Hobbytrain / Lemke website -big announcement in October?

[to2leo]

Hi, as many of you know, I am interested in Kato's European trains too.

 

Recently there has been a number of announcements from Hobbytrain / Lemeke but its traditional website has been down for a while except for a statement saying, ' watch for something in October.'  I tried to type in all the words printed there but Google Translate is no help this time from German to English.

http://www.lemkecollection.de/

 

So I am wondering if anyonecan shed light into what Hobbytrain / Lemke is doing to its website, to its products?

 

While we are at it, I am wondering if all brands listed on the website have some sort of partnership with Kato? And what's the difference between each of them?

Hobbytrain

Lemke

Minis

ACME

LS Models Exclusive

Heljan

Electrotren

[Martijn Meerts]

Just says they're working on a new webpage which is expected to go online in October.

[harukablue]

 

Hobbytrain

Lemke

Minis

ACME

LS Models Exclusive

Heljan

Electrotren

 

 

 

Hobbytrain,,Kato N scale European

Lemke,,Not too sure but have seen HO models of German prototypes

ACME,,Italian maker in HO of mostly Italian trains

LS Models,,Belgian based company with mostly French and BeNeLux models in HO

Heljan,,Scandinavian HO and UK OO models but if you dangle your dollars at Heljan they will make anything for anyone, very popular here in the UK with some of the larger model shops having models made specifically for them by heljan see these for examples :-

 

http://www.ehattons.com/stocklist/results.aspx?searchfield=140+heljan+oo    (class 14 just for Hattons only)

http://www.oliviastrains.co.uk/shop.asp?crit=EM1

 

Electrotren,,,Owned by Hornby mostly HO spanish models

[keiman]

Just Looked at my  Plasser & Theurer Tamper unit  and the box says Hobbytrain by Lemke Collection

[Claude_Dreyfus]

MiNis make a very nice range of German road vehicles, mainly lorries and predominantly from the 1950s/60s.

 

Lemke/Hobbytrain are pretty pricy, but produce mainly German stuff, although they do the Danish Nohab diesels. The Kato Eurostar is now produced under the aupicies of Lemke...although only the basic 8-car set. The add-ons are still eagerly awaited by many modellers...except those that can sell their add-on sets on Ebay for £100+ for 4 cars! Perhaps their biggest seller is the Euro class 66 (which was produced to 1/160), in all manner of liveries.

 

As mentioned, the popular Tamper unit is a Hobbytrain set.

 

Lemke also make some of the interesting DB road/rail busses, as well as the VW maintenance van on rails.

 

Heljan have goe nuts for the UK market recently, producing a number of 00 and 0 gauge locomotives and wagons. They are a Danish manufacturer, who were chiefly known for their structures kits; which were also available in N.

[to2leo]

Thanks for the info.  I cannot wait for the relaunch of the website.

 

The only Hobbytrain I have is Set A of the SBB IC2000 set, I was too late to get the set B and am feeling that it will go to the way of Kato Eurostar Add-on set.

 

I am still keeping my hopes up, hopefully the re-launch will bring some good news. 

[IST]

Hobbytrain released the Hungarian MÃV and GySEV Class 1047 ("Taurus") locomotives also. Not the best constructions as I know, far away from Kato quality.

ACME will release the Hungarian V63 type electric loco in H0.

[to2leo]

Hobbytrain released the Hungarian MÃV and GySEV Class 1047 ("Taurus") locomotives also. Not the best constructions as I know, far away from Kato quality.

ACME will release the Hungarian V63 type electric loco in H0.

 

Speaking about Siemens Taurus, the next generation BR193 Vectron will be available from Hobbytrain/Lemke soon for 134.98 EURO and up. 

Yikes so expensive.

[Guest ___]

It better not be an announcement that Denny's is bring back the Grand Slam, becasue if ti is, I'm going to be greatly disappointed. 

[scott]

Yikes so expensive.

 

I know! I mean, why is a Kato Re460 $168 on Plaza Japan, when a Kato EF81 is $58 to $64?!?

[Martijn Meerts]

Yikes so expensive.

 

I know! I mean, why is a Kato Re460 $168 on Plaza Japan, when a Kato EF81 is $58 to $64?!?

 

Because over time the EF81 gets produced in numbers with 7 digits, whereas the RE460 is lucky to reach the 5 digit mark =)

[scott]

Wow--I guess I didn't understand that. Is the Japanese market really big enough that they can sell *millions* of EF81s? (I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that nearly all the Japanese models are sold in Japan.)

 

That would mean that the Euro-rail scene (I assume including North America, Europe, Japan, and other places) would be much smaller than the Japanese scene just within Japan, I guess.

