How Model Trains Are Made | Micro-Trains Factory Tour

[@edgein7892]

We may complain about the prices of our models sometimes but we tend to forget the work that's involved with creating said models. Nothing like a manufacturing video to make us realize that again.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Well-stated!

[@dxr2002]

And made in the USA!!!!

[@coolruehle]

@@dxr2002 this is part of why they are so expensive.

[@red1inerr113]

@@coolruehle I'm fine with that. They have the best N scale models in my opinion and as long as they dont sell out and send the manufacturing overseas, its well worth the price.

[@AG-un7dz]

They do a great job and still Made in the USA!

[@jamesscofield6308]

Great video. Loved it. Great to see how our model railroad products are made here in the USA. Thank you.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks for watching!

[@mikaeldougan473]

I'm the one doing final assembly on the cabooses.

[@urodoji]

@@mikaeldougan473 nice work!

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks for letting us share your work!

[@brucebennett5759]

WOW! So much detail on such tiny parts! Thx 4 the tour. B^)

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

If you have been there more than few years, you may have built my Micro-Trains Nickel Plate Road caboose. I am principally an O scaler, but am expanding into N scale.. Love the Micro-Trains products..

[@cuttersgoose]

@@mikaeldougan473 and your doing an outstanding job

[@chrisbarr1359]

I'm already a fan of MTL cars. However after seeing these dedicated people working their individual craft to create great N-scale products, I'm much, much more likely to select Micro-Trains items in the future. It's also great to see that these items are made in the U.S.A.. great work guys!

[@geoman9714]

I worked at a factory for 39 years. I retired due to the factory was acquired and moved to China. I really miss work. Your video brought back memories of life in a factory. I am so happy to see that there are still factories that remain in the USA. May you continue to prosper and may this factory remain open and operating in the USA for the next 100 years. Cheers!

[@johnbeck3270]

Considering haw much labor that goes into Micro Trains products, it’s amazing they have remained price competitive in the hobby.

[@RichyN25]

Not being greedy helps

[@chadportenga7858]

As both a model railroader and a tooling manufacturer, this was very interesting to me! It surprised me how they basically do EVERYTHING in-house, including design, tooling, production, assembly, packaging, shipping, and even literature printing! Kudos to Micro Trains for being able to do this in a world of off-shoring everything.

[@antonbruce1241]

Really nice factory tour!! Great to see model trains made here in the U.S, by U.S. workers!

[@tsgmultimedia]

I was really impressed with the factory and the people who work there.

[@RodneyHayes-d3y]

I'm not even a train guy but machining, fabricating and manufacturing I know, and this is a very impressive factory you have.

[@larryprice5658]

After what seems like nearly every manufacturer has offshored their manufacturing overseas because US labor costs are too expensive it’s a relief to see something made in America.

[@johnblair8146]

Firing your customers costs even more.

[@dathpo]

It's a big plus!

[@chrisstromberg6527]

Just getting back into model railroading after a 30 year hiatus. The fact that these components are made here in the USA is incredible, and exciting! Thank you for sharing this.

[@echohunter4199]

I’m impressed that you’ve kept production in the States, things are pretty complicated for building dies, production set up and quality control for some model companies that do production in China, I’ve heard that the dies that’re made in China are not allowed to leave China.

[@chadportenga7858]

I've also heard that if China builds tooling for you, they build themselves a duplicate set. So, at some point, you're going to have competition that looks exactly the same. Glad to see that Micro Trains kept it all in-house.

[@williambyrne6855]

Awesome tour of the plant, and the dedication of those involved is so inspiring.

[@tsgmultimedia]

It was great to see them in action, wasn't it?

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

As a design engineer, and CNC guy, I am SUPER impressed with the skills of your people, their technical knowledge of the processes is astounding; I certainly hope you have an intern program to keep the skills alive. Personally, I use SolidWorks. Doing it all in house, including heat treating, packaging, injection molding and making the molds is very impressive. Plus, your people live in a great place, having lived in Eugene, OR for over 15 years. As also being a rail enthusiast, in my college days in 1979, we hopped a freight from Bozeman to Billings, MT 19:55 an rode in a sugar beet gondola 🙂 My original scale was an N-gauge layout. Having a great artist like Paul add the weathering by hand is a valuable addition. Might I suggest upgrading your lighting to LED tubes if you have not already. Not only does it save huge on electrical cost, the light output is MUCH better and higher quality than florescent tubes. What an outstanding operation, making America proud.

