I picked up my D&RGW Geeps

I picked up my D&RGW Geeps today at my local hobby shop (The Train Shop in Santa Clara).  Looking at Athearn's site it appears the Santa Fe engines are also shipping.  I'm really pleased with the detail and the mechanisms in these engines!

China production results in problems of predicting delivery.

I noticed that the BLMA 64 foot Trinity reefers have had their delivery dates pushed back to June instead of the original planned release date in May.  The problem, I think is that first you need to coordinate production in China to get the models out on schedule, then you need to deal with shipping schedules, and finally there is the problem of getting the shipment released from U.S. customs before a manufacturer can ship them out to their customers.  This is after the manufacturer has dealt with getting pre-production "test shots" done and any possible changes that are needed done as well as any "glitches" out of the production line at the factory.

I think you're right Russ.  I

I think you're right Russ.  I do find it frustrating though that vendors are quick to announce new products that are pretty much "in development", but seem to quietly actually deliver them to hobby shops.  Since I've gotten back into the hobby, I'm finally starting to do the pre-orders with my store, but I still rely on some stuff they have "in stock" and it'd be nice to not second-guess when the companies actually ship to retailers.

I don't know when ExactRail "announced" they were doing the Trinity reefers, but they really seem to have beat BLMA to the punch.  You can sell a whole lotta delivered stock and not so much "woulda coulda" stock.  I hate knocking a company like that, and I'll probably buy a few BLMA reefers as well, but I just bought a 12 pack of the ExactRails.

- murf

My hobby dealer knows both ExactRail and BLMA owners.

He told me that Exact Rail informed BLMA that they were well along in development of the 64 foot Trinity when Craig announced that he was going to produce it.  In the case of these two manufacturers, I don't think it really makes any difference.  They both do small enough production runs that both are already sold out at the manufacturer level.  My local dealer saw on the web site that ExactRail had only a few of the phase one versions left in stock and immediately ordered them.  I don't know how much investment BLMA had in the model when they announced it and found out that ExactRail was already well along in producing the same model.  I would have liked to see one of them produce the "Tropicana Pure" car.  It would be useful for someone modeling the trains on one of the railroads that hauls the "Juice train" from Fla to NYC, but out here in California, the U.P. probably has 4-6 of the Tropicana cars on mixed a freight two or three times a week into the Tropicana warehouse in City of Industry.  I don't know where else Tropicana might have warehouse locations.

BLMA reefer arrival dates

BLMA announced yesterday on Facebook that the reefers are in a container on it's way to LA now.