Dear Michael
After reading your editorial [March, 2001], I thought that I would share my thoughts on the same subject. A few years back, I noticed that the hobby shops were complaining of shrinking sales, an aging customer base and overseas competition. At that same time I thought that I noticed that attendance at Great American Train Shows (GATS) was not going in the same direction. After I participated in the 1996 National Train Show in Long Beach, which some 34,000 people attended over three days, I was able to review some data from GATS, LTD. The GATS folks had collected this data over the years from show attendees and the facts yielded were very interesting. First, it was obvious that at least 500,000 people were attending various shows hosted by GATS each year. An exact count was not possible as children are admitted free. Second, the same data revealed that between 50% and 85% (dependent upon locality) of the GATS attendees were not model railroaders.
I then concluded that the GATS arena was the ideal place for hobby shops to fish for new customers. After all, these potential customers already liked trains and were willing to go to fairgrounds to see them. In 1998, I joined the staff of GATS and put together the BuildAKit program. In this program, GATS provided the kits, tools and a booth at selected Great American Train Shows and invited a local hobby shop to provide the instructors. Although selling was not permitted, the hobby shop was encouraged to promote the shop with shirts, specials, gifts, etc. As a part of the program the shop would get the GATS mailing list from the local area updated to include the recent show visitors and would get their shop mentioned in some pre-show advertising. We conducted such sessions in Fresno, CA; Ventura, CA; Phoenix, AZ, Houston, TX, San Antonio, TX and Costa Mesa, CA in 1999 and 2000 and it is felt that most were highly successful.
Many hobby shops were resistant or even downright hostile to GATS, blaming them for their decrease in sales. Never mind that the hobby buries more participants each year than it acquires. About one in five hobby shops that I approached were receptive to the idea but they always had a reason that they could not participate. Three wanted no part of the program, regardless of the benefit to them. The fifth shop was usually very hostile, even nasty. Recently, GATS acquired space at the National Train Show to be held this July in Saint Louis and has sent invitations to ten Saint Louis area hobby shops. At this time, we have already received the hostile responses but no positive ones. So at this time it appears that GATS will be conducting BuildAKit at that show without the participation of a local hobby shop.
Advertising only has to jump out at you if you are really trying to grab new customers. I do not believe that is the case in the model railroad industry at the present time. If new and younger customers were the goal, we would be seeing more models of light rail vehicles and commuter rail cars and locomotives rather than Alco PAs, Baldwin VO-1000s, Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Builts and C-liners, General Motors F-units and plastic steam engines from 0-8-0s to 2-8-8-2s. None of these engines have burnished American railroad tracks in decades and are totally unfamiliar to anyone under 40 years old. Modelers tend to begin by modeling what they see or once saw. All today’s manufacturer needs to do is place an ad with a picture in Model Railroader and the current aging and shrinking crowd goes to either the hobby shop, mail order house or the Internet and gobbles them all up.
In the last 20 years, light rail has returned to Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, Saint Louis, Newark, Calgary and many more cities, where it had become extinct. Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, San Francisco and Shaker Heights have modernized older systems with new light rail vehicles. Except for the 1975 Boeing Light Rail Vehicle (LRV), quickly becoming a museum piece, not one model of these new vehicles is available in any scale. Yet in most of these cities, almost every public school student has been treated to a free ride on these systems and they leave impressed. Where these systems are augmented with historic cars, as in San Francisco, San Jose and, occasionally Philadelphia, the response from the younger residents is phenomenal.
In 1999, Bowser Manufacturing Co. revised their trolley drive, which had been on the market for about 50 years. It featured a new can motor, eight wheel electrical pickup and adapters for mounting in the old trolley bodies. The wheelbase is perfect for use in most of today’s light rail vehicle models (if anyone would make any) and the cost ($60.00) was less than one half of any other currently available trolley or transit power unit. I don’t remember these units being reviewed in your paper or any other model railroad magazine. But there has been a plethora of articles about F units, another dinosaur, while PCC cars are running wild again in cities from San Francisco to Kenosha.
