Overland Models visited the EMD SD70ACe #1201 Fleet locomotive in East Peoria and Peoria, IL at the Caterpillar facility last Friday.  We were able to photograph this beautiful new SD70ACe that was specially painted in Caterpillar colors to take part in the Caterpillar exhibit at MinExpo held earlier this Fall in Las Vegas, NV.

The 4,300 horsepower SD70ACe EMD #1201 was built and painted in London, ONT, CANADA.  Upon completion the unit was tarped and transported from London to Las Vegas where it was on display at MinExpo and then tarped once again and transported to East Peoria IL where the tarp was removed.  On Saturday October 20, 2012 the unit was on display along the Peoria IL Riverfront just behind the brand new CATERPILLAR Museum along with three flat cars loaded with two CAT dozers and a CATERPILLAR Dump Truck.

The EMD #1201 will now go into fleet service generating revenue.

Overland Models will produce this locomotive in HO scale brass as OMI #AA-2021 with production delivery estimated for late 2013 delivery.  Contact your Overland Models Dealer today to place your pre-order for this limited production locomotive.

We are coming to you with a very special request and for your understanding.   During the past three weeks we have been working hard to reach pre-order customers of Canadian Model Trains but have not mentioned them by name.  With this message we are clearly changing directions and need to reach out to ALL Canadian Model Trains customers that have ANY Overland Models products on pre-order.

During the past three weeks we have made numerous efforts to reach out to Canadian Model Trains to reach the full understanding of what CMT is doing with its business.  Unfortunately with each conversation we have not been able to gain full understanding of their future.  Each call is met with CMT commenting that an update will follow or more details will come in a day or two.

Frankly, we need to move forward with our business and cannot be harmed by the lack of communication provided by Canadian Model Trains.  Note that we do not know or fully understand the future of CMT but come to the conclusion of sending this message due to the following.

1. We have written to CMT a number of times regarding their future and have not received their written or verbal reply.
2. We have sent out a pick-up notice/ payment request for the models listed directly below and placed important milestones for their confirmation and payment and have not received any reply.
3. The CMT website at www.modeltrains.com has been redirected to another unaffiliated business until further notice.
4. The CMT fax number has been disconnected.
5. All forms of social media the CMT was once very active in its communications have all been cancelled as evidenced by their Facebook page, Twitter page and YouTube channels all now de-activated.

Again, we are not making any claim toward the health and/ or welfare of CMT, but reaching out to retail customers to make sure you are not harmed by whatever may be happening at CMT.

Yes, we are aware of the fact that their website directs you to another party…but they have not received any of the customer deposits, nor do they have all of the information regarding Overland Model pre-orders.  We have made a number of indirect efforts through customer e-mails such as this as well as through Trainorders, Canadian Model Trains Forum and through many personal phone calls and e-mail communications.

As of today we have heard from enough customers to link customer names to about 100 of the over 350 brass Overland models on pre-order with Canadian Model Trains.  CMT customers that have already reached out to us do not need to contact regarding this message.  We are specifically seeking communication with Canadian Model Trains customers that have Overland Models on pre-order and have NOT yet been in contact with Overland Models.

We, OMI, realize that CMT customers have placed deposits on our products and want to be very clear that Overland Models does not possess the deposits that Canadian Trains collected.  The deposits that CMT collected were based upon a CMT business policy and not at the request of Overland Models…except for those requested for O scale productions.

Please, if you are a CMT customer that has Overland Models on pre-order…please contact us now with your name, phone number and preferably a list of Overland Models on pre-order.  Typically CMT provided customers with a sales order listing the models on pre-order along with the amount of the deposit.  We will work with you on a case-by-case basis to assist you.  NOTE:  If we do not hear from CMT customers with Overland Models pre-orders then your pre-order will be lost and your requested models sold to another dealer.  We do not want to sell these models, but soon we will have no choice but to cancel the CMT pre-orders in full if we do not hear from you.

Finally, if you are not a CMT customer then you do not need to check in or re-confirm your orders.  If you do know of a CMT customer, could you please forward this message to them using the forward link directly below.  Or, if you know of a friend that is a CMT customer that does not have e-mail would you consider reaching out to them and asking that they connect with us via phone as soon as possible.  You can reach Overland Models via the following methods:

Phone: 765-289-4257
Fax: 765-289-6013
e-mail: bmarsh@overlandmodels.com

Sincerely,

Brian Marsh
Overland Models, Inc.

Overland Models will finalize its production numbers for the HO scale brass EMD NW-5 switchers on September 28, 2012.  Please contact your Overland Models dealer today to place your pre-orders to be assured delivery.  If you have any questions or concerns please contact Brian Marsh at bmarsh@overlandmodels.com.

