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Farfax County VA has a extremely rich cost of living, the utilities alone equals the cost of my Mortgage and is enforced by Housing Community Associations. You cannot live on less than 15 dollars an hour up there or even on one income unless you are very high up in the pay scale of the State or Federal Government. Im within a year of paying off my mortgage but that does not mean I will be seeing an increase in the train budget where I am. I already enjoy a generous spouse who knows it keeps me out of bars and trouble on friday night. Cannot get arrested playing or building models at home. Hong Kong may have the engines before we get them in the USA, but I bet you the slow shipping will cause the USA engines to be in hand and paid for before that slow mail boat got here to the west coast. I have a preference for BLI steam but cannot buy many each year. I dont know how many customers are in the Little Rock market but the store needs other products besides steam models to survive. I for one, am content with the selection inside the store. Limited Runs by manufactors really cripple both steam and desiel at times. I recall learning about the Trainmasters from Atlas with DCC and Sound and found that they already had thier Limited Run and not availible. So I am careful to select from what CAN be ordered and look ahead 6 months or more in planning. I do express interest as a customer from time to time but try to be very careful to make clear if I am ready to buy or just looking or enjoying a really nice item. Bowser is a nice set of engines but they require tools, materials and work bench assembly time which alot of people in this fast paced life does not have time for. Besides there are nicer engines that are complete and ready to go for a few dollars more. I would think it will cost a great deal of money to hold a large inventory of steam and think that there might not be enough customers who model steam to support such a large inventory. Alot of model railroads that I hear about or have seen in this part of the USA is modern desiel heavy. Steam lives but in Bastions where only a few gather with the space and generous curvature needed to run them. 18" just dont cut it with steam. I dont want to be the one making a comparision between 20 dollar and 400 dollar sales. I would over 12 months see 5.00 here and there, 40 here and there maybe a 100-200 and on up depending on the budget. And there is always Layaway to "Catch" the limited runs that seems to pop up with a surprise out of no where. Gotta be careful to not abuse that system because it is one method that has allowed me to enjoy some of the items that other wise would have gotten away. Im surprised that the internet locomotive customer would attempt to lay one on the LHS owner with the loco he purchased off the net. Serves him right if the LHS owner dug in and defended his need to use time, labor and shipping costs to help the cheapsake with his broken engine. Specific steamers are kind of hard to "Predict" and stock for those who dont tell the Store owner what they have in mind. I do have a shpping list of about 3 steamers or so that I plan to get sometime in the next 18 months but usually dont say much about my plans because I dont want to see a similar steamer in HO sit gathering dust for that long in the display case. When Im financially ready I'll order it, taking my chances with availiblity. Consignments to me carry a element of risk.. am I buying a well groomed engine that has good manners or someone else's problem? Bargin Bins are nice provided there may be a small note attached such as "Missing one corner grab iron rail" I might take the model home considering how many of the "Children" in my rolling stock already have a missing grab iron rail from derailing once too many times. A rigid layaway policy is much better than a free spirit devil may care system with models piling up to bury the store for weeks at a time. That is all I am going to say about it. I noticed that the new layaway policy has been in place for some time and have no issues with it at all. Probably my trips to Little Rock is based on the spouse's VA hospital appointments between once a month to once every 3 months. Little Rock remembers steam but people here are into Sports, Fishing and hunting more than railroads. Now back home, railroading is strong because it literally is part of the grandfather's grandfather's family history of many people in the city who were served by the railroads both in war and peace. The Deep South has a few places where trains are held in good regard but overall the economy of the Delta does not really lend to spending minimum wage on toys where they might prefer to get Beer and Cigerettes instead. MSRP is only a guide. Occasionally I'll get an item at that price and not worry about it too much. Stocking local steam is nice but there are many that will buy from other manufactors and other road schemes if the engine is a nicer one and the re-paint / decaling job is within the customer's skill. I could probably scrub the paint and lettering off the IC steam engine and letter it for Falls Valley and place it into service without too much trouble. But that is part of what I look at when considering what to purchase. Back home all of the LHS's (At least 10 within 2 hours drive) would stock PRR and B&O engines