MRR's Compendium

Joe

Back in the day (1970s-1980s I think), there was a publication called the Model Railroader's Compendium , or something like that.  It was interesting as it was always being updated on a subscription basis and provided info on products you could not find elsewhere advertised. Sounds like a modern version of that idea.

Yes, that's the idea

Ideally, it could be updated annually.

Vendors could keep their listing in the new edition for 50% of the original fee. New vendors could get listed for the normal listing pricing.

We would rely on many of you to give us a heads up about obscure vendors and to encourage them to get listed.

...

The Walthers catalog and internet search engines already deliver the same information, so a value-add is needed. You could add value by curating listings: that is, not every requesting advertiser would be accepted, such as those with known chronic customer service or supply issues. The MRH brand could become a certification seal like others that exist in other sectors.

Long term, consider adding community intelligence: periodically you survey MRH subscribers, present a list of 10 vendors of track products, and ask which of these do you actually use (or have used recently)? Then your Comprehensive Guide lists the percentage of respondents who use products. A vendor's not happy with their 5% usage stat? They should buy display ads, run a multi-media ad campaign or cooperate with you on an article. There can be similar rankings, with a simple metaphor like green light, yellow light, red light, based on community feedback on supply and customer service. (A key criticism of the Walthers catalog is while it may list dozens of vendors in a category, you can never actually get the products.)

Chris

yep

Sounds like a great idea, but it will be a lot of work to keep it up to date. New vendors popping up all the time. As well as dead links that will have to be removed. It will be a never ending job.

Yes and no

Yes and no. For example, several major vendors have dropped out of the Walthers catalog and more are leaving every year. For instance, Athearn is not in the Walthers catalog.

Second, the Walthers catalog is not free (this would be free to registered MRH members) and you can't get a digital version with hyperlinks to all the vendors -- there's a major value-add right there!

Next, search engines have one big problem, you can't browse them for vendors in a category unless you're a pretty savvy user who knows Google search term syntax tricks. In other words, with a search engine, you have to somewhat KNOW already what you're after.

With this guide, you can browse it and discover new categories and vendors you didn't realize were there. The one big flaw with search engines is you need to KNOW IN ADVANCE with some precision what you're looking for. So the browse-and-discover aspect of this guide is another value add. 

Value add summary

• Potentially more comprehensive than the Walthers catalog
• Digital edition is free and has clickable links to vendors
• Browse-and-discover aspect could be very enlightening

Builders Compendium.

It is a great idea but I'm afraid fees, even those as low as proposed, will relegate it to being just another form of paid advertising and limiting how comprehensive it would be.  To be truly useful it needs to cover the obscure suppliers that are not heavily advertised.

The publication Rick G mentions was the Builders Compendium.  I was a subscriber and still have some books published by them.  It didn't last long and I don't remember it being all that comprehensive.  Probably the challenge of keeping a hard copy directory updated via the mail killed it.  Such an idea would be much more workable with the Internet.

A going concern?

Yes, but I do have to wonder if the source can't afford $20 to get listed, are they really a going concern that you would trust to do business with? In effect by contacting them for a listing, we can discuss their business intent and see if they're in a place to fill orders if they start coming in. In effect, the $20 allows us to vet them as someone we believe could handle orders.

I can see a special rate like $10 if you're a "modeler just doing this on the side" rather and not a serious business. I can also see us listing some things by proxy -- meaning there's no paying vendor per se. For instance, I can see putting some Shapeways listings for detail parts. Contacting every Shapeways user who lists parts for sale would be a nightmare otherwise.

"Browse-and-discover aspect

  The key would be to get  every manufacturer invested in the idea so we can find anything we need at this central location. Walthers catalogs are more of a retail sales catalog while this could be more a product resource index with the listing companies solely responsible for the sales. Could the compendium include a photo of the item provided by manufacturer or would it be limited to a text listing? I wouldn't try to rate or promote some products over others as that's a matter of personal preference and would defeat the goal of a comprehensive guide. Forum discussions could act as reviews and suggestions for those asking about any item.....DaveB

Text listings -- keep it simple

"Think phone book organized

"In"

I would use it and would also pay to advertise PCR of NMRA, if organizations are also included. As more modelers have PCs and screens, or tablets, right at the workbench, it should be pretty popular.

This type of directory has been used successfully in the law profession for decades and for ancillary services like expert witnesses, document scanning, etc.

I would use it

I'm just not sure you'd convince a lot of companies to pony up $20 for it.  Its cheap enough and I think its certainly worth the cost for the potential exposure, but I'm not sure a lot of companies would see it that way.

One of the dangers of lists

One of the dangers of lists of vendors is that it frequently becomes overwhelmed with trivial entries.  Entities get listed who have a marginal connection with the subject listed.  Others go out of business and remain listed.  Pretty soon the list becomes not very useful.  An NMRA directory sneaks into my mind.

Somehow, there needs to be a threshold of relevancy established to even be included, a not so simple task to create, as well as a way to get entries delisted when they are no longer viable.

Another question that enters my thoughts would be to wonder how obscure, but legitimate suppliers of model railroad needs get on the list.  I frequently have seen these links show up in posts in answer to someones needs and I'm often surprised that they even exist but have an excellent product.  These would be the types that would be useful on a list.  We probably don't have great need for another link to Athearn or Broadway Limited.

True

True enough ... if you've been in the hobby for a while. But if you're brand new to the hobby (and those seem to be increasing as of late) then even those guys are useful to know about.

Imagine is such a publication existed and you got access to it the first week YOU were in the hobby. Useful to have Athearn and Broadway Limited listed by category? You bet.

There's also value in having them all in one place by category.

