W & H Models
Anthony New
about 1970. I'd forgotten what a good read they were, and so full of
illustrations, including the K's kits and their low-profile tender-drive
unit which I fitted to a Triang Lord-of-the-Isles to help it climb
hills. Whatever happened to W & H, and when?
Anthony
The price of safety is the same as the price of Freedom - eternal
vigilance.
--------------------------------------------
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Andrew Cocker
wrote:
>Sorting through some boxes, I've just found my old W & H catalogue from
>about 1970. I'd forgotten what a good read they were, and so full of
>illustrations, including the K's kits and their low-profile tender-drive
>unit which I fitted to a Triang Lord-of-the-Isles to help it climb
>hills. Whatever happened to W & H, and when?
>
They died a slow and painful death in the early 90's. Last time I was
in the shop was 88. Half the place was closed for renovations. The
other half was covered in painters cloths. After 20 minutes of trying
to get some service or even find anything we gave up.
One of our club's members used to order from them on a regular basis.
(£2500 - £3000 pa on average) His orders started taking longer and
longer to arrive, so when he went home for a visit he went to Imrex
and visited their stall. He was so peed off with the attitude of the
bloke on the stall that he went elsewhere from then on. The lazy sod
couldn't be bothered to reach up and get a Lima 158 that was at the
top of their display.
They managed to alienate themselves from several others I have talked
to as well. In the case of our club alone they lost about £6000 in
annual sales, as we did all our mail order through them.
Me thinks that a combination of crap service, high rent, and high
prices finally drove them under.
Shame really as at one time they were the best around for mail order
for overseas modellers.
Jim Guthrie
wrote:
Anthony,
>Sorting through some boxes, I've just found my old W & H catalogue from
>about 1970. I'd forgotten what a good read they were, and so full of
>illustrations, including the K's kits and their low-profile tender-drive
>unit which I fitted to a Triang Lord-of-the-Isles to help it climb
>hills. Whatever happened to W & H, and when?
They shut up shop several years ago - I can't remember the exact date.
I never really did like their New Cavendish Street premises. I knew
their old shop when I started work in London in my late teens. It was
just along the road from my bank which was a dangerous situation for a
penniless youth :-).
It was what my mother would call a "glory hole" - i.e. small and
cramped with stock everywhere, but with a very friendly atmosphere.
I returned to Glasgow to work, then returned to London again several
years later, by which time they had moved to the comparatively
palatial surroundings of New Cavendish Street and it just was not the
same shop - very impersonal and almost snooty.
Jim.
--
Jim Guthrie
Progressing (maybe) in S7 at www.netcomuk.co.uk/~sprocket/index.html
John Nuttall
were distributors for a vast number of small suppliers. The firm was always
known to them as Wait and Hope.
--
Regards
John
Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere.
Jim Guthrie wrote in message <3808368c...@betanntp.netcomuk.co.uk>...
nrob...@cix.compulink.co.uk
>
>
> Jim Guthrie wrote:
>
> >
> > But it would be nice to browse a list - are you offering? :-)
> >
> > Jim.
> > --
> >
>
> ROFL, moi??? I don't think so! Dave Cleal's list is pretty awsome -- but not
> a durn picture. That's what's really missing. Many of the cottage industries
> have flyers available, but for us overseas - sending postage and payment can
> get real expensive real quick. In fact, payment is a real big issue. I've
> found several products I'd like from adverts in the magazines -- but the
> place cannot/will not accept any payment other than Sterling. Credit cards
> work fine as a currency exchange medium - but for me to obtain an
> international money order there's a bank fee of $20 in addition to a
> percentage of the amount ordered. This makes purchasing a £4 item
> outrageously expensive.
Reusch international offer a cheque service - £4.00 for a chq in any currency -
paid by chq in advance. it is the cheapest way ive found for non-CC ordering.
they are on the web.
David Garbett Siviter
Have a look at www.mainlytrains.com.
Dave Cleal is in the process of putting all those little gems that appear in
the lists into a website.
David
Dick Beebe wrote:
> From the several descriptions in this thread it sounds as though W&H was
> like America's Walthers - a full-line distributor to the trade and
> retailer to the public - with a wonderful catalog of just about
> everything there is to buy. That would truly be a wonderful thing for
> us colonists to have - a picture book of everything made in OO scale.
> About the most difficult thing for me is knowing what's available.
