WOW!!!!!!!!!!DOUBLE WOW!!!!!!!!!!
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
As for the argument; that Walthers NEVER has ANYTHING---it would be interesting to see how one would account for people actually getting orders filled the first time around etc without back orders being present. Watch the rhetoric---SOME orders DO get backordered, not ALL. I have had 24 orders through and only had 2 backordered.
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Some of us remember when Milwaukee WI had a hobby shop called Railway Express which was virtually an exclusively LGB shop. Then they brought in their own line of G scale trains, compatiable with LGB, and offered them nationally. They were sued by LGB, had to drop the line, and closed the shop. LGB took the position then that G scale was their exclusive right, not remembering the old "battle of the speeds" of hi-fi records back in the 1950s, when [at the risk of over simplifying] Columbia Records was first was the 33 rpm LP and allowed anybody to make them, while RCA was the first with 7" 45 rpm records and for a time insisted on having an exclusive. Obviously the 33 prevailed over the 45. Same happened with compact discs, VHS vs Betamax. The more the merrier when it comes to formats.
Back to model railroading as an example, I bet Kadee is thriving now that so many others make knuckle couplers in HO so that every train set now has couplers compatible with Kadees, not horn hooks.
So Walthers gets LGB -- will that make a difference? We'll see. I felt local hobby shops had a better selection of Athearn, especially parts, back when Walthers distributed Athearn.
Dave Nelson
super cheif nwhat scale are they?
P.S. edit - oops I didn't see wjstix post earlier. Sorry for the duplication.
One Track MindLet's take the Peco example. Walthers has 242 Peco items listed. Of those, including both out-of-stock items and new items that are yet to arrive,Walthers has 27 Peco items unavailable. That's a fill rate of 89%. Yeah, Walthers never has anything in stock. Do a little homework.
Let's take the Peco example.
Walthers has 242 Peco items listed.
Of those, including both out-of-stock items and new items that are yet to arrive,Walthers has 27 Peco items unavailable.
That's a fill rate of 89%. Yeah, Walthers never has anything in stock.
Do a little homework.
I work in Industrial Supply Distribution, an 89% fill rate would not be acceptable in any of our Lines of Business.
I was putting an order together on Walthers web site today. I found that over half of the items I was looking for ( HO Scale detail parts ) were not available and had no expected re-stocking date.
Now that isn't all Walthers fault, some of the manufacturers are likely not turning out product.
However, You will not survive as a business if you don't have product to sell, it's as simple as that.
Mark Gosdin
So, why exactly is it that Walthers seemingly never has ANYTHING that you're looking for in stock? That may be a bit of an over exageration, but sometimes it does indeed appear that way.
I didn't know anyone else noticed. I've always thought they set the industry standard, or they appear to have that prestige anyway.
One Track Mind Let's take the Peco example. Walthers has 242 Peco items listed. Of those, including both out-of-stock items and new items that are yet to arrive,Walthers has 27 Peco items unavailable. That's a fill rate of 89%. Yeah, Walthers never has anything in stock. Do a little homework.
So everyone here who is reporting having had trouble getting orders filled must be imagining it, huh?
I've only had 2 items backordered out of 24 items ordered through Walthers--that amounts to under 10%. Oh WOW.
And TJ's point about an almost bankrupt LGB--points to another thing. If you can get the same product MADE in YOUR own country do your locals a favour---Buy their product.
I'm in G scale so I guess I CAN complain with some authority
Truly I don't give a rat's butt if Walthers is distributing the shadowy remnants of a bankrupt company. For years LGB has been just another Chinese made large scale train, albeit sold at Germany constructed prices. They lost out to competition from USA Trains, Bachmann, and Aristocraft- all of whom had more variety, more US prototypes, more technology and far better prices. Too bad, so sad. If you can't compete you loose. Smaller companies like Heartland are made in the USA and are attractive to me for that reason, Bachmann is far more available and less expensive, AristoCraft makes excellent track and control units (DC or DCC) at a fraction of LGB prices without one compromise of quality. So the bottom line is that I only have one LGB boxcar on my line, and truth be told it's no better than a very similar Bachmann that was 1/3 the price.
The people have spoken with the wallet, and LGB was voted out......
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
Oh, don't be a spoil sport, OTM....you're wrecking somebody's fun with that kind of logic.
TA462 All the negativity, lolol. I don't think any of you complainers are into G scale so it really doesn't matter to you does it? Still you guys got to complain about something, lol. Just for the record, anything I've ordered through my local hobby shop from Walthers has come in a very reasonable amount of time and nothing has been back ordered.
All the negativity, lolol. I don't think any of you complainers are into G scale so it really doesn't matter to you does it? Still you guys got to complain about something, lol. Just for the record, anything I've ordered through my local hobby shop from Walthers has come in a very reasonable amount of time and nothing has been back ordered.
Well, it pretty much applies to all scales - there are now basically 2 entities controlling all distribution of model railroad items, apart from those few manufacturers that still sell direct. I have not had unavailable stock issues when orderign things from my LHS via Walthers, but the net effect on this condensation od distributorships is less availability and higher prices overall. Also fewer and fewer small dealers. If you've been to any train shows lately you can't POSSIBLY have missed this.
