Sad.
LC
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-station9may09,0,1589033.story?page=1&track=mostemailedlink
I find it troubling that Drucker openly shares his contempt for the hobby and business in the article. Ironically, Drucker is the owner of the building he just leased to his former store manager Nick and the owners of the Original Whistlestop for the new train store. I find Drucker’s comments in the article lacking in descretion and disrespect to the new train store owners. I would not want to be leasing space from Drucker, no less it be for a train store. This is an awful way to bid farewell to the person who worked so hard for Drucker for so many years. How sad.
I wish Nick and his team the best of luck despite the unfortunate ranting by Drucker. If you are in the LA area, be sure to drop into the new store, Nick has a wealth of knowledge and has never steered me wrong.
I have some horrible news for Mr Drucker; this hobby has been dying for at-least the last seventy five years; every hobby shop in the nation was going to close its doors at the close of business on the 35th of Septober in the year 19 something or other; model railroad fans were encouraged to repair to the nearest railroad track and throw themselves under the first train to come along; of course that would be impossible because the (fullsized) railroads were going to all go into bankruptcy and cease operation at midnight on the 34th of Septober in the year 19 something or other.
As Samuel Clemens once remarked, “Rumors of my recent demise appear to be greatly exaggerated.”
This death knell of model railroading has been attributed to:
Ready-to-Run equipment particularly locomotives - this complaint predates Big Brawl Two and was predicated on the belief that “Real” modelers had machine shops - ready-to-runners would not form an enduring market for a “Real” model railroading manufacturing base - ready-to-run equipment would put metal kit manufacturers out of business and then these “evil” ready-to-runners would return to stamps;
TT Scale;
Slot cars - anybody seen a slot car lately?;
N Scale - How could you be a serious modeler and be interested in N Scale? All you are doing is driving up prices for us “serious” HO Scalers by dispersing manufacturing assets - and besides, your stuff won’t stay on the tracks and you will soon go back to stamps;
Japanese labor - (steam) locomotive imports, which had been selling for $39.95 in 1962 suddenly appeared on the 1972 marketplace for $79.95 - this price increase was going to drive everyone to plastic and that would sap the “real” essence of the hobby which was metal and people would go back to stamps;
This ran on ad nauseum and Mr Drucker’s comments indi
STOP POSTING MISINFORMATION! They are NOT closing, they are just changing ownership and moving to another location. Drucker was NOT the original owner, he himself bought out the business, and also later moved it (years later) to another location.
You are right there Metro; Limitedclear’s post title should have been something akin to: LA’S ALLIED MODEL TRAINS CHANGING OWNERSHIP.
Question: Are these new owners going to retain the Allied Model Trains business name? If that was included in the Times article it slipped past me in the dark! If these new owners are going to extinguish the Allied Model Trains’ name then Limitedclears post title may have been a little misleading but was, technically, not incorrect; Allied Model Trains could indeed be closing even though there will still be a train store at that location.
Quote-“Only have another 15 good years left” -I better get off my butt and finish my layout before everything is gone![:O] Sounds like someone’s been wizzing in this guys cornflakes every mourning before he went to work.
He blames the internet, but it sounds like California real estate and utility prices are the real culprit. I can’t blame the guy. He has to look out for his own interests, but GEEZ! I hope the new owners can make a go of it.
As per my understanding, the current store is closing, although the name was bought by (I believe) an employee of the current store and an employee of The Original Whistle Stop. The store is moving down the block or across the street or something.
I was just there yesterday and was talking to Bob about what happened. Nick and the owner of the wistlestop bought the store and are moving it to a building right next door. The building is about half the size so they will be eliminating some of the departments such as the christmas village section. The new shop should be opened in July and the old shop closes this saturday.Most of the inventory was already gone by the time I got there and it was really kind of sad. I hope the new shop does well because Bob and Nick are the only ones I go to with DCC confusion.
I also hope Don will still be working there manning the N scale section. He’s a real cool no-attitude kinda guy.
So I wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Times:
Dear Editor,
As a Los Angeles area model railroad hobbyist, I, along with many others, would have to respectfully, but vehemently disagree with Allen Drucker’s comment (“For Owner, End of the Line**,”** May 9) that the hobby has “another good 15 years.” I recently revived my activity in the hobby after a decade’s absence by switching to the smaller sized, N-scale trains. At least three new hobby shops have opened up in Southern California in the past five years and new computer-controlled model trains, as well as high-tech manufacturing methods are taking this hobby into the 21st century. At local train-related events, I see people of all ages and ethnicities attend. Add to that the rebirth of rail transit in cities nationwide, the importance of international trade on increasing freight railroad traffic and the youth impact of a little smiling British steam engine called Thomas and you still have a hobby that will last for generations to come.
E. Trinidad
East Hollywood
Metro Red Line, that’s a great response. I wonder if the Times will print it?
Personally, I never considered Allied a “toy train” store, not with all the high-end brass and wide variety of equipment they carried! It was a fun store though, lots of neat stuff to catch the eye.
I just hope the “new” Allied isn’t like The Whistle Stop, with cramped, narrow aisles that are hard to navigate, especially for the “pleasingly plump” among us (of which I am one). I suppose it’ll still be full MSRP though…
I originally started this initial thread on the subject of Allied’s “transition” almost a month ago. The new owners have bought the name and are renting another building from Allen Drucker near the building where Allied has been since 1989. Drucker originally bought Allied Trains from the store’s founders in 1975. The original store was located on Pico Blvd. Drucker moved Allied to the new location on Sepulveda Blvd. in 1989. The new building was designed to incorporate some of the features found in the architecture of Los Angeles Union Station.
Here are some key quotes from the L.A. Times article:
[i][u]Taking over Allied at the new location
It is good to see that Fast Freddy and company are opening another store in the midst of the demise of this hobby. Brave souls they are!!