> Mainly Trains' lists are wonderful, but there are no pics to shop from
> or browse through. Ideally, there could be a web site with an online
> catalog with every single item pictured. <dreaming mode=off>
>
> Dick
David Garbett Siviter
'85, and this was after three separate requests.
David
Anthony New
)snip)
> When the hobby was supported via 'the local model shop', then companies
> like W&H had a reason to exist - they saved the shop keeper having to
> conduct their own search of suppliers, negotiate their own price
> structures, etc.
>
> But, in the UK, the retail support for the hobby has changed. Local model
> shops are now rare. Instead, we now have large amounts of business carried
> out via mail order and shows. For a small specialist supplier, its an
> attractive business to be able to retain all of the retail margin of a
> product, rather than have only the profit on the item sold to the
> distributor. Without wishing to comment on W&H's or anyone elses profit
> margins, selling direct vs, distributor, might work out as follows:
> makers costs 20 pounds, profit 10 (which funds development)
> distributors costs 30, profit 20 (which funds distribution)
> retailers costs 50, profit 35 (which funds retailing costs)
> retail price 85 + VAT = approx 100 pounds.
> selling direct:
> makers costs 20 pounds, profit 65 (which funds development and retailing)
>
> Add in the fact that selling via mail order and shows saves the cost or
> retail premises, higher insurance, high street rates, etc.
Interesting. I can remember how annoyed I was when (many years ago) I
sold a range of model railway controllers to a model shop and found them
demanding a 50% profit margin - a 100% mark-up!
I was also interested to note that my local model shop (actually one of
a small chain) matches the lowest mail-order prices in its model railway
items - and stocks a good range of locos.
>
> - Nigel
>
> --
> Nigel Cliffe, BT Labs, Martlesham.
> check the reply address for garbage
--
rdix...@aol.com
Christopher A. Lee
They had serious cash flow problems, because they were the wholesale
distributor for their range, and most of the high-street model shops
also owed them money, too.
The ripples were felt all the way down the hobby.
By the time they closed down, I was no longer in OO and had moved up
to O. There wasn't that kind of distribution and all the manufacturers
sold their products at the annual convention.
John T
When they went under I believe they took Peco for a significant 5 figure
sum.
Wonderful company to deal with if you were a local model shop - their range
was legendary and included a whole host os small components for modellers
who build from scratch or kits.
John.
Christopher A. Lee
wrote:
>Walkers & Holzapffel.
A very old and revered name in the hobby.
went up to O.
>John.
Unfortunately, when they went under, the receiver called in all the
debts owed to them - and a lot of local model shops also died as a
result.
Larry Blanchard
>>Walkers & Holzapffel.
>
> A very old and revered name in the hobby.
now defunct British (London) maker of the most strange and wonderful
lathe. Here's a picture:
http://www.ornamentalturning.co.uk/index.1.jpg
--
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying a cross.
Christopher A. Lee
<lbl...@fastmail.fm> wrote:
>On Sat, 05 Mar 2016 11:03:17 -0600, Christopher A. Lee wrote:
>
>>>Walkers & Holzapffel.
>>
>> A very old and revered name in the hobby.
>
>Over here on the other side of the pond, Holzapffel is mostly know as a
>now defunct British (London) maker of the most strange and wonderful
>lathe. Here's a picture:
>
>http://www.ornamentalturning.co.uk/index.1.jpg
http://holtzapffel.org/timeline.html
garetha...@gmail.com
Christopher A. Lee
wrote:
bought OO bits from their shop on New Cavendish Street when I was in
London. Their catalog was a compendium of pretty well everything from
the smaller, specialist manufacturers for whom they were distributors
(like K's. Wills, etc), and I used to buy this from my local model
shop in Manchester.
I didn't know they had spent time in Hastings.
Unfortunately, they suffered from cash-flow problems because they
extended credit to model shops up and down the country, and their
debts were called in when they went bankrupt - putting local model
shops out of business too, including my local one.
Wasn't Jan Van Riemsdijk connected with them? Later the curator at
York, who wrote that excellent book on compound locomotives?
garetha...@gmail.com
Dave Appleton
> Yes they just kept giving Good’s to model shops that had not paid anything for months and months the management just thought image was more important than staying in business. Such a shame
I worked there on Saturdays in the mid-late 70's and loved it.