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PECO News


Jeff Smith
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First I'm surprised PECO is only a Smaller Supplier.....but anyway, I do not buy RM or any of the British mags, except when visiting the UK, but nevertheless keep my eye on the PECO web site. There have not been any News items for a while - I'm wondering if they are working on something big like perhaps another track system....?

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First I'm surprised PECO is only a Smaller Supplier...

Appraised by the ratio of published information and public interaction to sales volume, they are a very small supplier, when compared to most other businesses in this sector.

 

Peco gives me the distinct impression that their preferred route for customer interaction is for the customer to go to Pecorama at Beer, and talk to one of the men in brown dustcoats. If that's working for them - and there is nothing to suggest otherwise - then that's a resonable choice even if a little out of step with much of the rest of the world.

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Small scale supplier.....? Men in brown dust coats?

 

Didn't see any last time I was there ( few months ago).

 

Peco are regularly churning out stuff, some of it quite innovative, take the new servos and electronics.

 

I've visited model (railway) shops all over the world, and usually there's at least some Peco track for sale.

 

In the last few years alone they have gone ahead with rtr 009, set track in 0 gauge, a steel and concrete sleepers track range as well as numerous other bits and bobs.

 

Funny tho, they DO seem to give that impression!

Edited by BlackRat
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Small, now that does surprise me. They do export a lot of track, possibly more than other companies, but having dealt with them in the past when running a shop, they 'feel' like a small company. Nothing wrong in that as I have also worked for a large steel company and that was run like a 'small' company. You did not feel like a small fish in a big pond.

Now the track mentioned above I think is the N gauge track. They are expanding the OO9 range, I think in partnership with other companies. I think Minitrains were connected with the new OO9 track, and I have seen pictures in the US Bachmann catalogue of wagons which look very like the new Peco ones.

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They may have a touch of small supplier syndrome when it comes to replying to web site messages. I'm still waiting for a reply to my question from early July, about how I get hold of buffers for the O gauge ready built wagon I bought on eBay, that came without them. Not that I need a reply any more, as it's now sorted.

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Small, now that does surprise me. They do export a lot of track, possibly more than other companies, but having dealt with them in the past when running a shop, they 'feel' like a small company. Nothing wrong in that as I have also worked for a large steel company and that was run like a 'small' company. You did not feel like a small fish in a big pond.

Now the track mentioned above I think is the N gauge track. They are expanding the OO9 range, I think in partnership with other companies. I think Minitrains were connected with the new OO9 track, and I have seen pictures in the US Bachmann catalogue of wagons which look very like the new Peco ones.

It makes sense for an accessory supplier like Peco to work with other companies hopefully to the mutual benefit of both in the long run.  Peco probably has the longest lasting product range of any model railway supplier, many of its products, although possibly updated, have been around for many years.  I have recently been buying quite a lot of Peco O-16.5 kits (I am new to this scale so find it very convenient), although relatively expensive they are generally dependable having I suppose stood the test of time.

 

Peco seems to have a successful business model with manufacturing I believe largely still done in the UK.  Track prices are pretty competitive in the US, O-16.5 track is about the same price as On30 Micro Engineering (made in the USA) track although very different in their form of construction; each however is admirably suited for its intended use.

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  • 2 years later...

Several of us collect Peco wagons. Unfortunately Peco rarely update their website so it is hard to keep track of the occasional new issues. Likewise, they are doing more commissions these days. Cheltenham Models have commissioned several and N gauge Society five for their 50th .Anniversary. I missed out on Derails Dean Forest wagon and .2017Scotrail Exhibtion wagon. It would help if they improved their information and website info. Several commssions have been made for a European dealer.

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Several of us collect Peco wagons. Unfortunately Peco rarely update their website so it is hard to keep track of the occasional new issues. Likewise, they are doing more commissions these days. Cheltenham Models have commissioned several and N gauge Society five for their 50th .Anniversary. I missed out on Derails Dean Forest wagon and .2017Scotrail Exhibtion wagon. It would help if they improved their information and website info. Several commssions have been made for a European dealer.

