Model Railroading > Tower 55 SD70ACe and NS GEVO message to modelers

Tower 55 Customers,

Brian Marsh here...I need to try and set a number of things straight for everyone directly...

my e-mail address is bmarsh@tower55products.com I do answer all the messages that come in. Please note that a number of messages bounce back and no phone or other contact information is provided so I am lost as to how to reply to those of you that complain that I have not replied. Write me...I will answer...

NS GEVOs...CN GEVOs. These have both been set back so we can build a new frame that will accept ditchlights on both ends. This also makes us have to build a new frame mold that has the correctly detailed anti-climbers on both ends. As I have just replied to some folks directly our plan is to have ditch lights on both ends, anti-climbers on both ends like the prototypes for both of these lines. We do not desire to simply take a DC body and apply CN and NS paint. Further, CN has the marker lights in the nose and rear body section...no one else has this and I don't see any other plastic CN prototypes with this accurately modeled.

The delays are simple...talk to most modelers...are they spending as much as they want on models...I don't think so. Gas prices and lots of other pressures are taking cash out of the modelers pocket. This directly impacts your hobby shop and their ability to purchase which then trickles down to us slowing the pace that we can deliver new models. Cash is king guys. Lets face it without money none of us can do anything.

T55 provides a schedule for anticipated deliveries because if we don't we will get hounded every day all day long about what is next and when. They are simply our best guess. I suppose that other manufacturers that have been producing plastic miss their targets from time to time. I hate it...trust me...I really want to meet the schedules, but I have to admit I have pushed some dates that flat out have been unattainable. I am working to provide better details and keep them more up to date.

Another issue quoted earlier in this thread about us having some new inventory but purposely holding it back. Please come to the warehouse and point out where you have got this misinformation. Why would we do such a crazy thing? We are in business to make and sell new models...not to make them and simply allow them to sit on our warehouse floor. Trust me...the minute the truck arrives with a new shipment and we have brought it all into the building the first thing I want to do is start testing so we can put them right back out onto the UPS truck to dealers around the world.

Classic Concept units...these have been popular and help to build the overall numbers for the production. Maybe it is a mistake to some...but others love them. They have helped build sales...but we may set some back to focus on the actual prototypes.

EMD SD70ACe Demos...these should have never been put on the list as an actual prototype unit...they are more likely to be relisted with a Classic Concept number. For those of you that are detail hounds...take a look at the photos online. The frame, the louvers below the DB grille, the added screen doors on the left side to name a few are only on these four units. Then we have a very small number of reservations. I have to cancel them under this number because if I do not model them as the prototype I will later get drilled for missing such obvious details. In brass at OMI we can do short runs with these unique details...but in plastic this would require a new frame and a new long hood. Hardly a smart business move for a 300 unit production.

SD70ACe delivery delays. A number of you have hit the nail on the head. The UP 2005 and 2006 details are dramatically different. We cannot slap all 9 UP schemes on the same body. We had to hold off and make the molds interchangeable and learn rather than plow ahead and make a mold that cannot accept some of the body changes that we see. When I travel to EMD or GE I typically walk away wanting to sulk in my own tears with all the little changes that ultimately mean more money. Check out the louver arrangements on the 2005 and 06 units...check out the rear of the long hood on each of the units and see where the sand fillers are on each unit, check out the underframe detail change that occurred on the 2006 productions. We simply cannot plow ahead.

We learned much from the initial GEVo production and have tried to take everyones complaints/ constructive criticisms into account. Many things can be added in plastic and many have to simply be left alone to keep the price at the level it is.

I do understand everyones desires and wishes that the models were already on the market. But most of all my wife and I, along with Brandon want to make our customers happy and satisfied. We are a staff of three people in our office with one other gentlemen in our shipping department. We are small, but we have hopes, dreams and desires of 100 people.

All I can say is that please give us your patience and understanding...and support with buying a locomotive or two from our current stock so we can race toward the production of the next locomotives so we can build a strong business. We need your assistance to make it all work.

Thanks so much to everyone of you that have supported us so faithfully...

Sincerely,

Brian Marsh
Tower 55 Products
bmarsh@tower55products.com
311 S Walnut Street
Muncie, IN 47305
765-289-4257 ext 107

p.s. We will be at Trainfest and at the Oklahoma City Train shows this year. Also, WGH shows in Indy/ Atlanta/ Portland/ Ft Worth and the Amherst Railway Society show in Springfield MA in late January displaying our models.

I hope that this is read by Brian Marsh, but if you want to sell more both brass and Tower 55 maybe you should ease restrictions on not allowing internet only dealers to buy and sell your product. After all money is king.............so when a business (internet or brick & mortar) wants to buy product to sell, seems like you are shooting yourself in the foot by not letting an internet dealer access to your line. It is 2006 and internet stores are definately here to stay.

All refusing to sell to one type of store over another does is provide the manufacturer with one less point of sale and creates some negative impact for future, (when an internet store grows to the point that they have a full store), my point being we did not need your product line to get where we are, so why should we carry it now?

If an internet dealer for trains was the size of say.........Amazon.com, I bet you would sell to them under the theory of money is king.

