Time for some current information.
The passing year started completely different from how it began: quietly. The Czech car models had been delivered and we were all waiting together for the Marschbahn trains in H0 and the Czech dining cars as well as the cars from the EC 100 in orange/grey. And waited.
Various circumstances in China meant that the factory could only work two or three days a week, and so the delivery dates were repeatedly postponed. In addition, from late summer onward, there were imponderables in the transport to Europe. You will have followed this here and there in the news.
In October, the delivery started. And what happened was what you try to avoid as a small company: everything came at once. A challenge for the warehouse, for shipping and communication. But a lot could be managed before Christmas. Then, shortly before Christmas, there was a setback in our shipping department due to illness. We are currently lagging behind the targets we set ourselves and are running at half speed. Shipping times have been greatly extended. We are currently organizing a short-term interim solution until our shipping department is working at 100% again. Therefore, I ask all those who are still waiting for a package for a little patience. And all who are still waiting for the invoice for the order as well.
On the other hand, the models have been very well received, some are already sold out. There will be a re-release of the Marschbahn cars. And also for the EC 100 we are doing a small re-release – different from what we thought. After rather moderate pre-order numbers, this one was practically sold out after only a few days.
Meanwhile, the DE2700 diesel locomotive is making progress, for which a separate article will be published soon. In January, we will make completely new sound recordings for the locomotive family on the living object together with the electronics supplier ESU. We expect the locomotive to be delivered in April/May 2022. Further variants are in preparation.
An outlook on 2022
2022 is planned to be a somewhat quieter year. Our Czech cars continue to be delivered, as well as the marschbahn cars in the NOB version. Another variant is being prepared. In addition, we will of course use our existing molds to offer the Czech supplementary cars for the blue and white EuroCity trains. And we can make even more out of them.
I would like to thank you for your loyalty, your patience and your interest in our models in the past year, and I look forward to you taking a look at our assortment in 2022 as well. There will always be news.
I wish you a happy new year 2022
Christian Arndt
ASM