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No one is going to "dump" on you. SiberianMO. Gone are the days where everything is availible inside the LHS. Those stores who hold tribal knowledge such as MBKlien in Baltimore (They have been around a long time) will probably be around after most of us die. The rest of the LHS's either go into radio control, wargames or some stuff unrelated to the hoby to generate sales from a disinterested younger generation. Some LHS's will survive on a large number of customers and near clubs that constantly require everything you can think of in the Hobby. You will find Lowes and Home Depot in those areas as well. In Arkansas PRR is not a major road name. Thus when BLI hosted a major sale last winter the distributors figured Arkansas would not really particpate in the sale so they failed to pass the information along in a timely manner to the LHS's there. I learned about the sale and bought a BLI engine with the help of one of these stores who could not match some of the lower prices being offered but probably lowered the cost to me to almost nothing profit wise. I am happy that I have this engine as they are now "out of stock" ebay has a million copies of the same engine 3 months later for half of what they once were worth on retail. You think that a LHS will not be able to make a living with these costs. eBay is now the one reaping the sales revenue and we are saving the hassle of paying taxes. (shipping is another issue let's shelve it for a moment) Sales taxes on a Major engine purchase is worth at least several RTR rolling stock or that needed item to help the railroad perform better. Walthers recently released alot of good kits. Now a few years later you cannot get them anywhere. This is the problem of walthers not anyone else. The very same kits that are OOP are selling for 2 times retail value on ebay. Recent articles published in MR has lists of kits to model a harbor scene. Most of which are difficult to find these days. Bottom line, the internet for me, has saved the hobby. If I could not literally do the "legwork" and locate the items myself and pay for it to be delivered within a week instead of 6 months on back order. Back order may as well be thrown away as a obselete term. Those two words are killing potential sales in the Hobby. Major problems such as MTH, Lionel, Horizion buy outs of beloved Athearn and Roundhouse along with models being pulled off the Union Pacific trademarking and piles and piles of problems related to non availibility, quality control and possibly lack of corperate desire to spend money making a less profitable item in favor of limited runs that will enable us to visit the LHS one time per year on a forward reservation basis. Instead of looking over that nice new item in the store, I am constantly being asked if I want to order a model train that I have never seen before, with usually just text straight from the supplier that you have to sit thru and dechipher and then research google all before a deadline set weeks away. Months after you order the item only then will you see images of what it looks like, features and maybe a review. I for one am tired of that game. ebay, trainshows and internet mail order is becoming the favored method of acquiring items in the hobby. I support my LHS's as much as I can but increasingly the money coming out of my budget goes to the three non-LHS sources of hobby stuff. This is money that the LHS will never see. The trend away from LHS's started about 3 years ago and accelerated when suddenly products that are sought after became OOP, back ordered, not availible etc... I might as well take the 5000 dollars I spend a year on the hobby, bank it for that major trainshow in Timonium Maryland and ship the loot home by truck freight once a year.
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