Large Scale Central

LGB at the local train store

General Discussion
#1

I visited my local train store today and to my surprise he had stocked up on LGB sets in the starter range, as well as track. He even had a couple of the big wooden circles with the logo. We started talking about LGB and the stories he had were essentially what I had read here. He’s not very optimistic about Marklin working out, based on his information from sales channels.

His store is dominated by Lionel O scale, so I never realized he would have a garden train at home. Turns out he set up a garden railroad way back when LGB large scale trains were first introduced in the US. He’s sold it all this time, but never kept much in stock since LGB sets were always a big ticket item. Now he’s starting to get Aristocraft and USA Trains locomotives for the display shelf. He had an Aristo Mallet out of the box, displayed on the counter so you could see it up close. Someday… :slight_smile:

Paul

#2

Paul,

Hmmmmm … so he got some of the remainders that LGBoA has in stock? Were they a good price?

#3

Paul,
some of the big name online discounters have similar stock increases. At first I though that Chinese production had been restarted, but now feel that stock instore is only surplus stock not released by LGBoA back in late 2006/early 2007 when the famous firesales were trying to boost income for the toy train maker. The stock has been wharehoused since migrating to America when the toy train company realised that all was not well. After the firesale, LGBoA must have realised that Marklin production was not going to meet potential demand and thus restricted release of the items. Now some twelve months later, the goods are entering the marketplace at a price level much higher than previously. This is new ‘old stock’, not current production and yet is being offered at non-discounted very inflated prices. A definate windfall for the ‘importer’(?)

#4

Tim,

Is it possible that “the boys” in San Diego are in dire need of funds? Not landing an agreement because of lack of “suitable terms” sure has a certain ring to it, don’t you think? The terms that the insolvency trustee granted could have been quite a bit more suitable, who knows he could have looked at it as passing money from one pocket into another pocket in the same suit, eh? Time will tell! :wink: :slight_smile:

PS Don’t you count your blessing that you stocked up when the fire sales were on and we got some real deals? I remember people posting “Support LGB, buy, buy, buy!”
Just made me haul with laughter, didn’t they realize that the stock at the discounters had been bought and paid for at a bargain. Never mind what we’d buy, it was the dealer who benefitted, not LGBoA or EPL. Mr.Barnum was right on the mark!

OTOH I made sure I supported my favourite dealer in the US! :wink: :slight_smile:

#5

HJ,
my favourite online store (and yours) has in general increased its discounted prices by at least $20 on rolling stock and more than $30 on locomotives and in many cases a lot more, than prices only a few months ago when stock mysteriously ‘dried-up’. Could this drought be a political ploy to enforce an agreement and increased distribution? Is it simply a coincidence that within days of a negotiated distribution deal failing to be agreed upon, new ‘old stock’ suddenly appears on the shelves. All very mysterious.

#6

Better put your hip boots on everybody- this threads is getting pretty deep!

#7

John,
maybe you have a more rational explanation for the sudden appearance of new ‘old stock’ items appearing on dealer’s shelves. Dealer’s supply had almost dried up even though the coffers were full in San Diego or on the east coast. Tony C. makes an announcement that no agreement is able to be reached on distribution of the product (maybe 30 days/possibly 90days credit was not the way the ‘boys’ are used to doing it) and stock starts appearing at a higher ‘pre-drought’ pricing level. Possibly just a simple coincidence or possibly a higher wholesale price, inferring a higher return. Some may consider this profiteering.

    You should secure your waders tightly around the waist,  but then after reading a lot of your postings I do not know if the bull**** is inside or outside your waders.  I really do not know why you feel threatened by talk concerning LGB or the other company and feel that you have to provide moral support for the insolvent ex-owners.  The boys have moved on to new adventures,  providing expert consultancy advice to help other companies achieve the level of success that they achieved in their own right.
#8

Tim ,

My guess would be that LGB of America is basically giving thier dealers good deals on existing LGB products in thier warehouse so they can move it out and concentrate on new product lines such as PIKO. From what was said at the Garden Railroad conventon it sounds like they are finished waiting for Maerklin and have decided to move on - thus the formation of a new company that has no connection with LGB/Maerklin.
I’m curious as to the obsession you and your friend share about the business dealings of the two companies. Seems to me that you guys share a tendency to gloat over others misfortunes. LGBoA seems to be moving on and leaving the past behind. Maybe you should too.

#9
John Joseph Sauer said:
Better put your hip boots on everybody- this threads is getting pretty deep!
Marvin, aka JJ etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

You should have no problem, isn’t that what you hand out to visitors? Lots of different sizes at your house in regular use, eh? :lol: :wink:

#10
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
John Joseph Sauer said:
Better put your hip boots on everybody- this threads is getting pretty deep!
Marvin, aka JJ etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

You should have no problem, isn’t that what you hand out to visitors? Lots of different sizes at your house in regular use, eh? :lol: :wink:


Yep- and we get out the “Extra deep” variety when folks like yourself show up!

#11

Chances of people like me showing up at your place: NIL! :lol: :lol:

#12

Thank God for small favors! :):):slight_smile:

#13

Tim,
The warehouse in San Diego was not in use which was one of the reasons LGBoA decided to move. All stock for distribution was in the New Jersey warehouse. All you need to do is ask a dealer where the last shipment came from Freehold or San Diego?
LAO

#14

For Paul Lambert and others interested in the on-going saga this is for you.

