The author recently emailed Accurail (original website and new website) concerning the possibility of their adding flatcars to their line of products. He received a comprehensive reply today from one of the production managers thanking him for the email and giving apologies. He stated that flatcars were the most requested item and there had been discussions about manufacturing them.
Unfortunately their head toolmaker (one of the Accurail owners) passed away earlier this year and there is absolutely no way they could afford to hire a full time toolmaker at present.
So, there you have it. That is the reason there are no flatcars in their lineup. It will probably be a while before we see new tooling from them at all.
It is the author's belief that the Accurail line of products, most importantly at their price point, allows the new hopeful young model railroader to enter the hobby at an affordable level. As most, if not all, of you know, at the current price of new rolling stock ($40 and up) and passenger cars (anywhere from $45 to $120 or more) it is a difficult (read as expensive) hobby the get into. Don't even bring motive power costs into the conversation.
Let's hope (with the recent closing of manufacturers, brick and mortar hobby shops, etc.) Accurail continues to produce their products and we continue to get younger modelers into the fold.
If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it
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