Jim Fortner wrote:Hi guys, took a while to catch up for the past 2 days - plenty of posts. Went by Schaeffer's Hobby on Gravois. They were packed with shoppers. Their train section seems to be shrinking and I can guess why - they are way out of line on pricing. Everything is full retail and some PLUS. Was going to pick up an operating/railing track for the O27 layout - going to modify it slightly for Christmas and put down white stuff etc. Well, they are widely available for about 14 to 18 dollars. These guys want 32 dollars for it! Man, I said put it back and left. My wife is getting ready to go on a Christmas shopping spree and I might do the same, though mine will be ONLINE. Son is pretending to vacuum the floor - seeing how much he can aggravate his mom to see if she'll tell him he can quit. Won't work - she's got a stubborn streak! Worked 4 hours of OT this morning. Rumor is we could be back working at home before Feb 2007.
Jim, The owner of a LHS tells me that O gauge is one of the least profitable lines that he handles, this being the case it is an easy choice for a shop owner to decide where to put his inventory dollars. Just a fact of doing business.
John,
Our LHS owner tells me that he sell's lots more HO than O and that's what keeps the train side going even though his profits are higher on O. I really believe though that what keeps the doors open are the huge RC plane, boat and car sales plus the very nice RC car track outside. Sadly, he's the only hobby shop in a population area of over 500,000 in a 40 mile radius.
Jon
So many roads, so little time.
Jon,
A LHS can put about four HO engines on the shelf versus one O engine. Stock more, sell more.
Only 500,000 people.....boy you live in the sticks.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Do you guys think that the new O gauge stuff is competing against used/aftermarket stuff and so crimping the market for the LHS? Just a thought. The price point on some O gauge is much more than HO and I've seen more than one poster say that they are now buying stuff NIB or Excellent+ on ebay etc for about half what it was selling for a few years ago....
Hey, won a Lionel Sawmill on ebay! It's missing one plank, but plenty of pics and looks like it's in very good shape! Called my wife on her shopping spree and told her she was doing good so far this year - then I told her what she just got me -
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
A late one tonight. Had to pick daughter up from friends house.
Spent the entire day repainting her room. She picked a nice light blue. Took 2 coats and 2 gal of paint. Must have filled 2,000 thumbtack holes. It has been 10 years since we last painted. I hate painting the house. Daughter is going to get all new furniture for Christmas. We have another special gift for her that she does not know about. It will be a nice surprise.
Dr. John - get well soon. I quit getting flu shots several years back. They were free at work. I got sick as a dog every year about 1 -2 weeks after the shot. This went on for 6 years. I quit taking the shot and I have not had the flu or gotten that sick (other than colds) since and that was 5 years ago. I do not care what the experts say. Those shots made me sick.
Doug - I probably missed you, but have a safe trip.
Have a great day tomorrow all. I will be recovering from the painting and watching Cowboys/New Orleans game.
Regards, Roy
Good Morning from Blueberryhill....
It is a sunny 31 degrees. Going up to a sunny 50 today. Looks like a nice day.
We had a good time on the Polar Express yesterday. It was a long train. They only are running it this weekend because of the high cost of using the name "Polar Express". I was told that it cost them $15, 000.00 MORE, this year to use it by Warner Bros. They wouldn't tell me the entire cost. But, it's a shame . They won't be having the train ride next year.
Today, we have a few things to do around the house. Some chores need to be done. May spend some time outside. I don't think I'll get any train time in today. But, I'll try.
I hear the Dining Car rolling in. Time for breakfast.
Y'all have a great Sunday.
Chuck
Good Morning Everyone !!
Glad Chuck had a nice ride yesterday, too bad they are not having it anymore. Why can't they call it something else next year & still have it ? I wonder if I'm the only one that thought of that ?!!
Well, cleaned & oiled some of my engines yesterday & even got called into work late afternoon. Boy, what a difference it made in one of my engines, it sure runs smooth again.
Well, here comes the dining car my way , now !!
Thanks, John
Morning all. Off to Sunday School. Missed early Church as I was cooking stuffed hot country sausage and biscuits. Repelled the Yankee cold air as it did not get as low a predicted. Warming fast.
Dr. John, plenty of Southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravya dn sweet ice tea will make the flu go away.
Later.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Good Mroning All from NE Ohio
where the temp is 37 deg with Blue Clear Skies and headed to the high 40's.
Yesterday we had a great turn out for the Museums Open house. I would guess that we had over 1,000 visitors come thru. And boy did we have the little ones. It's great to see so many young ones that likes trains. And of cousre we let them run them.
Cheif - IT's great to see that you have started your bench work, even if it means we have a little snow from it. But us yankees are tuff and can take it.