The website is overdue for a revamp and that has been promised for several months. Peco has until recently not appreciated the importance in investing in and maintaining an 'on-line shop window' and hitherto has not allocated the appropriate level of resources to it; that is supposedly due to change but the length of time it is taking to introduce the new website suggests that it is still a spare time activity reliant on a one person (?) third-party developer. They still rely substantially on the dealer network and eventual news reports and/or adverts in the Railway Modeller to promote their ranges.

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The website is overdue for a revamp and that has been promised for several months. Peco has until recently not appreciated the importance in investing in and maintaining an 'on-line shop window' and hitherto has not allocated the appropriate level of resources to it; that is supposedly due to change but the length of time it is taking to introduce the new website suggests that it is still a spare time activity reliant on a one person (?) third-party developer. They still rely substantially on the dealer network and eventual news reports and/or adverts in the Railway Modeller to promote their ranges.

Perhaps it's working for them 'as is' so no need to rush into things as they have already have a very sound business model which works well for them and perhaps the extra investment is not warranted at this time. I agree Peco are a little old fashioned in their approach compared to others but I can live with that and it's quiet refreshing to see a little quirkiness and stability in this fast changing world. Kind regards.

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Perhaps it's working for them 'as is' so no need to rush into things as they have already have a very sound business model which works well for them and perhaps the extra investment is not warranted at this time. I agree Peco are a little old fashioned in their approach compared to others but I can live with that and it's quiet refreshing to see a little quirkiness and stability in this fast changing world. Kind regards.

I know from the 'horse's mouth' that a new website is coming, it just seems to be taking months longer than was originally suggested to me. Staff are looking forward to it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I know from the 'horse's mouth' that a new website is coming, it just seems to be taking months longer than was originally suggested to me. Staff are looking forward to it.

 

 

Horse?  Good grief I knew they were not the most dynamic of organisations, but a horse???

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OK then, they haven't got the bit between their teeth on the replacement website project but just seem to be trotting along with it. They might even have reined it in or curbed it. Perhaps they've been saddled with too much extra work feeding the Parkside range or going nuts over the lengths of Bullhead track project, other matters are jockeying for position or some hurdles have to be overcome. Or, hopefully, they'll not be stuck on the rails for long but have a clear field to the finish, and then back at the ranch it'll be 'curry that'!

 

Cue 'Horsetan'...

 

Putting on colours and cap and exiting stable left...

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  • 1 month later...

The website is overdue for a revamp and that has been promised for several months.

 

No kidding. The Peco site is one of the few that the old Bachmann could look down on. It would be great to have better search and display of their products.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Several of us collect Peco wagons. Unfortunately Peco rarely update their website so it is hard to keep track of the occasional new issues. Likewise, they are doing more commissions these days. Cheltenham Models have commissioned several and N gauge Society five for their 50th .Anniversary. I missed out on Derails Dean Forest wagon and .2017Scotrail Exhibtion wagon. It would help if they improved their information and website info. Several commssions have been made for a European dealer.

 

Without meaning to hijack this thread, I saw this post and thought I would just reply to make people aware of our newest N gauge release that is now in-stock. More details here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106300-forest-of-dean-special-commissions-by-derails-models/page-2&do=findComment&comment=3116292

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  • 2 years later...
On 08/03/2018 at 11:58, truffy said:

 

No kidding. The Peco site is one of the few that the old Bachmann could look down on. It would be great to have better search and display of their products.

 

The 'new' website is an abandoned primary school project!

It's the least intuitive site I've ever used, I avoid using it whenever possible.

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2 hours ago, Nile said:

They've had a spot of bother with that site.

 

 

The last time I tried to use their website was early in the lockdown, I had been trying

on and off for a month or so before, but I started to lose the will to live!

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The Peco website .......... only usable if you have bought the big fat paper catalogue in which to look-up the product code, before trying to find it on the website.

 

I can't work out whether its awfulness is a terrible accident, or a deliberate ploy to get customers to use their stockists rather than order direct - charitably, I assume the latter.

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I doubt if it is deliberate, more likely having someone design a system that is too complex when all it needs to be is simple (how often do they actually need to add new products?) .As a result it probably cost then more than it should, and as many have found, it is not as easy to use as it should be, so probably loses them business, directly and indirectly.

One simple idea might be to make the catalogue possible to download, which is now the normal way for many hobby companies in Europe, including regular update leaflets(I get many of thes either directly from manufacturers, or via Gaugemaster).

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