The end of the Walthers N scale referance book?

[jagged ben]

It's really amazing to think about how much the internet has changed the way we think about things and get information.   The truth is, the Walthers book was lame 25 years ago, even before Netscape.  I remember when the guy at the hobby shop said 'here, buy this, it has everything'.  But then after a couple years, I realized that the Walthers book didn't have any of the good stuff.    No Atlas.  No Kato, or not up to date.  No Sunrise enterprises or Gold Medal Models parts.    And yet, somehow that book still felt indispensable because where else were you going to get so much information?

I wasn't in the hobby that long before the internet came along.   I honestly don't know how people did quality modeling before that.  It took a lot more effort, I think, just to get information on what good products were available and what techniques to use, especially in N.    A good hobby shop was the hub; mine was so-so for N scale.   MR was and still is lame with respect to N-scale.   It was the dark ages.   

[asarge]

Ed, you young whipper-snapper, you will find this hard to believe but there are modelers out there who do not own computers and who go to a local hobby shop to order stuff from the Walthers catalog). Or call Walthers on their land-line and order their items that way (by actually having a live conversation with the Walters sales staff).  There might even be some modelers who snail-mail their Walthers order enclosing a money order or a personal check as a payment). Believe it or not  . . . 

You know, up until about 2 years ago, I was in on the retail end of the hobby. I was in it for about 16 years and for 75% of that did their hobby purchasing exactly the way you described it. But starting about 6 or 7 years ago, more an more of the "old-timers" were getting more tech-savvy. The younger modellers and the newbies were already there.  At that point the scale really began to tip towards the internet. I guess it just tipped enough that WKW said enough was enough, they needed to cut costs and well.........now those "old-timers" might feel out in the cold, but the information is there, if they will change up a bit and go get it.

This has not been a long time coming in the whole scheme of things, but it's been coming fast like everything else in the information age.

[Chris333]

My local shop never had much N scale. So I would buy that online. But after a few trips to get regular stuff and they didn't have it I just started getting everything online.

Back in middle school a buddy had a Walther's catalog that we would trade passing in the hall. Since then I have a 1994 N and HO catalog and rarely use them.

[Rich_S]

I grew up in an era before the World Wide Web, it seemed unheard of not to have a semi current copy of a Walther's catalog. This was an era where there were only a couple of major model railroad suppliers and Walthers was one of the biggest. Details West, Details Associates, Cal-Scale, you name it, all of the super detail parts were carried by Walthers. If you needed a weed cutter snow plow, just look up the number in the Walthers catalog and if your local hobby shop did not have one, they could get one within a week from Walthers. My local hobby shop always received their Walthers shipment on Wednesdays and that was one of the reasons they were open Wednesday evening 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM. My last N scale catalog is from 2012. Yes, the World Wide Web has completely changed the way we purchase our hobby supplies. Most items now can be directly purchased from the manufacturer, or from a discount online site (How does that work, I can get it from MB Klein cheaper than the manufacturers web site?) I'm surprised Walthers still sells catalogs, plus sends out printed monthly flyers, they must own the printing house?

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I guess since I'm a long term customer, I'll probably be on their mailing list until they decide to discontinue monthly mailers. I did like the fact Walthers produced a N & Z catalog separate from the HO and Large scale catalog. Since HO, N & Z are now combined, I'm a little disappointed, but I'll still probably purchase this reference book, tradition, plus it's their 85th anniversary edition, heck a Andrew Jackson is not going to wipe out my bank account 
 

[peteski]

Not sure how the double posting happened, we need a delete post button?

I think the reason that you cannot delete posts is so you can't post a really nasty trolling post then delete it after ruffling some feathers, but before the admins see it, leaving no trace.  I know that you would never do that, but others might. 

[wazzou]

I've been doing train stuff so long that I remember in grade school ordering from...I believe, Trainmasters, an N Scale only shop, somewhere in Indiana and paying C.O.D. to the UPS delivery man

[johnb]

First Sears....now Walthers.....at least there is a paper Micro News left...

[pmpexpress]

I don't think you have to be too tech savvy to visit a website, or do a search on it.
In fact, I think, if you can't do those things, you might have a hard time doing MUCH in 2016.

Unless hacker initiated cyber attacks render the Internet useless (e.g., last Friday's 10-21-16 distributed denial of service DDoS attack on DynDNS, which made access to a lot of major business Blog, ecommerce, news bureau, and social media sites impossible), or, there is a massive, prolonged electrical blackout caused by the cascading failures of antiquated grids, cyber attacks, and/or the devastating results of a huge electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a solar storm.

When such events occur, what good will all of this wonderful electronic technology do for us?

Remember what happened to individuals residing in New York and New Jersey after 2012's "Superstorm" (aka Hurricane) Sandy?

No cell phone, electrical, or Internet service for many.

Presently, going on for several days now, another well-known train forum board is down because of another hacking incident.

This is the second or third (I don't remember which it is) time that hackers have managed to redirect site page addresses and/or tamper with the site's content.

Note:

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a tool that is used convert human-readable (and entered) web addresses (e.g., “therailwire.net”) into the numeric IP addresses that Internet protocols use to access websites and retrieve web pages.

[peteski]

I've been doing train stuff so long that I remember in grade school ordering from...I believe, Trainmasters, an N Scale only shop, somewhere in Indiana and paying C.O.D. to the UPS delivery man

If it was the same Trainmaster I used to shop at, then it was in Albany, NY. They ended up with a good chunk of my paycheck back in the '80s. They used to mail their product list monthly.  Here is a vintage invoice (I'm a bit of a packrat).  As you can see, I also payed C.O.D.

[pmpexpress]

In my younger days, my mail order purchases primarily came from the America's Hobby Center (in mid-town Manhattan) black and white catalog and Model Railroader ads, the Hobbies For Men (Beacon N.Y.) Model Railroader ads, and the SMC Model Railroad Center (Sal Marion's in Staten Island N.Y.) Model Railroader ads.

Wish I had retained some of the old purchase receipts, like Peteski did.

[peteski]

In my younger days, my mail order purchases primarily came from the America's Hobby Center (in mid-town Manhattan) black and white catalog and Model Railroader ads . . .

I also ordered from AHC, and whenever I chose to order over the phone I recall it wasn't much fun. The order takers were quite rude.

[wazzou]

@peteski - that was the one.

[Carolina Northern]

I also ordered from AHC, and whenever I chose to order over the phone I recall it wasn't much fun. The order takers were quite rude.

Everybody at AHC was rude. Met the owner once when they had a branch in N.J. He led the way.

The site in Indiana was probably the N Scale Store. Visited it a few times in Indianapolis. Strange place run by another "character".

Does it seem like the early days were more "fun"?

Don

[nickelplate759]

I actually visited AHC once, in the early 1970s.    Exactly the little hole-in-the-wall you might have expected from looking at their catalog, which was a 1/4 sheet black and white affair on what looked like newsprint.

George

[peteski]

I actually visited AHC once, in the early 1970s.    Exactly the little hole-in-the-wall you might have expected from looking at their catalog, which was a 1/4 sheet black and white affair on what looked like newsprint.

George

But they did run full-page ads in Model Railroader.  At least that is what I seem to recall.