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NEWS AND UPDATES
07/23/18
New Search Engine And Shopping
Cart
Is up and
running!
The old search engine and shopping cart that we have
used for the past 13 years is gone. So, right now
you will not be able to track the status of an order.
Sorry!
NEWS AND UPDATES
07/15/18
New Search Engine And Shopping
The new search engine and shopping cart are
about ready to go live. Hopefully by Monday 07/16/18!
We have to load all of the images available for all
130,000 products and make some updates to the BRH site
as well.
Thanks to all of you that we asked to help test the new
search and cart it was greatly appreciated.
The new system is bond to have some bugs that we
will have to work through, so be patient. For a short
period the old search and cart will still be live and
available to use. But within the next 30 days or so, the
old cart will go away!
Miniature World of Trains™
This past week I had meetings with two of the
corporations that will working with us on the projects
special effects. Some of the effects have never before
been seen in North America on a model railroad. As we
get further along we can announce the corporate special
partners.
Though delayed, I will have the first draft of the
'shell' building plans for the preferred location this
Monday
I will share that with you all as time permits
I still need volunteer help to move the project forward.
Though this time around I will be hiring some world
renowned museum display builders, help is still needed,
so please go to
www.miniatureworldoftrains.com website and join the
volunteers from around the world!
Christmas In July
Don't forget the Santa is on vacation just a mere 6
months before Christmas so has decided to put the entire
in stock database on sale to make room for new arrivals
coming in for the Christmas Holiday.
Check out the sale by clicking on Santa above!
Upcoming Pre Order Deadlines
July 24: Atlas Preorders
July 31: Intermountain Preorders
August 31: Walthers Preorders
Order Walthers 2019
Reference Book now!
A must-have for your libraries or workbenches, the
Walthers 2019 HO, N & Z Reference Book brings you
all the
great content you demand. The 2019 Reference Book is
packed with hundreds of pages of product information and
photos, plus plenty of inspiration in the Magic of Model
Railroading gallery photos. Last years sold out in
December so reserve yours now to ensure delivery as soon
as they're available in late September.
Item Number is 913-0219p
MSRP $17.98
BRH PRICE $15.98
New HO Arrivals from Brekina Include Fast-Selling
Jeeps
The latest arrivals from Brekina include the new Jeep
Universal is the open-top Jeep we've
seen in use since the 1950s and the Jeep Wagoneer is the
popular SUV from the late 1960s - both are must-haves
for diesel-era layouts. Other arrivals include new VW
vans and several international models. These are highly
detailed,
layout-ready vehicles. All are in short supply, so don't
miss out!
New Faller HO & N Kits Now Shipping
Easy-to-build Faller kits are perfect for those of you
looking for detailed buildings for your. Models come
molded in
appropriate colors and many include German signs. Most
are easily Americanized simply by changing signs
Check out the selection and order now -these usually
sell out fast!
NEWS AND UPDATES
07/06/18
June Sales
I know I have reporting that there is a lack
of product to sell to you all, but despite that, BRH
had another great sales month. In fact, the best June
since 2014!
2018 vs 2014 up 9% and 2018 vs 2017 up 31.6%. So,
again the trend is good. Retail store sales are up as
well and there are lot's of new customers wandering in
as well!
New Customers Up 26% and Returning Customers Up 220%
year over year.
Vacation and Meeting Schedules
I know I have been out several times in May and June
on a combination of both personal and business related
trips that slowed down the shipping of orders a bit, so
my apologies. For the rest of July until mid
October no down time is scheduled so the retail store
and shipping should be running on the normal schedule
and the retail store will open per the schedule for
Wednesday through Friday until November when I extend
the store hours and days BRH is open.
Retail Restock And Changes
I am still resetting and restocking the retail store.
The new N scale section is coming along but will take
some time to completely complete. So N scalers, please
be patient.
The priority however are the shippable online orders and
the in store customers but the whole procedure is coming
along nicely.
New Search Engine And Shopping Cart
Work on the new search engine an shopping cart are
coming along but are behind about two weeks at this
point.
Hopefully by the middle of next week we can begin
testing with the Track Crew Members first.
Miniature World of Trains™
Each day the reopening of the Miniature World of
Trains™ is getting
closer and closer.
I will have the preliminary building plans next week and
on Monday I have a meeting with the technical team that
will be helping in the designing some of the new, never
before seen effects for the new MWOT™.
They are over the top and you all will have never
experienced what is coming!
While we still can not officially release the location
of the project, currently the land where we intend to
build the new 30,000sf Phase I of MWOT™
is being cleared for construction. This is the view of
the 125 vehicle parking lot area for the $3.500,000
Phase I.
As more information can be shared, I
will pass it along!
Visit
www.miniatureworldoftrains.com for daily updates
I will need help building the project
and I will be initially looking for volunteers
from around the world to help move this along. Join the
volunteer team at:
http://www.miniatureworldoftrains.com/Volunteer.htm
Miniature
World Of Trains™ Trade name And Ownership
It has come to my attention that there are entities
within the model railroad community that are using
the business name Miniature World of Trains™ and MWOT™
on the internet. These names are trademark names and
website owned by Frank Ruby and registered on 04/22/2010
for the purposes of creating a model railroad
museum / attraction.
Any unauthorized use of these names or any variation of
these names is strictly prohibited without my written
consent.
For those of you fraudulently using these names or any
variation of these name currently, you must cease and
desist the use of this names immediately.
