Model Train Stuff To Reopen Under Factory Direct Hobbies Family

From Mitch Horner of Trains | March 12, 2024

Seemingly bringing an end to a saga of uncertainty, Model Train Stuff is set to reopen under the Factory Direct Hobbies family.

In a statement released by Factory Direct Hobbies President Joe Grubba, it was announced that M.B. Klein and Model Train Stuff will live on as a part of the Arden, North Carolina-based company.

Per a statement on the company’s Facebook page: “… As we move forward, I want to assure you that our team is dedicated to not only bringing back the (modeltrainstuff.com) you know and love, but also making it even better. We’re committed to maintaining its unique identity and ensuring that it remains your go-to source for all things model trains…”

Plans for the revamped Model Train Stuff customer experience include improved logistics and faster shipping, enhanced search functionality, and a reintegration of the Model Train Stuff rewards program, with a stated goal of restoring previously earned points. Factory Direct Hobbies aims to maintain Model Train Stuff’s identity as an independent website and brand.

Additionally, Model Train Stuff customer service manager John Weigel will be reprising his role with the company.

Per Factory Direct Hobbies, updates are forthcoming and will be announced as available.

Factory Direct Hobbies has stated that they are open to customer feedback during this reopening process. Questions, comments and concerns can be directed to: customercare@modeltrainstuff.com.

This is good news for a change from the rash of recent closures.

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American Model Builders Announces Closure

The manufacturer of the Laserkit product line has announced their closure after over 40 years in business via their website.

A statement posted to laserkit.com reads: “American Model Builders is now closed and the LASERkit product line has been discontinued.

The family of the late John Hitzeman, founder and owner, and the extended AMB family, would like to thank the model railroad community and our contract customers for over 40 years of patronage!”

The St. Louis, Missouri-based manufacturer, best known for their Laserkit product line, which included offerings in HO, N, S and O scale, had initially opened in 1984.

The author hopes someone picks up their product line as he purchased many of their products in the past.

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Adding a Column(s) to a JMRI Roster (Protecting Your Investment)

In January 2023 in this post the author promised to, in the near future, explain how to add columns to the roster display. Well.....this is a little later than the near future but here we are.

First of all, why would you want to do this? Here's the example the author always uses when presenting to a group or discussing the circumstances. He starts by showing the complete JMRI roster listing of his locomotives and asking the question "What is this? Don't tell me it's a listing of my locomotives"! He has yet to get a decent answer. Then he says "Let me rephrase the question. What is this to an insurance agent in the event, please NO, your house is destroyed by an earthquake or forest fire (more than one person lost their house in Paradise, CA)????" Then the lights come on! Insurance!!! We just need to add a little information.

Let's add a date purchased and the price we paid (don't forget any decoder you added). It's not that difficult and can save you a lot of heartburn.

The very first thing necessary to do is make sure you have the Advanced Programmer format selected. It is the only programmer that shows the Roster Media tab and allows custom columns. From your main roster widow select Edit, then Preferences. Under Preferences select Roster. Click on the programmer tab. In the "Format" dropdown box select "Advanced". Once you have made this selection save your changes and restart JMRI.

To add a column, open the roster entry of a locomotive you want to add a column to. Once opened click the Roster Media tab. In the box at the bottom, left side, click on the three dots to select it. Type your column name there and hit return ( important!). Click Save to Roster. Quit and restart DecoderPro.

You are still not done. On the roster page right-click (cmd-click or ctrl-click) in the column titles row. You'll see a list of available columns. and finally put a check mark next to your new column’s name. It will appear in the roster and be available to all locomotives. To add a value to the new column of a particular locomotive, enter the data on the roster page.

One more important item to add to a roster entry is a picture of that particular locomotive. This is easily done on the Roster Media sheet of that locomotive by dragging and dropping the image to the box at the top of the sheet.

Backups

What good will this information do you if your computer was in the house that just burned down? Not much!! Make backups everyone, the author will say it again, Backups!!

Anytime backups of critical information are made you should make a minimum of three. One kept on-site for fast restores (thumbdrive) and at least two kept off-site and these should be to different off-site locations.

Off-site!?!? How? Where? Cloud services are ubiquitous today. As an example, if you have a Google account you have 15 GB of cloud storage for free! Put a copy there. Many more services exist just like that for a small fee.

What about the other copy? You do have friends don't you? Ask one to hold on to your second thumb drive that has a copy. There are your three backups. Don't forget to keep them up to date either. Rosters change.

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He Finally Resurfaces!

There  has been a lot of talk and guessing about what may have happened to Matt Herman and his brother after the snafu with ESU and this post. Well he has finally resurfaced at 3D Central Trains. There is also a very interesting two hour informative video with him as one of the guest comentators.

Welcome back to the public eye Matt!!

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Importing/Exporting Roster Entries with JMRI

There has recently been a bit of discussion on the various decoder groups.io forums concerning the ability or non-ability of JMRI to import or export roster entries or complete rosters. This is a discussion of what can be done and what cannot be done. We will also briefly talk about the EsuProgrammer and what it can do and can not do.

JMRI File Menu

The File menu contains several different import/export roster operations. See fig 1.

Fig.1 Roster import/export operations

The export operation for a single roster entry will generate an XML file with the default name of the roster ID field followed by .xml. It will allow you to change the name if you wish. The import operation expects to see a previously exported entry or one you have created. You had better be an expert with xml and know the file's required layout before you attempt this. It will be a lot of work (masochist principle applies).

The Export Complete Roster operation will generate a zip file of all the individual roster files. You can see this by generating the export file and examining it with a utility such as 7zip. 

This is the backup file the author puts into the cloud for safe keeping in the event of a catastrophic computer failure. He also keeps a copy on a local thumb drive. Just don't forget to update those backup files in the event of a change to the roster.

JMRI Roster Entries

Individual roster entries also have import/export operations in their File menu. These open to a selection of operations that can be performed on various files including CSV files. See fig 2.

Fig.2 Roster entry export choices

In the event you wish to create a CSV file of a particular type, the key to doing it correctly is to examine an exported file. This will show you the format JMRI is expecting to see on import. Remember also that different decoders export different formats so, just be sure the exported, modified values can be used by the decoder you are importing into.

The last export method by JMRI is accomplished by utilizing a script file that comes with JMRI. It exports a CSV file of the complete roster that allows you to import the roster into a database or spreadsheet. A complete discussion of this process is discussed here. Remember, this process is for external analysis.

ESU

The ESU LokProgrammer has the ability to generate a text file of all CVs for any LokSound decoder. It is even possible to generate a CV file if you don't have the programmer itself. The LokProgrammer software is a free download (as are the sound files) which is all you need to generate the CV file for a particular sound file. There is a complete discussion of the process here.

Could you create one of these files from scratch? Yes, you could but why would you want to do so (if the masochist principle applies, the author will step aside)? To repeat, the software and files are free to download. 

Anytime the human element is introduced in even a mildly complicated process the chances of a less than optimal outcome increase exponentially.

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If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.