until your eyes were sore from all the black, brunswick green and gold. Racks and racks of steam engines from IHC all the way to Brass just for the picking availible all the time. No internet and very little mail order back in those days. And Kaybee, Toys R Us and others had Tyco engines and others that really were NOT that good. Following the trainset crowd, desiels performed better than steam did and if you wanted something nicer you went to the Hobby Shop not a toy store. Ive been to the toy store in my ignorance and never again. What a waste of money that was. 50 dollars back then on 2.50 an hour was ALOT of money for a crappy steam engine of one particular maker that cannot pull anything and run well at all. I recall several years ago when I was a new customer just making my home here in Arkansas, I saw a BLI Hudson with Sound sitting on OTM's countertop making a show of chuffing back and forth on the test track. I did not buy it on sight but carefully stalked this new Manufactor of engines for the possibility that thier engines do perform well and pull well. I have NOT been disappointed. I remember that day as well because it was truly something new in the HO scale world that was dominated by Riverossi. I remember when Riverossi released the Allegheny 2-6-6-6 in HO. Seems like everyone with money and access bought a copy. Soon after the maker went out of the business. Would this engine return? Sure. But not to the LHS in any large numbers. If I ordered one of these at 500 dollars would want to have the cash up front. That is something I would not want to put on Layaway.. have enough of that as it is. Besides how many customers in Little Rock will have the means to buy a 500 dollar engine. There are PLENTY who order the Walthers Catalog on sight (Should have paid for it in adavnce too but that's another thread) but not too many for these really pricey and nice engines. I dont think stocking a large number of engines is worth the hit on the inventory, I would prefer the dollars to be used to sweeten the availible inventory with a large variety of items which I think One Track Mind and other stores here in Arkansas does a VERY good job of doing. From that time forward I will order a steam engine with or without sound after assessing it's performance but dont expect me to see walls stocked with floor to ceiling 400 dollar steam. That was 20 years ago and is now part of history. Would I buy brass. Yes one specific engine which commands a price tag equal to my entire year's hobby budget. That engine would cause my wife to be upset so I will not get it until after the home is paid for to be safe. But that will NOT be an order that will go to the internet or layaway. It would be examined and tested on the track BEFORE it leaves the store to go home to join the other engines. If I had a choice I prefer to buy from the LHS to keep that store in business. Sure the Internet and Mail order houses might have much better pricing but the risk in shipping or condition of models is not one I am willing to take. I did successfully sell over 100 items on ebay and bought a few but it has ALWAYS been back to the Local Hobby Shop. Keeping the store in business is one good way to ensure a steady supply of needed parts like Kaydee Couplers that is within reach. If Arkansas did not have any stores I would fall back on two stores but probably will not be purchasing so much (Or so little) each year because of the risk in shipping. I was lucky with a pair of units last year and am very reluctant to try my luck if I dont actually stand inside the store and discuss it with the Owner as to the availibility and pricing. Some stores in Arkansas are too far away to do any business at all. I would see them in Pine Bluff at the 819 train show there but dont purchase very much because I am mostly there to enjoy the vintage post war merchandise and the current situation regarding the Cotten Belt 819 and to video tape the clubs modular railroads. Finally I think Steam is restricted to the smaller engines because there does not seem to be many people have radius large enough to run them. I personally am working on a plan that MIGHT carry 30" curves but would be a display track at best. I might buy rollers instead and build a switching layout instead (Which is what I am trying to do) Regarding clubs, I think there is only one in North Little Rock but dont know much about it yet to decide if it is worth joining to pay dues and run trains. As for other layouts in the area, I have been fortunate to be allowed to run trains on just one so far. Many of the others I know of from fellow modelers dont have the large radius (Or even HO scale) that supports large steam. My verdict is simple. There does not appear to be that many layouts with adequate curvature to support a large inventory of steam ready to go in the display case. One way to combat that is to develop the store layout with 32" curves on the closed mainline. That might actually attract those with big steam and desiel and maybe with good fortune form a railroad group right there that can support saturday morning classes or mutual projects that advances the store layout. I think that OTM is doing a good job stocking just a few steam at a time and everything else the way the store inventory has been this year. It's a good mix. Cheers.
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