riogrande5761
Active Member
Yes, there is currently a lot of "hobby is dying" over at MRH forums in the topic about MicroEngineering track company announcing they are selling the business. The fallacy there is that a great many model railroad companies are owned by one guy and when he is ready to retire, and there is no family succession plan (son or daughter does not wish to continue the business), it goes of for sale. It doesn't mean there isn't a demand or the company isn't self sustaining, it means the company owner is no longer wanting to run it. It's abit like that Chinese factory AFFA. The owner wanted to quit running it and he shut it down one day; there was no succession plan. All that business was still there but importers had to find other factories to produce their models.
Indeed, there are a lot of kits still out there at train shows. Every time I go, as recently as last October at Timonium, they are still for sale. Ebay isn't necessarily the best place buy those models as it is getting less and less friendlier to casual sellers or small fry sellers.
Yes, the Intermountain/Centralia is a fine scale replica of the Athearn C-40 series bay window cabooses. Being an SP fan since the early 70's, I picked up a couple of them to mix in with the C-50 series from Genesis. More Centralia bay window cabooses are planned but it's hard to say when they will hit the shores. I haven't looked closely at the trucks so far.
Indeed, there are a lot of kits still out there at train shows. Every time I go, as recently as last October at Timonium, they are still for sale. Ebay isn't necessarily the best place buy those models as it is getting less and less friendlier to casual sellers or small fry sellers.
Yes, the Intermountain/Centralia is a fine scale replica of the Athearn C-40 series bay window cabooses. Being an SP fan since the early 70's, I picked up a couple of them to mix in with the C-50 series from Genesis. More Centralia bay window cabooses are planned but it's hard to say when they will hit the shores. I haven't looked closely at the trucks so far.