Model Railroading > Shifting Production Away from China?

I've long wanted to see less reliance on China for production of all kinds of things including model trains. Would have been nice if Hong Kong could have remained independent. China has a long history of predatory practices in some industries along with other political and military actions that show their less than peaceful intentions. By and large the Chinese people are great people, but the communist regime that controls China is a different matter. I don't see much model railroad production returning to the US due to the amount of time and attention to detail required to assemble the models. You won't find the needed qualities in a US workforce which will be stretched thin with other kinds of production that does return to the US. I wanted to see a slower transition and increase of tariffs against China so as to allow time for the infrastructure and production to shift to more friendly nations like India. It's something that has needed to happen for a long time now.
I don't think people quite realize just what goes into making a model locomotive. It's not just one company making all the parts, it's dozens of companies making the various parts on a contract basis, and those companies making the parts need orders from many industries, not just the model train industry. So a importer like Rapido, Athearn, BLI contracts with a company in China to design and assemble a model using information supplied by the importer. Then that Chinese company contracts with a variety of companies to make the motor, wheels, electronics, die cast frames, the plastic molds, plastic injected parts, glues, paint, paint masks, etched metal parts. All those parts are shipped to the assembly factory. It takes time to build up the industries to supply quality parts reliably. We used to have all that here in the US, but many of those industries were undercut by China and have gone out of business.
I wonder where that kind of industry can be built up. There is a level of technological development that needs to be achieved to support model train production. Producing a can opener for Walmart is one thing, but when it comes to making precision EDM molds and electronics that is affordable, is something different. I think India can get there, but may take some time. Not sure who else might be in a position to get there. Mexico is a possibility? You also have other nations that are improving manufacturing like Chile, Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/25 02:53 by funnelfan.

The last model was a Union Pacific Business Car by Broadway Limited Imports. The packaging says it was made in Vietnam.

David Harrison, MSI

 

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DHarrison Wrote:
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> The last model was a Union Pacific Business Car by
> Broadway Limited Imports. The packaging says it
> was made in Vietnam.
>
> David Harrison, MSI
>
>  

Oh wow, that is newsworthy. Good to know that production is shifting away from China.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Vietnam might be the place now...they have decided to kick out Chinese companies relocating there to evade tariffs on Chinese goods. 

It may not be the case here but one of China's work around to get around Tariffs is to manufacture in China and ship to an intermediary country and ship to the US from there.  And even remarking the product as manufactured in another country, like Vietnam..

I personally have seen the Chinese take a American designed product manufactured in China,
copy it, and sell it as if it was their own.  They used a very similar name and the product looked
just like the original American designed product, but was 25% less expensive and shipped to 
and distibuted from Los Angeles, and there was nothing the American designer could do about it.

They have no problem stealing intellectual property.  It could probably happen in VietNam or India too
I guess but the Chinese have no scruples when it comes to theft as we know it.

 

I don't know if anyone has mentioned in recent weeks, that Kadee still makes great quality freight car models here in the US.  Granted, they are the same 4-5 car types (from the 1940s-60s) offered in different roadnames - but each one is a detailed treasure.

Rich



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/25 06:47 by PasadenaSub.

PasadenaSub Wrote:
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> I don't know if anyone has mentioned in recent
> weeks, that Kadee still makes great quality
> freight car models here in the US.  Granted, they
> are the same 4-5 car types (from the 1940s-60s)
> offered in different roadnames - but each one is a
> detailed treasure.
>
> Rich

I don't think anyone has forgotten Kadee.  They are somewhat limited in time period so people modeling the last 40 years would need few if any.  I model late 70's thru early 80's so I have a few.

Switch to N scale. By Kato and Microtrains..
RB

up833 Wrote:
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> Switch to N scale. By Kato and Microtrains..
> RB

Some of my favorite N scale trains include ScaleTrains and Trainworx.  Trainworx finally released their nice N scale D&RGW cabooses recently.

Accurail is still making cars here in the US as well

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> It may not be the case here but one of China's
> work around to get around Tariffs is to
> manufacture in China and ship to an intermediary
> country and ship to the US from there.  And even
> remarking the product as manufactured in another
> country, like Vietnam..

