http://www.lonestarengineworks.com . . . The last link belongs to a fella who lives less than 10 miles from me. I visited him a few weeks ago and saw his set up.- Chuck
Chuck,
I've corresponded with Maury a few times, about his Corliss model, but unfortunately he discontinued the cast-iron version which I wanted to get. Apparently his iron foundary was no longer willing to produce the castings for a price or quality he could sell. It appears he's now removed the Corliss from his product listings entirely - sorry to see that, but not just anyone wants (or is capable) to build a Corliss. I have seen Keith Spriggs' verison of this engine and it's a beauty. (See attached pic)
PTsideshow said:
Just so people know the "OLD" Cole's was sold as I understand it. When the long time owners left the biz, don't know if it was retirement, or other. They were a non entity for a while, . . . .
I can give you a potted history of Coles. When founder Charlie Cole died the business was left in the hands of son Charles and Betty Coles. It was Betty who was the force behind the business for many years. It was duirng this time that Coles suffered a break-in burglery and all the original Chas Coles models (the 1" Case tractor, etc) were stolen and have never been recovered. When the Coles decided to retire they sold the business to a former part-time employee who it appears had been setting himself up to buy them out for some time, and not in a good way. It appears the new owner thought of the business only in terms of profit (not a bad thing) with no consideration for service to the live steam community and operated on that basis. Based upon reports from customers during that time, and my own experience, stock dwindled, many standard items became unavailable, prices rose, and service and attitude was very poor. The result was an essential closure of the business and lots of hard feelings.
The present owner of Coles, the 3rd owner, bought the business from the second owner and reports from people I know have said that he is a good man and intends to bring Coles lines completely back, and then some, and resume what people had come to know and expect from Coles.
Now, I want to emphasize that what I am about to say should in no way be taken to mean that I don't believe and agree that customers of steam suppliers are entitled to get what they've paid for in timely manner or be kept informed as to delays and why, or get their investment back, there is no excuse for that . . . BUT . . . every economic and industrial factor that bears upon the production and supply chain is working against the model engineering and live steam consumer. Our needs are highly specialized, we have practically no ability to take advantage of economies of scale, providers are constantly subjected to the whims and vargaries of sub-providers (foundaries for instance) and the business economics of their suppliers, and the volume and profit margin for suppliers is so low that hardly anyone can make even an above poverty-level living from it. It is a very difficult business to be in, coupled with a customer base which is about as picky and demanding as any, and I'm not saying they shouldn''t be that way. But I have never dealt with any of the world's most well known suppliers, Coles, Little Engines, Friends, Stuart Turner, Reeves, Fyne Fort, Bonds, etc, who did not at some time or another suffer from supply line failures and delays, and even non-deliveries. That's a way of life, and it will probably get worse before (or if) it ever gets better, but that alone doesn't make any of them crooks. I set my personal cutoff time at six months. If it doesn't arrive after six months I ask for my money back. If it arrives in stock a week later, let me know and I'll probably reorder.
