tooling, and most importantly low potential sales volumes in our scale as compared to HO and N, and concerns about uncertain sales volumes for now and the next several years, we are likely restricted to reissues. Simply, it is a business, cash flow is paramount, risk must be managed, opportunities weighed against each competing project, and it is viewed that overall current opportunities are stronger in the traditional HO and N markets than S.
So, in short to questions I was asked in an earlier posting, I understand there will be no new engines, or track in the forseable future from Scale Trains. With respect to track I was told they would need to invest in building a 5-year supply to be cost effective, and do not wish to invest in the inventory nor manage such at this time. With respect to engines, their motors, boards… need to be designed and manufactured to be consistent with their line and this is not in their near-term planning.
In summary on the positive side, Scale trains will be issuing 3 new offerings over the next 2 years, and if sales are strong, likely we will see future releases. Offsetting this is Scale Trains is uncertain about long-term significant investments in S Scale currently, and is awaiting sales results on the 3 upcoming offerings.
Clearly others on this site know much more then me on these matters as do the employees of the firm, but I quickly wanted to share what I learned and my perspectives with those interested. I would also note at our Club active membership is ~ 25 members, and we are struggling to increase memberships, and only 1-2 are dedicated to S, myself and another member who operates primarily in HO scale, but helps me frequently and has a collection of American Flyer. At the NMRA event I believe the vast majority attending were HO & N scale, possibly with 1 member with interest in S scale.
I hope this information is somewhat helpful and apologize in advance for its length and any errors. Wish I had better news to report. Best to all. Mike West - S Scale Coordinator UMRR.
Note: My background and interest is primarily operating trains generally traditional American Flyer, on SHS / MTH track, with a large investment in Lionel steam and modern engines (both FlyerChief and Legacy). I also have a large collection of American Models engines & cars, and S Helper (SHS) and MTH products, and own 10 S Scale Trains cars, which I am very pleased with the quality and value.
The videos are my Scale Trains cars led by an MTH engine and the caboose is S Helper. Shane stated it was the first S Scale Trains set he had seen & was appreciative.
. I was and still am so hoping as many others Scale Trains will find success. Best. Mike
