928 PAGES!

MODEL TRAIN HOBBY SHOP IN A BOOK

HEAVY CATALOG WHICH IS MUCH MORE OF AN IDEA BOOK NOW, SINCE PRICES AND AVAILABILITY HAVE CHANGED A LOT IN THIRTY YEARS

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     Wm. K. Walthers, Inc., was officially founded in Milwaukee in 1932—though it started years earlier when seven-year-old William K. (Bill) Walthers got his first taste of the hobby with a small, wind-up toy train for Christmas. He continued with the hobby and eventually had an attic layout composed primarily of his scratch-built creations. A series of articles he wrote on building train control and signaling systems led to requests from other modelers that he began manufacturing them. The first ad (in the May issue of The Model Maker) offered a 24-page, 15¢ catalog that listed rail, couplers, and electrical supplies. Sales were over US$500.00 for the first year. By 1935, the catalogs were over 80 pages.

     Within five years, Walthers had grown and larger quarters were needed. Space was found on Erie Street, where everything—from milled wood parts to metal castings to decals—was made in-house. 1937 also saw a new line in HO Scale, featured in its catalog. Bill brought operating layouts to the 1939 World's Fair, which gave the hobby a big boost. Soon, though, the growing possibility of war overshadowed these successes.

     In 1958, Bill retired, and his son Bruce took over. Just as full-size railroads were being hard-hit by new technology, so too were model railroads. In 1960, Walthers became a full-line distributor of other manufacturers' products while continuing the expansion of the Walthers lines. By the start of the 1970s Bruce's son Phil had joined the company.

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