Just my 2 cents, I don't mean to pick on Overland or Tower 55 directly, as Precison Scale, Kadee, and Horizon/Athearn are the same way. But when you self impose a limit on which business you deal with you will loose business over it.

FYI..............we have been keeping track of what customers have asked for from various vendors that won't deal with internet only. so far this year it translates to about 50 brass units, several hundred of overlands detail parts, and about 100 Tower 55 units.

Remember its the customer that keeps us all in business and the customer that chooses what they want to buy, and where they want to buy it. I am willing to bet everyone of the above mentioned manufacurers buys items from online stores.

Just some observations from one business owner.

Hazmat

Let me cook down Brian's message.

"Until we sell down existing inventory, you will not see new releases"

Want to acclerate the ACE's being shipped quicker? Buy a "in stock" BNSF or UP GEVO.

T55/Overland is truely a small business. They need cash to do future projects. Been there done that.

Bruce

Its interesting to note Brians posting. Yesterday I received in snail mail a newly updated Tower 55 Catalog update #2. The update letter states on page 2 of 2 under the SD70ACe update that "they anticipate delivering the first batch of SD70ACe beginning in May and lasting through the summer to deliver a total of 9 different UP paint schemes".
CSX and BNSF units will follow after those.
Overland and now Tower 55 is a small company. I am happy that they are doing current models. There are still several models that have never been done and some that have that were very poor quality that could be done again besides another E or F unit.
I have a few Tower 55 models and I am waiting like others for more to follow.

I have all the T55 UP and BNSF Gevo's I need right now of the current release, however if another batch of the current release showed up with new numbers I might buy 1 or 2 more... How about the modified "Building America" scheme of the recent UP order? 5200 series numbers?

JRF

Certainly hope to announce the new position Building America GEVOs, but we are going to focus on pushing toward the SD70ACe units for UP first then BNSF and CSX will follow.

Great suggestion. However we will not announce this model yet until we get a few more of the current UP GEVOs sold down.

Brian Marsh
Tower 55

I am as anxious as anyone to get a small fleet of Tower 55 'Ace's, but I would rather wait for them to do it right as I would be one of the first people to find a fault in them. Use this time to squirrel away some funds for when they arrive and its not likely that any other manufacturer will be doing these units in RTR.

I agree thus far with all of these statements.

BUT, why did they choose to start with UP/BNSF for the ACe? CSX has had it's ACes for almost 3 years now, and have ordered no more, the prototype has changed very little, if at all. I can certainly sympathize with Brian's problem here, and understand his feelings about the little tweaks and problems as the RR's re-arrange this and that.

Wouldn't it have been alot easier to get at least SOMETHING on the shelf for the Eastern modelers, than to make us wait through the seemingly constant changes being made by the UP/BNSF designers?

While the CSX models were being shipped/sold, this would have allowed a continued influx of revenue, and keeping at least some of the ACe-lovers happy?

Just a thought,

Sean

Sean,

Thank you for your note about not forgetting the little guys.

We certainly have no intention to forget the little guys as we are also a little guys amongst the much larger plastic importers.

Please understand that the CSX SD70ACe cannot be produced on its own as a stand alone production. The minimum production numbers are much greater than the CSX SD70ACe can handle on its own based on the pre-orders on the books. The CSX unit will be produced along with either the UP or BNSF units to gain the appropriate production numbers.

Certainly your idea to smooth out cash flows and production would be great and acceptable if it were not for the minimum production requirements. This is where all of us get strangled. If any manufacturer could pop out and ship a few hundred plastic models at a time...at a reasonable price I am sure this would be a great method...however it is simply not cost effective for the manufacturers to start the machines for such a small run. Further the shipping cost per unit would rise dramatically for such small runs. In this case it would result in a losing proposition.

The reason for delaying the CSX is the same for the UP units...not because we do not want to produce CSX or NS. You will note that the CSX GEVO is now schedule and in process. So...we really are trying to deliver...although not as quick as what some folks may desire.

I do appreciate your interest and hope that this explanation is of assistance.

Sincerely,

Brian T. Marsh
President
Tower 55 Products
bmarsh@tower55products.com
1-765-289-4257 ext 107

And there it is. Thanks for the explanation Brian.

Sean

I read this and had to renew my membership to reply to this. I know for a fact I won't be buying no more Gevo's nor SD70ACe's (when they come out) from you guys ever again. I purchased a BNSF Gevo #7744 from your line in DCC and Sound the only time I got exactly 1 yes, ONE quality run out of it was the first loop around the layout before the issues started. I reprogrammed (rebooted) it and the motor stopped functioning and now DCC/Sound won't work and it won't run. I emailed you guys at Tower 55 a total of 5 times and got 3 replies in the last 3 replies were runarounds on decoder resets, I replied back it wouldn't work (the fixes you guys said to do) and never received a reply back. It was like you read from the book and when it wasn't the fix you guy's thought you basically said too bad can't help you next dollar. Now I'm not trying to bash but as a consumer I am frustrated with my $300.00 paperweight and I can't afford $300.00 each for a bunch of paperweights or cabinet knickknacks. And for that reason I won't buy anything made from your company ever again. Thank you for your time.

Richard Zoller
rzoller16@comcast.net