News And Site Updates

June 2008

Blue Ridge Hobbies® changes website software to Microsoft Expression.

Blue Ridge Hobbies® now has a registered trademark
with the State Of South Carolina

BRH announces that Walthers representative Steve Beyer will be at BRH September 3rd for the 3rd quarter meeting of the SCMRG (Upstate South Carolina Model Railroaders Group)

June 11th featured the quarterly meeting of the USCMRG (Upstate South Carolina Model Railroaders Group) with featured speaker Dave Lotz from Digitrax.

BRH announces new store DCC/DC layout featuring HO, N and O Scale.
Layout will be 6x12 feet and will include additional display space.
 

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May 2008

Dateline: 05/12/08 - Some of our retail store customers are aware
that our office expansion is nearing completion. We are in the final
10% of construction with the carpet going in tomorrow.

The office expansion was do to the overwhelming increase in business since
we started the website in 2005. With continuing monthly sales increase and
the additional staff and volunteers we have, BRH just needed more
 room to serve you better!

Thank you for your support over the last 3 years!

Also, special thanks go out to Rick Schnieder for helping in the store over the last month.
Without your help, we would have not been able to finish the restock of the retail store!

BRH featured in Model Railroad News

 

April 2008

Large Inventory Expansion Completed

New Store Layout Announced to be built during summer 2008

March 2008

BRH office expansion begins 03/24/08.

Next meeting of the USCMRG announced for June 11th at 7pm.
Digitrax's Dave Lotz scheduled to give a talk on Digitrax products.

Walthers announces that BRH has achieved Platinum Dealer status.

Upstate South Carolina Model Railroaders Group (USCMRG) meeting held to with
almost capacity crowd in attendence.

MTH and Hornby/Rivarossi approve BRH as dealer.

February 2008

Effective 02/10/08
New Scale Search Engine Now Available

Effective 02/07/08
Upstate South Carolina Model Railroaders Meeting Announced
March 14th 7pm at Blue Ridge Hobbies® Retail Store

January 2008

Effective 01/28/08
Global Website Search Engine back online!

Effective 01/24/08
New Lower On These Manufacturers:
Bowser, Railroad Press, Hundman Publishing, Withers Publishing, NMRA, Accurail, A-Line, American Limited Models, Atlas, AmericanModelBuilders, Bar Mills Scale Model Works, BLMA, Brawa,
Busch, Krause Publications, Chooch, ConCor Structures, Mascot, Donegan Optical Company, Delux Innovactions, Custom Finishing, Durango Press, Evans Designs, Evergreen Scale Models, Faller, GHQ, Tichy Train Group, Grandt Line Products Inc, Greenberg Publishing Co, Gold Medal Models, Heljan, Herpa Models, Heki/Mini Forest, JAM Solutions Inc, JV Models, Innovative Promotions, Jordan Products, JL Innovative Design, Kato USA, Keystone Locomotive Works, Kalmbach, Kibri, Mini Highways, Merten, Micron Art, Micro Trains Line, Model Power, Monroe Models, MRC, Motorbooks International, Mountaineer Precision Products, Ngineering, MNP Inc, Northeastern Scale Models, NCE Corporation, NJ International, Norscot Group, Inc., Noch Gmbh & Co, Neal's N-Gauging Trains, NuComp Miniatures, Oregon Rail Supply, Pikestuff, Pana Vise, Peerless Industries, Plastruct Inc, Preiser Kg, Rapido Trains Inc, RK Publishing. Ram Track, R Robb Ltd. , Rix Products, SAT, Showcase Miniatures, Sea Port Model Works, Smalltown USA, The N Scale Architect, Trident Miniatures, Atlas Trainman, Vollmer Gmbh, Weekend Chief Publishing, Tamiya Paints.

BRH is now an

effective 01/18/08


BRH is now a

 Golden Spike Dealer. We have committed to stock the complete line of Starter Sets, Unitrack Sets, and Unitrack in the scale(s). This includes all track items, as well as most structures and accessories effective 01/18/08
All product is available online. Retail store has a limited supply. Call for store availability
 

December 2007


BRH has negotiated new lower shipping rates for 2008!
Not higher rates like our competition.

November 2007:

11/10/07
Weekly Sale is Back!

11/12/07
2007 Holiday Store and Phone Hours Announced:
(all times eastern)

October 2007:

New store sneek peek starts 10/04/07.

Grand Opening of our new retail store 10/19/07.

August 2007:

08/11/07
Blue Ridge Hobbies®  announced today the addition of our new
retail location in Greenville SC at 2327 N Pleasantburg Dr Greenville SC 29617.
The small store is centrally located just 7 miles from the I85-I385 Interchange.

The location was chosen for its proximity to Atlanta, Charlotte, Asheville and Columbia
with about a 1 1/2 hour drive time from each of these cities central downtown areas.
Also, we are located next to the CSX and NS Mainlines through Greenville.

The store at Grand Opening store inventory will feature better quality model trains and equipment. From mid level kits to craftsmen level in store.

