Large Scale Central

Garden Metal Models - Catwalk/Bridge Ties

Kader!!! They seem to have a hold of the large scale world by the _______!

Ah yes Bridge Master, I remember now they are the distributor if any ever shows up again. Strange story

Jerry

I see what the problem is, they misspelled “Kader” and the Chinese are mad… he will need to apologize… see what they did to Scott Polk because they were mad at Lewis?

Just kidding… (but not about Scott & Lewis)…

Greg

Paul Burch said:

Kader!!! They seem to have a hold of the large scale world by the _______!

Paul

Years ago a company called Sanda Kan was a very key company for a significant part of the model railroad market. It specialized in making small runs for the model railroad industry and companies like Garden Metal Products relied on it.

Unfortunately they were bought by a financial investment company which bled it dry. They lost significant money in the process and started selling off assets including the tooling needed to make the products. In 2008 or so Kader Holding Company stepped in bought what was left. Had they not stepped in Sanda Kan would have gone out of business entirely.

In an effort to salvage what was left they dropped all the small production runs which had a significant effect on companies like Garden Metal Products. Looking at what financial records are available it appears that the Kader investment was not a profitable one and today not much is left.

The economic changes that have occurred around the world in this century have had an impact on our hobby.

Stan

And the result is that Kader is about the only game in town, and has raised prices and held people hostage (again, ask Scott Polk)… it’s their way or the highway… the little guys are screwed and the big companies have higher prices…

Greg

There is always a positive note, if anyone were to look at it.

In earlier days of Model Railroading, the hobby was healthy and growing. “Stuff” didn’t always come in a box, ready to plop down and run on or use.

“Healthy” in just about every sense of the word.

Model Railroaders, used to model what they saw in real life, and discovered in books or magazines, or through real honest to goodness, research. They sought out materials, and actually built things; while doing so, they gained experience in so many areas of life…healthy, as in gaining a very diverse knowledge of things needed to help them through life, along with the great enjoyment they had while doing it. Their chosen “Hobby” grew with them all through their lives.

Today, hobbies seem to be less interesting, and rather trendy. People jump in; play with a hobby, until it gets boring, or their friends sucker them into some other latest trend.

A lot of the replacements for the old fashioned hobbies, are just activities, usually competitive, and short lived due to, a persons aging, or purchasing power.

We seem to just buy things, play with them for a while, or until they get boring, then throw them away and go on to other things.

With the failing of this business, that provided bridges (And I have several of them), maybe when we need a new bridge, it will be a great new, and educational experience for a lot of us, to learn how to build one our selves.

Fred Mills

I don’t know if you are on the facebook g scale swap and shop, but there are 4 box’s of them for sale right now.

Here’s the link to the post. I don’t think it will show up unless you are a member of the group.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=275077186259671&set=gm.1215189888517126&type=3

Here’s the guy who is selling them. You might be able to message him directly:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012721755073&fref=nf&post_id=1215189888517126

Fred Mills said:

There is always a positive note, if anyone were to look at it.

In earlier days of Model Railroading, the hobby was healthy and growing. “Stuff” didn’t always come in a box, ready to plop down and run on or use.

“Healthy” in just about every sense of the word.

Model Railroaders, used to model what they saw in real life, and discovered in books or magazines, or through real honest to goodness, research. They sought out materials, and actually built things; while doing so, they gained experience in so many areas of life…healthy, as in gaining a very diverse knowledge of things needed to help them through life, along with the great enjoyment they had while doing it. Their chosen “Hobby” grew with them all through their lives.

Today, hobbies seem to be less interesting, and rather trendy. People jump in; play with a hobby, until it gets boring, or their friends sucker them into some other latest trend.

A lot of the replacements for the old fashioned hobbies, are just activities, usually competitive, and short lived due to, a persons aging, or purchasing power.

We seem to just buy things, play with them for a while, or until they get boring, then throw them away and go on to other things.

With the failing of this business, that provided bridges (And I have several of them), maybe when we need a new bridge, it will be a great new, and educational experience for a lot of us, to learn how to build one our selves.

Fred Mills

My Gawd, if I am reading your post correctly you are advocating the use of imagination, creativity and learned ability to produce something that will fill hours of your hobby time during the building and provide years of enjoyment in the future. Geeze what’s next, ranting about book research, obscure magazines and maybe even radio? You really must move forward with the times and become emersed in face book, twitter and all that other cra-- err, stuff.

Good post by the way(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

Rick

Rick Marty said: Geeze what’s next, ranting about book research, …?

You mean, like 70 year old books? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
IMG_4759

It saw active reference use in December and will tomorrow, Thursda,y for assembling an Oregon Rail Supply signal kit, though in HO instead of G.

Sorry to revive this old thread, but does anyone have photos of this product? I’m interested in trying to replicate it.

Or, even better, would someone lend me a section to measure it?

Disregard. Their web site is still up, and has both photos and drawings.

Eric Reuter said:

Sorry to revive this old thread, but does anyone have photos of this product? I’m interested in trying to replicate it.

Or, even better, would someone lend me a section to measure it?

How much do you need? I have 2 boxes of 12"ea, new in the box.

It’s too modern to be used here.

I need more than that for this project, but I’d definitely buy them from you. I’ll send you a PM.

I can’t seem to get the message function to work on my iPhone. i‘ll be in touch later when I am at a computer.