Most kind of you to offer, sort of the norm on RW. A friend I operate with had a few pieces left over which I will pick up tonight in exchange for a cold brew... Again, thanks for the offer but not necessary now.
Seems like the product has demand, but this is the third firm that was the principle supplier to fold in the last few decades. I remember B. O. then California and now Cascade.
The original guy used to run the business out of a shipping container, but fell ill.
Richard (Cal Roadbed) was an interesting guy (he was in my club for a while)— he started helping the original owner in order to finish his layout. Richard relocated the company to Angel's Camp, CA and actually was getting homasote delivered by rail. Pretty sure he over extended himself, as he also had some chronic health problems.
The most recent proprietor was Steve Cox (who may have been here at one point in time?)— Steve decided to start CRS because Richard stopped being able to reliably deliver the product. He ran the business for nearly 5 years (I saw him at the PDX NMRA convention when things were going reasonably well)
The margins for running such a business are razor thin, so I would not be surprised if the business just wasn't viable. As a friend once told me, the best way to make a small fortune in model railroading is to start with a large one.
-Dave
