I read your editorial about “The Retailer’s Complaint” and enjoyed it very much. I see some of the very same things happening here in my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. I am on the Board Of Directors of the Chattanooga Area Model Railroad Club and would like your permission to print your editorial, in full, with your byline, in our monthly newsletter. It might give some of the members of our club a bit of their own medicine.
John Curtis Watson
Chattanooga, TN
My wife and I own and operate a small model train store which we enjoy very much. We opened our store in July 2001 knowing full well that we wouldn’t make any money, but, it would give us something to do and give the model railroaders in our area an opportunity to purchase locally. I have loved model trains since I was a little boy and purchased a variety of products over the past 40 years; however, I’m not a “train nut.” It didn’t take long, after opening the store, to learn that there are people who can tell you how many rivets there are in a 1942 steel boxcar but don’t have a clue when to brush their teeth. I, to this day, don’t know the difference between a U33C and a U36C, and I also can’t tell a Toyota from a Honda. So what! I have fixed dropped engines, replaced hundreds of broken couplers and have worked for hours replacing worn out gears on engines which were used to pull 30 car trains up a 6 percent grade, just to make sure no one went home unhappy.
Probably, the most important trait a model train store operator can have is to be a good listener. For some unknown reason, many retired real railroad workers think that if you like model trains you have to also like big trains. There are guys who love and photograph train stations, others feel the same emotion for railroad bridges, while others roam the country riding narrow gauge tourist trains and want to share all their experiences with anyone who will listen but especially model train store operators.
After spending 30 years writing letters and talking on the phone as a manager with the Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation, I made a promise to myself not to write any more letters and allocated all phone duties to my wife. Since my retirement, I have made good on that promise; however, your editorial “The Retailer’s Complaint” in the May issue deserves an “amen” from every hobby shop owner/operator and sales person, worldwide!
Thank your for letting your readers/customers see the other side of the coin. We look forward to receiving the Model Railroad News each month
Larry and Sharon Hall
Shawnee, OK
To reviewer John Sipple
I enjoyed the review of Athearn’s Genesis PC&F boxcars. But I must disagree with the idea that the Golden West Service boxcar needed “weathering and graffiti to make it more authentic.”
Weathering, yes. Graffiti, no! Granted, this is certainly prototypical, but why bring these images of crime and decay into model railroading? Trespassing vandals have defaced a staggering number of railcars in pursuit of a “hip-hop” nation. I, and the vast majority of railroad enthusiasts, find this disregard for private property disgusting.
All of us need to be very watchful of our area railroads and report any suspicious activity to the police. Otherwise, future rail enthusiasts will have a railroad history covered in spray paint.
Jim Norton
Madison, AL
To reviewer John Sipple:
By now I am sure you have many e-mails correcting your statement in the April issue that this decoder does not have silent running. That is what the “SR” stands for.
Which then reraises the question why the D13SR worked and the others did not?
Bob Zoeller
Bayside, WI
To BLI Locomotive reviewers:
It’s nice to read all those glowing reports about Broadway products in your magazine. Let me share my experience with you as regards my association with this firm.
About six months ago, I bought an N&W “A” 2-6-6-4 from one of the large hobby house places in NYC. It arrived in good condition and when I put it to work on my layout, it worked just fine. I loved the sound and was impressed with the whole package. It ran fine for about six months.
I have been in the hobby since 1953 and this was simply amazing! So far, so good! On February 10, 2004, I ordered the PA 4-8-2 M1a from the same NYC dealer and when it arrived I put it on the track and could not get it to run. It simply would not move one way or another. After trying everything I knew, I sent it back to NYC and they sent me another unit (brand new in box). When I put this new M1a on the track to run, it was perfect for about two laps then it suddenly stopped. Turns out the hex bolt on the right side dropped off and the valve gear came apart!
This time I called the factory in VA. I was told they would send me the hex bolt … they never did! I looked everywhere but never could find the original bolt. After waiting two weeks for the promised replacement that never came, I decided to send the M1a back to the factory, skipping the dealer. In the meantime the “A”(2-6-6-4) stopped running. The amp meter showed a short and I tried everything I knew but to no avail… it would simply not run.
Now I sent both engines back to the factory. I got off a few e-mails, plus phone calls to various people working for Broadway. After about three weeks the engines came back to me, both new units. I was told the old ones were damaged beyond repair. So much for the old ones.
Well, I put the new M1a on the track and was amazed that it would only run backwards! The sound was perfect, and all was good so long as you wanted to go backwards. Trying to go forward only produced the integrated sound; the accelerated chuff was good, the engine did not move. So much for the third M1a.
Now I put the new “A” on the track and discovered that it ran with a wobble. It was more of a lurch but something was really wrong. It had a serious bind in the transmission and derailed at the first switch. It had problems to be sure. By now, I was getting used to the fact that Broadway suffers from a lack of Quality Control. I noticed my first “A” was built in China. The defective second unit came from Korea. I understand that Broadway recently moved to a new location to do business.
