[TJSmith]

I’m not really sure why the following is considered wrong:

What happens to the trademarks, name and other IP when MTH closes and sells off piecemeal.

Currently Atlas has agreed to purchase the molds for the diesels and rolling stock, not sure it is just Premier or RK or both. They also acquired the license to either produce or just use the DCS system. That leaves the steamer lines,perhaps RK, buildings, track systems, accessories and other electronic devices like transformers.

So if the steamer lines are sold off, RK and all the other lines as well will there be competing companies with the access to the name, IP etc. That would set up a very interesting scenario.

Would those who purchase a product line market it like Bachmann does with the Williams line. “Williams by Bachmann”. Will it be “MTH” by Atlas or has that already taken place with their first offering a passenger line.

Any ideas and BTW does anyone see anything wrong with this post. It is train related and in my opinion not inflammatory.

 

[beachhead2]

Have you been reprimanded? I'm not sure why you think this is controversial. We can speculate about what remains of MTH but we don't know. There has been no announcement regarding the future of RailKing or the steamers, etc. so we don't know if the name "MTH" will carry on.

 

[TJSmith]

Have you been reprimanded? I'm not sure why you think this is controversial. We can speculate about what remains of MTH but we don't know. There has been no announcement regarding the future of RailKing or the steamers, etc. so we don't know if the name "MTH" will carry on.

Not here but I posted it on the other forum and it got immediately delete. When I sent an e-mail asking why I was basically told to F off. Also they insist I subscribe to the mag.

 

[beachhead2]

Not here but I posted it on the other forum and it got immediately delete. When I sent an e-mail asking why I was basically told to F off. Also they insist I subscribe to the mag.

Yeah, they can be a little arbitrary and draconian.

 

[Norton]

No worries on steam or most of the remaining MTH O scale. Former employess are taking over that and also parts plus DCS. Source includes one the principles involved. As for what the divisions already sold off not sure what they will be called. I suspect the buyers will continue to mention MTH but thats just speculation.

Pete

 

[Streamliner]

To the OP, try posting your topic on OGR. The crazies who run that site would have to call an emergency meeting of all their old FAxT, wannabe “executives,“ to decide what sort of punishment they should dole out to you. They can never be too careful, or someone on the boards over there might actually enjoy themselves and they can’t have that!

May everyone here have a wonderful Easter,

Allen Drucker

 

[Big Ed]

Not here but I posted it on the other forum and it got immediately delete. When I sent an e-mail asking why I was basically told to F off. Also they insist I subscribe to the mag.

So did you subscribe to the magazine?

Mainly here, is just, No talk about Politics.
Though some may try to add politics, the threads end up in jail quickly.

 

[Lee Willis]

To be blunt, they are asses over there, with a lot of zeal and apparently lots time on their heavy hands to edit their forum with those heavy hands, and perhaps an exaggreated sense of their own importance. But it is their forum, and their mag, so I just mostly avoid both. I dont' subscribe either: the magzine is even more heavily a pro-advertiser forum for news, very biased and so I hardly expect it to provide objective news and infomration about our hobby.

To answer your question, I expect that Atlas will stick with its own label on models it brings out using the MTH tooling, just like Lionel does now with tooling it got from K-Line years ago. The 4-6-6 tank engine released some time back was made with tooling originally made by K-Line, but now tooling owned by Lionel. Lionel called a Lionel product, not a "K-Line by Lionel" product. I expect Atlas will do the same type of approach.

 

[Old_Hobo]

To the OP, try posting your topic on OGR. The crazies who run that site would have to call an emergency meeting of all their old FAxT, wannabe “executives,“ to decide what sort of punishment they should dole out to you. They can never be too careful, or someone on the boards over there might actually enjoy themselves and they can’t have that!

May everyone here have a wonderful Easter,

Allen Drucker

The forum that the OP was talking about was OGR.....

 

[Old_Hobo]

Though some may try to add politics, the threads end up in jail quickly.

As should all politicians....

 

[Streamliner]

The forum that the OP was talking about was OGR.....

You got me, I had not caught that. My bad.

 

[Old_Hobo]

Atlas bought the H.O. scale True Line Trains operation, and as far as I know, they are starting to release those cars under the Atlas name.....no indication that they are the old True Line Trains cars....

 

[Lehigh74]

Not unusual for a thread to be deleted at OGR. Or to have one closed that you are getting ready to respond to.

I posted a thread on OGR about LED lighting for MTH premier passenger cars on the 3-Rail Scale forum. An hour or so later it wasn’t there. I thought maybe I had forgotten to hit the PUBLISH button so I posted it again. It disappeared again, but not before someone (not an OGR staffer) said it should be in the Electrical forum. So, I posted it a third time (in the Electrical forum) and it finally stuck. It’s bad enough that they delete threads frequently, but even worse that they don’t bother to give you a reason for the deletion. In my case I figured out that it had been deleted twice, because Alan thought it should be in the Electrical forum and not 3-rail Scale. Over here, John would have just moved it.

