JLTRT

[gismorail]

Perhaps Mr Waterman has enough models for his layout as I'm led to believe that was the original idea of setting up JLTRT There must be some stock to sell off but could be at inflated prices !!!

[admiles]

Not good news.

 

I hope Laurie recovers  soon.

 

I've had a Class 47/8 on order, paid for, since last June, and been assured that it will be on it's way to me soon......... form Last June.

 

It looks as though I'm £450 out of pocket !

 

You'd hope and expect any monies paid for orders that won't be fulfilled would be refunded.

 

Failing that did you pay with a credit card? They should be able to refund you.

[pylonman]

Thanks admiles.

 

No I paid with Paypal.

 

Hopefully, (very much so !!) , creditors will be paid off.

 

I've just contacted them by email, twice, asking for a clarification of the situation, so far no answer.

 

I  had really set my heart on owning an O gauge 47, having found I was way out of my depth with an RJH model

years ago, I decided that JLTRT was the way to go.

 

I also need a roof for a JLTRT BSO coach.

 

So it's not just the monetary side that I have a problem with.

Edited February 23, 2018 by pylonman

[admiles]

Thanks admiles.

 

No I paid with Paypal.

 

Hopefully, (very much so !!) , creditors will be paid off.

 

I've just contacted them by email, twice, asking for a clarification of the situation, so far no answer.

 

I  had really set my heart on owning an O gauge 47, having found I was way out of my depth with an RJH model

years ago, I decided that JLTRT was the way to go.

 

I also need a roof for a JLTRT BSO coach.

 

So it's not just the monetary side that I have a problem with.

 

Fingers firmly crossed for you!

 

While I'm lucky I had no outstanding orders my whole 7mm plan was built around their products.

 

I have a couple of 50's under construction (with a LLC one on order too) with now only a Mk2 BSO to go with them.

Planned to order a 33 and a FNA nuclear flask wagon for collection at Kettering, etc etc

Plus much more I wanted to order in the next couple of years.

 

Not sure what to do with my 7mm stuff now to be honest.

[Hal Nail]

I've just contacted them by email, twice, asking for a clarification of the situation, so far no answer.

I would try the appointed liquidator direct. It mentions a name in the Gazette announcement posted earlier.

 

We liquidated an old (dormant) company at work recently and if I recal correctly once they take over, the existing staff have no powers over bank accounts etc anyway.

 

Edit: I’m not clear if it has got as far as actually appointing yet but as least you’ll get an answer!

 

Good luck.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Hal Nail

[Stephen Freeman]

Thanks admiles.

 

No I paid with Paypal.

 

Hopefully, (very much so !!) , creditors will be paid off.

 

I've just contacted them by email, twice, asking for a clarification of the situation, so far no answer.

 

I  had really set my heart on owning an O gauge 47, having found I was way out of my depth with an RJH model

years ago, I decided that JLTRT was the way to go.

 

I also need a roof for a JLTRT BSO coach.

 

So it's not just the monetary side that I have a problem with.

I'd get on to Paypal if I was you, you should get your money back, eventually.

[SteamAle]

Official Posting by Pete on his Facebook page 'Railnuts' as follows: -

As sole director and shareholder of Just like the real thing, last week I made the agonising decision to close down the company and appoint a receiver to liquidate it. I was no long prepared to fund its annual losses and could not see any way of making it profitable.
My passion for model railways remains undimmed. I will concentrate on my Leamington Spa layout. In the coming months,I expect to announce new plans, so watch this space. I believe there is a small niche for a high quality designer and manufacture,and that will likely be my focus. The best models for discerning modellers and collectors.

[delticfan]

Fingers crossed the kits will reappear one way or another in the future. You can’t blame him for shutting the company down if it’s making a loss, it’s not a healthy situation and I can only thank him for making some stunning kits. Pity I wanted to do the 47, ah well.

[MarcD]

I can certainly empathise with Pete. If I was to try and draw a wage,at the minimum wage, from my own Model business we would have had to close it down years ago. I don't think that JLTRT will be the last model supplier to pull the plug  and stop trading.

 

Until customers realise that "trade support" has to be funded from their spending and they are not charities who are there to give their products away for less than it cost to make it business will continue to go to the wall. 

 

Marc

[Captain Cuttle]

Perhaps Mr Waterman has enough models for his layout as I'm led to believe that was the original idea of setting up JLTRT There must be some stock to sell off but could be at inflated prices !!!

According to Roger Manton on the Modern Image O Gauge Facebook group there is no stock, they only made to order.

 

regards

 

Alan

[JeffP]

Seems odd that model manufacturers go to great lengths to tell us how much it costs to make their models, low profit margins, so prices need to be £££ etc, then we find the JLTRT range discounted on a certain selling site, and a bit later, it's all gone.

 

As said, maybe Mr Waterman has no more need now?

[Hal Nail]

Seems odd that model manufacturers go to great lengths to tell us how much it costs to make their models, low profit margins, so prices need to be £££ etc, then we find the JLTRT range discounted on a certain selling site, and a bit later, it's all gone.

 

As said, maybe Mr Waterman has no more need now?

I read elsewhere the published financial accounts have shown cumulative losses running towards £2m. Can speculate all day but perhaps they sold off discounted stuff at a loss, simply to generate cash flows to pay the staff.

 

A great shame.

[muddys-blues]

May be we will never know the figures .... but in the grand scheme of things do we need to know ? it's not our business to know.

 

Yes I for one hope JLTRT come back in another guise, but until then best to let sleeping dogs lie.

 

Best regards

Craig.

[BlackRat]

Can't see how it can come back.

