Update from Spring Mills Depot as of (Aug 1st 2018)

Wed Aug 1 18:24:00 EDT 2018

NWHS Modeling Members,

To those who have been wondering where Spring Mills Depot stands in relation to the recent announcement of factory closing in China, particularly given your interest in their N&W Caboose project as well as their other projects like the B&O Wood cabooses and DODX flats. Here is their announcement below.

Steve Smith

Roanoke VA

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To our loyal Spring Mills Depot customers,

We have been sitting on pins and needles for the last four months waiting for progress on our B&O I-5/1/2/3 project.   A couple of days ago, we learned that the factory we used in China has shut down.  This closure was an unanticipated and sudden announcement.  We have made contact with other factories and are actively evaluating options to get our announced projects here as soon as practical.  All of our projects are marked as TBD.  Getting a new factory proficient enough to produce the quality of models that our customers have become accustomed to will take some time.  Additionally, this may alter the order in which they arrive vs when they were announced but we are committed to get them here.  We can’t let a simple factory shutdown get in our way!

Ken and I have been having fun producing high quality model trains and this setback really hasn’t deterred us.  Sure, it is not something we want to be dealing with at the moment but we are pretty resourceful and ambitious.  You can rest assure we will put our heads down and get the job done.

As progress is made and updates are available, we will share the news.  We know some customers will be severely disappointed in hearing this news and it is very regrettable.  We ask for your patience as we take on another hurdle in the marvelous world of making model trains.

Thank you for your understanding and patience!

Bill Carl
Ken Braden

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Today's Topics:

   1. RE: Update on the Springmill Depot preorder of N&W Caboose
      (NW Modeling List)

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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2018 15:46:54 -0500
From: NW Modeling List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
To: "'NW Modeling List'" <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
Subject: RE: Update on the Springmill Depot preorder of N&W Caboose
Message-ID: <mailman.5108.1533085981.6606.nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Russ-

The problem impacts more importers than have been revealed so far and all of them will be without product flow (cash coming in) for six months and probably more than a year in addition having to incur additional expenses to transfer production of their models to another factory.

It isn?t just a matter of moving tooling over to a new shop.  Some of the tooling (including mold bases for the inserts) may have to be built or rebuilt.  Common parts (wheels, fasteners, gears and etc.) will have to be re-engineered and resourced.

Some companies may not be able to survive this development so it is going to be more of a bad thing for the Hobby than a temporary interruption in things for hobbyists to spend money on.

Charlie Vlk

That is not accurate. The closing of the plant for Affatech does not cover every model manufacturer in our hobby. ScaleTrains, Athearn and Rapido are not effected by this closure, and neither is Bachmann. Most of Atlas's locomotives and all of their freight cars are effected by this, but their track is not.

In addition to Bowser, Intermountain, Fox Valley Models, Walthers, Tangent and Exactrail are also supposedly effected, with none of them other than Bowser making any full and formal statements at this point. Yes it is disappointing that the plant has closed, but "KK" has decided to retire and his kids don't want the business.

A couple of years back Athearn went through a similar situation and was down for 6 or 8 months, but was able to get back up and running, so while it is disappointing, the hobby as we know it, isn't going under.

If anything it gives some folks a chance to let their wallets recollect their breath.

Regards

Russ Goodwin

Oakwood, GA

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