To top this, the Southern California Traction Club, of which I am a member, took a 22 by 27 ft HO scale modular layout to the National Train Show in San Jose, last summer. This layout was traction powered from live overhead wires. Trains of Pacific Electric Blimps were operated among many other models, including many of the San Francisco F line cars. But a funny thing happened after this show was over. Not one model railroad publication, that covered the show, even mentioned our layout. Nine members of a Los Angeles club traveled 400 miles with two trailers for five days and we did not even rate a mention. We did have a lot of public interest in our cars. Many could not believe that they got their power from the wires.
The conclusion is that despite all the hot air about the aging of model railroaders and the shrinking of the hobby, a great portion of today’s model railroad hobby is not interested in new or younger modelers or they would act much differently. For most of these people, their model railroad rooms might as well be 1950s type fallout shelters.
George L. Huckaby
Director, Vendor Relations
Great American Train Shows, LTD
If a company produces a “dinosaur” and folks gobble them all up, why should they make anything else. However, we must give credit where due. Manufacturers including Athearn, Atlas, Bachmann, Life-Like, and others have recently released locomotives of very modern vintage. These include the GMLG F59PHI, EMD SD60, and Amtrak Acela Express. Although not light rail, these new items are of models plying today’s rails. — Ed
I just read your editorial in the March, 2001 issue of MRN. Last December, I gave a visit to a local school for homeless children in my city and gave a train set as a gift to them. Now it has a new home in small hands. I also pass most issues of my railroading magazines to other people. You have already pointed out that even the smallest efforts can reap huge rewards.
Levent Suberk
Bursa, Turkey
I am responding to your editorial in the March, 2001 issue of Model Railroad News. In your column, you asked for information concerning any organization, school, or club having a layout.
I am taking this opportunity to tell you of St. Raymond’s Railroad, which began at St. Raymond’s High School for Boys three years ago in October, 1998. Today, we are 11 members strong. For two hours on Fridays, (from 2:15 to 4:15) we watch tapes, order supplies, and discuss our yearly trip to a preserved railroad. At this time, we are working on a 4' x 8', HO scale layout.
Upon completion, this will be our second layout. Our goal is DCC computer controlled. I cannot over emphasize the education that students acquire in tool use, wood types, measurement, angles, radii, etc. Many a time I hear, “Now I see why we have to learn this stuff.” Our program is yearly, beginning October 1st and ending the Friday before Father’s Day.
Pete Schaut, Moderator
Bronx, NY
I received my latest MRN and as I read your editorial [March, 2001] I have to agree with you one hundred percent — we need to reach out to our young people. With this as our goal, I would like to quickly share with you how the Torrington Area Model Railroaders are reaching out to young people. We began with a sign-up sheet at a local train show in September, 1996. Eight adults signed on and we have now grown to our present size of fifty members plus guests. Our main focus when we first met was to have fun with trains, whether we ran models of different scales, shared tips, or went railfanning.
We decided upon HO as our first modular layout to display at shows, simply because HO is the main scale of most members. We now also have an N layout along with our HO. Our main focus at shows is to just keep trains running for the kids — ages 1 to 100.
We began meeting in each others homes, but in a year’s time outgrew our surroundings and began to look for larger space. We now rent a building in Torrington, CT which is situated along the tracks of the former New Haven (now maintained by the Naugatuck Railroad), with a siding to boot!
We welcome young modelers and ask that one of their parents attend with them at club functions. We’ve found this to be very rewarding because dads and moms have become active in their children’s lives, rewarding not only for us as a club, but also themselves as a family. Our shows and activities are all geared towards children and families. We have the children come in back of the layouts to get an eyeball view of what’s going on, share with their parents and in general have a great time. The rewards to our members are in their hearts when they see the children’s faces. Our teen members run the layouts better than the seniors. The young people are very active and go on railfanning trips, join in with the setting up and breaking down of the layouts, as well as the running.
