"Mike once said at York..... Im here to sell trains not parts." Yes, but, if you can't support what you sell and consider the whole product a throw away item when broken, not a real good business model. A parts inventory is also a monster to create and to keep track of, even with a computer, so hats off to MTH and anybody that can do that. If you do it right, you know the failure trend and what to keep on hand in quantity, and it may take a while for a trend to develop and you have to play catchup.
Another thing for all to remember too, just how big is the train market? How many O Gauge folks in this country who buy and maintain MTH or any other brand? Trains of all scales are a niche industry, this is a H-O-B-B-Y, some of it priced out of the real world market and hidden from the public arena unlike the days of Lionel, American Flyer, the Sears 'Big Book', and store displays, when a 100 bucks or less outlay was all it took to get started. I know, somebody will say that 100 bucks in 1950 is like 500 today, in my world it is not, but when was the last time you saw an ad for trains anywhere but in a train related publication? Plus a train of any kind except full scale does not look like a smart phone which seems to have removed all incentive to do anything hobby related requiring study or use of hands from the mindset of youth, and appears to have also affected adults since so many things used to only be found in kit form, come already assembled now. The market keeps getting smaller.
There is only one thing that is cheaper now when you factor in inflation, that is a TV. In 1970 a 25" RCA color set cost you $1K bucks, that is a bunch in 2021 dollars. But a 40" TV can be had now for 200, factor that backwards to 1970, and it would cost you something like 35 bucks.