A PRIME example is the Life Like Proto 2000 series. Yes, they always carried a relatively high list price, but STEEP discounts were available, and NOT just from Internet stores - sure MB Klein sells online but they ALSO have a brick and mortar store - one of the smart ones who actually got involved in the whole internet retailing business rather then whine about how the itnernet was stealing all their business. Anyway, they always had greta prices on P2K stuff - locos, rolling stock - and the wheelsets..$3.99 for a 12 pack! Ever since Walthers - no dice. Prices jumped a bunch, because they have to pay whatever Walthers says is the dealer price for everything, not negotiate a deal with Life Like.
Another example is the LHS, the owner is somewhat of a cheapskate and doesn't want to be a Digitrax dealer, even though there's no real expense involved, so he buys all his Digitrax from Walther's. So his prices are pretty much higher than anyone's, even with the discount I get. He IS an NCE dealer so i get a bigger discount on NCE items, to the point of being able to buy Switch-Its for the same price as any online retailer. Now, this one is the LHS's fault, not Walthers, but the same thing applies to anything distributed by Walthers - and there are MANY lines that are exclusively Walthers - you can't get them any other way if you wanted to.
And I'm not just picking on Walthers. Horizon is no different. Although they seem to have less draconian rules to be a dealer - I still see plenty of tables at trains shows with current Athearn items.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
LGB stands for "Lehmann Gross Bahn" which is German for "Lehmann's Big Trains" (more or less). They began making models of German narrow-gauge (meter gauge) trains about 40 years ago in West Germany, using 1:22.5 scale trains running on No.1 gauge track. I think their first appearance in the US came from an MR article by Charles Small in 1972-73. He had gotten some trains while working outside the US and built what was probably the first backyard/garden G layout in the USA. Soon after LGB was imported to the US and began making some US-type trains, sometimes using Small's "Lake George and Boulder" free-lance RR name. (The equipment was all embossed "LGB" so he had to think of a RR name using those initials.)
The "G" in "LGB" is where the name for that size train (G scale) comes from.
Midnight RailroaderTA462Just for the record, anything I've ordered through my local hobby shop from Walthers has come in a very reasonable amount of time and nothing has been back ordered. It should be clear to you by now that this is NOT the typical experience people have with Walthers.
TA462Just for the record, anything I've ordered through my local hobby shop from Walthers has come in a very reasonable amount of time and nothing has been back ordered.
It should be clear to you by now that this is NOT the typical experience people have with Walthers.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
ndbprr And out of stock items.
And out of stock items.
That's for sure.
To the poster who asked, yes this is better than a bankruptcy where the products are no longer available.
But not much.
Today Wisconsin... Tomorrow... Ze Verld!
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
And don't forget that old Walthers ad..
"Your dealer can get from Walthers"..
Yeah..Right..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Milepost 266.2 I'm not familiar with LGB, but I didn't think it was either cheap or readily available. Is there a vast network of basement LGB dealers I've never heard of? Why is Walthers distribution the end of the world, and isn't it preferable to a bankrupt company?
I'm not familiar with LGB, but I didn't think it was either cheap or readily available. Is there a vast network of basement LGB dealers I've never heard of? Why is Walthers distribution the end of the world, and isn't it preferable to a bankrupt company?
Long story, for many years LGB was by far the most common large scale manufacturer, and yes they were never cheap. But good deals could be found through the network of online dealers as they could purchase direct from the manufacturer, no middleman like Walthers so prices were never at full MSRP if you looked around. As a result LGBs popularity grew alot even if the direct "street prices" were still fairly high, they were alot more accessable to many people, so they became very popular.
The "network" of LGB dealers began back in the day when LGB was originally distirbuted in the US, dealers had to be "approved" by LGB, so a "network" of approved hobby shops was developed around the country, this is before the competition arose and LGB was literaly the "only game in town" so prices were high and the product was marketed at full MSRP and with an air of "if you have to ask price, your not worthy"
Walthers for a long while DID distribute LGB, but once the parent company EPL began selling direct to wholesalers, Walthers dropped out as they simply couldnt compete. Now Marklin, the new owner of LGB has renewed this deal, no surprise as they already do their smaller scales, and that to me means no more dealing direct with outside wholesalers, which means no discounted "street price" items like before, and all the joys of Walthers ever reliable stocking policies. Its bad IMHO because I know alot of LHSs are starving because they got locked into one of those "exclusive" Walthers distribution agreements, as such they cannot order directly from the manufacturers and as a result are having their lunchs eaten by the online competition. Walthers also is reputed to have a "scorched earth" policy for their dealers who order product from other distributors, buy from them and risk getting cut off, completely! Is it any wonder so many mom and pop brick and morter shops are going belly up? They cant charge less than what the distributors decide to sell to them for, nor can they order direct or from another distributor without risking reprisals.
Beleive me when I say any other company would have been better off dealing direct thru online ordering, but this is Marklin we are talking about, they have very little presence here in the US outside of Z gauge, they view the Europe/world market as their primary market, not the US like EPL did. So many of us in large scale see LGB becoming a high priced "your not worthy if you cant afford it" lineup once again. So a paradim shift is occuring again, from Exclusive richmans trainline to widespread popular favorite and now back to Exclusive, high priced Beautique Brand once again...
Glad I've learned to build my own stuff.
Have fun with your trains
what scale are they?
Isn't that the truth, when Walthers got Peco Track, you suddenly could not get any, which before when there were a number of distributors, it was always available.
Rick
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Shouldnt this be in the GR forum as well?
Well this confirms my worst fears...hello Higher Prices!
Model Railroader just posted some breaking hobby news on their Web site: LGB trains to be distributed by Walthers
Happy holidays!
Bergie