I think it is a great idea

I think it is a great idea Joe. It might help to get advertisers back that have left. It is definitely cheap enough. A typical phone listing in one phone book was last time I checked much more. Counting on the search engines to find your company or a new company is rather useless. This would eliminate a lot of garbage that the search engines bring up.

As to companies that are not responsive, it is what it is. A quick discussion in one of the forums will usually find someone that knows what is going on.

Yes, I would use it. It might also connect me with suppliers I have not heard of before. Good idea Joe!

What are the categories?

It’s an intriguing idea.  And having suppliers listed by category sounds good.  What sort of granularity are you thinking the categories would be?  In other words at one extreme there’s “model railroad supplies” that covers absolutely everything, and at the other extreme there’s “HO scale 1920’s era figures in winter traveling clothes suitable for a Chicago station platform in January”.  I’m guessing you’re aiming for somewhere between those two extremes.

I’m sure at some point all of us want to search for something extremely specific, but an easy way to get into the right ballpark is 9/10ths of the battle.

I think we should discuss categories

I think we should discuss some good categories.

For example, its obvious steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, electric locomotives, and other locomotives are some good categories for motive power.

Any "other" category should allow entering 40 text characters defining it a bit more.

It's also clear the macro category is how the listing pricing should work -- in other words, paying $20 a pop to get an entry in all four loco categories is a no-go. The macro category should be "locos and rolling stock" (what goes on the track), and for $20 you can get your entry under as many sub-categories as are appropriate.

Perhaps move non-renewing vendors to a separate archive listing

The idea of newbies (and frankly, we are all newbies about some aspect or another of the hobby) having access to a compendium of historic/former advertisers could be handled by moving non-renewing vendors to a separate file.  That way, the active vendors aren't buried among the one-and-done or defunct vendors, yet the breadth of what has been offered in the past is still available for those willing to dig for it.

My thought is that this would be useful (even if the links to those non-renewing vendors were removed) because it gives you a head start on diving into search engines, swap meets, or on-line secondary markets to search for the items.

If it is a separately downloaded file, updated on a quarterly or half-year basis, the active vendors get value for their money by still being front and center for the readership constantly with active links, while those who have allowed their sponsorship to lapse can still be visited as a historical archive of what was once offered.  It might be useful to append a "last-renewed" or "link last-tested" date to each of those vendors so we have an idea of whether the listing is really, really stale. 

Another category you might add, especially for those just entering the hobby, might be YouTubers and Twitch channels.  The few friends I have who stream videogames are constantly looking for ways to get their streams in front of new eyeballs, and I would assume the same motivation is there for those who make model railroading videos on a hobby basis. 

I have no idea what the proper price point would be for a streamer rather than a vendor, but perhaps changing the renewal point for them to quarterly rather than annually might be more appropriate.  With the same relegation to the historic archive as other vendors when they go silent.

Personally, I know I could see a use for this type of guide.

Janet N.

I think it is a good idea.

Search engines mostly return results for popular and common items. Usually that is not what I am looking for. 

The Walthers catalogue used to be the official index of every legitimate company and manufacturer of model train anything, but now it’s like that darn phone book that keeps getting left on my driveway every year. 

I try to find interesting parts and details usually by identifying a specific detail and looking it up at certain major internet dealer. If I don’t find it in their inventory I turn to a google search which can yield anything from interesting side history or a new manufacturer to totally irrelevant results.

I do try to look at the links in MRH although since my interest has changed to 1925 I don’t always find anything I can use. I have found some interesting things. 

Filters?

I use filters for saved searches on eBay so (On30,On3)(models,kits,rolling stock,locomotives) would give a more focused and specific result than Steam or Diesel (or “beautiful models” - that’ll get you in trouble!

This is a good idea but would need to be tied to analytics that track user choices and thus provide feedback to advertisers.  

From a post on Facebook!

I like the idea

I like the idea, but I think you have bitten of a big peace. A section like detail parts and you would have several sub classes. Look at the Scenic Express. Look how much he has listed just for ground cover. I actually suggest we have different directories for different subjects run by different people 

Good idea need details in listings

I like the idea. 

I would really like some details included.  One of the things that I find irritating is to visit a hobby shop that carries S scale and find all they have is a 5 year old boxcar and 2 pieces of tubular track.  Or visit a manufacturer's web site and find that he really only has parts not complete kits and so forth

So for instance if you're a structure manufacturer do you have complete kits, parts, assembled kits by scale.

Another useful thing would be to have reviews of manufacturers, hobby stores, etc. by the modeler community.

Paul

Maintenance

Who would maintain it and make sure the links were live?

Cool 1990's solution.

Google's search engine is eating your ad revenue.  Will a model railroad version of the Yellow Pages beat them?  It might because you are dealing with such a small group of search targets, or it might be an interim step.  For somebody who's into digital solutions, I'm surprised you would go the static document "pdf" route.  Will your readers want to have to download a new pdf every month to make sure they have the latest list?

Why not a search bar that has a menu of categories and the manufacturers would pay $20 more to be the top return or $10 to be in the top 10 returns. You give the manufacturer a tag to put on their website so your search engine can find it quickly and prioritize it.

Or the cheaper solution (less development), you have all the paid links in a database, a menu of categories (and scales) and then a table of links, with the categories as tags.  The user opens the MRH search engine, selects attributes from the menu and the database returns the matching links and descriptions.  You could even put a "regular" search engine below it with your database above.  This solution would be maintenance heavy.  One advantage of making it an interactive web page on MRH's site is you could then roll the clicks into your ad rate clicks. 

You mean like...

Dear MRHers,

You mean like the stillborn MRH Wiki?

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr