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INDUSTRY NEWS

Linn Creek, Missouri: Osment Models, Inc. (dba Woodland Scenics/Design Preservation Models) filed a lawsuit against Mike’s Train House (dba MTH) claiming infringement of copyrighted structure design. In the filing Woodland-DPM accuses MTH of producing and selling O scale structures based on copyrighted designs of Woodland-DPM HO scale and N scale products. Items specifically mentioned in the suit include a country gas station, a 3-story townhouse and a country passenger depot. MTH’s request to have the case heard in a more favorable eastern district was recently denied. A trial date has been set in December by the United States District Court of Western Missouri.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The National Model Railroad Association has named Jim Conway, president and founder of Con-Cor International, Ltd, and Phil Walthers, president and CEO of Wm. K. Walthers Inc., to the associations Model Railroad Hall of Fame. The announcement came during the NMRA’s 75^th Anniversary convention held here the week of July 12. Phil Walthers joins he father, Bruce and his grandfather Bill who preceded him into the Hall of Fame. Bill Walthers founded the family owned business in 1932.

MRH editor Joe Fugate spoke with NMRA official Tony Koester about the new NMRA logo and several other new developments taking place within the organization. To see the full video interview go to http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/MRHT_2010_NTS_TonyKoester.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Wm. K. Walthers Inc., used the beautifully restored Milwaukee Road Hiawatha Superdome #53 and Skytop Observation Car “Cedar Rapids” as a hospitality center and meeting place for many of its corporate and wholesale customers. Here Michael Stevens (right) vice president of Walthers proprietary products meets with Joe Fugate, editor of Model Railroad Hobbyist.

BRIEFLY NOTED AT PRESS TIME

A number of exhibitors at the 2010 National Train Show expressed disappointment at what they perceived as low attendance. At the close of the show NTS officials said attendance for the three-day event totaled 15,510, a figure that was thought to be inflated by several exhibitors. Noting that registered NMRA attendees and exhibit staff were allowed to go in and out of the exhibit hall at will, one major exhibitor was considering asking for an audit of actual sales rather than a door count.

InterMountain Railway will soon enter the Z scale market with a North American Car Co. cylindrical hopper… Look for Tahoe Model Works to announce an HO scale 70-ton A-3 Ride-Control freight car truck within the next few weeks… Testors is discontinuing its Floquil Pollyscale military colors because they duplicate identical colors sold under different names within Testor’s Model Master Line... Following a 36 month marketing experiment, Lionel will stop selling K-Line branded products at the end of this year. Tooling for K-Line O gauge toy trains is reportedly owned by Sanda Kan, a China-based manufacturer…

Richard Bale is our News and Events editor and columnist. Richard writes our news column under the byline of The Old Yardmaster. He has been writing about the model railroad trade for various hobby publications since the 1960s.

Richard is currently introducing 3 of his grandsons to the hobby by involving them in the construction of his fifth layout. He enjoys building models, particularly structures, some of which appeared in the June 2006 issue of Model Railroader magazine.

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