Also, there will be a 6x9 foot operating N Scale Layout sponsored
by Woodland Scenics and Walthers. Future months will see the
addition of a small double deck O and HO Scale Layout as well!

July 2007:

June 2007:

BRH reintroduction of weekly sales page starting 06/12/07.

Retail Sales location for local customers negotiation has collapsed. In our attempt to get the best rate and convenient location to keep our prices low failed on 06/01/07. We have 3 other locations we are now negotiating with 3 other potential locations in Greer, Greenville and Easley. We plan to have this space secured by Fall 2007.

In our continuing effort to make our website more user friendly, we are updating our manufacturers pages to include MSRP so that you can compare prices and SAVE!

Global search engine planned to be re-introduced by 07/15/07 to help you find the products you need. Beta Testing starts 07/01/07!

May 2007:

BRH has delayed reintroduction of weekly sales page.
New global website search engine is currently being tested.
New accounting software "bugs" being addressed.
New base price shipping cost now $4.60. Click here for more shipping details

April 2007:

BRH begins reintroduction of weekly sales page. Beta testing begins on 04/03/07.

March 2007:

BRH begins product data base overhaul to accommodate new features of POS software.  

February 2007:

BRH prepares migration to new software program in anticipation of retail store opening.

January 2007:

New backorder tracking page now available for customers with advanced reservations,
special orders and back orders to allow them to view the status of their order online.

December 2006:

BRH sets another new monthly sales record and becomes a
Walthers 5 star dealer.

November 2006:

BRH sets new monthly sales record.

All image files back online

October 2006:

Athearn is back with BRH. Limited products now available for the time being.

BRH is back in Model Railroader through Christmas.
BRH appears at the Autumn Rails Show in Flat Rock NC on October 7th.
October 14th -- all prices lowered an additional 3%!

August through September 2006:

Beta Testing is completed and start of image reload begin.

July 2006:

07/11 thru 7/15/06
Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers
 starting with  the letters N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z.
Images for these manufacturers have been temporarily removed

07/07/06
Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letter M. Images for this manufacturer have been temporarily removed

07/05/06
Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letters K and L. Images for these manufacturers have been temporarily removed

07/04/06
Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letter J. Images for this manufacturer have been temporarily removed

07/03/06
Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letters H and I. Images for these manufacturers have been temporarily removed

07/02/06

Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letters E, F and G. Images for these manufacturers have been temporarily removed

07/01/06

Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letters C and D. Images for these manufacturers have been temporarily removed

June 2006:

06/28/06
Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letter B. Images for this manufacturer have been temporarily removed

06/27/06
Beta Testing of the search engine for all manufacturers starting with
 the letter A. Images for this manufacturer have been temporarily removed

06/20/06
Beta Testing of new search engine begins. New product pages for
Peco and Z-Stuff added for Beta Testing

06/01/06
New manufacturer: Rapido Transit added.

May 2006:

05/18/06
Website and email back online.

05/14/06
Migration to new database link causes crash of website and email.

05/10/06
Migration to new database link. This should make searches for products easier and will allow pricing and stock availability to occur in real time.

New Manufacturer T R Castings featuring fiber optics for
 HO, N and ALL Scales added.

April 2006:

04/10/06
Atlas Products images completed

March 2006:

03/28/06
Search engine taken offline until the site is
completed for functionality reasons.

03/24/06
Downtown Deco product pages added with images coming soon

03/20/06
Website hosting service GoDaddy.com moves the entire site
to a server that will make the functionality of the search better.
In the process, the entire site goes offline until 03/24/06.

03/19/06
Broadway Limited images added.

03/11/06
Precision Craft Models pages updated and images added

03/10/06
Atlas Products 2006 pricing update completed. Image coming soon.

03/02/06
Roco Imports (Roman and Company, importer)
new direct supplier. Product pages now available. Images will
be added when time permits

February 2006:

02/23/2006
Soundtraxx product pages added.

02/20/06
Roco Imports (Roman and Company, importer)
new direct supplier. Product pages coming soon!
Order product now using the special request page!

02/20/2006
Northwest Scale Lines (NWSL) and Coffman Graphic Solutions makers of the Right Clamp™ become direct suppliers to BRH. Products for Northwest Short Lines (NWSL) and products and images for Coffman Graphic Solutions added.

02/18/06
Images for LifeLike completed.

02/14/06
Broadway Limited Imports, Precision Scale
and Ribbonrail become direct product suppliers

02/04/06
Images for ConCor completed.

02/03/06
Aristo Craft Trains becomes direct product supplier

January 2006:

01/30/06
International Hobby (IHC) becomes direct product supplier

01/29/06
Images for Bachmann completed.

01/27/06
Berkshire Valley Trains becomes direct product supplier

01/15/06
Images for Aristo Craft completed.

December 2005:

12/31/05
B.T.S. (Bills Train Shop) and Evergreen Scale Models
product pages now available with 2006 pricing.

12/30/05
Stewart Hobbies and Testors product pages
 now available with 2006 pricing.

12/28/05
Broadway Limited Imports and Red Caboose product pages
 now available with 2006 pricing.

