Delivery dates on new items is always our best estimate (i.e. guess) based on information the factories provide us, as well as our past experience. We always take the information the factory gives us and add a couple of months for "Murphy's Law" that seem to appear in almost every project somewhere.We desire each project to be up to our exacting standards before we approve its final production.

Notice on Delivery Dates on New items.

     We can not respond to individual Emails asking for information on specific new items. We have done so in the past as a courtesy and then it appears on a Web Forum someplace and we gets dozens of additional Emails asking if the information "is true".

     Our Website pages show the latest "offical word" on Status of new items. We will post new information there so everyone gets it at the same time.

Here is a typical timetable for new Items

     Once a project is "picked" it can take 4-5 months just to gather enough information from Historical Societies, Museums, old books etc. to begin the design stage.

     lst Stage of Creating all the Cad-Cam design drawings usually takes 3-4 months depending on complexity of the project. But once Stage #1 is finished, we usually find Protoype Information we are missing and have to go back and do more research, this can take a couple of more months to get the information and revise the Cad-Cam drawings.

     Once the Cad-Cam drawings are finished we have to "wait out turn" for the Tool room to have an open window to start our project, this might delay the start of tooling for 2 months or so.

     Tooling on average project takes about 4 months, complicated locomotives might take more.

     All of the Con-Cor tooling is made from steel molds, the same kind of molds that are used to manufacture high volume items such as Cell Phones, and it costs about the same to make a mold for a Model Train where we sell only maybe a few thousand, or a Cell phone mold where they sell hundreds of thousands. That is why the mold cost is a very large percentage of our total costs in producting model trains.

     Once we have "test shots" from the molds, we usually find some items that need correcting, these changes can take another 2-3 months.

     Once all molds are approved, the factory will provide us with an "Engineering Sample" where we can double check everything, and still make "tweaks" to improve the model.

     Once the Engineering sample and sample decorations are 100% approved final production usually takes about 3 months.

     Once the models are finished it takes about 1 month for transport to our Tucson warehouse from say for example China.

     Once in our warehouse it takes about two weeks for models to start appearing in the retail stores, or at your front door if you have Pre-Ordered directly from us.

     So you can see, a complicated project such as the M-10000 can take upwards of 18 months from starting out until it reaches your door step.

     Some Mishaps over the years...

     Since we have been around for 47 years some of the "Murphy's Law incidents we have run into:

     Ship looses propeller 1000 miles from Asia at sea. They had to send out ocean going tugboats to tow ship to safe harbor. Delayed our shipment 45 days.

     Crane unloading containers at Long Beach drops another container onto one of ours,crushing container. Not much damage to our cargo, but they had to cut off the doors of the container with torches and wait for insurance company inspection, 30 day delay to us in freight arriving

     UPS Truck with about 50 packages going to dealers of a new item crashes, slides down an embankment and burns. UPS Paid the Insurance claim, but we did not have enough stock left from that new item to re-fill all dealers orders 100%.

     --We could go on, but I think by now you understand delays happen that are well beyound our control.