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 Posted - February 29 2012 : 11:20:44 PM
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It's kinda sad that mantua is my favorite manufacture yet I still don't know why they went out of business. Any help?
I buy, repair, and collect
http://scvr.weebly.com/
http://seyboldlocomotiveworks.weebly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDeputation?feature=watch
Hyde.
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Posted - March 01 2012 : 03:38:25 AM
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SCVR66,as far as i know,mantua ceased trading in 2001,then modelpower started selling the new classics name,what i would like to see is the N-scale Superbowl Express train,and any photos ken
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3612/3325458091_b6b75cc71b_o.jpg
mantua reason for ceasing trade
2001 marked Mantua's 75th anniversary. Sadly it will be there last. Citing "Market Conditions" as the reason, Mantua announced that as of October 31st 2001, they will terminate all business and the company will shut down. Mantua spanned seventy-five years of world history that included a World War and other changes so vast it boggles the imagination. Mantua was a great company and a real trend setter in the early years of model railroading. Unfortunately, things change and now its time to bid a fond farewell to this old friend.
Edited by - catfordken on March 01 2012 09:56:09 AM
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Posted - March 01 2012 : 09:32:37 AM
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well the only thing I has from that Super Bowl Express is the caboose in HO Do want to collect the loco & cars someday 
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Posted - March 01 2012 : 09:37:56 AM
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| no ben was just wanting to hear as to why people did not seem to buy them,quality,scale,power etc ken
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Posted - March 01 2012 : 09:51:26 AM
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Ken ; that is the past they are speaking of. Model power is still making trains for Mantua Classics. Heck they still also release old Marx HO trains.
Frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
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Posted - March 01 2012 : 10:51:20 AM
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quote:no ben was just wanting to hear as to why people did not seem to buy them,quality,scale,power etc ken
Originally posted by catfordken - March 01 2012 : 09:37:56 AM
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Oh that  Well I read it was cost & shipping expences Possibly poor sales
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Posted - March 01 2012 : 10:56:23 PM
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Oh okay, I knew model power continued some mantua steamers, I heard they will remake the 4-4-2, I dont know 100% if thats true but thatd be really cool
I buy, repair, and collect
http://scvr.weebly.com/
http://seyboldlocomotiveworks.weebly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDeputation?feature=watch
Hyde.
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Posted - March 01 2012 : 10:57:16 PM
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Oh okay, I knew model power continued some mantua steamers, I heard they will remake the 4-4-2, I dont know 100% if thats true but thatd be really cool
I buy, repair, and collect
http://scvr.weebly.com/
http://seyboldlocomotiveworks.weebly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDeputation?feature=watch
Hyde.
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Posted - March 02 2012 : 8:15:10 PM
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quote:It's kinda sad that mantua is my favorite manufacture yet I still don't know why they went out of business. Any help?
Originally posted by SCVR66Â -Â February 29 2012Â :Â 11:20:44 PM
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A changing marketplace, poor business decisions or management, the second generation taking over, etc. In the last few years they put a lot of effort into making Franklin Mint knockoffs by putting unpainted brass details and shiny paint schemes on their existing steamers, then selling them as collector's editions at exorbitant prices. Instead, they should have drastically upgraded their line, or simply kept their existing locos as a basic affordable line, while rolling out entirely new, highly detailed models, a-la Bachmann. Manufacturing would probably have had to move to China to compete, but the diesels were being made by Mehano at that point anyway.
In the end, nothing may have saved it. Running a business isn't easy, especially in the hobby industry.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - April 30 2012 : 11:30:30 PM
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Towards "the end", didn't Mantua come out with a lot of items? I seem to recall so many logging steam loco's that I couldn't keep track of. There also always seemed to be the same sable of steam models from decades past.
The F7/9 and GP20 had a new chassis, but a recall thinking the shall sat too high on the frame, so I never owned any to know how it ran. Then again, how many F's and GP20's did the market really need?
The freight and passenger cars always struck me as the same old red (and blue?) box era Tyco/Mantua cars with new paint. Maybe they cornered the civil war era car market, but who was buying?
Maybe they closed up at the "right" time? around 2001, wasn't everything in the industry made in China by then? Maybe management couldn't go to China with such small-ish production items?
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Posted - May 02 2012 : 4:08:30 PM
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Mantua did release some innovative loggers in the 80's and had some success re-releasing the aluminum passenger cars, but their biggest problem was they thy never did improve the look or tooling on any of the holdover locomotives much.
The GP20 got some meaningful drive upgrades but the shell tooling was woefully outdated long before the Proto2K version effectively killed it. Same goes for the steamers: as Nelson said, they couldn't even bother to paint the added brass details. They were quite literally added as afterthoughts and I wouldn't be surprised if as an effort to move unsold old stock.
