While surfing the other day I came across this article in the Daily Times-Call newspaper and started thinking about it's significance. Is this where the world of model railroad manufacturing is headed?

This company, Intermountain Railway co. of Longmont Colorado has whittled and pared their business down to what they consider a manageable business model, cutting out certain scales and focusing on their core moneymakers, N and HO scale, mostly in ready-to-roll models and very few kits. Their product is assembled overseas and finished in Colorado.

Now, this could be perceived as both good and bad. The good might be that a company like this can really do a great job in their particular niche, and thus contribute a quality product. Certainly focusing on a core product line is good business practice, and will help keep them profitable and around for years to come.

Some of the drawbacks in things like this are admittedly purely emotional. It's hard to watch hobby shops and manufacturers that have been around for a long time go away, and in today's micro-niche business environment, that is sure to happen more and more. Perhaps the web can save some of these businesses and that would be their way of adapting to the wave of 'progress'; we'll see.

It is interesting to note, however, that Intermountain doesn't sell it's own wares on the web, preferring to support the hobby shops by directing traffic there. Hmmm…..let me know what you think!