Earl Henry writes:
> From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Fri May 12, 2006 10:39am(PDT)
> Subject: Re: NASG pet project car
>
> I respectfully appreciate the viewpoint of S suppliers who have put up
their
> own money to produce products that S gaugers want. To them it seems
unfair
> for the NASG to put up funds to promote a special project. . . . . . But
there
> is another point of view.
>
Earl, There are many points of view, not just the "produce what I want
concept!"
Don't get me wrong....I"m not taking sides on whether NASG should get into
the
business of producing new products or not. Bill Lane has some good
comments
and so do you. However, there are a few questions that need answering
besides,
"somebody produce what I want."
> There are some products, that if available, would make the gauge a lot
more
> attractive to prospective S gaugers as well as those of us already in the
> gauge.
Exactly what are these projects that everyone is waiting for with baited
breath. It
doesn't appear to me that this forum produces the numbers to decisively
make that
kind of determination. It's more like a handful with the "count me in
response."
Hardly the numbers needed to make the project worth the financial risk! I
tend to
think that some kind of market research beyond this list is needed to
effectively
determine what is most wanted/needed. Responses on this list come nowhere
near providing that kind of information justifying the potential risk.
.
<One solution is to focus efforts on producing new products that seem to be
> in demand but no manufacturer has stepped up to the plate to produce,
> obviously because of uncertain financial risk.
I think the manufacturers do a good job at researching and collecting data
to fill
our needs, but we just aren't going to get everything at the pace of HO or
N. That
all takes time and manpower, which spells out "money." Money that a lot of
the
talkers aren't willing to fork over! Work they aren't going to volunteer to
do!
>The NASG has the resources to organize
> special projects, one at a time, that a manufacturer would be willing to
> produce if the NASG can guarantee enough orders. It can do this on a
pre-order
> basis. NASG can publicize the project through its media outlets
(Dispatch,
> email, website), to focus attention on a specific product and determine
whether
> there are enough orders to proceed. It does not need to invest in new
products
> on a speculative basis. If there were insufficient orders, it could
cancel or
> defer the project.
IMHO, this is the greatest flaw in your post. Who are these people in
NASG's vast
resource that will organize, research, schedule, and follow up for
production of
these high demand items? I see very few volunteers. I wish I had that kind
of time!
Do you have that kind of time and energy to do this, and on a continued
basis?
> The recent Pullman cars are an example of the NASG spearheading a product
> that a lot of us wanted. Would those Pullman cars have been produced
without the
> NASG's involvement? I do not know the answer to that question but I
think it
> is doubtful that we would have seen those cars, at least not at the
present time.
I think you've missed a point on the Heavyweight Passenger Car project.
That was
not a new startup car. It had been previously produced. Certainly the
tooling cost
and time in re-production could not have been as great as a new project. I
too
would like to see a Diner, but I'm sure it would have been far more
involved and
expensive than the Sleepers that were re-produced.
> I read so many emails about what S gauge needs. Our individual
preferences
> are pretty diverse. For example, I really want full length heavyweight
dining
> cars to match the Pullman cars. But I recognize that there are a lot of
S
> gaugers who want full length stainless steel passenger cars. Guess what,
I also
> want them. They are simply not my first priority. But if NASG organized
the
> project, I would be one of those ordering the stainless steel cars.
Again, there's the "if somone else would organize the project, I would
order one!"
How many times have we seen this on both S Lists?
Why would NASG do stainless steel cars when Kaslo is already doing the
project?
If there is a flaw in the production system, it's that the numbers aren't
great enough
for a manufacturer to anounce a project without fear of someone else
jumping the
gun. This has happened before in S and spoiled some great projects.
Consequently, the manufacturers seem to be tight lipped and we don't know
what
they are considering or planning.
> In summary, I favor the NASG initiating special projects one at a time to
> focus the demand on one project at a time, and to do it without risking a
lot of
> money by taking orders prior to production being started.
> - Earl Henry, Nashville
Personally, I don't have a problem with NASG coming out with a project once
in
awhile, but certainly not as competition to the existing S producers. I
also would
like to see more available in S, but unfortunately, we are not that large
for the
importers/manufacturers to go to extreme financial risk. That's something
I'm
afraid we have to live with in our Gauge until we have sufficiently larger
numbers!
Just my ten cents worth!
Gary Chudzinski
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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