Very nice and interesting

Very nice and interesting video. Thanks for posting.

There is not much Roco produces in Austria. Their Headquarters is in Bergheim/Salzburg were all management is located. The tools/molds, motors, Roco track system, circuit boards, pantographs, controls and wheels are produced in Gloggnitz/Austria.

Everything else is done abroad. Roco has factories in Slovakia, Romania, and Vietnam. Roco is quite transparent about their locations and the according production: https://www.roco.cc/en/aboutus/locations/index.html

The EU isn't a homogeneous political and economic union. There are partly huge differences between wages. Slovakia and Romania a low wage countries in the EU. While hourly labor costs are 33 Euro in Austria they are only 10 Euro in Slowakia and 6 Euro in Romania. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Estimated_hourly_labour_costs,_2016_(EUR)_YB17-de.png

While the American model railroad manufacturers use China to keepprices in affordable regions, Roco uses the low wage EU member states. Other European manufacturer like e.g. Marklin produce in China too.
Regards, Volker

And now we know why model railroad locomotives cost what they do

I wonder if the North American model building companies would be willing to put out a video like this. I'd be interested to see how Atlas, Rapido, etc... produce their models. It might help squelch some of the complaints about why companies charge so much, why they don't produce a model of X, etc...

Wow.

Makes me thankful for all of the mfg'ers that we have (and had) that produce such exquisite models for us to enjoy.

As for that Roco electric locomotive: I've not be one to be much on European railroading... but THAT is a cool looking electric locomotive!! German prototype?

Andre

The prototype is an Austrian

The prototype is an Austrian class 1046 electric locomotive. It was built from 1956 on as class 4061 and re-classed to 1046 in 1976.

Weight 67 tonnes (74 tons), max. speed 78 mph, max. continous power 1,400 kW.
Regards, Volker

Fascinating to say the

Fascinating to say the least.  No wonder models these days cost so much.

Deane

Rapido has many videos of their manufacturing facilities

https://www.youtube.com/user/rapidotrains

Here is one of their most recent:

Roco Video

I was impressed with the video as well.  I have in-laws in Germany, and have purchased some Roco products while visiting Germany and Austria.  They do run very well, and seem to be very well engineered.  They ain't cheap, though, but I can see why.  Thanks for posting this.

@Jeff Schultz - Great video!

Thanks for the video link. Now I know where to watch for more Rapido info. The credits at the end of the video are amazing. I hope Mr. Schneider isn't being overworked.

The two videos show a

The two videos show a contrast between EU and China manufacturing. Lots of automation on Roco's paint and pad printing lines. Looks like they do their own molds, injection molding and casting as well.

Impressed with the high end paint masks they cut as well.

Kadee has an older video out there as well that shows a fair bit of automation on the decorating side of the operation. They are all in house as well like Roco.

Thanks!

For the info on the Roco locomotive.

Also enjoyed the Rapido video. It's simply amazing what all goes on in order for me to enjoy a cool model of an engine!

Andre

ROCO Quality

Roco is very good quality and above the 'standards' in China regarding 'workman ship'.

All the techno & development is done 'in house' , and as shown in the video to the highest standards.

I have ROCO locomotives - both steam & diesel - over 30 years 'young' and they still run just fine. Never had any issue.

Belgian State RW Class 90

 Belgian State Rw Diesel Class 59

Models are 30+ years 'young'... & have a look at the details from the past....

Greetings, Filip

I don't see Roco's models as

I don't see Roco's models as better than models from Chinese production. If you take Athearn Genesis or ScaleTrains Rivet Counter series they are close to "as good as a model can get". They aren't far off of today's brass models and better than the 1990s brass models.

There must be a reason that you get a bag of customer applied detail parts with Roco electric locomotives.

Today it has less to do with workmanship than in times when molds were still handcut. Today everything is drawn in CAD software and the limit is the budget and the resulting limits for the complexity of the molds.

Here is another video about the development of the class 1046. Sorry for the German narration:

Here are a few keywords regarding the video: A mold can consist of 350+ parts, 700+ electrodes were used for die sinking of the steel molds for this locomotive, wire eroding was used for sealing surfaces, polishing is done with ultrasonic wood pieces.

For this model (1046) six molds were completely new and two were reworked from existing molds.

To the first shot of a shell approximately 6,000 hours were needed.
Regards, Volker

I wonder what the development

I wonder what the development was like for the original Proto2K/ Heritage 2-6-6-2 and the Rivarossi Allegheny 2-6-6-6.

Somehow I seem to recall Roco being involved with one or both of these original developments??

No additional thoughts or

No additional thoughts or information on the possible involvement of Roco with the Heritage model or the Rivarossi allegheny ??

Impressive videos

The costs of entry into this market are huge.

It is nice to see people in a community completely building things in their community versus outsourcing everything elsewhere.

Ive always likely looking at these European trains and some of my Swiss friends had them growing up, but I’ve never owned any.