 

If PW can't sustain it, and has had to subsidise it, can't see any manufacturer with pockets deep enough myself.

 

Glad I got what I did when I did.

 

To those that procrastinated etc, tough.

[deltic17]

When I first got into model railways as a teenager in the 1970's/80's OO guage had the usual Hornby offerings but if you were a serious modeller you had to build kits to get your required locos.....after coming back into O Guage model railways 10 years ago virtually everything seems to be available these days in Ready to Run (RTR) format in my view of OO guage from afar so the kit building skills / need to kit build was disappearing......

Maybe a similar thing is just happening in O guage? Pete had an 08 kit out but when Dapol bring one out for <£200 it must be hard to compete. When a RTR product is cheaper than a kit it becomes a non starter almost for many. Looking at the Diesel angle, Pete had some absolutely fantastic kits but maybe the increasing range of ready to run offerings has simply caused sales to fall. Most classes exist now in RTR in O Guage so sadly JLTRT has maybe been forced into taking more of a back seat. Kits take time to make as RTR becomes increasingly popular.

All very sad but maybe O Guage has developed so much in recent years that RTR is simply taking over like in OO Guage?

[johnarcher]

When I first got into model railways as a teenager in the 1970's/80's OO guage had the usual Hornby offerings but if you were a serious modeller you had to build kits to get your required locos.....after coming back into O Guage model railways 10 years ago virtually everything seems to be available these days in Ready to Run (RTR) format in my view of OO guage from afar so the kit building skills / need to kit build was disappearing......

Maybe a similar thing is just happening in O guage? Pete had an 08 kit out but when Dapol bring one out for <£200 it must be hard to compete. When a RTR product is cheaper than a kit it becomes a non starter almost for many. Looking at the Diesel angle, Pete had some absolutely fantastic kits but maybe the increasing range of ready to run offerings has simply caused sales to fall. Most classes exist now in RTR in O Guage so sadly JLTRT has maybe been forced into taking more of a back seat. Kits take time to make as RTR becomes increasingly popular.

All very sad but maybe O Guage has developed so much in recent years that RTR is simply taking over like in OO Guage?

I suspect you may be right, though I don't know the 7mm market well. Maybe it has even less room for both RTR and kits than the bigger 4mm market? Though even there kits for specific prototypes often vanish when a RTR version appears.

There's even an increasing amount of 009 RTR appearing now. Well, there's still 3mm and 00n3.

Edited February 25, 2018 by johnarcher

[Clearwater]

Does this impact David Geen at all? I seem to recall reading that his 4mm locos would revert to JLTRT when he retired?

 

David

[47164]

As an 00 gauge modeller on the sidelines, and having followed 0 gauge with an element of envy, its a shame that jltrt has gone down as I'm sure PW must be given credit for bringing an up to date range of kits, and encouraging new recruits into 0 gauge.

[Sheffield]

As the kit market falls in the face of RTR and also need for instant gratification that now seems to prevail in society, will that put Slaters wheels at risk? Now that would be a loss.

 

Also, as we are learning something about the cost of running a kit making business, do we start to see some of the more critisied kits of the past, the ones with mistakes and problems, in a different light? Perhaps the need to get some thing to market to earn some money overcame the desire to remake things to correct the mistakes.

 

It does seem that some of the new business entrants into the 0 gauge market have been as producers of RTR rather than kit makers, which perhaps again shows where the market and the money is.

[Silverstreak]

Well I now truly regret not sourcing a Class 40 kit when I had the chance  The arrival of many not so perfect RTR offerings over recent years has obviously had an adverse effect on the JLTRT business model

 

Those that have built their JLTRT kits will be counting their blessing now including the many that remain stored in the " Yet to be Built" cupboard

Edited February 25, 2018 by Silverstreak

[ROSSPOP]

I had a feeling that the low price O Gauge RTR market would attract more modellers into this scale..... and I feared that eventually this would 

 

affect some of the kit manufacturers.....

 

So I sold all that I could on Ebay since 2015 and bought all the loco and coach kits for my retirement and got down to building

the loco`s at least..........

 

 

 

 

And bought this five months ago.....phew

 

 

So....Im alright Jack........

 

 

 

[purplepiepete]

kits and retirement projects ......and there's the crux ! Many 'younger' persons (myself NOT included) are time and skills poor these days and sadly kits don't have the same appeal as they did years ago.

 

Why spend upwards of 600 quid on a locomotive kit (once you add wheels motor finish etc) when you can get RTR for half that ?

 

Stating the obvious but JLTRT were very high quality / limited appeal at too high a cost compared with Dapol/Heljan etc which are sourced for manufacture in the Far East.

 

Sad times and we Brits are great at many things, however the 'workshops of the world' have long since left these shores.

[Bezzy Oppo]

'Why spend upwards of 600 quid on a locomotive kit (once you add wheels motor finish etc) when you can get RTR for half that?'

 

Because I enjoy modelling?

[Bezzy Oppo]

And when my JLTRT Class 37 with twin ABC motor/gearbox bogies is complete with extra detailing packs and all manner of spoiling embellishments and sits in its custom made carry box ready for exhibiting, I shall not once rue the fact I could have had three RTR products in lieu. Instead I shall think of all the cottage businesses I've supported and one man bands I've chatted to/ made friends with and all the new skills I've learnt along the way. 

 

And... move away from the soapbox.

[Lovstrom]

I think it very sad that JLTRT is going out of business. I was planning for a Black 5 to build for my retirement layout.

And the answer to why buy kits?

I enjoy building kits. Gives more satisfaction with something I built myself.

Sven