Has anyone tried to buy a new 2006 Walthers Catalog!!!
Well forget it! Everybody is sold out. I think I got the last one (If I was lucky) Walthers doesn’t have any and all the bookstores are now out too.
From the Walthers website it doesn’t say when they’ll get more in either. They still have N but no HO.
Maybe I’m the only one but it amazes me that they can charge for a catalog that you buy products from. Win win situation for them.
I got one about 2-3 months ago from my LHS!!!
I was just in my LHS yesterday and they had 3-4 in stock. Try HobbyTown USA in St. Charles IL and maybe they can mail one to you (they have a website if you search for them).
Hope this helps.
Astonding isn’t it. American free enterprise in full bloom!!
Darrell
Stop and think for a minute. Walthers spends huge amounts of money to produce a catalog. High quality paper stock, multi-color printing process, professional photographs, plus the modeling tips and historical information included in those little sidebar pieces. It’s not exactly a give-away item.
Now, Mr. Hobbyist gets his copy of Walthers catalog. Reads all the sidebars, looks at all the pretty pictures, finds information about products he is interested in, and then BUYS THE PRODUCT ELSEWHERE! Don’t order from Walthers! They don’t give DISCOUNTS!
Isn’t this pretty much the same problem the LHS deals with? Mr. Hobbyist goes to the LHS, asks a lot of questions, gets great advice, goes home and buys the product ONLINE because it’s CHEAPER than at the LHS!
I can’t blame Walthers for charging for their catalogs. We are a long way away from the 1950’s, when a basement manufacturer had a 4 page “catalog” printed (or mimeographed to save money!) and gave them away. Well, maybe not GAVE them away. Remember, if you wanted one, you had to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to get one. Often, you had to send a dime, too!
Walthers performs a great service to the hobby by compiling a catalog of thousands of products from hundreds of manufacturers. I’m glad they do this for the hobby and I have no problem paying for the most-respected, annually updated and most-used reference book in model railroading.
I have no vested interest in Walthers. I don’t work for them, I don’t own stock in their company, and, ironically, I don’t order from them, either. But I DO
What Darrell said! (Ditto)
John
Not only a great catalog but a great reference. Where else can you see all the different manufacturers products side-by-side with prices. I buy one every other year because by then I’ve worn the old out. Try to find all those detail parts, structures, etc. on line when you don’t even know who makes them. Expensive but worth every dime.
Ron K.
Well, the catalog must be doing something right because modelers know where to go and get the deals! Every time I find good info about an online store, I get there to find everything’s been cleaned out!
[:0]
Regardless, I’ve never been in the catalog. I find it’s easier to find anything I want thanks to Google.
[:D]
Now, I’m off to find XtraCAD.
By the way, love the “other Darrell” remark. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the show!
-Not Larry
Not to mention, as mentioned above, see MOST everything you need in one convenient place. My only regret is that I bought a couple of Walthers Trainline GP-15s, then they sold out of them and don’t even list them anymore. I know they’re “cheaper” locomotives, but the two I got turned out to be great runners. Now, I can’t even seem to find them on eBay. [:(]
Oh you must have the Railroad Bible!!! If you need one I can get one for ya from my LHS. Kevin
Charging for a catalog is not an uncommon or new concept. Its a product just like anything else the company sells. Yes it is a product that lists other products for sell but it isn’t free to produce.
I buy one every year and I have no problem paying usually $20 for it, money well spent as far as I’m concerned.
Bryan
Several are available on EBAY right now. Amazon has them in stock, but you’ll pay more. $23.50 shipped through ebay sellers, $24.99 + shipping through Amazon.
This catalog is a JOKE!!!
You can’t trust the price they list and there are a lot of errors if you look.
Plus half of the stuff is always “Out of Stock!”
And half of the mistakes never get corrected! Example: Try to buy a pkg. of Atlas metal wheels for MT trucks at the price listed. It was the same in last years catalog as well!!!
Of course now that they have Life-Like, they went ahead and raised prices without changing anything. Typical Walthers BS! Over-priced catalog and over-priced Mdse!
gtr
I agree to some extent with gtirr above about the Walthers catalog, although I’d not go so far as to call it a joke. I stopped buying the catalog a number of years ago when I discovered that the catalog never changed much from year to year. Basically they took the same content, with very few changes, from the year before, slapped a new cover on it and sold it as new information. In many cases, the product information in the catalog was totally out of date, i.e., the product had not been available for years, but still appeared in the catalog.
I find that I can get enough information on products in which I have an interest by reading ads in MR and RMC and looking at sites on the web.
Also, I always thought Walthers was primarily a wholesale supplier to the hobby. That is, they sold to LHS’s and to the retailers selling on the internet. I know the internet supplier I use can order anything I want from the Walthers catalog at a 25% discount. Who buys from Walthers directly???
Bob
The reason items in the Walthers catalog are “overpriced” is because that is the MSRP. The Suggested Retail Price not the price most places that want to stay in business are going to sell you at.
The previous poster was right, they sell to retailers, they are a wholesaler. There goal is to get you to go to your LHS and buy from them. Sure they will sell you anything out of that catalog if you want to order directly from them but most competative retailers, LHS or internet, will sell at a discount off of the MSRP.
That is the way most retail works. Look at just about anything sold at retail and it is not sold at the MSRP. There are some exceptions but even electronics that have a low margin are sold at less than MSRP. The MSRP of a Canon Digital Rebel I was looking at is $999 but Best Buy has it for $899 and that isn’t even on sale, thats the everyday price.
Yes some LHS sell everything at MSRP but those places will become less and less competative as more stuff becomes available online. If they don’t lower their prices to compete, they will be gone.
The Walthers catalog is a good place to find things you didn’t know exsisted and to see what is out there. It isn’t a good place to do your buying from.
Bryan
My LHS has a copy of both Walther’s HO and N catalogues that customers can browse while in the store. I don’t need to fork out $20+ for a copy when I can (a) see what they have online (and know the in-stock status and current prices at the same time); or (b) flip through a copy at my LHS.
I get boating catalogs here that look as thick as “war and peace” and they are all free. I never pay for a co’s catalog.
It used to bother me when people made those “other Darrell” comments. Then I decided to beat them to it, so I started using the phraseology myself. My personal e-mails are signed “OBD” (Other Brother Darrell).
My older brother has always referred to me as HIS older brother because I have gray hair and he doesn’t (he’s six years older than me). So I can still sign my e-mails to him as OBD (“Older” Brother Darrell). LOL
When I am with any of my siblings and we are intorducing ourselves to someone, I introduce my sibling (none of whom are named Larry, BTW) and then myself as his or her Other Brother, Darrell. I have a lot of fun with it.
Attitude sure has a lot to do with how happy you are!
Darrell, OBD to you, and quiet…for now
I buy the Walthers catalog every other year, sometimes yearly. I look at it as more of a reference and idea book than merely a listing of items for sale. I’m not sure where else I could find a listing of so many products so easily, and it’s nice to see what’s out there even if I’ll never want or need most of it. I live fairly close to the Walther’s store, and in fact I was there yesterday to pick up a few things. My LHSs can not possibly stock all the stuff I might be interested in, and I have been waiting several weeks (more than a month, in fact) for them to restock an item I was in need of. I finally gave up, went to the Walthers store, and got all I needed at the same price as the LHS. I sure do miss the listing of Athearn products though.