Mike Morgan said:Mike, Have you seen the catalog prices from Marklin, almost $300 for a dinky Porter thats no different save a circuit board than my Toytrain level Porter? Thats direct from Marklin's catalog, before any importer or distributor has added their markup. Marklin doesnt give a rats tooth whether its affordable to anyone or not, it is what it is and thats what it is, pay up or go home, Marklin has ALWAYS been so as long as I can remember, its one huge reason they have almost no presence in the US, they are just too dam expensive amd now LGB is going that way here as well.
Here we go again , blaming LGB for the greedy importers' mark-ups . I do not pay anything like that for LGB in the UK .
Couple that with here in the US LGB is sold thru only one distributor, HK Walthers, and they NEVER sell anything for less than full MSRP. its just what they do, all across the board in all scales. The days of cheaper buying direct from LGBoA are long gone. LGB has become what I predicted it would be if Marklin got ahold of it. Expensive beautique brand models out of the reach of most moderate income large scalers. And thats sad becuase LGB isnt the only game in town, most US modelers would much rather buy Bachmann or HLW for narow gauge now, and Aristo and USA have the standard gauge camp under their wing, now Piko is offering much more affordable items comparativley, is is any wonder if LGB/Marklin wont be right back in bankruptcy court again in a few years if they dont pull their collective heads out wake up and smell the coffee.
