I had a question from a customer today about how many of a just introduced rail car the store had in stock. He was thinking that he may want more than than the one he bought to support a model industry.
I explained how this supplier works, which seems to be typical. They take reservations for various cars. After many months, they decide that they either have enough reservations or not. If they decide to proceed, then they do design work, then order, then wait for the boat from China. Finally they fill the orders based on the reservations they have.
Their business model is 'get them in, get them out'. They do not deliberately hold inventory. That means when I order I must order enough to sell for say 5 years. This forces me to carry more inventory than I would like. I would rather take a few and reorder based on sales.
The rest of the story is that they will rerun cars from time to time. This vendor is now taking reservations for '12 panel' 40 foot steel box cars in several GN paint schemes. Some time in the dim distant past the GNRHS bought a huge batch of these cars. Don McGlothlin spent years getting rid of them. I plan to order relatively lightly, given the inventory of these cars in the hands of members.
My advice to you is get as many specialized cars as you need as soon as you can, but you should have some months after introduction. In this case, we offer a total of six car numbers. If it were me, I would start with those six and then decide if I need more, which would involve changing numbers. Also be aware that if you order six single cars you will pay more in shipping and handling than if you order all six at once.
Mac