Post by TK Dave on Jul 31, 2018 7:29:29 GMT -5
From Harris Hobbies:
Many of you may have heard but a factory in China called AFFA suddenly closed their doors and let everyone go. This has greatly affected a lot of our suppliers like Intermountain, Atlas, Fox Valley, Bowser, etc.
There have been several stories as to the reason for this. No, it wasn’t Trump but the Chinese government. I heard that they are cracking down on being environmentally friendly and the owner got tired of all the new regulations and hassle. He is in his mid-50’s and a millionaire so I guess the “you know what” hit the fan and he had had enough. He just let everyone go and closed the door at the latter part of last week. This hasn’t affected all the companies as not everyone used them. Walthers, Rapido, BLI, MTH and some others are fine.
Micro Engineering and Kadee are made entirely here so no worries.
Please don’t email me (Harris Hobbies) with questions or what product to expect. I am just as surprised as you and don’t know any more than what I heard and am telling here.
I am going to leave all pre-orders listed but from Atlas, Intermountain, Fox Valley, Bowser I wouldn’t hold my breath. I have some product that I have held back that over the next week or two will go on the website. Still not going to build that layout so I had rather see someone else get enjoyment out of it. No list as I haven’t decided what so just keep checking the website from time to time. I will also send out an email when I add some items. Pretty much all the narrow gauge went to two people and I hope they are enjoying it. What I have in narrow gauge is on the website. A few locomotives that have been sold out at Blackstone so when they are gone they are gone.
Here is an email from Atlas.
Dear Atlas Distributors & Dealers,
Atlas has received notification from one of our locomotive and rolling stock suppliers that they have closed their factory. (Please note Atlas track and accessories are NOT affected by this delay.) Atlas is currently working with our network of suppliers to transfer the projects to others for completion. This will cause a delay in some previously ordered products. We apologize for this delay, thank you for your continued support, and will update you with more information as it becomes available. Please address any questions you may have to your Atlas sales representative.
Email from Fox Valley
Good Morning,
Over the weekend, news broke that a large supplier of model trains in China has closed its doors. Fox Valley Models has used this factory for a large portion of our products. As of today, there is no clear path that will resume production in short order, or an easy way to move projects. With this news, we must reluctantly list all previously announced products as Postponed/Cancelled. If projects can be moved, it will take a number of months to do so, and then get a new factory up to speed on our projects will take even more time. We will keep all previously recorded pre-orders on file. If a resolution presents itself over the next few months, we will reconfirm specific projects as they get close (well into next year at best). If this process takes and extended time, it may be best to re-announce each project.
This is an unexpected and sudden development. We recently received paint samples for new projects and had the indication that many of our orders were moving forward. We were looking forward to getting back to work after our extended summer trip with our son. Sadly this is not the case. But we will keep moving forward.
For now, we still have a good selection of recent N Scale locos and cars available. We have a few projects at another factory that will now be our focus while things get resolved. We started as a small model company before, and will continue on. We sincerely apologize to everyone who was looking forward to announced releases and greatly appreciate your patience and understanding as we move forward through this unexpected interruption. We will share news and new products as they become available. Thank you.
Best regards,
Matt Gaudynski
Jack & Paula Harris
Many of you may have heard but a factory in China called AFFA suddenly closed their doors and let everyone go. This has greatly affected a lot of our suppliers like Intermountain, Atlas, Fox Valley, Bowser, etc.
There have been several stories as to the reason for this. No, it wasn’t Trump but the Chinese government. I heard that they are cracking down on being environmentally friendly and the owner got tired of all the new regulations and hassle. He is in his mid-50’s and a millionaire so I guess the “you know what” hit the fan and he had had enough. He just let everyone go and closed the door at the latter part of last week. This hasn’t affected all the companies as not everyone used them. Walthers, Rapido, BLI, MTH and some others are fine.
Micro Engineering and Kadee are made entirely here so no worries.
Please don’t email me (Harris Hobbies) with questions or what product to expect. I am just as surprised as you and don’t know any more than what I heard and am telling here.
I am going to leave all pre-orders listed but from Atlas, Intermountain, Fox Valley, Bowser I wouldn’t hold my breath. I have some product that I have held back that over the next week or two will go on the website. Still not going to build that layout so I had rather see someone else get enjoyment out of it. No list as I haven’t decided what so just keep checking the website from time to time. I will also send out an email when I add some items. Pretty much all the narrow gauge went to two people and I hope they are enjoying it. What I have in narrow gauge is on the website. A few locomotives that have been sold out at Blackstone so when they are gone they are gone.
Here is an email from Atlas.
Dear Atlas Distributors & Dealers,
Atlas has received notification from one of our locomotive and rolling stock suppliers that they have closed their factory. (Please note Atlas track and accessories are NOT affected by this delay.) Atlas is currently working with our network of suppliers to transfer the projects to others for completion. This will cause a delay in some previously ordered products. We apologize for this delay, thank you for your continued support, and will update you with more information as it becomes available. Please address any questions you may have to your Atlas sales representative.
Email from Fox Valley
Good Morning,
Over the weekend, news broke that a large supplier of model trains in China has closed its doors. Fox Valley Models has used this factory for a large portion of our products. As of today, there is no clear path that will resume production in short order, or an easy way to move projects. With this news, we must reluctantly list all previously announced products as Postponed/Cancelled. If projects can be moved, it will take a number of months to do so, and then get a new factory up to speed on our projects will take even more time. We will keep all previously recorded pre-orders on file. If a resolution presents itself over the next few months, we will reconfirm specific projects as they get close (well into next year at best). If this process takes and extended time, it may be best to re-announce each project.
This is an unexpected and sudden development. We recently received paint samples for new projects and had the indication that many of our orders were moving forward. We were looking forward to getting back to work after our extended summer trip with our son. Sadly this is not the case. But we will keep moving forward.
For now, we still have a good selection of recent N Scale locos and cars available. We have a few projects at another factory that will now be our focus while things get resolved. We started as a small model company before, and will continue on. We sincerely apologize to everyone who was looking forward to announced releases and greatly appreciate your patience and understanding as we move forward through this unexpected interruption. We will share news and new products as they become available. Thank you.
Best regards,
Matt Gaudynski
Jack & Paula Harris
