What Really Happened To Rivarossi?
Phil English
starting at the conclusion of WW2. Count Rivarossi or something
suposedly invested the family treasure. I thought it was doing pretty
well. That appeared to be the case until sometime in the late 90's.
Then I heard it was purchased by business concerns in China. Now
...gone.
What happened.
During the 1980's I think their locomotive offerings were pretty
competative. The fidelity did not compare by todays offerings but who
did? Brass only. They had a pretty big selection to boot. During the
last few years I thought I saw an attempt to upgrade the product lines
(just like everybody was)RP25 wheels, finer level of detail. DCC
options. Then poof.
I still have two Rivarossi loco's, a 1970 vintage Mikado and a 1986
vintage 4-6-6-4 Challenger. The Challenger never ran well out of the
box. The trailing truck fell appart and the front left piston rod
would pull out of the cylinder at the end of travel. I thought I was
the only one having problems, maybe not. Now it sits on the shelf. I
guess these will soon become memorabilia.
Rivarossi was a major contributor to the hobby. Sorry to see them go
regardless of the quality, cost & political issues. And I missed the
oportunity to get one of the late 2-truck Heislers.
Phil
RAILDATA
business.
He took me on a trip to NY City and we stopped at Polk's on 5th Ave.
During a meeting with Nat Polk the subject of Rivarossi came up, since they
were importing CNE 4-4-2, B&O Docksides, etc from them. In the course of the
talking Polk said that Rivarossi really was "Polk in Itatian" since they
practically owned the company back then.
Chuck Y
Boulder CO
TRAINDOC
The company fell on hard times in 1979 when their US distributor AHM ( Bernie
Paul) basically shafted them on orders for Rivarossi loco's and rolling stock
he never took delivery on .Forcing Rivarossi into bankruptcy .In 1980 Rivarossi
did some work for Con Cor . But the motor change and other upgrades were not
much of an improvement over the earlier Rivarossi/AHM line. It was not until
mid 90's did Rivarossi go back and redo the motor and chassis again. But again
looks vs pulling power lacked. It was not until recent. That now bank
controlled Rivarossi battled with the former owners and creditors. The bank
reps hated the former owner and vice versa. They moved the company from Como
Italy to another part of Italy. They produce the Allegheny but no major changes
to the US line were made after that. The battered Rivarossi company was being
beat down by the likes of Athearn,Bachmann,Broadway Limited.Finally with rising
production costs and labor strife in Italy Rivarossi shuts the doors on the
Italy plant ceasing operations and declaring themselves again bankrupt.Hornby
is supposed to be completing the purchase of parts of Lima SPa including
Rivarossi but this may be the last we will see of the Rivarossi line as we
know and love it. Love them or hate them Rivarossi was a class act for years. I
am the owner of 300 Rivarossi loco's .
Phil Bostian
The two-truck heislers are still available on ebay, and at a substantial
discount.
Phil
"Phil English" <peng...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:980fe624.0410...@posting.google.com...
Ccutler0
acquired in the next few years: too much capital chasing the same new products.
I love all the detailing and performance upgrades we've been getting, but how
many versions of the steam engine do we really need?
Phil Bostian
little to choose from. The best running diesels were the Roco-based Atlas
units with a total of five different models to choose from, then there was
Athearn and a lot of discussion of how to tune up that jet motor, replaced
the sintered wheels, and balance the flywheel. For cars it was Athearn and
MDC mainly and of course, Rivarossi, Mantua and Tyco.
Today, we have so much more, but at much higher prices. With limited runs,
you have to pick and choose what you can get and what you can afford. You
don't have to be a modeler at all any more.
The strangest thing is we have more and better products than ever before,
and fewer hobby shops to buy it from than ever before.
"Ccutler0" <ccut...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041027090201...@mb-m01.aol.com...
Gregory Procter
Founded 1948 to build model railways. (3 rail AC initially and then 2 rail DC)
US products began around 1950.
1960 - over half the product range was for the US market.
c1965 - Pocher aquired
c1975 the entire factory was destroyed by fire.
c1985 the US importer went bankrupt owing Rivarossi about the same amount as the
capital value of the firm.
c1998 the Italian firm Lima + French Jouef + German Arnold went bankrupt.(four
times the size of Rivarossi) The Italian government landed the sorry mess on
Rivarossi - they gained the dies etc but at the cost of keeping the Italian
factories open.
c2002 the US importer folds leaving debts greater than the capital value of
Rivarossi.
10/2004 Hornby buys most of the dies (including the US and European ranges) and
ships them to China.
Regards,
Greg.P.