I am giving you fair warning in a open forum to allow
you the opportunity to end the use of these names
immediately without further action against you or your
organization!
Pre Order Due Dates
July 13: Bowser Preorders
July 24: Atlas Preorders
July 31: Intermountain Preorders
August 31: Walthers Preorders
Order Walthers 2019 Reference Book now!
A must-have for your customers' library or workbench,
the Walthers 2019 HO, N & Z Reference Book brings
modelers all the great content they demand. The 2019
Reference Book is packed with hundreds of pages of
product information and photos, plus plenty of
inspiration in the Magic of Model Railroading gallery
photos,
a free sign sheet for their layouts and great content
for new modelers as well as seasoned pros. Reserve yours
now to ensure delivery as soon as they're available in
late September!
MSRP $17.98 BRH PRICE $15.98
Item number is
913-219P
New N Scale Hoppers
from Bluford Shops Offer Modelers Variety
New road names for four of Bluford Shops' N Scale hopper
styles are now rolling through the warehouse. Two-bay
hoppers include the USRA 30'6", Offset and Eight-panel
varieties and the three- bay car is a 70-Ton 14-Panel
Hopper. All Bluford Shops hoppers have features
including loads, applied brake details, end air hoses,
body-mounted magnetic knuckle couplers and Fox Valley
Models metal wheels. Cars feature accurate detailing
including ACI labels where appropriate and come in as
many as six road numbers per road name. Get these
fast-selling hoppers on your layouts now!
Build Sales with Two New Titles/Selling Tools from
Kalmbach
Kalmbach how-to hooks are great tools for every modeler
and the latest titles are no exception. Produce Traffic
&
Trains by noted author and former Model Railroader
Magazine associate editor , Jeff Wilson, discusses the
trains, equipment and history of moving produce by rail.
From the 1890s through the 1960s, all types of fruits
and vegetables were transported by rail to markets
across the U.S. Use this book to generate kit,
vehicle and refrigerator car sales. Wiring Projects for
your Model Railroad takes the mystery out of wiring
accessories and devices on model railroads. This book is
great for modelers of all skill levels.
With the fall modeling and school project season only a
couple of
months away order now to have these books on hand for
summertime reading!
NEWS AND UPDATES
06/23/18
Supreme Court Ruling Online Sales Tax Collection
As of this week the US Supreme Court has
opened the door that will allow states to collect sales
tax on all online purchases from one state to another.
Nothing is in place at this point and the only sales tax
we collect is for orders being shipped to a South
Carolina address. There is a fixed sales tax amount for
most of the state but we have to collected high tax
rates for Spartanburg and Charleston at this point. For
a small one more operation, this is a cumbersome task
even at this point since we do ship a lot to those
locations.
For small online operations like BRH and most online
hobby stores will most likely have issues with this. At
this point there is no software available that we are
aware of that will make this easier to deal with. Since
we ship to every state this could mean that every
quarter we would need to send out checks to each
state, maybe even counties and cities. A daunting task
for this small operation. This could mean at minimum an
additional 50 checks each quarter to each state adding
additional cost of operation the business to be higher.
Not sure how this is all going to work out so we will
keep you all posted.
July 4th approaches
When
ordering over the next two weeks please keep in mind the
BRH holiday schedule.
The week of 06/25/18 BRH shipping and phones will
only be open on 06/27 Wednesday and 06/29 Thursday. We
will be closed on Friday 06/29 and the following week
for July 4th. Back in full operation Thursday July
5th. So order accordingly if you need something for the
pre July 4th holiday weekend, please have your order
placed no later than Monday 06/25 by 6am. Orders after
that will not ship to you until Thursday 07/05 due to
our scheduled days off and the Fedex and USPS shipping
schedules and their days off July 4th week.
Walthers N Scale Sold To Atlas
Atlas Model Railroad
Company, Inc., and Wm. K. Walthers, Inc. have reached an
agreement under which Atlas will purchase all N Scale
locomotive and rolling stock tooling owned by Walthers,
including the Walthers N tooling as well as former
Life-Like tooling. Atlas will incorporate this tooling
into its Atlas Master, Atlas Classic, and Trainman N
Scale lines. Walthers will continue to offer N Scale
items in its Cornerstone, SceneMaster(TM), and Walthers
Controls brands, including new items as well as items
currently in those lines.
New Walthers Monthly Sale
The current monthly sale for July extends all the
way through August as well. We have not received any
reason as to way this is occurring. The new sale ends at
the beginning of September.
This maybe due to the lack of product availability that
continues to plague the model railroad industry.
If we find out more info we will pass it along!
Check out the sale items by clicking on the link at the
top of the page.
BRH Sales and Retail Store Status
I am still in the process of resetting and
restocking the retail store. This is a time consuming
process bu should be finished in July.
Overall online and store sales are up at this point in
the month. So far this is the best June since 2014 even
with the lack of product availability.
Price Increases 1 Week Away!
Don't forget to get your Woodland Scenics and Tomar
orders in before the July 1st price increases they have
announced!
Product Delivery Delays From Manufacturers
We just heard from one of our manufacturers about
production delays and they advised me that the factory
has been experiencing tremendous difficulties the last
10 months so everything has been pushed back (for us and
all the other manufacturers they produce for). To
assign a date became so unrealistic that we stopped the
process. In looking at your List, I do not see anything
that is arriving in the next couple of months.
Sorry I can't be of more help but we simply don't know
ourselves. Until they get caught up and provide us some
idea of a production schedule we just don't know.
And so it goes!
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