People refer to walthers this and walthers that, so in their online catalog they sell other manufacturers kits, for example, does walthers have a factory where they make products with their name on it, such as building kits etc. ?
Yes,
David B
No…Walthers does not have a factory…Like other model manufacturers(except KD) they have their products made by a contract model manufacturer…
The post above most likely will only add to confusion. Walthers is a brand, they make kits, rolling stock and locomotives. So for example there are Walthers Empire Builder passenger set, 20th Century New York Central passenger cars, various buildings (which they market under Cornerstone series). On the other hand Walthers is a reseller, so you will see items like Lionel and MTH trains sold on their website and catalog. Think of Walthers as good version of Wall-Mart, at least for now 
Now where these items are manufactured is a totally different question.
Walthers has a large facility in Milwaukee where they have their offices, warehouse, a retail store and possibly still some small/limited amount of manufacturing and/or packaging, but most of the manufacturing is now done for them overseas.
In the past Walthers actually manufactured lots of things, right there in Milwaukee.
Walthers has been around a long time and gone through a number of changes as the hobby has changed. 30 years ago they where a very powerful distributor to small shops, but today, even though they handle many other lines, distribution of that sort is only a small part of their business.
Mainly they design and develope products which are manufactured overseas, and imported here and sold under the Walthers name.
More and more of the their “competitors” (Atlas, Bachmann, Intermountain, Branchline, Bowser) are selling most of their products directly to large retailers and mailorder houses rather than to distributors like Walthers who then resell to small shops. And many are selling direct to consumers, just like Walthers does.
Sheldon
This will likely add to the confusion/misinformation, but my understanding is that, except for its earliest decades, Walthers is a distributer of hobby products and items sold under its name now are produced by subcontractors.
Mark
On the topic of Walthers, a newbie question… just how extensive is their catalog? It seems huge, but I don’t the hobby well enough to judge. If something doesn’t show up on a Walthers search, is it fair to say it’s probably not in production right now?
I wouldn’t go that far. But, Walthers is the largest of the distributers in this hobby. However, they do not have many Athearn products, only a handful, and Athearn is one of the largest manufacturers. (Athearn is owned by Horizon Hobbies, who also handles their distribution.) There are many other smaller manufacturers who don’t sell through Walthers, either.
Also, a “Walthers search” can be a frustrating experience. I often have to try several different searches to find something I know is there, and only the “right” set of keywords will bring it up.
Walthers is a good starting point, but if you can’t find something, it’s only the beginning of your quest.
I’d say that the chances may be that it’s not carried by them as a DISTRIBUTOR. For instance, I know that Walthers does not ‘distribute’ the Horizon (Athearn/MDC) line, as that company prefers to deal directly with either hobby shops or other large outlets.
So if it’s not in the Walthers catalogue, it does not mean that it’s out of production. It simply means that the company in question prefers to sell either directly to the customer, or outlet directly through hobby shops or on-line retailers.
Walthers is a large distributor of both their own and other products, but they are not the ‘end-all and be-all’ of the hobby.
Tom [:)]
They do make their own kits, but Walthers is known for cataloging every kit made, and selling most of them. Also, several makers of kits have teamed with walthers to sell their products.
Also the yearly Walther’s Catalog has information in addition to products for sale. There are hobby hints and tips, conversion information, how to articles.
I never understood why someone would pay $20 for a catalog until the first time I did in 1985 or so. I’ve gotten one every year since. I was really glad when the price came down; however, it seems the quality of the how to information came down at at the same time.
Walther’s also seems somehow to be linked at the hip to Kalmbach Publishing. I don’t know if that is because they are just both in Milwaukee or if they are both in Milwaukee because of some historical business connection. Maybe the original owners were just friends?..
Walther’s often buys up other manufacturers. The biggest one recently was the purchase of Life-Like. Wow that’s been quite a few years ago now so not so recent.
William K. Walthers started in the 1930’s with an ad in Popular Mechanics selling a twin-coil switch machine (which I think he invented?) and a book on real and prototype signalling practices. Bill and Al Kalmbach were good friends (I think Walthers’ book was published by Kalmbach’s printing co.) and were both among the founding fathers of the NMRA which was founded in Milwaukee. Bill’s grandson currently runs Walthers. Walthers became known in the 1930’s and 40’s for their passenger car, freight car, and locomotive kits (including early diesels). Walthers first decal catalogue came out in 1942, and for many decades Walthers and Champ (which started in 1940) were the two biggest decal manufacturers.
By the 1950’s Walthers were increasingly involved more as wholesale distributors. It was a rare hobby shop that didn’t have a “Your dealer can get it from Walthers” sign in the store window. I recall going into the LHS in the seventies and eighties and they’d have a couple of shelves behind the counter stuffed with brown paper bags with paper sheets stapled to them, all different Walthers orders waiting for the customers to come in and pick up.
Eventually as craftsman’s kits and decals started to be less popular they pulled back from the manufacturing side, but it seems like buying the Train Miniature line of freight car kits in the 1980’s kinda rejuvenated them and since that time they’ve had an expanding variety of train cars available, and later added a line of structure kits. Since buying Life-Like / Proto about 10 years ago, they also offer quite a few locomotives.
AFAIK nothing (except maybe the few remaining decals?) are made in-house, I think everything is made in China or somewhere else overseas.
I think it was 1991. I video recorded an episode of “Tracks Ahead” with Chuck Zaner (r.i.p). This particular episode featured Walthers facility in Milwaukee. For me it was amazing seeing the workers pouring chemical solutions in fabricated molds, and afterwards popping out HO scale building walls, roofs, etc and quickly packaging them. Also seen is the manufacturing of freight cars. In one scene a worker holds down an HO coal hopper shell, an automated device decends on the cars sides and gently stamps railroad lettering on. She quicky repeats the motion, car by car.
So yes…it’s on record that in the not too distant past Walthers was producing structure kits and rolling stock! It’s very saddening for me that these scenes are gone forever and won’t be duplicated as Walthers, like other scale model manufacturers, was economically forced to “outsource”.
I just think sometimes that it must have been a sad time for a number of workers that likely lost their jobs when the move to outsource was announced.
I’m going to look for that episode on that 18 year old VHS tape.