My mail-order pusher has acquired some reefers;

(from Intermountain some of the RTR SFRD reefers)
(Cars are Rr28 Texas Chief with a reweight date of 11-48 and
Rr32 SF Chief with a reweight date of 4-55;
(6 numbers each, $22.45 each)

Private email and will give interested parties the information.

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS

Many thanks guys. Do all of the models listed have the plug door? Would
anyone have a data sheet for the series that could be scanned or e-mailed to
the list? You are all rather cryptic about Sunshine's modus operandi - I
appreciate its probably a small-scale "craftsman kit" operation but is there any
fundamental reason for their slowness and indeed their failure to answer
questions that would clearly lead to the selling of more kits. No e-mail; no
web-site; no telephone number even; it's all a bit archaic.

...fundamental reason for their slowness and indeed their failure to answer
questions that would clearly lead to the selling of more kits. No
e-mail; no web-site; no telephone number even; it's all a bit archaic.

When you are so overwhelmed with orders that you are running 4-6 months
behind in filling them, keeping a very low profile might be a good idea.

Jim Hayes
Portland OR

marcuj10 <jonathan.marcus@... wrote:
You are all rather cryptic about Sunshine's modus operandi - I
appreciate its probably a small-scale "craftsman kit" operation but is there any
fundamental reason for their slowness and indeed their failure to answer
questions that would clearly lead to the selling of more kits. No e-mail; no
web-site; no telephone number even; it's all a bit archaic.
====================

What I do is hand a message to the conductor on the "Flyer," and at Springfield, he gives it to one of the little boys who hangs around the depot. He takes it on his bicycle up to Martin's house, for which service he is compensated with a bottle of Moxie or an Eskimo Pie.

Now THAT'S archaic!

Scott Pitzer

In a message dated 3/4/2004 12:07:54 AM Pacific Standard Time,
scottp459@... writes:
any
fundamental reason for their slowness and indeed their failure to answer
questions that would clearly lead to the selling of more kits. No e-mail; no
web-site; no telephone number even; it's all a bit archaic.
Jonathan-A simple answer to your question is that Sunshine is selling more
kits than they can make it this time. Unless Martin is willing to expand his
business, that is how it will remain.
Paul Lyons
Oceanside, CA

Someone writes, about Sunshine Models:

............any
fundamental reason for their slowness and indeed their failure to

answer

questions that would clearly lead to the selling of more kits. No

e-mail; no

web-site; no telephone number even; it's all a bit archaic.

And Paul Lyons responds:

Jonathan-A simple answer to your question is that Sunshine is

selling more

kits than they can make it this time. Unless Martin is willing to

expand his

business, that is how it will remain.

Martin's workforce has in fact been cut in half in recent years. It
used to be Martin, his wife, and their son and daughter. Now it's
just Martin and Tricia. It's a *very* small business, and Martin
can't afford to stock a lot of unsold merchandise. He does all the
casting, and every minute on the phone, or on-line, would be that
much less time for casting. So he has chosen to remain unavailable.
(I do enpough casting to know that there are times during the
process that you can't stop for anything.)

You'll probably find Martin selling at the Orange Empire Railway
Museum swap meet in Perris, CA tomorrow (March 6) and next Saturday
(March 13) at WinterRail in Stockton. He's also putting on mini-
meets at the Holiday Inn in Monrovia, CA this Sunday (March 7) and
the following Sunday in Pleasanton, CA. If any list members are in
those areas, stop by and say hello to Martin. Just don't expect much
enthusiasm if you hit him with any ideas that "would clearly lead to
the selling of more kits." As Paul says, Martin can't keep up with
the demand as it is.

Tom Madden, not making the CA trip this year

Tom Madden said:

Martin's workforce has in fact been cut in half in recent years. It
used to be Martin, his wife, and their son and daughter. Now it's
just Martin and Tricia. It's a *very* small business . . .

True as far as it goes, Tom, but Martin's son has been a Ph.D. grad student at Florida full-time for several years, and before that did not put in very many hours on resin work, as Martin and Charles both confirm.
Tricia told me a year or two ago that their daughter (a) isn't enthusiastic about resin, (b) needs supervision if she does any work of that kind.
From this I'd conclude that Martin's work force is really not too different than what it's been for several years: Martin doing the masters, molds and castings, Tricia doing the business side. This means, of course, that it's been a pretty tiny business for some time. Anyone who is grumpy about the slow delivery of orders is welcome to spend a vacation week or two in Springfield and help Martin produce parts.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2942 Linden Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

I'm still trying. I have the scanner and have almost mastered it. I'm having
problems with connectivity. My modem doesn't want to stay connected long
enough to send more than a short email or two. But it will stay connected
long enough to receive a handful of incoming messages. Very frustrating. My
future son-in-law keeps pushing me to go with a high speed line and if
things don't improve soon, I may do so in spite of the extra cost that my
wife opposes.

Or maybe I could copy the scanned files to a disk, take it to my daughter
and fianc�e's place and send from there using their high speed line. Well,
at least I have a backup plan now.

Jim