Wolf Kirchmeir
> This is a good point. When I got into HO back in the late 70s, we had
> little to choose from. The best running diesels were the Roco-based Atlas
> units with a total of five different models to choose from, then there was
> Athearn and a lot of discussion of how to tune up that jet motor, replaced
> the sintered wheels, and balance the flywheel. For cars it was Athearn and
> MDC mainly and of course, Rivarossi, Mantua and Tyco.
>
> Today, we have so much more, but at much higher prices. With limited runs,
> you have to pick and choose what you can get and what you can afford. You
> don't have to be a modeler at all any more.
Allowing for inflation, the models are about the same price, often less.
Eg, an Athearn boxcar kit cost about 1.5 hours at min wage ca 1960, now
costs about the same. An Athearn GP/SD locomotive cost about three days
of minimum wage, now costs about two days. Etc. (Canadian wages and prices.)
Allowing for the improvement in quality as well as infaltion, the high
end locos cost much less. In 1960, I drooled over a Tenshodo Big Boy at
$200 (I made $250/month back then.) That's $1000 or more in today's
money. Lionel released its Challenegr at about $500, and Marklin's cost
a bit more. Better quality all round, and lower price, too.
We not only have more and better product, it's generally easier to
afford than it was back then.
robby
US.
The detail is beautiful and the motor and geartrain run smooth
compared to the older models. But Rivarossi never progressed far
enough in other areas. I was shocked to see a talgo horn-hook coupler
on the tender after all the good press this model received. I kadee'd
it with a fixed box immediately and snipped the talgo. The headlight
bulb wasn't even constant--I changed it for an LED. The rubber tires
were another big surprise. Why didn't they just weight the engine
properly like I had to? And the driver assembly--they had to be
kidding. The loco waddled like a drunk duck until I shimmed the axles
laterally and vertically to reduce the slop. It's still not perfect
and the loco thumps in reverse at higher speeds.
I guess Rivarossi was broke when these new models came out and could
only go so far improving their line. The only reason I bought the
Berkshire was because the reviews said it ran like a fine watch. I
expected Genesis or P2K standards. Sorry to say I got a
finely-detailed loco just above toy quality mechanically. I can't
imagine anyone paying $170 US for one when they first came out. $50
was just about right considering the work I had to put into it to
bring it closer to snuff.
Bill
A brief history of Rivarossi:
Founded 1948 to build model railways. (3 rail AC initially and then 2
rail DC) US products began around 1950.
1960 - over half the product range was for the US market. c1965 - Pocher
aquired
c1975 the entire factory was destroyed by fire. c1985 the US importer
went bankrupt owing Rivarossi about the same amount as the capital value
of the firm.
c1998 the Italian firm Lima + French Jouef + German Arnold went
bankrupt.(four times the size of Rivarossi) The Italian government
landed the sorry mess on Rivarossi - they gained the dies etc but at the
cost of keeping the Italian factories open.
c2002 the US importer folds leaving debts greater than the capital value
of Rivarossi. 10/2004 Hornby buys most of the dies (including the US and
European ranges) and ships them to China.
Thanks, Greg. This clears things up.
Bill
Bill's Railroad Empire
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Wolf Kirchmeir
I got a Big Boy recently which hiccupped both directions. Opened up the
drive train and found a minute (less than 1/10mm to my eyes) speck of
plastic in the drive gear. Took it out. Loco runs "like a fine watch."
So that loco at least has had much improvement in drive train precision
The waddle is probably caused by the traction tire(s), which are soft
rubbery stuff that doesn't keep its shape. I hate traction tires. I've
occasionally removed them and filled the groove w/ epoxy. Works. Better
to get a replacement driver set, though, if you can.
Re traction tires and traction: On the UK group, someone reported some
of his locos slipping after application or Railzip (a rail
cleaner/protector), while others had improved traction. Culprit:
traction tires, which appear to react with the Railzip and become ultra
slippery.
Gregory Procter
Wolf Kirchmeir wrote:
Roco and Maerklin make much better quality traction tyres.
Roco ones are limited to small to medium driver sizes but they come in two
thicknesses.
Ma ones come in all normal driver sizes but only one thickness.
In my experience both brands are stable and long lasting.
Regards,
Greg.P.
robby
> rubbery stuff that doesn't keep its shape. I hate traction tires. I've
> occasionally removed them and filled the groove w/ epoxy. Works. Better
> to get a replacement driver set, though, if you can.
Oops I forgot to mention that I removed those tires from mine.
Luckily there were no grooves--they simply slipped on. After
weighting the loco offers my hand a considerable tug--rubber not
needed. Maybe Rivarossi installed them out of habit. The price of
lead in Italy...
BTW after the tires came off I still had the waddle. Like I said
there was considerable slop in the axles that improved greatly after
shimming.
Robby