Alex,  in reply to 'Did you ultimately sell all of your cars?'  No, sales were definitely hurt, curiously after the discussion on this list, sales dried up.  There is a definite correlation.

However, I don't blame anyone.  Discussions are great as long as no one purports their opinion as inviolate.  I have years of experience that indicates a bad review on this list, accurate or not, has the same deleterious effect on sales.  As an example, we offered ART R-T-R reefers with black outline heralds and orange body.  We specifically stated in our advertising that the orange faded with time, and that our cars accurately reflected this.  One person on this list, looking only at a thumbnail image on the net, declared them pink, and sales stopped. In order to get the color right, we used Pantone matches for at least 50 photos.  BTW, I co-authored a book on ART reefers and was pretty confident that we had the colors correct. We still have these cars in inventory.

We are a small group using custom cars to fund our museum.  I think we do more due diligence than a lot of manufacturers.  That is one reason you don't see us flooding the market with foobie schemes or 'anniversary' cars. Our gross sales for 2022 were around $10k, which is our all-time high (1995-2023). So, custom car income isn't profitable enough to put on an addition to the museum or restore our Pantex White Train cars.  But they do help pay insurance and utilities.

However, all this being said, we are in the market for one solitary reason to make money.  If I was sure we'd make money I'd sell foobie Thomas The Tank Engine models! 😂

Enough rambling for this Friday.

Jerry Michels

Amarillo Railroad Museum

www,amarillorailmuseum.com



Bill, you wrote:

'Last year a Dever and Fort Worth covered hopper came on the market.  Immediately there was a post that the roof and hoppers should have been been black.  The discussion went on for two weeks.  In the end it was determined that the model was correct for thedelivered car.  inthe mea ti.e ses suffered.'

That was our car, and it raised enough skepticism that sales suffered. But that's the breaks.  We were proved correct in the long run, but not soon enough.  Since the mid-1990s I've found out that if we let people on this forum know about a car we've produced...look out!  BTW, what is that last sentence?

Jerry Michels

Amarillo Railroad Museum

On Jan 19, 2023, at 9:58 PM, Jerry Michels <gjmichels53@...> wrote:



Bill, you wrote:

'Last year a Dever and Fort Worth covered hopper came on the market.  Immediately there was a post that the roof and hoppers should have been been black.  The discussion went on for two weeks.  In the end it was determined that the model was correct for thedelivered car.  inthe mea ti.e ses suffered.'

That was our car, and it raised enough skepticism that sales suffered. But that's the breaks.  We were proved correct in the long run, but not soon enough.  Since the mid-1990s I've found out that if we let people on this forum know about a car we've produced...look out!  BTW, what is that last sentence?

Jerry Michels

Amarillo Railroad Museum