Following on from Rail-Riders strongly held views on catalogues in the Simon Kohler topic in the news section, it has to be worth having further discussion about this.
QUOTE In my view, train catalogues are far too expensive and, in addition to the enormous cost of producing them, the cost of shipping, whether in bulk to dealers or direct to individual customers, is prohibitive in itself. Paper is heavy!
Now I do have a very traditional view of model railway catalogues in that they are informative, easy to browse through, have a nice look and feel, are collectable, and represent very good value for money.
However, I do see Rail-Rider's point of view also in terms of the inflexibility that they offer throughout the year. And of course more people (non modellers especially) would be more likely to have a look at a catalogue if it was free! Every outlet could hand them out to every customer that comes in. This could draw more people into the hobby.
Now there may be grounds for producing 2 catalogues. A quality one that has lots of nice pictures and provides modelling ideas and includes feature articles helping modellers to make a start. This would be tremendous value.
And then a low cost version with a selection of the products available that are likely to appeal to the family who purchase a train set and a few accessories. Yes, there is a page included with each trainset but you have to buy a train set to get one. Something like the 16 page Mainline catalogues of the 1980's would do. Go into Toys R Us and a lot of hobby shops with a small selection of the Hornby range and visitors simply do not appreciate what is available (Hornby have in excess of 1000 products apparently!)
This could all be supported by the other ideas that Rail-Rider has for internet catalogues. Although I am not too sure if shopkeepers could cope with some of the ideas put forward here. How many hobby shop owners have room for major hi-tech equipment in their shop and how many would be able to use it?
Basically, I still want to see a traditional full blown catalogue to add to my collection and I am sure a lot of people feel the same way. And catalogues do have value over time. You only have to look at a certain site to appreciate this.
Its not as if it a promotion catalogue which has products in that are here to day gone tomorrow. The model railway catalogue contains a lot of information about the range for a particular year and somebody coming back into the hobby now might need information about past locomotives going forward as they are for the most part only ever produced once by the manufacturers. Historical catalogues help here and it is useful to build up a collection as an archive.
Happy modelling
Gary
QUOTE In my view, train catalogues are far too expensive and, in addition to the enormous cost of producing them, the cost of shipping, whether in bulk to dealers or direct to individual customers, is prohibitive in itself. Paper is heavy!
Now I do have a very traditional view of model railway catalogues in that they are informative, easy to browse through, have a nice look and feel, are collectable, and represent very good value for money.
However, I do see Rail-Rider's point of view also in terms of the inflexibility that they offer throughout the year. And of course more people (non modellers especially) would be more likely to have a look at a catalogue if it was free! Every outlet could hand them out to every customer that comes in. This could draw more people into the hobby.
Now there may be grounds for producing 2 catalogues. A quality one that has lots of nice pictures and provides modelling ideas and includes feature articles helping modellers to make a start. This would be tremendous value.
And then a low cost version with a selection of the products available that are likely to appeal to the family who purchase a train set and a few accessories. Yes, there is a page included with each trainset but you have to buy a train set to get one. Something like the 16 page Mainline catalogues of the 1980's would do. Go into Toys R Us and a lot of hobby shops with a small selection of the Hornby range and visitors simply do not appreciate what is available (Hornby have in excess of 1000 products apparently!)
This could all be supported by the other ideas that Rail-Rider has for internet catalogues. Although I am not too sure if shopkeepers could cope with some of the ideas put forward here. How many hobby shop owners have room for major hi-tech equipment in their shop and how many would be able to use it?
Basically, I still want to see a traditional full blown catalogue to add to my collection and I am sure a lot of people feel the same way. And catalogues do have value over time. You only have to look at a certain site to appreciate this.
Its not as if it a promotion catalogue which has products in that are here to day gone tomorrow. The model railway catalogue contains a lot of information about the range for a particular year and somebody coming back into the hobby now might need information about past locomotives going forward as they are for the most part only ever produced once by the manufacturers. Historical catalogues help here and it is useful to build up a collection as an archive.
Happy modelling
Gary