RE: Eighty-three versions of AMS J&S coaches!
There's no argument that Accucraft's customer service is very good. Unfortunately, they've seemed to have taken railroading modeling to a whole new level, in that their delivery schedule seems to be tied directly to Amtrak's. Some of their products have been two years or more late--products for which they have taken cash deposits. Paying a company a chunk of change and then having them perennially tell you "next year" gets a bit unsettling after a while. Add to that the products which seem to "butt in line" -- announced later, produced earlier, and you can see where the average customer might get a touch frustrated. They make great stuff, and I'm not going to presuppose anything about how they do business, but it's not the way I'd run the railroad.
The truth is that EVERY train manufacturer is plagued by this to one degree or another. Aristo-Craft's been planning a 2-8-0 for how many years (decades)? They're just now getting ready to release it. Bachmann announced the K, then denied it, then announced it, then we waited... Then they didn't announce the Davenport, and we raised holy heck because we found out about it from our friends in Japan who said "hey! Look what I just bought!" The late LGB published an illustration of a plastic K-27 how many catalogs ago, but never produced it despite loud cries of "when, oh when?"
There are two truths in large scale:
1) Until it's on the store shelves, it doesn't exist, regardless of when it was "announced."
2) If you want it that bad, build it yourself.
Later,
K
