[steventrain]

Hi all,

The following article was published in a local newspaper on the 5th of November 2008:

"by the end of the year, the factory Mehano established in Isola will close and the remaining 160 employees will loose their job. The owner, the company "Live" has already started the procedures to liquidate the company".

Sorry for all the fans and appreciators of this good brand.

 

[pedromorgan]

oah dear. sorry to hear this. i wonder what will happen to it?

i always thought hte products were good, but finding them was a problem. and they did strange things like release the Duplex and then take 5 years to release the coaches....

Peter

 

[Brian Considine]

If true that will really be a shame

I have two Mehano locomotives - an HO 66 HGK 9with sound) & a 77 SNCB - both superb runners, up there with Roco & the like. A far cry from the "models" of the 70's.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (pedromorgan @ 16 Nov 2008, 11:51) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>and they did strange things like release the Duplex and then take 5 years to release the coaches....

Peter

I was not aware that they were that small a company, so with 160 or so employee's they may have been a little streatched here & there.

 

[pedromorgan]

i am under the impression that the model railways only constituted a very small part of their business.

didnt they make cindy or barbie or something like that?

Peter

 

[GoingUnderground]

QUOTE (Brian Considine @ 16 Nov 2008, 12:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>If true that will really be a shame

I think it is true as I found this http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emcc/erm/st...earchfactsheets whioch seems to be an official EU website which confirms al lthe details from the OP.

Wonder if this is the start of many closures and restructurings in the model railway world.

Keith.

 

[Brian Considine]

Thanks for the link Keith.

Let's hope that firstly, the employee's will not suffer too much & secondly the fine products will be continued by someone else.

 

[dwb]

QUOTE secondly the fine products will be continued by someone else.

In less "exciting" economic times you'd expect Hornby to take a close look at the Mehano model railway items but I suspect they're a bit too pre-occupied for that right now.

I know little of Mehano's range apart from the fact they seem to do a full TGV set. It would be a shame to lose that?

David

 

[ME 26-06]

Mehano´s TGV, as well as their ICE3, is substandard compared to the competitors.

Most of their stuff is below standard; either the detail is fine, but the running characteristics suck (G2000, MaK G2400, Blue Tiger), or the model itself isn´t worth buying (210, ICE3, TGV)

The class 66 and the SNCF 427/437 are pretty decent though. Still, spare parts were a nuisance to obtain, even if you had someone to contact them in Slovenian.

I won´t miss them. Good bye, and good riddance.

 

[pedromorgan]

they are not as detailed but they are also half the price! you cant have it all.

running qualities suck?? sorry i dont recognise that description.

I also heard that even though bachmann were their official distributor, it was cheaper for retailers to buy them on the continent and bring them back in their van!

i dont think they reached their full potential. they could have had the budget continental train set market all to themselves. the children love sleet HST's but the others are too expensive. I am sad they are gone.

On a slightly different note, does anyone know what their relationship with IHC was? i have an IHC boing tram badged and sold in a mehano box.

Peter

 

[clive hayward]

I'm with David on this one, my local model shop holds both the Jouef and Mehano TGV I'm looking at the Mehano one to be honest because it's in the livery I want (logo casquette) and is cheaper! 5 years ago I bought a Mehano Thalys TGV set for my son which runs fine and sounds just like a TGV starting up, this is a cheap, analogue, DC model, but actually sounds far more realistic than any of my other DC models, probably a complete fluke, but I will be sad to see another European manufacturer go to the wall. As Brian said lets hope their employees can find alternative employment resonably quickly.

Clive

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (ME 26-06 @ 16 Nov 2008, 18:52) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Mehano´s TGV, as well as their ICE3, is substandard compared to the competitors.

You have to take into account that in more than a few instances there are two versions of some models - an el-cheapo version & the regular version.

Be interesting to watch the way fleabay prices go on Mehano stuff.

 

[Kimbo]

I've got both versions, and I have to say never been displeased with Mehano's TGVs... It will indeed be a shame to see them go, and I think that this might just mean I need to get my head around to possibly getting those sets before they become discontinued

It's a shame for the Belgian market in particular because Mehano had done quite an effort to get some good quality Belgian replicas out onto the market.

 

[Brian Considine]

Tis a bit of a shame Kimbo - as you know you can struggle a little if you model things Belgian !

 

[steventrain]

Anyway, no production and no workers in Izola till the end of the year. And nobody needs Mehano for a production in China.

Thomas Akerblad wrote in a Yahoogroup :

"Mehano shuts down"

The toy factory Mehano from Izola has been facing difficulties for several years now, so the current owner decided to shut down production and lay off 140 employees, reports TV Slovenia. On Monday both unions in the factory received the notice on the termination of all work contracts and an invitation to a meeting on Wednesday.

The owner, company Live, purchased Mehano four years ago, and now decided to liquidate the company for business, financial, and technological reasons. The Unions are convinced that the owner is only interested in the sale of the lot and will probably continue production somewhere else. It is worth nothing that a part of their production program has already been moved to China."