I picked this up on the other forum for those interested…
http://forums.mylargescale.com/11-public-forum/83458-ron-gibson-lgb-us-quit.html
Guess time will tell, but from the vibe set off from Ron‘s post it doesn’t look good for LGB in the USA.
Ron… So sorry to hear the news, but things do change in this World of business and craziness.
One thing that doesn’t change is the good friendships we’ve gained through it all…
Thanks for all you’ve done for the hobby and for me personally, my friend… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Bob Cope said:
I picked this up on the other forum for those interested…
http://forums.mylargescale.com/11-public-forum/83458-ron-gibson-lgb-us-quit.html
“You can’t care more than the owners…”
That’s an interesting statement…
Ron, if youre reading, all the best.
Wow. What a statement
You can’t care more than the owners…
I would have had to leave as well. Such a shame.
Fighting an uphill battle to keep an enterprise going when the owners are either dumb or stupid, or unwilling to do what is obvious to save it, is a losing battle that you simply can’t win. I’ve been there-done that, and all it produces is heartache. You did the right thing!
Why is anyone surprised by this? With regards to the US market, Marklin has had their head up their catflap for decades. I was one of those who said upon hearing Marklin had acquired LGB that the brand was going to eventually whither on the vine from starvation and lack of attention. Marklin doesn’t and hasn’t cared about US sales for years otherwise they would have a far greater presence in the smaller gauges. The whole ongoing problem with spare parts has been an issue for LGB owners, the lack of new product for the US market, and in general malaise Marklin shows an almost contempt for the US market. Sure the market has been down these last few years but Piko in the meantime has shown that their is still a viable demand for product in the US and has made inroads into LGBs former marketshare, and Marklin really has no one to blame but their own inattentiveness to the US market. I’m not surprised to see Ron leave, I hope he lands on his feet (at Piko).
Well said, Vic.
I spoke with the LGB rep at the last ECLSTS, and he got visibly angry when I asked something like, “So, is LGB fully back up and running?” He cited lots of things they were doing, and wrapped it up by telling me that LGB was never closed at all, just reorganized; and was very robust, etc, etc. Anyone else talk to him?
Anyway, at the time, I noticed Train Li (in the next booth over) had TONS of new stock, so that was an encouraging sign. Wonder what Axel would have to say about all this…
CJ
All the best to ya Ron G. …
I don’t believe I’ve ever met ya (at any LSTSs '01-'04) nor do I recall ‘them’ ever sending ya up here to SUPERTRAIN.
B’mann, Badger, Aristocraft, Accucraft, Piko, SoundTraxx all have sent corp. reps but not LGB (nor Kalmbach !)
doug c
p.s
Marklin …Piko …LGB,
Oct.14th I had dropped into the local Marklin bricks’nmortar shop to thank them for their contribution to a local ho club annual auction event that day, … I actually won 2for2 raffle items i dropped my ticks’ in.
Anyways the owner then enlightened me that he had just started to stock Piko and just finished processing a (competitive) pricelist of the product line-up. He also offered a 2017 cat’and flyer for my ref. library. He also mentioned as a Marklin dealer he can bring in LGB if requested/ordered. He just started (seriously) into the G-gauge market late summer, and is already seeing a growing interest in his new stock offerings. He has done so well in selling (small scale) Marklin at our show, he (reminded me) tends to rent the largest booth space (6 tables plus add. floor space for demo layouts). Same weekend I was chatting with a fellow LS enthusiast who also mentioned new aspiring regional G-gauge railways being assembled …
The U.S. market may have gone flat or even imploding, but up here it can be exciting times for some ! IMHO
Yea, but even what LGB offers is rather pricey. I liked the Mikado, but its out of my price range.
But yea, they could be doing a lot more models of North American prototypes. And now without Ron, LGB may do even less product we on this side of the pond my be interested in.
Its a shame, especially since LGB essentially revived gauge one modeling here in the states.