Scale - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Company. The castings aremade from nickel silver and arevery sharp. The patterns weremade from Right O’ Way rail inCode 138 and Code 125. Theyare available in several frogangles and styles. The includedpicture shows both rail-boundand manganese insert styles inCode 125.RL Design (14123 206th St.S.E., Snohomish, WA 98296-3947) is preparing lettering sets for Southern Pacific automobilecars starting with the A-50-9 thru A-50-11 steel single sheathed cars and on to the AAR standardsteel cars. I have included a photo of an SP A-50-9 to give you an idea of the type of carlettering that is in the works. He will follow this with lettering for AAR double-door 50’ carslater in the year. RL Design decal sets range from $10 to $11 per set with a $4 shipping charge.◆Reader FeedbackFirst Time At Big MeetJust got back from the Midwest OScale Meet for 2004 last week. This wasthe first time I’ve been able to attend abig O Scale meet and this year’s MidwestO Scale Meet was much more than evenI had imagined. Mike Hill and all his volunteersreally deserve a lot of credit asthey really made this a great show.It was mind boggling to see so muchO Scale model railroad equipment forsale under one roof. One of the highlightsfor me was to be able to finally meet somany of the vendors that I have beendoing business with over the years. In noparticular order I really enjoyed meetingTim LaGue (OLD PULLMAN), ScottMann (SUNSET MODELS), Rich Yoder(RICH YODER MODELS), Danny Pope(ALL NATION), John & Martha Keil (KEILLINE PRODUCTS), Pat Mucci (P&DHOBBY SHOP), Ted Schnepf (RAILSUNLIMITED), Lenny & Rita Leer (R&LMINIATURE MARKETPLACE) and ofcourse Brian Scace (O SCALE TRAINS).I would really like to extend my thanksto Ted Schnepf who opened up his homelayout which was a real joy for me tovisit. You need to do a photo spread onthis layout as the last one done a fewyears ago really doesn’t do it justice. Thisis one impressive layout both in size,track plan, almost unlimited operationspotential, and some pretty well donescenery to boot. Thanks again Ted, I reallyenjoyed the visit.As far as OST goes, it’s as good as everand I’m glad to see you are starting topick up even more advertisers which is agood sign you’re doing something right.Pete Klick, Sequim, WashingtonMore Internet BrouhahaWhen I first read the letter from PhilShuster in issue #12, my first reactionwas negative, but I waited to respondexpecting someone else like John Smithto defend his position. No one came forward,so it seems I must. (It also took thismuch time to cool down).First, Mr. Shuster, you don’t need acomputer to get access to the Internet.Microsoft has been advertising Internettelevisionboxes for $99 for the past fewmonths. You get a keyboard and an interconnectingbox that hooks to your TV.Now you can go to all those sites thatdon’t issue catalogs and see what you’vehave been missing. You can even viewthe Walther’s catalog and order direct, ifyou want. You don’t have to drive to thehobby shop and spend money on gas.Dell Computer has been advertising acomputer for $499, and I had the impressionit came with a monitor. Another$50-$100 and you can have a printer.Call it $600; not $1200 as you say. Andas far as computer owners sitting on theirbutts for hours at a time surfing the weband chatting, how much time do youspend watching TV or writing letters? Forme, the computer is a tool that allowsme to easily find information on manysubjects which relate to my hobbies.Have you ever seen an article in a magazinethat you’d like to get more informationabout? Maybe change the scale of adrawing, make your own signs anddecals, keep track of your rolling stock?There are lots of uses for a computer ifyou just keep your mind and eyes open.You say “I thought the cost of a catalog(both time and printing) was a cost ofdoing business, same as advertising, andhas to be dealt with accordingly.” Justwho do you think pays for your catalog?In order for a business to pay for the productionof a catalog, they must have anincome to cover that cost, which you getto pay for, either up front for the catalog,or in higher prices on the items you buy.And in the case of the latter, it’s not justyou who has to pay; we all get to contributeto the cost of “your catalog”.Do you buy Microscale decals? Haveyou purchased one of their catalogs?How quickly did it get out of date, or didyou update your copy each time one ofthe model magazines printed a list ofnew decals that were not listed in “yourcatalog”? You could go out on the Internetand see what is available. And, ofcourse, everything listed in a catalog isavailable, right? No one would ever printa catalog with items that weren’t available.Also, the prices printed in “yourcatalog” never change, so when youorder something, that’s what you sendthe manufacturer. Of course, if they havehad a price increase you won’t knowuntil they send your order back with anote to that effect. If you had Internetaccess, you could go to their web siteand check the current prices, and sendthe correct amount the first time. Youmight even be able to order the itemright then.Just because “the hobby shop operators”you have talked to “complain thatthe Internet has hurt their sales” doesn’tmean the Internet is bad. It just meansthey can’t compete. Maybe if theydropped their prices a little, had a betterstock (you can’t sell from an emptyJuly/Aug ’04 - O Scale Trains • 43