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andrechapelon, I appreciate your thoughts on this matter.I think we are going to witness the death of the engine display case as we knew it. Instead of engines on-hand at the store, we are cut down to ordering them online or via LHS's who are still willing to take your order.I consder Engines to be big ticket items. Everything else that is part of the hobby sometimes will cost more like some DCC systems and what have you.I have been in stores decades ago as a young kid who saw a wall of brass engines behind the counter. It was like drinking water after crossing a wilderness to see every kind of engine in brass built to the best standards of the time. Just to visit the store and view the brass is worth the trip.Today, you will still get brass but have to do it online or through a mail order house. I know of one or two places that sell brass in stores because I am seeking out a particular item for future purchases. I wont be doing it as a investment, but it will be used every day right next to the plastic rolling stock because no one has produced this item in RTR.I still stand by what I said regarding the level of customer service and value of the products from BLI. I have experienced this first hand with my engines and nothing can change my position.I am a customer who needs to see, hear and touch the product in question before making the decision if I want to buy it or not. I dont know what percentage of all the people who go into a LHS shops that way. Take away that and show only a video or a review and very little else to go on except forum postings about a product really removes the customer like me from consideration.I will always buy Engines and HO scale trains thru the Hobby Shop when I can but dont see that happening very often. However there is plenty of other things to buy at the store and I would hope that this state of inventory will continue for some time.If there is anything to "whine" about I will have to blast the limited runs and advance ordering. Alot of times I visit a store and learn about a item that will be released soon (As in within 6 months) and have to decide if I want to order this item by a certian date. I would order this item and plan for it.Ultimately the items arrive at the store and the shop keeper calls me or otherwise lets me know that they are in and ready to be picked up.What happens if ... 100 people arrive over a month to pick up a pre-order and suddenly a percentage of them decide they dont want it? Or not have the money to pay it right away? Or perhaps for other reasons in life not able to complete the order?The LHS are the ones who have to decide then what they want to do with this situation.As for me I found increasing numbers of orders arriving at a rate that I cannot keep up with at times. This is items ordered "Limited run" deadlines etc within the last 12 months. I see this situation getting worse.In my specific case, I finished all of my items for 2006 and I consider 2007 a new year and have several orders that have yet to arrive. Two of those are BLI engines. They were ordered last year. The pricing for those engines will be more than the outlet sales or other promotions. I dont have a problem with that. As I stated before I already told one store to drop a BLI engine order because I dont see it ever being produced again after it vanished after a really big blow out early summer of 2006.Stores dont like to have to call BLI or anyone and say "Drop the order" or "send this back" which is why I think that alot of product is going to end up unsold.
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