[quote user=“R. T. POTEET”]
I have some horrible news for Mr Drucker; this hobby has been dying for at-least the last seventy five years; every hobby shop in the nation was going to close its doors at the close of business on the 35th of Septober in the year 19 something or other; model railroad fans were encouraged to repair to the nearest railroad track and throw themselves under the first train to come along; of course that would be impossible because the (fullsized) railroads were going to all go into bankruptcy and cease operation at midnight on the 34th of Septober in the year 19 something or other.
As Samuel Clemens once remarked, “Rumors of my recent demise appear to be greatly exaggerated.”
This death knell of model railroading has been attributed to:
Ready-to-Run equipment particularly locomotives - this complaint predates Big Brawl Two and was predicated on the belief that “Real” modelers had machine shops - ready-to-runners would not form an enduring market for a “Real” model railroading manufacturing base - ready-to-run equipment would put metal kit manufacturers out of business and then these “evil” ready-to-runners would return to stamps;
TT Scale;
Slot cars - anybody seen a slot car lately?;
N Scale - How could you be a serious modeler and be interested in N Scale? All you are doing is driving up prices for us “serious” HO Scalers by dispersing manufacturing assets - and besides, your stuff won’t stay on the tracks and you will soon go back to stamps;
Japanese labor - (steam) locomotive imports, which had been selling for $39.95 in 1962 suddenly appeared on the 1972 marketplace for $79.95 - this price increase was going to drive everyone to plastic and that would sap the “real” essence of the hobby which was metal and people would go back to stamps;
This ran on ad nauseum and Mr
I think it did that.[(-D]
Drucker is going just by what he sees as a hobby store owner, which gives him blinders as to the true hobby demographics. If he really wanted to succeed well in today’s hobby market, he would open up an online outlet, since that’s the area where the hobby is growing the most right now, while the LHS influence is shriking.
Various reliable hobby sources who measure the hobby growth have told me the hobby growth has been flat for a couple decades and is on the rise again. More young people seem to be entering the hobby again. The popular Polar Express movie and Thomas the Tank helps, as does Harry Potter’s Hogwart Express.
If you go check out MySpace.com, they have a thriving Model Railroad group over there, most of whom are under 40. If you look at Alexia.com, you can see the Trains.com web sites get hundreds of thousands of hits per month.
That doesn’t sound like a dying hobby to me. Just one that is moving away from the LHS as being the central gathering place.
Come on, Joe, you are changing that story every time you tell it! First time around you had it that hobby growth was currently reported as flat. Next time it was currently flat but perhaps starting to show a slight rising trend. Now you say it’s been flat for a couple of decades, which is totally unrealistic and in conflict with numerous other indicators and especially MR’s circulation, which grew steadily right up to 1994 (doubling the circulation between 1965 and 1994) and you now also have the hobby as on the rise…all within a just couple of months’ worth of posts! How about giving us the real story and who you are using as supposedly reliable sources?
CNJ831
I have a couple of thoughts on this debate. First another line from the L.A. Times article:
Model Railroader magazine’s circulation has dropped to 162,000 from 272,000 in 1993, a spokeswoman said. Average railroaders, however, spend an estimated $1,555 a year on their hobby, almost twice as much as they did in the early 1990s.
My demographic is almost in the middle of the baby boom generation and I feel I can speak with some limited authority on that subject. Fifteen years ago, when Model Railroader magazine’s circulation hit its peak, the last of the baby boomers were hitting the job market for the first time. A couple of years ago, the earliest of the baby boomers were starting to retire and starting to connect with hobbies from their past or trying new diversions. Also, in the meantime, the internet has become a key source of information and commerce. My guess is that a large proportion of the 110,000 “missing” MR subscribers are having their needs satisfied through other avenues.
Just look to the demographics for daily newspapers and television news programs. The audience hasn’t disappeared, it has fragmented. For better or for worse, more and more people are getting their news fix via the internet rather than from paper, ink and the evening news.
Joe’s take on the necessity of LHS’s to join up with the online merchants is a key point. In my short time back into the hobby after a 40 year hiatus, I’ve visited enough shops to form an opinion on who will be around and who will disappear in fairly short order. The brick and mortar LHS that provides a pleasant experience when you visit along with maintaining a connection with their customer base through e-mails and competitive pricing will stick around. I know I still have a need to feel the product in my hand before I buy it and feel much more at ease buying it from a local merchant rather than from someplace across country especially when it is something like a locomotive that costs several hundred dollars.
Yup! I’m one of those under-40 (well just barely, heheh) users on the MySpace Model Railroad group! True not every person under 40 is crazy about trains, but there are more than you older folks think there are.
And if the hobby is dying, then why are manufacturers and modelers alike getting into DCC? I mean, if it’s really dying, then why should anyone bother?
People have hobbies like thimble collecting or Civil War Re-Enactment. Those hobbies are by no means considered “popular,” but people still take pleasure in them…so how can a hobby really “die?”
Maybe you are all talking about the MRR product industry. But like I said above with DCC, and Athearn just got into N scale 4 years ago. You also have newer companies like BLMA and Nu-Line Structures who are run by younger folks who have new ideas on how to market products.
But say Walthers goes out of business…Who’s to say that in the future one can have make their own computer-aided plastic model molds in their own home? No one 50 years ago thought people would be recording albums or making films in their own home using computers! Those of you who think this hobby will die just lack vision, that’s the absolute truth.
But fortunately there are others out there who do have vision, and they will keep the hobby going after most of you are all dead and gone.
As for those that think the hobby is dying, I remember when TT was almost dead with very few using that scale and then the Berlin wall came down and even though it is still a minor player it is just as alive as S scale!