12/26/05
All pages now are added and searchable by manufacturer product id and by item product number in groups of 30! Full search engine coming soon!
Use the Domestic or Foreign manufacturer's page list to "jump"
to the manufacturer of your choice.

More updates to continue as we upgrade the site!

Other December Information:

Our first ad in Model Railroader is delivered and business doubles over night!

Over 98% of the 100,000 products we offer are now available on line! We are now making them easier to access. This should be completed by the end of the year.

On December 1 more problems caused by Charter Communications! The ISP is down for 3 days stopping website construction. Calls to the Charter supervisor are completed ignored. The problem is not fixed still and service is spotted at best. It is not related to internet "traffic". Just poor service on the part of Charter!

ISP access is back on 12/5 but promptly goes offline 12/6 again!

Service is back on 12/7 and 12/8 and then Charters servers go offline at approximately 9pm during a site update upload. This server "crash" effected the upload and some of the links on the site. The ISP came back on line about 6am 12/10, however the link from our software uploading was not working. Temporary fix was able to be completed., it seemed via ftp fix upload but some files are not functioning.

In the past we have had to go as far as to contact a Charter Communications supervisor directly. This time was no exception. Since the connection to the internet was down again on 12/11 and early 12/12, the supervisor was not responding to repeated calls, I was forced to go to the dispatch office and "corner" him.

After doing so, he advised me that he would have the problem fixed. And within 4 hours it was. And, at least for the last 20 hours, I have not had any problems and the site seems the site seems to be functioning properly.

December 15, a large ice storm hits the Carolina's. Especially hard hit is the upstate of South Carolina and Greenville. Specially, Blue Ridge Hobbies®! Power is lost at 6am, thus losing access to the internet. At 2pm the phones are lost.

Deliveries and shipments are cancelled for the day due to heavy ice on the roads and trees in the area. Over 500,000 Duke Power customers are effected.

Friday, December 16, we found a location we could get internet access.
Orders are prepared for shipment. Those scheduled for December 15 and 16
are planned for Saturday shipping to customers. Power, Phones and
Internet are still not available at the warehouse.

Saturday, December 17 phones are transferred to a cell phone. UPS and FedEx can not do a pickup. 3 local post office's are closed with no power. A UPS store is located that has power, but has a 2 hour wait time. All orders are shipped today. Power is restored. Phones and internet are still offline.

Bell South finally restores phone service late December 18. Internet access still down!

Internet service from Charter Communications offline until December 22 AT 10pm!

December 23, now Bellsouth voicemail was offline and transferring to a Sun Com discounted number. This was fixed by 7pm.

All seems to be operating now!

November 2005:

Another Atlanta Train show in Marietta at the Cobb Center November 19 and 20. At this show we will have product for sale from Peco, Lifelike, Miniatronics, Walthers, Micro Engineering and Rix. We will also be giving away 2 train sets. You can register at our table for the train sets or you can join our mailing list as well! Also, a train show discount will be offered for online purchases. Click here for a train show discount coupon.
See you there!

As of 5p November 300 manufacturer's pricing pages (ALL SCALES only at this time) added for shopping. The next 50+ pages will be added as fast time will allow! 

The Atlanta Greenberg Train Show went well. We spoke to well over 500 people over the 2 day show. Adding nearly the same amount of names to our email list.

Manufacturer's with single pages should be added by 11/08/05.

Pre Grand Opening Sale and website testing starts November 1 thru 23

Additional web pages being processed to bring total ALL SCALES links
up to 300 by November 23.

October 2005:

 By October 15, "featured manufacturers" pages are completed with
master product lists for all. Work begins on secondary manufacturers pages.
Construction delays on retail location.

Decision is made to obtain an 800 number prior to retail store due to construction delays. 800-988-2125

First small ad for Model Railroader magazine submitted for the January 2006 issue
 (December 2005 news stand date).

Table reserved at the Great Western and Atlantic Trainshow in Atlanta
for November 19 and 20.

September 2005:

 2 weeks offer before the target opening date, unanticipated price increases occur and all manufacturer pricing needed to be updated. Online opening day pushed back 30 days to November 1.

August 2005:

Website page creation continues and the "featured manufacturers" pages are targeted for completion by September 14^th.

July 2005:

After over 30 days without internet access, we are but creating the website when again on July 22 the internet access was lost again! This time for 2 weeks. Construction on the retail space is delayed due to weather from mid June.

June 2005:

 Progress on the website was moving along at brisk pace when on
June 7, the internet connection was lost. The internet access supplier, Charter Communication, could not seem to locate the problem and website creation came to a complete standstill. The construction of our retail location moved along, with the store front to be accessible for interior completion by August 1, 2005. When Blue Ridge Hobbies® was to take possession of the retail space.

April 2005:
The decision to build an online store is made and immediately the website is live with limited information and products. GoDaddy.com is chosen as the ISP provider. Tentative "live" opening date October 1, 2005. Walthers becomes the first supplier while the store front, brick and mortar location under goes construction. Cart32 is picked as our shopping cart software provider.


This page was last updated 07/05/2008