[@Pauley_in_GP]

I live close by and am lucky enough to have been on a tour of Micro-Trains. Very impressive. And a great bunch of people.

[@DYT-jx4jp]

Thanks for the efforts to make/post this!! It has been interesting to learn how model trains are made 👍

[@DJ-mz7td]

So good to see American manufacturing! 🇺🇲😎

[@troy.peters]

Thank you Micro Trains and Thank you to all your staff.

[@ThUnDaHuNtA_Australia]

WOW, thats gotta be the best factory tour i've seen, great video and a big shoutout to the company for allowing it and the employees for great narration and demos. ... also this video is a perfect example of how videos of factory tours should be made, great job to everyone involved... well done. 👏👍

[@tsgmultimedia]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Rickster5176]

Mind boggling. So many talented people on their team. You gotta produce a lot of product to pay for all of that.

[@christophermears7738]

Wicked cool video of how these are made . Thank you for sharing it . I've always wondered how model trains are made

[@moosebrain]

Wow! So awesome to meet all the talented folks behind these great trains! Thank you.

[@chiparooo]

True craftsmen/craftswomen! What a great USA made product. Love MTL cars. That was a fascinating tour. Thanks to all for sharing!

[@dinsdalepiranah1189]

I am not a train person, but I can certainly appreciate the skill and ingenuity involved in your operation. Congratulations to all who work there, a great team. From the UK.

[@Tuckaway]

I have been in engineering all my working life and I am seriously impressed with your machinery and the skill of your employees. Keep up the good work.

[@keving126]

Micro-trains are the best!

[@mongolike513]

Thank you for such a great tour of such a business employing so many skilled craftsmen and craftswomen. Most impressive and positive. From Oz with love.

[@ismaelvillarino9258]

Me encantó este video. Muchas veces no tenemos nocion de la cantidad de personas que participan del proceso de construcción de una replica y hacen posible el disfrute del hobby. Un abrazo

[@remsterrailroading2679]

All 110% American made, built by American people, #1 N-Scale manufacturer for freight/passenger cars, and high quality/quantity for model railroaders! That’s micro trains and we love you guys!

[@hansnoeldner1861]

Great factory tour! It is always a pleasure to see talented people working on stuff they love to do.

[@lunhil12]

The finest N scale cars around. Though I don't have room for a layout anymore I still have boxes of old Micro-Trains cars, beautiful as ever.

[@bubbabubba2013]

Thanks for the tour, very informative... AND awesome!!! 😊

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

Fantastic products, designed and made in USA, and still an excellent value. Thank you!

[@mawsoncasey7347]

This is a great company . Employing locally and manufacturing joy !

[@RonsTrainsNThings]

This is a great, detailed documentary if you will. Thanks or this in-depth look at the business of MRR manufacturing.

[@michaelgill5950]

Thank you so much for sharing the dedicated and talented people who make this all happen. I worked in factory for 32 years and it still amazes me how the American spirit of innovation and doing a quality job is important to all of your workers. Thank you for making such small industry still an important part of so many people's lives.

[@pauldannenberg391]

Don't forget there may not have been any computers in the workshop when Micro Trains / Kadee first started out. The quality of the workmanship was / is incredible.

[@tonydewey3023]

Wow, A concise tour, I didn't know so much went into these models, Tony from Ireland

[@AKTG197]

As someone who works in the industry, it's cool to see how another company does stuff. Unfortunately, we don't do nowhere near this degree of production in the states anymore, but I've been learning how to do pretty much everything that's been shown in this video.

[@Bliz0516]

Great video. Great company. Love their products. Interesting how so many model companies say they can’t make things in the USA anymore, yet micro trains does it and their products are a good price not exorbitant. I get tired of companies that just state they can’t make things here anymore. In a lot of cases it’s bullshit.

