Model Railroading > Spring Mills Depot?! Hello?

What the heck happened to Spring Mills Depot? I want me some DODX flatcars! 

PT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/19 08:06 by obsessedfoamer.

At the April Timonium train show I heard of all the difficulties they had with the plant closing in China.  That was the plant that did their manufacturing and the government closed it down and seized everything inside.  They nearly lost the tooling for those DODX cars (and everything else), but managed to work something out to get it back.  They have other products they are hoping to have available this summer (the cabooses announced even earlier) and those DODX flats shortly after.

CSX602 Wrote:
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> At the April Timonium train show I heard of all
> the difficulties they had with the plant closing
> in China.  That was the plant that did their
> manufacturing and the government closed it down
> and seized everything inside.  They nearly lost
> the tooling for those DODX cars (and everything
> else), but managed to work something out to get it
> back.  They have other products they are hoping
> to have available this summer (the cabooses
> announced even earlier) and those DODX flats
> shortly after.

They should go to Vietnam like other US companies are doing. Seems to be more stable and no stupid ass tariffs to deal with .

SantaFeRuss

The tariff is just talk at this point. Not affecting prices.

Thanks for the update, I was hoping they were still standing tall. Good news.

 

For a model train manufacturer a skill level needs to exist in the country where they do their production.   The more detailed the model, the higher the level needed.  The number of countries where that skilled labor force exists - but at a wage level that would result in marketable pricing here - is very few.  As far as 'Nam, some manufacturers have said that skill is not there (yet).  Plus it's even less stable country, who still is anti-American at its core.

CSX602 Wrote:
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Plus it's even less stable country, who
> still is anti-American at its core.

Vietnam is reasonably stable and is eager for all the American business it can snag.  In business's never-ending search for cheaper overseas production, Vietnam has great growth potential.

Art House

Vietnam has no trouble what so ever in taking ours or anybody elses money.
And they seem to do pretty good work too. They make a lot of medical supplies there.

I understand the difficulties but a big part of the issue is communication. The last 'announcement' on their webpage was from September of last year (coming up on a year ago), and when I emailed them back on February I never received a response. I don't necessarily even need a ETA on when the projects may be done but would like to see that you're at least working on something. I get it, you had a major set back and need to massively pivot, but radio silence makes people uneasy. 

The majority of their currently open projects were announced in 2015 and 2016. They were hot and heavy back then announcing new projects and we have not seen anything from these projects. The DODX flats was a project that in my mind was destined to never be delivered as the other earlier announced projects were no where to be found.

I really think the China factory closing had no effect on them as they were going nowhere from what I could see anyways. Can anyone really verify they were doing business with this factory that closed? I wonder how many customers gave deposits in full years ago and have never seen any product? I have also wondered if the folks who gave payments have asked for them back and have recieved them.

I wish Rapido or Scale Trains would pick up the DODX project to be frank. 

Bruce



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/19 11:01 by brfriedm.

Spring Mills has never put any priority on these DODX flatcars. Every interaction I have had with them ended up with them telling me "we have other runs to do first."

I'm so glad they made us prepay for these cars only to have no interest in producing them in a timely manner. Actually, it sounds kind of like CAF and the Viewliners...