OGR gets paid by sponsors (Lionel, MTH, Scaled Automation, etc.) and if you post something that might offend one of the sponsors, there is a good chance it will be deleted. In your case, Alan probably thought your thread might offend MTH.

 

[Lee Willis]

Bob - There are people over there with way too much time and not enough to do, when they spend time worrying about such things. They really ought to get a life and something meaningful to do. And in many cases they are wrong, too. Your experience with that LED lighting is a perfect example. Yes, one could argue that it goes in an electrical section because it deals with wiring lights, but LED lighting and replacement is also both an esthetic issue, what and how it changes the look, and a manufacturer issue for the scale - all about MTH. I'd want it where I would look for it: in the O-Guage section.

 

[Lehigh74]

There are people over there with way too much time and not enough to do...

Too much time on their hands? I don’t think so. 😉 They always say they are too busy to let you know why your thread was deleted. Too busy to edit a post so they just delete it.

 

[cv_acr]

Atlas bought the H.O. scale True Line Trains operation, and as far as I know, they are starting to release those cars under the Atlas name.....no indication that they are the old True Line Trains cars....

Not exactly... they bought some/a majority of the TLT models/tooling, not the whole company/operation. There are certain things they didn't get or at least were conspicuously absent from the purchase announcement.

Whether Atlas uses any of the old MTH branding (and likely not considering their past history of acquisitions) would depend on whether they actually acquired the rights to the name or not. It sounds to me like the MTH assets are basically being "parted out" to those companies that are interested. Atlas acquiring some of the O scale assets, ScaleTrains acquired the HO assets, etc.

But no, you won't have multiple companies bringing out models under the same name, because a brand is also a specific asset, that will either be acquired or retained by a specific party.

A number of years ago Walthers bought all the Life-Like trains assets, and the L-L "Proto 2000" brand become "Walthers Proto".

Atlas bought the various plastic rolling stock models from Branchline Trains, but released them under their own brand and Branchline Trains actually still exists but focused their product line on their laser-cut wood structure kits.

Walthers sold their N scale rolling stock to Atlas, which naturally just gets re-released under Atlas's brand since both companies are still active.

TLT is essentially defunct, but Atlas acquired a good chunk of their tooling, but not necessarily all of it. These are coming out under Atlas's standard branding.

I imagine the same for the MTH acquisitions, unless they fully acquired the rights to the "RailKing" brand name. There's a "chance" they could use that to split up some product lines in their O-scale catalog, but I would not expect to ever see the "MTH" brand anywhere...

 

[peterbilt379]

I have to agree with Lee. They are really a bunch of [email protected]#%*#@S over on OGR. Got pssed at me cause of the american flag in my profile. Being a, vet It pssed me off that they threw me off. Did me a favor.

 

[Lehigh74]

A bit harsh, I think. While it’s completely understandable that you got pissed, I see their forum as a way to support the printed magazine. The print media is a tough industry these days. I have lost several of my auto magazines in the last few years and my favorite monthly has turned into a bi monthly piece of junk.

I once went to work for a guy that was known to be a jerk. Many employees hated working there, but one said he had no problems with the boss. He told me to just know what the guidelines are and stay within them. Same thing with OGR. Don’t trash or offend their paid sponsors. Don’t use words like pissed or lash up.

It’s actually a good resource for fixes, tips and tricks. But if you want complain about a problem with one of their sponsor’s products, do it at MTF, not OGR.

 

[Old_Hobo]

Not exactly... they bought some/a majority of the TLT models/tooling, not the whole company/operation. There are certain things they didn't get or at least were conspicuously absent from the purchase announcement

I stand corrected......I shouldn’t have used the word “operation”......to clarify, here is the actual announcement that was on the Atlas web-site....

Hillside, NJ – Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc. is proud to announce that it has purchased certain molds and tooling from True Line Trains of Ontario, Canada.

Models in this acquisition include in HO scale the C-Liner and RS18 Locomotives, the Slab Side Covered Hopper, the 50' Newsprint Freight Car, the Fowler Stock Car, the Bulkhead Flat Car, the CN/CP Caboose and the 40' AAR Box Car. In N scale, Atlas has acquired the C424 and GP9 Locomotives.

"True Line Trains made some great models over the years that we are excited to now produce under the Atlas name," said Paul Graf, CEO of Atlas. "They will fit right in with the other high quality model railroad products we make in HO & N scale."

The first model to be run from the new tooling will be the HO Slab Side Covered Hopper, which can be found in the August/September 2020 All Scales Catalog.

Formerly known as Life-Like of Canada, True Line Trains was started in 2003 after the purchase of Life-Like by Walthers. They produced HO and N scale models of Canadian and US prototypes.

 

[TJSmith]

I would not have categorized my post as a complaint but rather one seeking information. Now if I had said if MTH were a profitable company they would have had a buyer or the ability to set up an ESOP. But like Weaver that is not the case.