We also teach a course in model railroading for the Foothills Continuing Adult Education Program. We are now in our second course of sharing model railroading and the history of railroads, as well as having the students build a module and then connect this module to ours at the club to see how all this fits together. Most of our students are fathers whose children like trains and want to become involved with their kids to greater degrees. We are delighted to help in this respect and again it’s very rewarding for us as the instructors.
A number of our members also have the opportunity to help the Boy Scouts with their Merit Badges in Model Railroading and we also, when requested, will go to schools and organizations and share a program on railroading and model railroading.
Our website is http://pages.cthome.net/ctnw/index.html should you like to visit and see our activities in pictures. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to share about our club.
Phil Lent
Torrington, CT
I enjoyed reading your editorial in the March, 2001 issue. Wow, that got me to thinking about the role our local model railroad club plays in developing an interest in the hobby of model railroading. Our club’s layout is open and free to the public for a total of 200+ hours during the busy summer and fall tourist season. Last year we had more than 9,000 people sign our guest book, with untold additional visitors that did not log in. A large portion of our visitors are children from toddlers to teenagers. Many experience their first contact with an operating model railroad at our clubroom, and leave with a better understanding of model railroading. Our hosts answer their many questions, and who knows how many people enter the model railroading hobby as a result of their contact with our layout.
Our club is a non-profit organization with a membership of 90. The clubroom hosts are all unpaid volunteers. We have modest dues of ten dollars per year, and we publish a monthly Notch Eight newsletter. We are on the property of Conway Scenic Railroad, a major attraction in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. However, we are an independent organization that is not directly affiliated with CSRR, although we work very closely with the railroad for our mutual benefit.
In summation, YES, we reach out to our youth in an attempt to promote model railroading.
Dwight A. Smith, Treasurer
North Conway Model Railroad Club
Kearsarge, New Hampshire
Dear MRN:
I think it is great that Kato (and Con-Cor) are offering corrugated cars in N scale and it’s way past time. However, I do have one problem with Kato — why do they have to sell them in sets only? I have the same problem with the Rivarossi N scale standard cars. Those of us who model specific trains or periods need to be able to purchase single cars, not sets. Fortunately Con-Cor allows us to do that. Also, it would have been nice if Con-Cor or Kato had modeled one of the southeastern or southern railroads. However, I am ecstatic that someone finally modeled corrugated cars to this standard. Now if you could just purchase them separately.
Thanks for the great publication.
Bob Tugwell
MRN,
In your April 2001 edition in the letters section, Don Galloway inquired about Herald King decals. While they are no longer producing decals, they do have stock left for sale. If he will write to: Miller Advertising — Herald King Decals, P.O. Box 1133, Bettendorf, IA. 52722, and request the decals he needs, they will sent him a list of what is available and the price. Mine for the old Colorado Midland were $2.00 per packet (enough for 1 unit) and they were very prompt.
Bob Rucker
To whom it may concern:
Just some comments on SMP Industries and availability of Accu-paints and Accu-cals [not to be confused with the Accuflex line of paint products]. Our rumored demise was unequivocally falsely stated. We are still in business and are continuing to produce the same line of products. In addition, we have had absolutely no relation to the former Accuflex line of paints produced by Badger and never have.
Due to reports of customers having difficulty finding our products, we have setup an SMP website. Our website has information relating to painting models, full color painting diagrams and suggested paints. If customers have difficulty finding our products, they may now order direct; we do prefer they check with their hobby dealer first.
Customers can call us between 10am and 9pm EST with their comments and suggestions, or e-mail us at: bishopg@mediaone.net. Our website is: www.smp-mlw.com/. It is updated regularly with new products and availability.
SMP industries, through its subsidiary Scale Model Products Model Studio, also offers a professional model building service, which includes custom structures, dioramas, and display models. A model railroad layout design and construction service, diagram or instruction development service, and prototyping or pilot model assembly is also available.
George A. Bishop
Leon Wasiak
SMP Industries
Accu-cals & Accu-paint
63 Hudson Road
P.O. Box 72
Bolton, MA 01740
(978) 779-6977
fax (978) 779-5056