I also notice their kits do not include an inspection number or ID card of the person who put it all together. Not good.
Right now I am waiting to see what Broadway is going to do. I returned the engines on March 25. Someone at the Waynesboro, VA place signed for the package containing both units on March 30. It is now April 15 and I have heard nothing. I have requested that someone at Broadway please sign off on the units that they have been road tested before shipping yet another batch of non-working, defective units to me. Time will tell I suppose.
I have spent about $50.00 so far on postage and insurance. It is all very discouraging. I am hoping this is all growing pains for Broadway. Perhaps some day, in time, they will get the bugs out. When that happens I’m sure I will be buying all their stuff because I love it. What more can I say?
Ray Cummings
Bluffton, SC
In my opinion, of all the model railroad magazines on the market, MRN is at the top of the list for excellence of product evaluation as well as courteous and knowledgeable advertisers. I can highly recommend the two I mention here. In the “letters to the editor” of the December 2002 issue, MRN published a picture of a section of our On30 layout (pictures of the layout can be seen at www.msnusers.com/On30layout ). I had become disabled in late 1999 and began the construction of that layout in early 2000. Unfortunately, my physical condition has deteriorated to the point that I am unable to continue working with that layout.
Last year, for my 60th birthday, my wife Carol, encouraged me to begin construction of an N scale layout that would fit in our living room. As a birthday present she and our eldest daughter initiated a subscription to the monthly issue of the Micro-Trains State Cars. Since the first 6 had already been issued it was with great surprise that our daughter was, with the help of the folks at MT, able to locate those cars. I am now on track (no pun intended; well maybe so) with the issue of the remainder of the cars.
When I received the engine, it would not function as advertised. For the last several months MT and I have been sending that little engine back and forth, from Tennessee to Oregon, trying to determine the problem. It has finally been solved. However, I had incurred quite an amount in mailing expenses. Mony Bristow, the sales person with whom I have been working, very graciously encouraged me to choose something from their catalog equal to the amount of that expense. As far as I am concerned, that goes above and beyond what one would normally expect in today’s market place.
The folks with whom I have the subscription for the State cars is TexNrails. Brad, (sorry, I don’t know his last name) the sales person with whom I have been dealing, has also been extremely helpful in anything I have needed. His professionalism and patience with some of the questions I have asked is to be commended. These are just two examples of why I will continue to subscribe to Model Railroad News. I can always expect only the most courteous response from the folks that advertise in the magazine. .
Don Courliss
Jonesborough, TN
Immediately after seeing your review covering the Kadee PS2 Clinchfield covered hopper (December 2003), I ordered one from a local high volume hobby dealer. Just the other day when I was there, I asked the owner about the status of my order. He replied, “They are all gone. No word if there will be more.”
To say that I’m disappointed would be an understatement. What, if anything, can be done about this?
I also ordered the Broadway Limited six hopper set last November and have been told they are not available yet. I waited over four months for their Pennsy M1b. It is my opinion that the companies offering this equipment either should not advertise so far in advance or should be more truthful about availability dates.
In the event production or shipping problems delay delivery, they should publicize their problems and apologize just as forcefully as they hyped their product to sell it to us.
Howard Graham
Saxonburg, PA
Your announcement of the Sunshine IT double-sheathed, double-door boxcar kit reminded me how much I appreciate the complete and accurate prototype information provided with Sunshine and Westerfield kits. These two manufacturers set the standard in this regard toward which I wish all the other, larger manufacturers would strive.
I have every confidence that Atlas, Kato, Bachmann, Life-Like, and the others make accurate models but models of which prototype? I have no quarrel with their application of “bogus” paint schemes to increase sales. (No disparagement is intended by the use of bogus. I merely intend to indicate those paint schemes for railroads or private owners that never actually owned or operated such equipment.) They need a profit but among those “bogus” paint schemes is one or two accurate ones, and I would really like to buy those versions but don’t have enough information to know which is which.
In conversations with manufacturers’ representatives I have been told repeatedly that a majority of their customers don’t care about prototype information. I’m sure that is true. There are, however, a small but growing number of us who want our models to be as accurate as possible in terms of both details and paint scheme. I simply abstain from purchasing the models offered by these larger manufacturers. The irony is that these manufacturers accumulated the very information I need to make an informed purchasing decision in order to make their model in the first place.
Could the manufacturers make the information about the prototype of each model available to the buying public or included with each model? Could it be provided to editors and reviewers? Could it be posted on their web sites? Does anyone beside me care about this?
Lewis E. “Gene” Green
El Paso, TX
PS: The product reviews in MRN are so valuable for both the prototype and model information. I want to count rivets and you help me do that.
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