As for the freight cars, when they spun off from Tyco in the late 70's, they mainly offered promo schemes using Tyco tooling. Then the state series. Finally they bought the old Lindberg freight line, but some of those paint schemes were rather odd choices.
The biggest problem likely was the hangover from the initial success of the NFL sets. They made so many of them the effectively oversaturated the market, but not after deciding the "collectible" market was the one to pursue. Matchbox (by then owned by Tyco, go figure), Franklin Mint, MLB, NHL, etc... all efforts to sell the same old outdated stuff with a new licensing shine. But again, going back to the promo and state car lines, and even some of the names on the re-released Plymouths, they always seemed to rely on "licensing" a bit too heavily. I'm also quite sure they had difficulty distancing themselves from the fallout of Tyco ca. 1968-1978.
I read elsewhere it was the younger Tyler who decided to finally sell out. Given Mantua's niche status, questionable marketing, and lack of real R&D, it was probably the right thing for him to do, but a sad end nonetheless.
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Posted - May 02 2012 : 6:01:48 PM
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Some good points Tony. I noticed even the new "Mantua"'s are like older ones with more stuff added to them too. New motors, new headlights etc etc. I think if they brought back some good engines like the old 40's engines, upgraded some mechanics and more scale like details, Mantua would probaly be at it still. I've noticed there cars are old Tyco toolings. The trucks have a tab where the old "talgo" tab was cut off! Marx also went out of business and there tooling was used by model power and still is used by them for there cars and other engines like the Hustler and the horrible out-of-scale "F2".
" Heck with counting 'em rivets, TRAINS ARE FOR FUN! Not called the Mad Scientist for nothing either!"
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Posted - May 02 2012 : 7:20:45 PM
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Mantua didn't go out of business.
toptrain
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waw47
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Posted - May 02 2012 : 9:29:04 PM
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| I asked the same question to the individual who ran the service department when they closed down. He stated that the company needed to convert their locomotives to DCC in order to compete in the marketplace and that management did not want to make the capital investment .
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Posted - May 02 2012 : 10:33:31 PM
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ohhh okay!! thank you, yes mantua did go out of business they were bought over by model power
I buy, repair, and collect
http://scvr.weebly.com/
http://seyboldlocomotiveworks.weebly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDeputation?feature=watch
Hyde.
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Posted - May 03 2012 : 02:29:25 AM
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Mantua went out of business in 2001 as the Tyler family wanted to retire and relax.....They had bought the company back from the food company thinking they could get back into it. Once they realized that the newer stuff was superceeding the sales racks, they got out of it before they lost their tails on it as they had the base of locomotive detailers for ages.
With that, they couldn't compete, just as Bowser did not all that long ago as aloto f us that do detail work is a dying hobby in the Model Railroading hobby as the detail world is RTR now and Mantua being Mantua wanted to continue with their original molds.....
With that said, they sold out to Model Power, which has been selling the "classics" and with that, are untouched by Model Power, besides the fact that MP is now offering them DCC equipt and I think they are even adding sound now!
~John
Many have tried to, and failed, ya just can't repair stupid... 
Do NOT try to Idiot-Proof anything!!!! God, will simply create a better......IDIOT!
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Posted - May 04 2012 : 3:09:36 PM
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quote:I asked the same question to the individual who ran the service department when they closed down. He stated that the company needed to convert their locomotives to DCC in order to compete in the marketplace and that management did not want to make the capital investment .
Originally posted by waw47Â -Â May 02 2012Â :Â 9:29:04 PM
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That kind of goes along with what I perceived... lack of true R&D for a future of limited returns. They did at least add knuckle couplers for the last year, though. I wonder how much their failed "EZ-op" coupler from the 80's set them back?
It's very strange that when Tyco sold out in 1992, that Mantua didn't pick up the tooling they hadn't already claimed. The GP20 was long in the tooth, but Mantua probably could have made a go with a repowered C430 or C630, or even Shark... molds which went to IHC and have yet to be seen again. Even the classic Tyco freight cars were largely superior to the Lindberg ones they were using.
Still, Mantua didn't learn from previous mistakes... their Western Pacific GP20 has to be one of the funniest and ugliest goofs ever seen on a model. They might have actually been the first to market a "pre-weathered and patched" locomotive, but they got it completely backwards! Western Pacific patching out former UP locos with silver bands? If only!
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Posted - May 04 2012 : 6:26:24 PM
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They might have actually been the first to market a "pre-weathered and patched" locomotive, but they got it completely backwards! Western Pacific patching out former UP locos with silver bands? If only!
Oh yeah, I forgot about that one!
What did the rest of you think about the "Heavies"? Mantua freight cars with added weight. I think they even had those odd couplers. I never got it back in the day. Maybe just one more way Mantua was out of touch?
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