From the above initial posting:

Ok, let’s end the speculation as to “how” the starter sets and the track appeared in the local train store Paul uses. Remember “he” said he spoke to the “he” in the store and the “stories were essentially what I had read here.”

QUESTION:
Paul, did the person you spoke to give ANY information as to the source of the LGB products he was displaying?
If not, would you please ask him and tell him (hopes are) you will post the source on LSC. If not willing, because of the posting, report that.

Many thanks.

Wendell

#15

Larry,
exactly the reason I added the east coast to my post as regards stock location. I still like to think of LGBoA as San Diego, even though aware that Freehold exists.

JJ,
it is not an obsession that my friend and I have with the boys, for me it is disgust that I feel. A lifetime legacy was handed over to siblings in an apparently healthy state and was allowed to be slowly killed off until nothing remained. Squandered may be an appropriate word as the owners had the toyworld at their feet and by a series of immature business decisions succeeded where even Hitler and Stalin could not. I love my LGB. I have a vast collection and the failure of LGB hurt me deeply. I feel the utmost sympathy for Wolfgang as he was an innocent ‘bystander’ in this whole affair. Even at the worst of the situation it was Wolfgang who preseneted the face of LGB, with no sign of the siblings showing their blushing faces anywhere. Wolfgang will remain an icon to me, but his successors ‘killed off’ the golden goose. Some may put it down to outside business/economic pressures, but lesser toy train manufacturers survived and are growing.

Off course I have not brought up the dealings in 2006 freeing up LGBoA from corporate ownership and the subsequent ‘happenings’ between LGB and LGBoA, leading to the current instock quantity of LGB stock on dealers’ shelves. As far as I am aware no non-Marklin destined LGB has been produced since 2006 (apart from the brief interlude that was LGB Mk2 in early 2007). Where did the current stock come from?. There were rumours of container loads of LGB arriving onshore at the time of the collapse. Just rumour mongering, maybe. Of course there would be receipts for the goods received and bank draft statements showing payment in full for goods received. There are such receipts, one would assume.

#16

Tim,

They are cousins, not siblings! One the son of Eberhard, the other the son of Wolfgang.

#17

HJ,
my reference to siblings was sons of the original owners, Wolfgang and Eberhard. John, being Eberhard’s son, one would think would have inherited his father’s business prowess, as some argue that it was Eberhard who was actually the brains and Wolfgang the dreamer who came up with all the ideas.

#18
Tim Brien said:
Larry, exactly the reason I added the east coast to my post as regards stock location. I still like to think of LGBoA as San Diego, even though aware that Freehold exists.

JJ,
it is not an obsession that my friend and I have with the boys, for me it is disgust that I feel. A lifetime legacy was handed over to siblings in an apparently healthy state and was allowed to be slowly killed off until nothing remained. Squandered may be an appropriate word as the owners had the toyworld at their feet and by a series of immature business decisions succeeded where even Hitler and Stalin could not. I love my LGB. I have a vast collection and the failure of LGB hurt me deeply. I feel the utmost sympathy for Wolfgang as he was an innocent ‘bystander’ in this whole affair. Even at the worst of the situation it was Wolfgang who preseneted the face of LGB, with no sign of the siblings showing their blushing faces anywhere. Wolfgang will remain an icon to me, but his successors ‘killed off’ the golden goose. Some may put it down to outside business/economic pressures, but lesser toy train manufacturers survived and are growing.

Off course I have not brought up the dealings in 2006 freeing up LGBoA from corporate ownership and the subsequent ‘happenings’ between LGB and LGBoA, leading to the current instock quantity of LGB stock on dealers’ shelves. As far as I am aware no non-Marklin destined LGB has been produced since 2006 (apart from the brief interlude that was LGB Mk2 in early 2007). Where did the current stock come from?. There were rumours of container loads of LGB arriving onshore at the time of the collapse. Just rumour mongering, maybe. Of course there would be receipts for the goods received and bank draft statements showing payment in full for goods received. There are such receipts, one would assume.


Tim,

Isn’t it rather presumtuous and a bit arrogant to believe that you know how and why things happened the way they did for EPL?
Isn’t it possible that Rolf and Johannes Richter inhereted some of the problems they were dealing with from Wolfgang?
Isn’t it possible that they inhereted a large workforce that they couldn’t trim down due to German Labor laws and a factory that had become a “white elephant” due to the fact that other manufacturers were sourcing out thier production to China?
Your assesment of what happened to EPL is too simplistic and jaded by your emotions.

#19

The Foundaion was cracking at Lehmann before the younger generation took over.
LAO

#20

Larry,

Yes, as one of the German observers mentioned: “Eberhard died much too early”. May that as it be, the younger generation did a good job of accelerating things in grandiose fashion. All one needs to read: The comments from all sources following on the respective presentations of “New items” during the past 10 years.

However, it will be interesting to read “The definitive book on the Fall and Demise of Ernst Paul Lehmann Patentwerk oHG” and I have a feeling it won’t be written by the usual suspects. :wink: :smiley: Perhaps for a change no sugar coating! That would be a refreshing novelty!