Hi,
After about 10 years out of the hobby, I’m building a new HO layout.
I’m surprised at the lack of availability of many items. I can’t find Walthers DCC Code 83 switches anywhere, and many of the Walthers buildings are out of stock and not expected for months. Has this situation been like this for a while? It’s very frustrating not to be able to get the items you need.
Gary
Check the Walthers website. They are showing the turnouts as being out of stock but click on the find it link and it will give you several dealers that have them in stock.
I know how you feel. When I want to start a new project, it seems our poorly-stocked LHSs are either out of the exact item I need or they don’t stock it. I either have to order online or just shelve the project. If I order online I usually buy a lot more items to compensate for the shipping. For most of what I need for my modeling, ordering online is a must.
For your turnouts, you should try some of the smaller online suppliers in addition to the larger ones. You can also google “turnouts” which may give you some of the smaller shops that just might have what you’re looking for.
In many cases the dealers do have the items and they will also sell it more cheaply.
Yes, availability has been and is a growing problem. IMHO, it’s primarily due to the limited production model almost universally employed by suppliers to the hobby.
Batch production has always been with us. In the old days, a manufacturer ran a batch of a given item, and then sold the batch to distributors and hobby shops. The manufacturer had no real method of gauging how well/fast his item was selling at the retail level. So as long as the distributors and retailers were buying his product, he would produce another batch as soon as his production facilities allowed. This usually kept items in stock pretty consistently at the retail level.
Brass locomotives really were the start of the limited production trend. An importer (typically a model railroader himself) would contact a builder in Japan to have a batch of locomotives hand built. Because of the large upfront costs - builder had to be paid when or before the locomotives were received by the importer - the importer didn’t want to buy a quantity larger than he could sell in a short time period. If there was sufficient demand after the run sold out, a second or more runs could be produced.
With almost all plastic and die-cast production now having shifted to China, the same importer business model is used. At the same time, the demise of many retail hobby shops has led the retailers to be very careful of how much they stock. Nobody wants to be caught paying for stock sitting on shelves. Thus, the world of pre-orders so that production quantities can be accurately matched to expected sales, and nobody will have sitting stock.
In your specific case, Shinohara produces Walters track. They only make production runs of given items once a year, at best. When the stock sells out, there is no more until the next production run. I’m guessing here, but I believe demand for Walters track has been steadily increasing, and the production quantities hav
I know how you feel.
This is the brave new world of limited run, out of production, pre-order reservation only, announcments that are really marketing interest (Pre-investment) production fishing trips, ebay bidding wars for kits that should never have been quickly discontinued and last but not least… pricing considerations such as dummy units, crap decoders and cutting of premium features that you are to discover yourself.
Now that we got it out of the way, welcome to the hobby. Build a warchest and be quick to buy whatever you see at the store because it wont be there when you come back.
Ive been guilty of pestering my hobby shop’s owners for stock that has been discontinued for a few years and that maybe they still have it buried deep in the corner somewhere or under a shelf. In fact, I have maintained a list of “To get” items complete with a large amount of internet searching and emails to different hobby shops across the USA soliticating availibiltiy information and shipping. Im only now wrapping that list up with the last few out of production items after 7 years or so.
Some structures sitting on my benchwork date back to 1960. It’s the recent ones that are a really big pain to get.
Some items are so not availible for years after a announcement that I have canceled several pre-orders and went with availible items from ANOTHER manufacter that will do the same job. Particularly locomotives and some rolling stock. The cancellations in the last three years alone probably exceeds a thousand dollars easily. That is sales that will never be made or realized by the producers of these very slow to arrive items (If they arrive at all)
I recall the walthers heavyweights. I think it took about 2.5 years to get all of the cars. There is one left to get and I will finish the train this winter. Call it 4 years all together just assembling the train. 4 years to spend 500 dollars. How slow is that?
Silly me, I get carried away sometimes. Ive been in this
Maybe this article by a manufacturer in another scale will help to place it all in some measure of perspective for you.
You must learn patience, Grasshopper. How long will it take to build your layout? Years. If I see an item I want from Walthers, not only do I wait for it to be in stock, but I wait for it to go on sale. I want the Parkview Terrace background building. It’s not in stock, not expected until December. But, I’d imagine that come February or so, not only will Walthers have them, but they will be several dollars below regular price. Earlier this year, I waited 6 months for fire hydrants. In the meantime, I worked on my turntable.
Instead of being upset when something’s not in stock, just keep watching and then be happy when it is in stock. Next time you go to the Walthers site, sign up to get the catalogs by mail.
Items that are always hard to get at an LHS?
Decent selection of Kadee couplers in quantity
Decent selection of MicroTrains couplers in quantity
Micro Engineering track and turnouts in N scale
Assorted paints in ‘proto’ colors
Well said, Mister B [bow]
Just one item to add. There is no rule of model railroading that says you have to wait for a manufactured product if you have or can develop the skills needed to scratchbuild it! The hobby press used to carry articles on building structures and rolling stock from raw materials - sheet wood or styrene, simple pieces of bent shim brass… Now it’s all about how to add $50 worth of ‘store-boughten’ detail parts to a $150 locomotive to make it a perfect replica of - something that never operated in my country and era, and never will. Everybody from manufacturers to fellow modelers will sing the praises of the latest and greatest (fillintheblank.) Nobody will even whisper that you can make an equivalent with shirt cardboard and poster paint and still have change from a buck.
Not only that. After you learn how, you will find that you can separate your railroad from the herd with unique structures and trackwork that doesn’t depend on deciphering some producer’s interpretation of NMRA dimensions. All it takes is the courage to be different.
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