Who is buying weaver tooling?

Does scale size fit into RMT's business model?

According to other posts, there are no buyers in the wings.

I wouldn't assume if anyone did buy Weavers assets, the prices would be comparable to what Weaver charged.

Rusty

It would be nice if someone bought all of the parts so they would not be scattered all over the country and disappear.

i hope it's Lionel: Legacy BP-20, Legacy B&O Pacific Cincinattian, and more.

Atlas would be a good fit but it seems to be in financial and organizational stress. Lionel and MTH could probably absorb them but of all of the big guys I think Bachmann could do it easily. I don't think RMT is able or willing to. Menards would be a crazy wild card.

I am hoping for someone new who would consider keeping a big part of the work in the states. Because of all the delivery turmoil of the last few years coming from the China Mfgs having some diversity and ability to make quick changes might be a smart thing.

i hope it's Lionel: Legacy BP-20, Legacy B&O Pacific Cincinattian, and more.

I don't think you'll see Lionel do large locomotives in brass.  Their brand equity is diecast.  Also, there is not a lot of tooling involved in brass locomotive building.

LET'S GO MTH, LET'S GO MTH.

The tooling in the USA is for the freight cars.

The Pullman-Standard PS-2-CD 4740 CU FT 3-bay hoppers have to be made in the exact schemes that were used on actual PS-2-CD 4740 Cubic Foot 3-bay covered hoppers. Many of the schemes applied were for the 4750 and some of the 4740 schemes like MILW The Milwaukee Road did not match the real ones that I saw and photographed.

Andrew

Everyone on here that is worried about Weaver going out of business should band together and invest in the company.

I would love to invest in the tooling and printing so that more railroads and more road numbers could be produced that are overlooked or made incorrectly. I just need to have other investments pay dividends first.

Andrew

It is definitely sad to see Weaver's flag fall, I hope that another major manufacturer capitalizes on what tooling is available and viable. One thing I'm absolutely positive about is that if people banned together from this forum to buy the tooling, it would be an absolute disaster. The company would be in ruin before one single piece came off of the assembly line. The amount of discourse, opposing directions, and pricing points that people believe are realistic are often the funniest things in my daily routine. However, to show my support for any entrepreneur that is willing to take up this endeavor, I'll buy one of anything that is produced that first year.

I think its highly unlikely any of the major players would be interested in Weaver. They have made little effort to bring manufaturing back to the US and other than injection molds, what else could be sent abroad? The molds and pad printing plates were not made in house but done by another local shop. 

The best scenerio would be if someone bought the complete business and continued on site with existing staff. Someone like Bowser with experience in model train manufacturing and close by. Even that is unlikely now as they have been getting out of O scale manufacturing.

Pete

My vote would be for USA Trains/ Charles Ro to buy Weaver as they already produce a fine large scale lineup of rolling stock in Massachusetts  

Pure speculation at best.......

the best plan would be the owner retire like he wants to but appoint someone to run the company. the way it is now and that way it doesn't go away. just a new supervisor per say. and I vote for to lower costs maybe go back to there roots of craftsman kits. put out the plastic models again where the buyer assembles them paints then and buys the graphics for them so they basically supply the shells and trucks. I enjoy buying those style kits on eBay now and building them. cuts down on labor costs cuts down on printing costs the end buyer usually makes the model there own one way or another why not have them do the whole thing. then you don't have to worry about incorrect graphics or duplicate numbers. just a thought

Does anyone have Dick Kughn's phone number?

Talk is cheap.

True! By the way, thank you for all of your great products.

What makes you think he'd be interested? 

He's been out of the biz for 20 years.

Rusty

I am sure that if it were a profit- making business it could have been sold.  I get the feeling that these kinds of industries are more hobby than profit center.

Two rail had Elliott Donnelly (Yellow Pages fame, and Scale Craft) drop out, becuse his family wanted him to make a profit.  His patterns went to All Nation, never to be produced again.  All Nation did survive, but now the heirs want big bucks, so it will languish.  CLW did get sold, but then the new owner discovered that he could not compete with the prices of his own used kits.

I think there are plenty of truly accurate plastic freight cars out there - the shortage of Weaver surely will not work a hardship on O Scale modelers?

