Point Pedro
February 2006 Newsletter
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As many of you no doubt noticed, this site was down from early April until Labor Day 2005 in order to take a long needed break and try to get caught up on a number of things in both the business and personal realms. Had another six months been taken that might have happened but at least some progress has been made and our distributors were kept in stock during the time the site was down.
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
A question received while in attendance at the Amherst Railway Society's annual show in West Springfield, Mass. prompted a view of our website and its' features during this past week. What was found was that the link between the site and our normal mailbox had somehow become disabled. The result of this was that any communications or orders placed through the website since last Labor Day went no further than the website and the problem simply was not noticed. The problem has been found, addressed and corrected and is something that I now know to watch for in the future, or at least check periodically. All product inquiries received during the period the link was broken have been responded to and all orders received have been shipped. I apologize for any inconvenience this "service failure" may have caused.
No one likes price increases but sometimes they become necessary. When our line of Pullman Parts was established with the #200 and #201 windows back in 1986 we determined that a price of $3.95 was adequate to recover the costs of tooling over a few years, cover other expenses associated with offering such items for sale, earn enough to cover the costs of additional tooling required for similar needed items and, perhaps, earn a profit. That proved true for the first ten years or so. In recent years, however, the costs of tooling required for additional items has gone up quite a bit. The reasons for this, as I see them, are twofold. First, tooling costs have increased far more than any other factor involved. Second, the underbody detail parts, in particular, are much more complicated to create tooling for than any of the windows have been. The combination of those two factors has raised the cost to add new items dramatically, in fact to the point where at least one toolmaker suggested I was "nuts" to be offering such items at $3.95 per package. This is particularly true for anything sold through the normal distribution network. So there you have it. Effective September 1st the retail price of our #230, #231, #251, #252, #255 and #256 underbody detail parts were all increased to $4.95 per package. Hopefully, over the next year or so this change will generate enough additional revenue to cover the cost of additional tooling we would like to undertake. Given the increased level of interest seen in "standard era" passenger cars over the last year or so, and the number of newer offering out there crying out for better underbody detailing, it is certainly hoped that this proves to be the case.
Among the new items that new tooling needs to be made for are windows in sets duplicating most that we already offer, but made to enable modelers to make conversions to the newer Branchline and Walthers cars in the same way our present windows have been used with the Rivarossi cars for nearly twenty years. One of the things that has been done during our break was to determine whether or not one new set like the #200 windows, for example, could be offered for both the Branchline and the Walthers cars, or whether two separate new sets would be required. We have found that one set for each style of window will do and have asked our lead toolmaker for window molds to prepare quotes for tooling to duplicate our #200, #201, #202 and #205 windows with windows made to match these newer, and more accurate, heavyweight cars. So that is what we have in mind. How quickly these newer windows will be offered will depend both on cost and the level of sales for our existing products.
Decals are another type of item in which we have experienced increases in cost over the past few years. In fact the increases in cost for decals are by far the largest we have faced. Not only have the costs risen dramatically, there are far fewer businesses left that will print decals. This is particularly so if one insists on quality workmanship. In trying to arrange reprinting of our #603 G.P.E.X. Milk Car Decals for Northeastern Lessees, for example, one source quoted a price that was higher the $7.95 we have charged per set!! Another source that quoted a more reasonable cost, and seemed able to provide a quality print job, was sent a large deposit check and the camera-ready artwork for the reprinting. After waiting six months we gave up and requested the return of our materials and funds. At this point we have two sets that need to be reprinted in addition to some new sets that we need a first printing of. It is time to look overseas. In the meantime, given what we are facing, all in stock decals have been increased in price to $9.95 per set effective immediately. Please note, however, that each set will still letter a minimum of six locomotives or cars. Thus they are still a bargain on that basis as well as being the most accurate decals for the prototypes they were designed for.
Over the years we have tried to be available to our customers by regular mail, telephone and, more recently, e-mail to answer questions and offer advice and/or assistance when needed. Lately, however, we have found that some folks feel that we are supposed to be available twenty-four hours a day to assist them. As you can imagine, that has meant that the telephone has rung at some rather odd, and downright inconvenient, hours. So, we ask that if you have a question regarding a product or its use, or if you need some advice or assistance with some project, that you make e-mail the primary method of contact. On most days that will get you the quickest response as well. And thank you to the number of you who have called slightly out of what might be considered "normal" business hours over the years and have been thoughtful and courteous enough to ask if it was a convenient time.
G.P.E.X. Milk Tank Cars - Some Progress, Finally!
One of several things that really frustrated me late in 2004 and through the first eleven months of 2005 was an inability to complete the master required for our one piece, cast resin body for the 1925 style of General American - Pfaudler Corp. milk tank cars in HO scale. A master was completed in November 2004 but I was not satisfied with some alignment of the parts. For personal use it might have been acceptable but as the master for copies that were to be sold I did not feel it was up to the standards we have tried to maintain in this business. Not having enough extras of the parts from which the master was made, an ACC debonding agent was tried, without success, to separate the components, so an entire new start had to be made. One year later, however, the master has finally been completed and the first shipment of bodies has been received. Some of these were displayed recently at the Amherst Rwy. Society show in West Springfield, Mass. It was pleasing to note that 95% of those who viewed the samples thought they were injection molded because the detail was reproduced so well and everything was square and aligned the way it should be on a good model. Please note; these bodies are not cast from the usual white, yellow or cream colored urethane resin used by some model manufacturers who should know better. Ours are cast using a commercial grade casting resin that is a bit more expensive but provides far superior results.
We now await the arrival of trucks, which are expected in about ten weeks, during which we should be able to obtain laser cut roof walks as well. The price, which has not been firmly established to date, is expected to be $35 to $40 WITH appropriate trucks. Readers should note that this car is NOT a duplicate of the recent disaster introduced as a milk car by InterMountain, nor the somewhat better milk car introduced by Walthers, nor even the great milk car model now being shipped by Athearn. The Athearn car is by far the best of the three but is a model of an M.D.T. constructed car that was contemporary to the car which we will offer. We fully expect the cars to be available at this year's Milk Train Meet on 20 and 21 May 2006 in Montpelier, Vt. Anyone with an interest in milk trains or milk cars that does not already have information on this year's meet is urged to contact N.E.R.S. for full details.
All for now. Happy modeling!
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