I’m a bit confused about purchasing the soon to be released LifeLike (Walthers number) 31586 Heritage Steam USRA 0-8-0 w/Sound & DCC - Powered – Southern #1895.
Since Walthers now owns LifeLike, I’m assuming that no one else will carry this engine therefore no competition on the price.
Am I assuming correctly or not?
Thanks!
JaRRell
Not exactly…Walther will be the exclusive DISTRIBUTOR of Lifelike…but the LL stuff will be available from any Walthers dealer, like Speedway SlotCars and Hobbies ( shameless plug! ). They will no longer, it appears, be available from the major hobby distributors such as Great Planes or Horizon. So there will still be competitive pricing, although perhaps not to the extent as there was before. Lots of the “Killer Deals” you see now are where the big distributors are blowing out LL to get it out of inventory. Expect the pricing to rise, kinda like gas prices, once the big guys dump all the LL stuff, and Walthers is the only place the LHS can get LL from. [V][:0]
Rotor
Thanks Rotor. I was hoping someone would be lower than the $350 Walthers is listing… [:(]
JaRRell
Don’t worry too much jacon…there is way too much competition in this industry to be able to sell at retail. Small items, yes/maybe…big ticket items…no way. The LHS is forced to sell at discounted prices by their own suppliers selling online to the LHS’s own customers, at discount prices!
But don’t expect the discounts to be as deep as they have in the past. Since Walthers isn’t a major foam cooler magnate, you can bet that they are going to be more worried about making their profits from the trains and slot cars, without having the other products to make the BIG money for them.
I wish it wasn’t so, but I’m bettin it is! [V]
Rotor
I noted the prices as well while leafing through the LHS’s shop copy of the catalouge. To me the sound equiped prices seemed to be inline with similar offerings from broadway. It was the jump in the normal soundless ones that supprised me!At least the RS27 locomotive looks good. Rob
Jarrell: you were the subject of a thread just the other day, you were missed! Good to see you back.
Will
The Walthers price is only the list price. I usually get 20% off items that come from Walthers at my LHS. But since Walthers won’t sell to the ‘gypsy’ dealers that come to train shows, the days of seeign even lower priced LL at trains shows will soon be over. My favorite local dealer, the one that will have the PCM T-1 with sound for $300, will no longer have any P2k, just BLI, PCM, and Atlas.
The claim is they have such policies to help the LHS. But what about the hobby as a whole? I don’t know if MB Klein lost money on my $27 P2K S-1, but if they did I don’t think they’d keep offering them up at those prices. But Walthers will never give as steep a discount as LL did, so that, too will end.
–Randy
There is: Ebay. The older runs of the 0-8-0s are still going for $90. Add a $150 Soundtraxx chip, and you’ve still saved $110. Add a much cheaper MRC sound decoder and save even more.
When I saw the new 0-8-0 with sound ads, I very BRIEFLY thought “Hey, I can get a few more and have onboard sound!” I’ve already got three of the 0-8-0s; I think I’ll go with the MRC decoders, or wait for QSI to finally sell sound boards.
[:D][:D]Jarrell,You live[:0][:0]We been wondering about you[?][?]
JIM
They are: http://www.soundsliketrains.com
Unfortunately, they’re not actually selling anything yet. The website (for now) is nothing but vaporware…
If we want our LHS to survive, we must support them, and I don’t mean for just nickel and dime stuff. We already are witnessing the closure of many LHS over the past 20 years, and this trend is accelerating. Personally, I like to go into a store, handle the goods, talk with a knowledgable person, one who shares a love for trains, shoot the bull, etc. If I have to drive too many miles to a LHS, I am going to switch to internet, and shows that may come to the near area. That will be a sad day for sure.
What I do, is check the prices online, and catalogs, etc. to get a range of prices for what I am looking for, then go to my LHS. I have yet to be disaapointed by the LHS. They are close enough in prices that I will support HIM rather than go online because I want him there tomorrow and the days after.
Lets look at a scenario…suppose all the LHS in your 300 mile area close. And shows in your area are once a year, where are you going to buy? Right…online or Ebay. You can’t see it ( other than pictures ) or touch it, and we will be at the mercy of the internet stores. And if the shrinkage continues… we get closer and closer to a monopoly…and we sure as hell don’t wat that do we? Will it get to this point ? Only time will tell…but remember guys, we do control our destiny to a point.
Last year everyone was worried that after Horizon Hobbies took over Athearn that the discount prices from mail order houses would vanish. Well you can still get a pretty deep discount on Athearn stuff if you shop around and I feel it will be the same with the LifeLike product line.
Bob DeWoody
True, Bob, but remember that Horizon is one of the MEGA distributors for ALL THINGS HOBBY! They aren’t surviving on just model trains! They can afford to discount things a little deeper than a smaller distributor can.
Rotor