[@michaelmorgan7893]

Lots of fine work on your products. Good work. You guys have the best couplers and trucks I've ever seen.

[@tridbant]

Great to see it all made in house

[@Wurlyscope]

Very interesting visit! Thanks!

[@robertcontri4087]

Thanks for sharing! I’ve got a lot of Micro-Trains product, both N and Z. Detail is amazing! Keep up the good work!

[@lotsatrains]

Great video 👍 Congratulations to all and keep up the great work Made in USA 🇺🇸

[@williamwatkins821]

outstanding video!!

[@JM-lg7hi]

Very interesting to see what goes into making the models. Thanks for sharing. Very happy with the product and wish you all continued success.

[@johnwhatmore163]

Great video and great model making, MTL is always highest quality. I always assumed the couplers were machine-assembled, so much handwork is used, wonder if an assembly machine would be cost effective? Keep up the great content John. How about a factory tour at Kato, could be a fun trip?

[@tsgmultimedia]

That would be very interesting. Gonna need a whole lot more support on Patreon to make that one happen!

[@johnwhatmore163]

@@tsgmultimedia Kato might help..?

[@tsgmultimedia]

I had not thought of that!

[@MilePost106]

A majority of my N scale is Micro Trains. They are right there on price with China made. I wish all of our stuff was made here like it used to be.

[@stevenperry7493]

That was very interesting to see the production of your models ,covering the whole process . Suffolk , England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@Everett-xe3eg]

These are so much more small and detailed than I expected. Those molding machines are making some really tiny stuff!

[@montageproductions]

Great vid, what a lot of work goes into these. I'd hate to think how much a machine breakdown would upset the production.

[@Cowboy_Steve]

Wow that is fantastic! So nice to see the entire production lifecycle process. And all handled in house. Outstanding! Thank you for sharing 🤠

[@kenmunozatmmrrailroad6853]

Amazing! I didn’t think we mfg’d anything but lawyers and litigation anymore.

[@nascargraham]

Thanx MICRO-TRAINS for all your work. Graham 🇨🇦

[@Russojap2]

I'm not into model trains, but this is making me want to buy something from this place. 😂

[@goarmysleepinthemud.]

What a great tour. Thanks for sharing this.

[@jigity_jigity_joe]

What a great video, so cool to see the inner workings of the shop. Talk about job envy

[@tsgmultimedia]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@larryolsen9971]

A very interesting and informative video. It’s nice to see quality products made in the USA!! Keep up the great products you make. Larry

[@phillipg1588]

Hello from Australia. Great video with brilliant N scale work. Luv it.

[@cuttersgoose]

Must be a fun place to work

[@thomasglessner6067]

Bravo. What a great TEAM effort.

[@gregalanharper]

That backdrop could be hung in the Louvre!! Bloody awesome!

[@austinwilliams4269]

Great Video, thanks for showing all the hard work that goes into your products.

[@ArtorMachine]

Amazing manufacturing process. 👍💯

[@kenneths3742]

Wow! Thank you for the great video.

[@Electronzap]

Nice factory tour.

[@randydobson1863]

Hi John & it's is Randy and i like yours video is Cool & Thanks John & Friends Randy

[@oohookoo]

Wow.. I'd be careful you don't want anyone from the gov to notice a manufacturer slipped through the cracks. :) Great video! Thank you.

[@danahowell8880]

Awesome video! Love your products!

[@danh4967]

I absolutely love the Pacific Electric route marker poster in the first 2 minutes! I need to find one!!

[@NvFlyAngler]

Even though I’m not into model railroading (yet) I thoroughly enjoyed this video. When I am, I’ll default to MTL rolling stock to help support a small USA business. Thank you for a very interesting video!

[@andrewh.8403]

Great video. There are portions of the processes that I've never considered, such as the manual work for the couplers. All I could think was, all those couplers I've seen personally... all set up by hand. The sheer size of the dies for such small casts was an eye opener. I guess that's why Micro-Trains have been at the top of their game for such a long time. Only thing I would suggest is the have a 2nd camera for the close ups and staff intro's. Or perhaps do cut aways and edit them in later.

