Model Train Journal

I suppose they're gonna be gone now.
Sold to Walthers.
"Your dealer HOPES he can get it from Walthers!"

I quit even trying to order from Walthers at least 30 years ago.

ScaleCraft wrote:I suppose they're gonna be gone now.
Sold to Walthers.

Okay, so it's better if the company and it's products disappears entirely?

"Your dealer HOPES he can get it from Walthers!"

Where's you get that statement from?

I quit even trying to order from Walthers at least 30 years ago.

I used to be able to get all sorts fo O scale supplies from Walthers......30+ years ago,

I order from Walthers only in desperation.

Yeah, 30+ years ago, no problem getting stuff outta them.

Statement? Common on Worst Coast for decades. Smaller scales, larger scales, play on words of the Walthers slogan "Your dealer can get it from Walthers".

ScaleCraft wrote:Yeah, 30+ years ago, no problem getting stuff outta them.

Sad and unfortunate now.

Statement? Common on Worst Coast for decades. Smaller scales, larger scales, play on words of the Walthers slogan "Your dealer can get it from Walthers".

Okay.....I see.........we have no dealer or hobby shop around here at all of any use. Best one is 90 miles and 2 states away......long drive for a tube of Goo and a 2 oz bottle of CA............and I'm on my last bottle of CA now.

I don't order a lot from Walthers, maybe once or twice a year. Web site is kind of lame, seems more suited to dealers than consumers. I have had issues navigating it but never had a problem once I got to placing the actual order or tracking it once it was processed.

Lame/ Impossible!
Even local dealers can't navigate it.
Walthers generates "exclusives" with manufacturers...or used to.

Eventually re-branded to Walthers.
Never seem to stock it, always waiting to get enough orders.

BTDT. Year and a half later...they wanted to issue me a store credit (had my check, cashed, for 18+ months). I insisted, they resisted, I finally got my money back and never again, even when they were allegedly the US Distributor of LGB....and never, ever advertised in the hobby mags, never promoted the line....I know folks who worked for them...past tense.....and working for them appears to be worse than ordering from them.
Never again.


Case in point. Minor, but an example.
Hobsco Decal Setting Solution. Walthers lists it, but it says Walthers on the label.
I have an original bottle, says Hobsco. For a while you could only get it through Walthers, Not sure it that is still the case.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1260/ ... 1590023279

Listed as "Hobsco Co 470 Solvaset 2-oz btl "

Quality? Compare all those cardstock and tin sided passenger cars to other manufacturers.
Polydrive. The list goes on.

In my experience, they are mostly HO oriented. Once an item in "O" goes out of stock, good luck getting it.

E7 wrote:Once an item in "O" goes out of stock, good luck getting it.

Availability: Disc. when Sold Out ...

They have a DEEP discount structure. Even the Half Zero folks know not to order direct. Dealers, get a whacking discount, and when they add in their profit it's still generally far cheaper.

Like Bachmann.

I wonder what part(s) of the Chooch line of products Walthers is going to actually get and market.

Chooch used to make a lot of O freight scale car and structure kits.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Okay.....I see.........we have no dealer or hobby shop around here at all of any use. Best one is 90 miles and 2 states away......long drive for a tube of Goo and a 2 oz bottle of CA............and I'm on my last bottle of CA now.

I get my CA, epoxy and rail-zip from Robart.com. Their shipping isn't cheap, but its usually less expensive to buy from them direct than via Walthers, plus Robart usually has a discount code posted -- for October, it is 5% off orders over $75.