I'm just thinking out loud here... I've been rather blessed in that I used to live 45 minutes from Ridge Road Station, and now work a few blocks from Caboose Hobbies, so I've always been able to wander the aisles of the local hobby shop and browse the detail parts, picking up exactly what I need as I need it. I've rarely had to actually order parts, but when I did, it was straight from the manufacturer. How many people mail-order from a retailer as opposed to the manufacturer? My guess is that Ridge Road Station didn't do a ton of mail-order with Ozark, and from what I've heard, the active modelers in the greater Rochester area aren't quite as active as they were when I was there. Perhaps that played into the decision to drop the line--free up aisle space for some of the other rather esoteric items that Ridge Road carries. If you've wandered the aisles of Ridge Road Station, you know the kinds of things I'm talking about.
Later,
K