ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
Cause you can't find any regular usage couplers or wheels in stock w/hardly anyone that has a good price on them. Model Train Stuff(HB Klein) is 3 days behind in shipping. Almost all items in the coupling, trucks or related are on Backorder or in very short supply. I called them this morning about some couplers & they emailed me & said they were sorry, but they were out & don't know when they will be in.
I also contacted Athearn about some handrail sets & they are out & have been on backorder for awhile.
Kadee & McHenry & Intermountain are probably working 3 shifts by now.
It also could be because the economy isn't good and some are buying used cars and locos that need trucks and couplers and other parts. Another possibility is mfrs and distribs are not stocking the large inventories they used to. I'd like to think it is because the economy is getting better but every trip to the grocery store or gas station tells me otherwise. On the bright side, if model rr mfrs are selling as fast as they can produce stuff and orders are backing up then they're staying in business and that's a good thing.
I partially agree with what Mike said. I think manufacturers aren't purchasing/building those items you are seeing on backorder because they are trying to concentrate on higher selling, possibly higher margin items. Not to mention they may not have the cash to pay for stock.
As someone working in manufacturing who's employer just had a record profit year and having worked in manufacturing most of my life, the signs are pointing up from my point of view. My guess is producers only want to stay just slightly ahead of demand. Because the economy is picking up, they're having a hard time gaging what production should be.
Of course I'm a lowly grunt, small cog on a very large wheel, what the heck do I know? You need to hear what the collage boys have to say about things!
That’s pretty much what is going on and some items like Couplers and Wheels are well stocked at Distributors or at least the one I go through but shops don’t want to spend the money to have items sitting on shelves so they order minimums. For example Say I want to order some packs of #5 couplers from my Distributor, They have no minimum so if I want I can get 1 pack unlike back in the old days where you had to get 6 or 12 packs. As for cars and locos the Distributor wants to move them so most if not all of the items they have coming in or sold out or oversold! I have noticed a big change since I started using this distributor in 2005, I have seen a lot of manufactures disappear and a lot that have been tried out but weren’t popular enough to keep an inventory in stock. Times have definitely changed!
Yeah, I know and agree. My warning was just for everyone to know that they should keep their posts clean and avoid the political side of the subject or this thread could be locked/deleted as there is no political area in the forums.
Yeah, I know and agree. My warning was just for everyone to know that they should keep their posts clean and avoid the political side of the subject or this thread could be locked/deleted as there is no political area in the forums.
Well, it was a simple question & if it got locked or deleted then you would see me & a lot of other members kiss this Forum good bye. There's been a lot worse things brought up than this & those were never deleted.
Well, it was a simple question & if it got locked or deleted then you would see me & a lot of other members kiss this Forum good bye. There's been a lot worse things brought up than this & those were never deleted.
Yeah, I know and agree. My warning was just for everyone to know that they should keep their posts clean and avoid the political side of the subject or this thread could be locked/deleted as there is no political area in the forums.