[Martijn Meerts]

I believe at some point someone mentioned there are some 9 millions model railroaders in Japan, of which some 95% are N-scale. If that's true, the Japanese N-scale market is massive compared to anything else :)

 

Also, the EF81 (just to use that example again) is available in multiple variation with multiple running numbers, and re-released regularly. European trains at least seldomly change the running number, so people tend to get max. 1 locomotive of each type. Creating a new paint scheme or new lettering job on a model is obviously much cheaper than creating all new tooling.

[David]

It's not just a numbers game, it's a market game. You don't sell at the cheapest price you can, you sell at the highest price you can without competitors undercutting you (and in the majority of markets "competitors" are willing to keep prices stable to avoid whats called a race to the bottom, like what happened with the airline industry).

 

In the case of model trains, the Japanese expect low prices on domestic trains (and there is a big enough market that a new player could easily steal business if prices inflated too much). The North American market has slightly higher price expectations, while the European market has been convinced that $15 worth of plastic from Bachmann is worth $150.

 

Even in the Japanese market the pricing game exists - look at the prices of "foreign" trains. You'll pay a lot more for a Kato SD40 from Kato Japan, then buying the same Kato SD40 (after it has been shipped half way around the world) from Kato USA. It's all about market expectations.

[scott]

Would somebody please tell Kato that I expect a Postbus-livery Re460 for $50? 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

I have heard tell that there are more Japanese N gauge modellers than all the railway modellers in the UK.... It was even suggested that the number of railway modellers in Japan was greater than that in Europe.

 

True? Don't know, but we are talking huge volumes. A UK manufacturer would celebrate shifting 10,000 models of a particular locomotive...I was told that the Japanese would drop a model if it sold so badly!

[harukablue]

You have to remember the who rail hobby not just models is massive in Japan, where else can you buy a rail employee uniform for your barbie doll,..On the other hand thats why my Japanese HO models cost in the region on 50% greater than if a European model and 100% that of a KATO US model.

[to2leo]

Alright I am getting annoyed with all these teasing from Lemke.

http://www.lemkecollection.de/

 

Today, I notice Vectron is available to be seen on Flickr and some of the model names are stylized such as HObbytraiN MiNis and Lemke Collection.

 

There's even a Facebook page now.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lemke/122957744419878?v=info

 

It looks like a little clarification with its product lines:

HObbytraiN = N & HO Trains

MINIS = N Scale Vehicles

Kato/Lemke = N & HO Trains

Lemke = N & HO Exclusive or Limited Editions

[to2leo]

Just a little update for HObbytraiN.

 

According to my fav hobby store from Germany, the replenishment of the fast sold out SBB IC2000 coaches and cab car will be delayed yet again until the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011.

 

At this rate, I think HObbytraiN should consider re-releasing the whole SBB IC2000 set again at the Nuremburg Toy Fair in Feb 2011.

[to2leo]

Alright the website is finally up and running!

It is looking very promising!

www.lemkecollection.de/

 

excited about the following release

ACME Zugset ETR600 Spur N Frecciaagrento Ep.VI Trenitalia

Lemke Kato TGV NEW Thalys 10-tlg.

 

Too bad the pics are too small for my taste, but it is a good start!

[cteno4]

ahh looks like the rest of the MOW set is going to be released!

 

the first $120 set of 3 flats did not sell well in japan i guess as they are now on sale at HS. The brought the tamper and cars to Japan at European pricing so im not surprised they did not sell well at all. the japanese price for the tamper was twice what i paid to have it imported from europe when released (that was on a pre-order, the price jumped when it was released).

 

bill had some numbers awhile back on japanese modeling numbers but 9 million sounds right as i remember i have heard numbers like 1 in 10 thrown around as well, although that does sound high. if 9 million is true then i would expect japanese n scale to equal the whole of the rest of the world perhaps and maybe in total. i have always wanted to see about finding some numbers on modeling.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[clem24]

LOL I am dying for that 2 x 4 car Eurostar sets and I refuse to pay their current going price on eBay hehehe.

[Tecchan]

ACME Zugset ETR600 Spur N Frecciaagrento Ep.VI Trenitalia

 

They will also have the SBB one!

 

And I stil dream about the ICN...

[ToniBabelony]

I'm still eagerly awaiting the release of the Stadtbahn N/M types :3 I hope they will be affordable (under €100~150).

[Jes]

I'm still eagerly awaiting the release of the Stadtbahn N/M types :3 I hope they will be affordable (under €100~150).

 

Back in October, I made an enquiry when these would be released. Their guess was they would need about 5 to 6 months at that point to finish them.