However, what I find sad, is that prices keep going up. Even on the auction sites. Sometime we all can strike a good deal. But its the blight of the hobby shops and they don't blame us for going that way. Its business. The real problem is how we have managed to to become an impatient society. People don't want to take weeks or months to build something fun for the kids or themselves. Its almost all gotta be right now. I am a handyman and I see it in a customers face when I tell them they have to wait, cause I have other customers or that the job is not easy peasy. Anyhow, this is the real downturn of hobby shops. The one in des Moines caters to just about any hobby there is. From kids science projects to R C aircraft. This has been the only successful shop in the area. Which is too bad because some great places are gonna be gone soon.
Well to add insult to injury needed an amalgamated widget adjuster for my framaling so decided to stop while running some errands at one of the few old fashioned hardware stores left. Yup they are gone too. That place was my source for a variety of things that extended to my hobby also, like very small fine wire nails that worked fine for track nails and some adhesives. Forget trying to find some of those products at the big box hardware store.
It’s not just hobby shops that are disappearing. Bicycle shops, hiking/backpacking outfitters, book stores, motorcycle shops, Honda alone has closed something like 150 shops in the U.S. in the past half dozen years Oklahoma alone has lost six. My closest hobby shop that has anything to recommend it is a 280 mile round trip. At 32 mpg with gas going at $3.49 a gallon; let’s do the math: 280/32 x 3.49 = Holy *%#!.
I here that one John. Here in Cave Creek AZ the local hardware store was "T.J's". Wasn't usually the cheapest, but he always seemed to have exactly what you needed, no matter how obscure. I remember one time I needed a couple of ancient oddball Crouse Hinds breakers and thought for grins I would ask him before I drove in to Phoenix to a major electrical supply place. T.J. said "Oh, those old L shaped ones, ya we got those" and waddled off down the overheaped ailes of his store and started digging through boxes and sure enough he had some. To top it off, he insisted on selling them to me at the 20? 30? 40?? year old price sticker on them which was something like $2.99. I felt guilty and bought some other stuff too. An Ace hardware came here, followed soon after by a Home Depot, and then a Lowes too. T.J.'s was of course out of business not long after that, I sure miss him.
The big hardware/general stores? Ya need a map! And your right about the gas prices. People may have made and received bad loans in the last ten years. But they cannot control an economy dependant on oil and a gang that jacks up those prices.. Anyway, the future is not to bright for brick and mortar stores in the near future..
Yea, and after folks calculate that it cost them $3.75 a gallon at 20 MPG to drive their 400 cu. in. SUV second vehicle that the wife uses to get groceries sixty miles each way and complain about the cost of the trip, the same folks sit back and complain about the $7.50 some internet shop charges to ship their must have tomorrow item across the country and deliver to them in the middle of nowhere. And people wonder why the LHS goes out of business. Fact is - you just can't satisfy anybody anymore. Seriously with a wink, Bill
gcav17, I'm guessing the shop in Marshalltown is gone. It was half model trains and half dollhouse miniatures. Was a good trip for the wife and I when we lived in Cedar Rapids. He said a large portion of his business was businessmen in town to visit Lennox heating, Fisher Instruments and Marshalltown Instruments. Dollhouse miniatures is a hobby that has declined. Used to be whole stores dedicated to the stuff. My local hobbyshop is 120 miles away. It is pretty good. In Denver. Nufced. There is one 60 miles away but while they have a lot of N scale, they never have what I'm looking for. On the other hand, I'm not looking for much these days. I've got enough stuff to keep me going for years. Except paints. My DCC is mail order only. Track I order on line in bulk. Sales tax and shipping are a wash unless I order from one of the on line presence's in state. Why do that?
Being out here in eastern MT, (read that empty!,) I feel fortunate to have a couple of places to go semi locally. The good train shop in Biilings has begun to stock more of the N stuff I look for when I am there. That says a lot about his responsiveness to me since modeling the 1920's in N is rare! Last trip, during the NP convention, I was able to pickup a FVM Hiawatha baggage car for my set and a handful of other stuff as well as spend an hour swappin yarns. I prefer to spend there and if not in a rush for something, get it there or order it up and wait patiently. However, going on vacations to anywhere usually requires hunting up the local shops, and dropping a few bucks, (or too many!) as part of the trip. Which just occurred last month going out to gcav17's and the family farm via Minneapolis to see a son. There's a very nice large store there that has some knowledgeable staff that were actually interested in the videos of my Loksound equipt ten-wheeler and just visiting! Walked out of there a few dollars less, but with some good deals on tanker cars and wood boxcars! Then the pilgrimage to Boone' IA with gcav17 one day to visit the retailer there, and more good visitin and finding good deals and a new KATO mike! I guess the sad part is that there isn't a lot of folk willing to spend any time building these things anymore, or getting themselves into a long term type of hobby. And model railroading is a long term hobby that takes a lot of time to do and patience, as we all well know! My two cents worth, ok, maybe two bucks worth!
I guess I can't complain. I have a decent hobby shop just a ten minute walk from my front door. Along with CN and CP mainlines just across the street from it. I suppose it doesn't get much better than that. Frank B.
I kept trying to respond to this the other day and couldn't. Noah, If you think Sacramento is sparse, I recommend not moving elsewhere, because the Sac Metro has it good. In addition to the Train only shop in Roseville. There's the mentioned shop down in Lodi, There's another shop up in Yuba City, There's a shop in Auburn though he is 95% HO and Lionel and old stock/Used mostly. Heck, if you're willing to drive, there's one in Concord. And then there's a Military/Model/Games shop in Sac that has Scenery material. They are a scenery Express dealer I think. And of course the National Chain Hobbyshop in Folsom has a small selection of Trains, but other hobby supplies and the R/C slot car shop on Fairway in Roseville/Rocklin has some scenery supplies. So, Actually, Sacramento has it incredibly incredibly good.
The MRC 2400 still has the ON-OFF pulse switch. I do prefer straight DC (or as 'straight' as rectified DC can be) over pulse. You mentioned an inexpensive pack for a test track, which is why I mentioned the two that I did. The pulse in the 1300 is discrete, so I would not worry too much about its damaging motors. If you are uncomfortable with the pulse, buy the Kato. I am not familiar with the Athearn. The B-mann and Atlas trainset packs now come with a control box and the transformer in the power cord, similar to the Kato, except that the control boxes on the trainset packs are much smaller than that on the Kato. When the Kato first appeared, the Kato representatives at the Springfield, Massachusetts show were quit eager to talk about it, so I learned much about it. It is a good power pack for either a test loop or even a pike. The 1300s are slightly less expensive than the Kato; at least they used to be. Most locomotives manufactured in the last twenty, or so, years will stand up to pulse.
You ain't kidding..Once again,I live in a major urban area,a strip of towns,cities,and boroughs five miles wide by twenty miles long.When I started in the motorcycle business 30 years ago,there were independent shops all over.When I opened my shop six years ago,there were probably 20 shops within 30 minutes of my shop..Since the stock market collapse 4 years ago,I'm the only one that managed to stay open!! Can you imagine,they're ALL gone? There's only 4-5 actual dealers left!!
I ended up today ordering the MRC 1300 mostly because I am familiar with their products and the other brands were out of stock at the time. The old power pack is fading fast. Last night it overheated and shut down on safety twice and then on another occasion decided to let the locos go in only one direction regardless of setting. As of now any testing is suspended and I dare not put any new stuff on the track until the new pack is in place.
John, I have an MRC 1370 and am happy with it. I don't know off hand what the differences are but it's been a good, dependable throttle.
