For those of you that live near a book store or a newsstand that carries the monthly publication, MODEL RAILROAD NEWS, you might want to pick up a copy of their latest issue, July, 2007; Volume 13, Issue 7.

In it, there's a letter to the editor inquiring about the fate of Boley...written by one of their readers in Bay City, Michigan.

The reply to the letter is written by Bill Cawthon, Model Railroad News' Managing Editor, and it has to be one of the most well researched and well writtten pieces of journalism I've seen in a long time.

It not only addresses the initial question (about Boley) that the reader inquired about; it continues with Bill's own personal thoughts concerning Boley's fate in the industry.

Then, it also goes into excellent detail about our hobby in general, and Bill's current and future predictions concerning the entire die-cast market as we know it today.

I do not want to steal Bill's thunder in this; if you are really, really serious about our hobby, go out and pick up a copy and read it for yourself. I promise you that you will not be disappointed.

Larry Phillips
TOY TRUCKER Magazine

Location: North Dakota

Or, view it online :-)

http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/pages/letJuly2007.html

Who’s Leaving the HO Diecast Vehicle Market?

Heard a rumor on one of the boards that Boley is exiting the 1-87 diecast market. That would be a real loss for adding lots of parking lot models to an HO layout without breaking the bank. As a long-time HO modeler, I am reluctant to spend large sums for “scenic” items for the layout. I have items like Herpa trucks that I use up front and for photos, but things like the Boley trucks are certainly good enough.

Do you know if Boley owns the tooling, or is it possible someone else could pick up the line? Thanks for any info you might share.

John Soderquist
Bay City, MI

Hi, John. I hear all sorts of rumors about Boley and take them with a grain of salt. I haven’t heard anything official or even unofficial from Larry Alsman about any plans to leave the HO market. The same is true of Hongwell, which owns the tooling and is the actual manufacturer of the Boley models. Hongwell has its own HO line of European vehicles so it doesn’t look like they plan to drop the scale, either. Of course, things can change. Should Hongwell elect to leave the HO market, I would expect the Boley models to simply disappear; I don’t know of anyone looking to buy diecast tooling – most manufacturers have plenty of tooling of their own.

Looking at the larger picture, the entire diecast market is in a period of dramatic change. Material and labor costs are rising dramatically, the toy and diecast collector markets are not as strong as they once were, meaning the volumes are not as high. Low-cost diecast depends heavily on high volumes and mass distribution to survive and any problems with sales can be disastrous. Burago was liquidated, RC2 has dropped the Racing Champions line and is refocusing the Johnny Lightning line on the toy market rather than scale replicas: the list of companies having to make adjustments is quite long. Companies like Motormax and Malibu International are running on very thin margins and must raise prices and develop new lines to keep their factories running. Companies like Boley, which are identified with inexpensive models, may well be having trouble because some of the factors that worked for them in the past are now working against them. However, as I said, I don’t have any specifics that would indicate Boley is leaving HO scale. — Bill

mjl

Location: Raleigh, NC, USA, Earth