[@Tielc]

I've spend the last 20 years of my career working in the 3D CAD software industry with a focus on creating content to highlight how the software can be used to benefit customer's design and engineering processes. This entire workflow looks like a lot of really fun design and engineering challenges. From product design, to tool and die, all through manufacturing and packaging equipment. All look like really interesting and fun designs. It's rare to see so much of this done in house, and now outsourced. My only surprise was to see them using AutoCAD 3D, and not a parametric design tool like SolidWorks, Onshape, Inventor, Creo, etc. for their designs.

[@DJBREIT]

AutoCAD can do 3D work and it dose have parametric tools. It has had them for years.

[@jamessbca]

Same here. Truth be told though, I'm clueless as to the solid modeling capabilities in Autocad. (I've been using Solidworks on a daily basis for 27 years - learned Autocad for 2D just before that in school). I do know people who love Autocad would take a bullet for it :)

[@smcnish1droid]

I was also surprised they are using AutoCAD and not Inventor, because they are both AutoDesk packages. I worked almost 30 years as a mechanical drafter/designer and used AutoCAD, Pro E, Solid Edge and Inventor; definitely preferred not using AutoCAD for 3D/solid modeling. Great tour, thank you!

[@Dioramo_Scale_Modeling]

Fantastic!

[@nscalefun]

AWESOME!!!!! I enjoyed it very much!!! Keep up the good work.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@ToyManTelevision]

I love micro trains. When I was modeling N it’s mostly all I had.

[@Andrewz411]

made in the usa!! impressive. makes me want to switch from HO to N scale

[@thomasboese3793]

I did so and wish I had done so earlier. Longer trains are very impressive in N scale.

[@stevenjones2371]

im not into trains but this is really awesome

[@randallzook5570]

awesome thank you for sharing

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks for watching!

[@houseofrandomness]

Awesome coverage of the process. When it got to the grit and grime portion I was hoping to find out a bit more about the doings of it. Definitely not pad printed, or hydro-dipped. I'm almost thinking direct printing? Either way, they are awesome and I'm looking forward to the release of the 3 bay covered hoppers.

[@PennCentral99]

Cool Stuff! I recently purchased some of their HO scale “grit-n-grime” covered hoppers that they partnered with Accurail. They are nice and I plan on purchasing more as they’re released

[@Mason-DixonRR]

Thought this was a video about a China production tour. A nice surprise to see 💯 USA manufacturing. 🇺🇲

[@tsgmultimedia]

Glad you liked it!

[@SGTGhost]

Ah my favorite brand of model trains

[@Jim-o1g2j]

Mr. Mangold must have been a child his entire life. What a great way to live life!

[@minichols5472]

AMAZING!

[@edcrane4438]

Very interesting to see this done

[@bradleyjanes2949]

Great video👍

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks 👍

[@dathpo]

I've been collecting Micro trains cars from the beginning. Little piece of rolling art. I love them!

[@bobainsworth5057]

Now we can understand pricing.

[@patrickmundy1966]

Nice video John! There sure is a lot involved in producing the final product. I'm glad they're transitioning away from the cookie cutter wheels!

[@Sormovo]

Thank you very much.

[@tsgmultimedia]

You are welcome!

[@ruanecrummett9261]

Wow very interesting you are the best n scale company

[@dannyking748]

Now I understand why models are expensive. Never knew that much work went into them.

[@m1sterhockey]

Great video!

[@tsgmultimedia]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bubbabubba2013]

I bought my first MT from a hobby shop at the outrageous price of $4.25. 😊 That was way back in my early teens years after I got my driver's license. Now as an old man with deteoriating vision I had to move up to HO and pack the N scale away. The MT HO works for me. 😊😊

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks for sharing!

[@parkereberhard7580]

My grandpa (a model railroader) was a machinist for Cincinnati Milacron

[@ToyManTelevision]

Sweet! 😊❤

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thank you! 😃

[@marblox9300]

So much professionalism, dedication and hard work goes into things that we buy. It is ashame that the government continually devalues our currency which is driving our manufacturing base out of our country.