BEWARE OF CHEAP IMITATIONS!

Note there are others claiming to be "switchmaster" manufacturers, using our name, our design and even our instruction sheets, but with knock-off copies made in China of our precision American-made Hankscraft motors. They have no right to do this! Yet they do.
If the motor says "switchmaster by TAS" it is bogus!! Quick, take it back and complain to your supplier. Or better yet smash it with a hammer! Genuine SwitchMaster's from Builders In Scale say "HANKSCRAFT MOTORS", of Reedsburg, WI. That's what you want under your layout.
In our opinion these others are cheap worthless rip-offs, of unknown, untested quality, of our fine product and name. Don't be fooled or de-railed by these counterfeits. Remember, you get what you paid for! They may claim theirs is better (we agree, it's a great design, WE developed it over 20 years ago). They may sell them a little cheaper (Wow, 10%)- Of course theirs are cheaper, they didn't have to come up with the design, they didn't have to come up with a name, they didn't spend years developing an outstanding reputation, they didn't even have to write the instructions! They simply took them all from us!!
You know, we don't have any problem with legitimate competition. We're all for that. But these guys... They have no right to label their FAKES with our good name and abuse our reputation with their CHINESE JUNK! Though we are protected by federal copyright and trademark laws- That still doesn't stop them from trying. When we first learned of this, we immediately sent a stern letter announcing our objections. They did change their name- and pulled the OUR instruction sheets from the Internet (replacing it with a slightly reworded version). Still, they continue to market their crap with our name stamped on the side!
So, why don't we do something about it? Well, we have no desire to get lawyers involved (actually the jerk that owns the company IS a lawyer!), life is too short, and model trains are just too much fun. We hold only contempt for this idiot! But we must rise above this lowest level of humanity. Besides, we believe the proof is in our product and in the end you will agree.
Your trains deserve the best,
they deserve GENUINE SwitchMasters!

PLEASE DO NOT SEND THESE CHEAP IMITATIONS BACK TO US WHEN THEY BREAK!
Several people have sent us letters complaining that our motors don't work, one even sent a broken motor back! They were not our HANKSCRAFT motors.
Sorry, there is nothing we can do about fixing fake copies, other than warn you not to buy them and offer ours. The only complains we have had recently was for some of our motors wearing out after approximately 80,000 cycles! Actually, Hankcraft guarantees their motors for one full year after manufacture and we seldom if ever have had any such failures, they ARE that good. And we hear many are still in good service after decades of use! Next time you are on a layout tour take a look underneath the layout and ask about the switch motors. If they are SwitchMaster/Hankscraft you are certain to get an honest testimonial to their quality. The older the layout the better!

Sorry, we needed to get that off our chest- Normally, we don't say bad things about the competition but these guys deserve it.

Here is an unsolicited e-mail we recently received-
I recently became aware that Switchmasters are indeed available once again. I used them with great success on a previous layout and am reusing them on my present one. However, I got down to my last one ansd couldn't find anymore, so I ended up with the 'fakes'.
In a word, these suck. The packaging is such that it permanently bends the 032" throwbar wire, rendering it useless. Additionally, I DETEST the fact that they left off the leads that you (Switchmaster) have soldered to the motor. I knew something wasn't right either when the resistor supplied was 200 ohms instead of 1200 ohms.
Please advise on the availabilty of a 6-pack of the real McCoy's. I haven't installed the fake yet, and won't since I know I can get (hopefully) the right item for my needs.
Looking forward to your reply.
John A.
Canton, MI
P.S. I had my dealer order the fakes upon my recommendation. Can I advise my dealer that we should accept no substitutes and get the real thing on the shelf?

We would be happy to supply you and/or your dealer direct with the real thing!