01-10-2016, 11:35 AM
railohio Wrote:MountainMan Wrote:Good that the line will continue. We're going to end up with only one or two major producers of anything at this rate.
What companies were lost to merger or acquisition in 2015?
A few dropped out, most notably the outfit producing model paints, but I'm pointing out the inevitable trend over time for everything to end up under one or two manufacturers.
How many major modellers still make locomotives in America, for example? They're all Chinese and South Korean, and now that China is getting out of the industrial type of economy, probably Thailand or someone similar will take that over.
If you have back issues of modelling mags, go back a decade or two and count the number of advertisers, and then count which ones are still around today. It's highly reminiscent of the American automotive manufacturers starting in the 70's. You see any Nash's, Plymouths, DeSotos or Studebakers in dealer showrooms these days? Or any of a dozen or so other cars I could name? Assimilation is the name of the game, just as it is for the rail lines themselves. How many "fallen flags" in American rail history, and how many lines still around but merged into mega-corporations under people like Warren Buffet?
Same thing is happening in the modelling world.