In the past couple of weeks Overland Models has been presented with the loss of a few of our dealers and one dealer in particular that has changed its business model. We need to ask you to contact your Overland Models Dealer to confirm your orders.Please understand we are not changing our focus for the way Overland Models operates its business through our valuable dealer network.  Unfortunately, a very large dealer has left us with no customer detail and left customers without some deposits and a collection of models now without a firm home.  We place the greatest amount of trust in our Dealers…as they also place in Overland Models.  We are working to do the ‘right’ thing and need your immediate reply and assistance.
Pre-orders are the lifeblood of new productions and due to the recent loss of a very large dealer we have great concern about the validity of many pre-orders on our books for this particular dealer. If customers do not respond soon to verify these orders we will be forced to cancel the orders and move them to the next dealer order in line. Or, in some cases we may be forced to cancel certain models due to lack of interest.

If your Overland Models Dealer no longer responds or has a site directing you away from their business then we need to hear from you immediately to make sure we can properly position your model order with your name. For one dealer in particular we have pre-orders for just over 300 models and to date only 40 models have been identified to belong to customers that have replied to our request for information.

If you believe your dealer is changing business model, is closing or has closed Overland Models needs to receive your communication now.
We are asking retail customers of these businesses to contact us immediately with a list of models they had on pre-order, a copy of any sales orders/ transactions relating to these requests and your complete contact details with phone number, shipping/ billing address and any other notes you believe to be important.

Please note this request relates only to Overland Models items on pre-order and does not relate to any items that you may have had on consignment.

Please direct your communications via e-mail to bmarsh@overlandmodels.com or fax to 765-289-6013…or you may call me to discuss any pre-order model concerns you may have of any kind to 765-289-4257.

I thank you so much and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Brian Marsh
Overland Models, Inc.
bmarsh@overlandmodels.com
765-289-4257 ext 107

Today we have updated the website again with details for the recently released NS / NKP Heritage ES44AC #8100.  This great looking locomotive is awesome.  You can now reserve this locomotive from your favorite Overland Models Dealer.

HO scale model #AA-2044

N scale model #BA-3015

Below is a great photo by Casey Thomason/ Norfolk Southern Corporation.  I had the honor to assist Casey in a very small way as he painted the unit in light on the evening of March 28.  I look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your interest.  Delivery for these models will be mid-2013.  Also, we have not yet announced O scale model numbers and are considering the production of SD70ACe and ES44 series models in S scale.  If you have interest please let us a comment so we can add your name to our communications and note your interest.

Over the past couple of days we have made a number of revisions to our price list to correct road number and model number issues.  Please download the most current price list that can be found via a link on our home page.  The link (View Price List) is found just below the words Built to Inspire and to the left of the large model images just below the navigation bar.

We thank everyone for their interest in these new announcements for HO and N scale!  Brian

This evening as promised we have just uploaded a new price list including the Norfolk Southern Heritage SD70ACe and ES44AC units in HO and N scale.  In addition to the Heritage units we have also added a number of other new locomotives in the EMD SD70ACe and GE ES44 series.

For O scale modelers interested in the NS Heritage series you are welcome to express your interests, but we will not be posting model numbers and pricing for another 60-90 days.  The NS Heritage SD70ACe units cannot be part of the current production as parts production is already in full swing and the prototype NS SD70ACe units have not been released from Progress Rail.

Missy and I continue to work on new projects and are currently on the road to photograph and measure three new pieces this week.  We thank you so much for your interest and look forward to hearing from you.

Please remember that the models in the showroom section have not been populated and will not for a few weeks due to all of the travel.  I will work to get some things loaded in groups rather than trying to do a mass update.

New HO scale AC6000 series units for CSX, General Electric Test, GECX Lease, UP and VALE ES58ACi units are expected to arrive in the next 10 days.  Contact your Overland Models Dealer today to place your orders.

We expect BHP AC6000’s in the blue/ white scheme and the bubble scheme in about 3-4 weeks along with Rio Tinto ES44DCi units in the gray/ silver and gray/ silver with red stripe schemes.  Pick-up notices for these models should go out to dealers this coming weekend.

We are pleased to announce our planned production of the EMD SD70ACe/ SD70M-2 locomotives in many paint, letter and detail variations.  These models will also be produced in very limited productions and the production size will be based upon pre-order deposits received by June 30, 2011.  Additionally for this special production we are allowing the customer to select the road numbers they would like to have applied to their locomotive.  A-Train Model (formerly Ajin) will produce these locomotives and feature a Pittman can motor, directional lights, a DCC plug and serial number plates.  Please place your order with a $300.00 deposit per unit to make sure you will not miss these great locomotives.

Today we have just uploaded images for the Electro-Motive Division NW-5 Switcher.  The NW-5 locomotive models will cover many Great Northern, Burlington Northern, Fort Street Union Depot (Detroit C&O), Southern Railway, MassCentral, Colorado & Eastern Railway, and Council Bluffs Railway.  Although the locomotives were not used by a large number of railroads they are a popular switchers for switching out passenger trains for the Great Northern, Ft Street Union Depot and Southern Railway.  During this time the units had on board steam generators.  Later the Steam Generators were removed and plated over and used for various freight duties.  These units will be produced by A-Train Model (formerly Ajin) and be produced in very limited productions.  Some variations will have as few as 8-10 units.  You will find a wide number of variations to cover as many detail variants as possible.  We are looking for an image of the SRR NW-5 with exhaust ducts on the roof that can be published if anyone reading this message owns such an image please do contact us.