Unreal how many people think they know the right thing to do and how simple it must be.

I've never owned my own business, but many of the assumptions here seem absurd.  I'm not going to claim I know any answers to keep things going because I do not.  I do know unrealistic "pie in the sky" expectations when I see them though.

Many don't seem to consider there is a reason retirement is sought, and closure of the doors is necessary.  It very well may be a whole lot more (and I am not trying to pry at the details, they are none of my business) than just not going to work everyday anymore.

Appointing a new boss, suggesting others (who may be having a rough enough time of it with their own basic train business) buy it just to "keep it going", etc. is unrealistic.  So is suggesting people with one specific expertise or focus area can just swoop in and magically successfully run a model company business and all will spontaneously be well.

Heck, no one else has suggested it yet, maybe the OGR principals should buy Weaver!! (suggested with tons of sarcasm/ in jest for those who can't tell)

It's quite possible it's no longer possible to "keep it going" without taking a lot of loss to do so.  Would you want to continue in that mode as you enter into your retirement years?  You can only take (or risk) significant losses for so long before you are in trouble as well as the business perhaps not being viable any longer.  That sure would put a damper on the retirement dream (but, hey a few more people got to buy some of your trains).

I wish Joe and the rest of his remaining employees the best in their futures, whatever the future may bring for them. 

-Dave

Warren Buffet!

I think Dave's post is spot on.  I'll also add that if scrapping the tooling feeds the retirement kitty, then if the tooling can't easily be sold, it may as well be scrapped. 

So, if any of you guys, want to make an offer on any of the tooling, you would probably be wise to do it sooner than later.

Jim

I believe this thread, like a lot of others are just for entrainment value.

You got that right... kind of amusing. Actually the dies will probably need to be refurbished. Its the rights is what you want...

I am feeling defeated.

I will never get to run a string of the Weaver High-sided 4-bay open-top hoppers in the ILLINOIS CENTRAL GULF scheme like shown here:

http://www.railcarphotos.com/P...ls.php?PhotoID=71085

Andrew

What about Athearn? Might be a good way for them to get into O scale (assuming they would be interested in O)

I am no business school grad but looked at the video of their small operation and it would take so much time and money to get that up and running. IT would be next to impossible t buy the equipment, move it and train people to operate it.  Looked like a rather small custom shop that made a nice product. To invest the time and money to make your investment worthwhile would be tough. IF someone did buy the dies, I am sure the product would not be the same so hope that they enjoy their retirement and move on.

Athearn itself was purchased years ago by Horizon Hobby a big hobby product distributor. So it would be up to them......but since they sold off Industrial Rail to Atlas.....don't think so.

We are a niche arm of a niche hobby. I bet the sales of these toy drones are bigger this year than all model trains. It's a hobby we love to us.....just a profit making biz to many manufactures. I'd like to be wrong....but doubt Horizon sees a profit in the Weaver tooling.  

If the tooling did hit the auction block it is possible that Kader Industries ( Bachmann's parent company ) would be interested in some of the pieces. They have a huge manufacturing facility that currently has a significant amount of model train tooling plus they have deep pockets.

   Bill T.

Most plausible guess yet......but still too many unknowns......we are just playing a game.

But if WbB wanted to move into the scale arena in a big way.......easy way to start. And moving molds into an already big manufacturing system would be easy for them.  

Just keep in mind that pipe dreams are nice, but then reality rears its ugly head.

In my pipe dream I buy the tooling.....move it all to a large warehouse that sits empty near my house.....and continue the line......I'd be 'fun'......

Then I wake up and with my work in the plastic model field.....realize how difficult it could be.........but I still like to dream now and then.....

I do think the tooling is viable......but only to a very select few who could make it work.

I think we should all just accept that the Weaver Tooling has run its course and there is not sufficient market of buyers to justify any more runs.  Perhaps that is the exact reason why they shut the business down.

If you like their stuff so much, go buy it on the secondary market.  There are gobs of it available for cheap.

While that may by true in some cases, I sure am having a hard time finding their wagontop box cars at all, let alone for cheap!

Ben

Strictly from a business perspective:

Anyone who would buy Weaver or any other business would need to see a return on their investment (ROI).   Hoping that someone would step in, and see things remain as they are at current prices is nice but not very realistic.