Model Power, one of the oldest and largest model railroad and hobby manufacturers in North America, has announced that they are going out of business. As of April 24, they have stopped accepting new retail orders and customer service requests. The corporations stated that they will do their best to resolve all existing issues, returns and repairs that are currently in house.
Their closing is a reflection of the sad state of the hobby industry, which has been gradually losing its client base over the past decades. As fewer and fewer people have taken up model railroading as a hobby, the once strong base of customers companies like Model Power depended on to sustain their business has been steadily eroding away. As hobby shops continue to close, their distribution base has crumbled.
Many model railroaders think of manufacturers of model railroad equipment as big businesses, but they are no more than cottage industries. As the actual manufacturing is now done overseas, companies like Model Power have been reduced to being small staffed distributors with extremely small profit margins.
If Model Power can go out of business, who's next?
Atlas?
Athearn? Bachmann?
Lionel?
For more information on the closing of Model Power, please go to their link by clicking here.