I am a person with a very active inner child. This is why my wife loves me so. Willoughby, Ohio - the home of the CP & E RR. OTTS Founder www.spankybird.shutterfly.com
Roy--
I rarely got sick when I was teaching, just never happened---the kids always said I was to ornery to get sick. The one year I had the flu shot was the year I was out for a week, with the flu. My own family couldn't believe it. Two weeks ago the flu ripped through our whole family when we were together except for myself and the baby, I have never seen my wife or oldest son so sick, it was ugly. I think as I get older I will probably start taking the shot again but for now I'm going to get my shots from Dr. Daniels
Tom--
What's your time frame for the museum? Will you be able to use this location for a number of years?
HI GIZ,
Hunted over the weekend and NO DEER this buck season. Still have flintlock muzzleloader season the day after Christmas. Very cold up at MOMs on Saturday morning at 13. Glad there was no wind. Did not have to go for swim after antmore deer.
TOM, museum layout is looking good. Conga on all the work.
All have a good one,got to take grass cutter deck off and put on snowblower today.
laz57
jonadel wrote: Tom--What's your time frame for the museum? Will you be able to use this location for a number of years? Jon
We are 1 1/2 years into a 5 year lease. The landlord likes us as so does the Mayor of our City. I think we are OK for a little while.
tom
HEY GIZ, thought you would like to see the pic of my bro-in-laws deer......
Notice in backgroung is where I got neekit and swam across to get deer....
Me and my brother...
Me and brother in law....
Good morning everyone,
I returned home from the show last night. I am not going back up today. It was a great turn out, a large crowd indeed. Our display, I think, was the most popular. I ended up staying over on Friday, because my dad didn't want to drive in the dark, which I could understand. Check out some pix on Sunday Photo Fun from the show.
Good morning from Gettysburg. Have finally caught up reading the forum. Computer had been acting up this week. Blew out cable modem and wireless router. Had to replace both. What a pain. Well the Mrs. and I are going Christmas shopping this afternoon. Hope we find items she likes. It makes Santa's job much easier when the Mrs. finds items she likes.
Mitch
Bob Mitchell Gettysburg, PA TCA # 98-47956 LCCA# RM22839
Afternoon all!
Cloudy and 50 here. May be some rain coming in the next couple of days. Got to get motivated and drag the outdoor Christmas lights out. Finished the indoor stuff last weekend. Not as many lights up in our neighborhood this year as all are reeling from our "deregulated" 13 cent/kwh electricity. Big scandal here, but regardless the cost of electricity here is ridiculous. Guess what - one of the enities involved are the same guys (Reliant Energy) that caused the big run-up in California a few years ago. Our local carrier TXU also a major factor.
Jon - I also use a nice glass of Galway Pipe port!
Tom and Colin - glad to hear your shows are going well. Nice exposure for the hobby.
Buckeye - sounds like the MTH molds are worn out. Erosion of the mold with time causes the parts to get larger.
Have a great afternoon all!
wrmcclellan wrote: Buckeye - sounds like the MTH molds are worn out. Erosion of the mold with time causes the parts to get larger.
From my hours of idleness, I wonder if MTH is getting ready to change to a different type of track that may be compatible with Lionels Fastrack................................but keep some of the good features of RealTrax, like being much quieter.
HEY GIZ,
Just got finished cleaning out shed. Winterized the lawn tractor. Took off mower of other tractor that I lent my HS principal and put on the snow blower in 60 degree weather. Thinking SNOW. All is working great I'm ready for it but its going to be in the upper 50s this week. Got to go and run some trains now.
Spent the day doing laundry and baking homemade bread (old Frugal Gourmet recipe for Italian bread - very heavy and rich and ymmy). Got the boxes out for my lemax stuff, to put it away for the year. Never did get any of my stuff from last year out. Wonder what Lionel will come up with for next year for Halloween? Thinking about Christmas now.... Char was out buying Christmas stuff, ran into some of our friends at the Christian bookstore, and lost about half the day. Chief, you are sure making great progress! Watching The Amazing Race - they are on the trains in France. Oh - now they are off the trains...
Anybody notice the trains in the last episode of CSI? The killer was apparently a toy train guy. In one scene, they went in his house and he had a layout all the way around this long room - I think it was HO, but some of it looked like O to me? Apparently he was the killer who was leaving little miniatures at the crimescenes this season? Kinda anticlimactic - I thought there would be more to do with the pics of the broken doll or something?
Good evening all,
No trains today, went to Victorian Christmas Celebration at the FIL's assisted living home with most of the family and then stopped at Masonic Village to visit an old friend.