China has set up distribution centers in Mexico in an attempt to evade the higher tariffs for stuff imported from China. The tariff for stuff coming from Mexico being much lower.
And this has been happening for several years now.

BLI is the only company that has had the forsight to do this at least so far. Rapido established a US based business in addition to their Canadian business which was also smart.  The reason others haven't is probably a matter of funds and logistics.  But they probably should have as tariffs are much higher in China than other countries which are now under a pause.

All of the things mentioned above by the OP about parts and component souring are true for many things made in China or elsewhere outside the US. Unwinding those supply chains to make them entirely US-based would be enormously complex and very expensive. This kind of thing is very true for many products, from smartphones,, electronics, cameras, medical equipment, chemistry-based products and more. Wide component sourcing is a fact of life in the automotive business. As I've said in other threads, I had a view to that at work deep into the OEM supply chains in the car and truck business. You would not believe how broad, deep and diverse their supply chains are.

Model railroad equipment is a good, small-scale example of the process, and entirely germane to our concerns as modelers. Sure, we're conscious of the impacts for much larger and economically significant products - we buy them too. But like any other consumer, we have our views on the markets of all kinds of things that we buy. Model railroad equipment is one of those products.

All that said, I'd second looking to Kadee and Microtrains as examples of what can be done with US production. I am an N-scaler, and have many Microtrains cars. They are first-rate, and by far my preferred, go-to brand. With their manufacturing expertise and sufficient market need, hopefully they will expand their line to take in more contemporary equipment. I tend to heavily favor their earlier period equipment (I model the 1950s - '60s), but that doesn't mean that they can't also develop new models for later periods. And my guess is that they just might do that, and also with more in HO, if the market conditions we are concerned about do indeed stick.

MC

Chinese businessmen are outsourcing to Vietnam to beat the higher wages of their own people. Doing business with Vietnam is doing business with another communist country that exploits capitalism to fund its machine.

Victor Baird


engineerinvirginia Wrote:
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> Vietnam might be the place now...they have decided
> to kick out Chinese companies relocating there to
> evade tariffs on Chinese goods. 

Posted from Android

Welcome to a period of change even greater than steam to diesel.  As a highschooler, I built Varney steamers,  My undec, no tender 2-8-4 was $2 cheaper than an NKP Berkshire from United-r-t-r and far finer detail.   Fast forward to the early 80s, i got another NKP Berkshire with much finer detail built in Korea.  The next step was fully detailed. painted, lettered for specific time periods on individual RRs.  So, collecting exquisite models to operate has mostly supplanted the scratchbuiling of earlier years.
My "it doesn't say Hanes unless I say Hanes" underwear is from Vietnam. 
I forsee 3D printed locomotive/rolling stock both parts for a potential swing back to kit building, but also allowing for super detailed r-t-r with much lower design/tooling costs.  
In my work life (electrician) I used to buy high quality switches/receptacles made in unionized factories in Connecticut.  Now they are made in Chnia, cost me double, and the conglomerate has multiple divisions.   Lock your seatbelts; it will be interesting times
 

My track is steam and very early diesel  EMD F's and E's..  I refuse to pay $59 for a  new 40 or 36 ft box car etc.  So I will wait it out. By  the way my  ABA F's are now $100 plus more than they use to be a short time ago..





 

The supply chain conundrum is easy to miss in all of this, good callout Ted. If this trade war lasts, there will be so many changes to try and keep up with. I do worry we’re going to lose some companies along the way. As for where the manufacturing ends up, I see India struggling with that, they’ve just never become a strong player. Maybe that will changed, but I think other places will beat them to the punch.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

Do the European model companies make their stuff in China?

PHall Wrote:
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> Do the European model companies make their stuff
> in China?

It depends on what exactly you buy. European model manufacturing is certainly as China Centric as in the USA.

Märklin and Minitrix moved some production to China a decade ago with mixed results. Passenger cars are still made there, but most locomotives come from Hungary now.

Piko makes their G scale and some H0 in Germany and the N scale and the rest come from China.

Kato comes from Japan of course.

In the last few years, I've had Fleischmann locomotives and cars from Vietnam and a HobbyTrain locomotive from South Korea.