Fast Tracks

I may have posted this in an inappropriate forum (I just happened to be looking in new announcements when I thought of the question).

Please move to a correct forum if need be.

Greetings,

Are custom sizes going to be available? I would like to get some of these to store my locomotives in, I have several cab forwards and such and they will not fit in the sizes that are available. These would be the perfect answer to storing locomotives the way they lock closed. Also custom ones would be nice for things like my SP articulated Daylight Cars, both the Coffee Shop / Kitchen / Diners and the articulated Coaches. Maybe with trays that fit inside so you can pick up the car with out stressing the articulation joint.

Andre Anderson
Portland Oregon

Hi,

FreightCrates of the same number of pockets are stackable as you assumed, as long as they are the same scale.

We are planning on expanding the lines to include versions for locomotives as well. The current thinking is to offer customized sizes, or at least sizes in 1 or 2 inch increments, you would order the length that will fit the locomotive you wish to store. These would come with a base for the locomotives to sit on so lifting engines with attached tenders would be safer.

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Cheers!

Tim Warris
Fast Tracks
http://www.fast-tracks.net
service@fast-tracks.net

Tim, the new crates look great, I have my first order in the mail, and can't wait to build them.

One thing I notices was it said you had to order min of 2 of any size crate when placing order.

I can see ordering min of 2 total of any size, but I may not need two of one size.

Keep up the good work, as I enjoy your products and they are worth the cost.

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Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!

Hi Kurt,

Yes, we had to set minimum order quantities on these as once we started fulfilling orders we quickly realized they cost more to ship then we had anticipated, probably due to their weight (they weigh 3 pounds each!)

We tried quite a few options, and decided the best way to handle the issue was to set MOQ's for them. We actually underwrite the cost of shipping of most items by quite a bit, usually our customers are seeing a heavily discounted shipping charge when they check out through the site. We pay the rest. The new FreightCrates were wreaking havoc on the calculations for shipping. We found that it doesn't cost much more to ship 2 crates then it does to ship one. At one, we are actually shipping them at a loss, adding a second one to an order makes the shipping work out to where it's worth our while to offer them.

Due to a limitation of the website software we use, there is no way of having it consider two of the same "type" of product as enough to meet the minimum order quantity, it requires that the part numbers are exactly the same. That does create an issue for customers such as yourself who want two or more FreightCrates, but of different sizes. To us, it doesn't matter, as long as at least two of any size are ordered, we can afford to produce and ship them. We are still searching for a workaround to this issue.

So far, the best we can come up with is to have the customer place the order and we can edit the order afterward. There is no way to get the site to override the MOQ on the front end, we have to do it after an order is placed.

Long story short, if someone would like different sizes, they must order at least 2 of each size. We can edit the order after the fact and adjust it down to match what is really wanted and only bill the order for what is shipped.

Hopefully we can find a more elegant solution to the issue in the near future.

_________________
Cheers!

Tim Warris
Fast Tracks
http://www.fast-tracks.net
service@fast-tracks.net

Thanks for the info.

I just build my first crate and they are great.

Now to test fit my bigger stock and see if I need more standard or deep for my big cyro reefer cars and auto racks.

I will be waiting for the "Engine Crate" line to come out for my few steamers and big long modern diesels, as I have several SD90MAC and SD70ACe units that need a good home for the road.

If everyone likes them as I do, you guys may be very busy after the NTS when you get a good public display.

I will have my with me up there for the Free-Mo setup in the train show. Hope I get a chance to come see you in your booth. Will it be for the convention only or will you have the booth during the weekend show as well.

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Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!

Any idea of when the new Engine Crates will be designed and available.

I need some to protect my engines during road trip travels with my Free-mo modules at multiple show a year.

If they are as good as the freight versions they should be a great selling item.

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Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!

Have you considered using 3mm (1/8") Baltic Birch or similar plywood? The material would be more expensive but quite a bit lighter.
Cheers,
Stumper

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Stumper

The boxes that were the precursor to FreightCrates were made from Baltic Birch, they look great and are much lighter. The cost, however would be significantly higher, likely double then what they are now. That material doesn't come cheap, even though we purchase large quantities directly from a mill in Finland.

_________________
Cheers!

Tim Warris
Fast Tracks
http://www.fast-tracks.net
service@fast-tracks.net

Any word on when the Engine Crates will be available? Especially for modern big long diesel engines like SD70M and SD90/43MACs.

Kurt

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Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!

My question is what has been done or can be done to the freight crates to protect them from possible termite attacks? Or does the wood used have a natural repellent capability?

that would be more of an owners responsibility than the manufactures.

It would be like asking those who make cardboard train storage boxes what they have done to keep humidity out of the storage area for boxes.

If you expected Fast Tracks to treat all wood products for pest problems you would raise lots of issues about chemicals and what's allowed in different nations and states by rules that don't need to go into the product or costs.

Just my two cents, for what it is worth.

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Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!