Chief, Looks like you are making real progress. Have you ever posted your track plan? If you did I must have missed it.
Chuck, This local RR http://www.mhrailroad.com/indexP.html runs trains that it calls polar bear express. At one time they called them polar express, but were threatened with a law suit if they did not stop using the name, so they changed and still get a lot of riders. I have a friend who plays Santa and his wife Mrs. Santa on the trains.
Jon, I think the reason Realtrax is guieter is the mass of the plastic. Fastrack has very thin plastic base compared to Realtrax. They have Fastrack on the LHS layout and it gets dirty very fast. Have to clean it almost daily as it gets a real heavy black crud on it. I don't clean my Realtrax very often and don't have a lot of problems. What is your experience with this?
jefelectric wrote: Good evening all,Chuck, This local RR http://www.mhrailroad.com/indexP.html runs trains that it calls polar bear express. At one time they called them polar express, but were threatened with a law suit if they did not stop using the name, so they changed and still get a lot of riders. I have a friend who plays Santa and his wife Mrs. Santa on the trains.
I will pass that on to the gal who runs the Show.
Jim Fortner wrote: the last episode of CSI? The killer was apparently a toy train guy. In one scene, they went in his house and he had a layout all the way around this long room - I think it was HO, but some of it looked like O to me? Apparently he was the killer who was leaving little miniatures at the crimescenes this season? Kinda anticlimactic - I thought there would be more to do with the pics of the broken doll or something?
the last episode of CSI? The killer was apparently a toy train guy. In one scene, they went in his house and he had a layout all the way around this long room - I think it was HO, but some of it looked like O to me? Apparently he was the killer who was leaving little miniatures at the crimescenes this season? Kinda anticlimactic - I thought there would be more to do with the pics of the broken doll or something?
Yes I did, Jim. I wasn't very pleased with that episode, just what we don't need I thought, negative image of loonies and what a waste! If it was built for the episode it must have cost a bomb to be so little used, the molds were interesting, makes me wonder if its a shot of some well known layout, since those molds are the work of an expert.
How about some POSITIVE TV exposure? The other day they barely showed a few minutes of Northlandz which I'd never heard of, worlds largest HO layout in Joizy (Jersey) and most of the shots were filled with the temperaure and weather overlays blocking the live feed plus the lady interviewer was obviously clueless. It annoys me that trains get editorialized like that, someone somewhere decides its really not that important, I sent a complaint email fat lot of good that'll do.
Trouble with the 'loony' image is that a certain chunk of the user base DOES fit that description (yeah, I know, people in glass houses...) but why are they always so highly visible?
I'm building the first of a series of medieval English houses for my long term project which is all being planned in the hope of Jerry living up to his tantalising hint that if Hogwarts sells well Lionel will make more English locos and rolling stock. Spoke to him at Trainland, nice guy.
Well its all been a bit more down than up lately thats why I havent dropped by here, still, chin up, and all the best to all. - Mike
Good morning, everyone.
We enjoyed our trip on the Polar Express on Saturday. Bought a tree and trimmed it on Sunday. Ran trains on the carpet all weekend. My kids and I made it more "Christmasy" by putting cotton in the gondolas, adding some colored lights and Santa teddy bears. A few small trees finished it all off.
Received my 2429 Livingston car on Friday. Nice! I brought it in to work today to clean and polish it to match the other 2400s I have. The set is now complete!
I've been taking a lot of pictures of the layout as well. All kinds of angles and all kinds of motive power and rolling stock.
Have a nice day.
Jim
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Just have time to say hello from up north. I was able to read through many of the posts. Sounds like everyone here is doing well.
Laz, I am glad to hear you kept you pants on during your recent hunt but sorry to hear all you got was a skunk! Keep your powder dry until after Christmas.
Roy, if I remember you are using a Mac, right? If that is and you are looking for a good browser you might want to give FireFox 2.0 for the Mac a try. I have been using it for a week or two now and it seems very good. I am running Mac 10.4.8 OS and have had no problems at all.
Thanks to the forum administrator for clearing up my probleming of rec'ving email copies of the Coffee pot posting it is greatly appreciated!
Finally all you guys in the Lower 48 will be warming up soon because the tempratures here in the Northland are beginning to drop back down to normal. No more of this balmy 20° above stuff back down into the cool zone for Alaska's interior. So Chief your going to have to manage the snow for them Yankees on your own for a while.
Regards from the Freezer!
Kevin T.
Hello from the Old Country,
I've had a problem with ERNI and taken a new ISP who has managed to screw everything up.
A fine sunny winters day here in Stockport +11 and a gentle Westerly breeze.
I've got something called Northlandz in MSTS, a fictitious railroad all rather odd!
John Baker
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