Spank - You are correct, it's the 28th
Flint - feel free to come up and join us - you have family near by anyways, lol
I am the monster in your head...And I thought you'd learn by now, It seems you haven't yet.I am the venom in your skin --- Breaking Benjamin
Since I'm no longer buying train stuff, I'll be going to America's largest postcard show on 11/19-20, "white hall", York Fairgrounds.
Well, I didn't get my 3462P but I did find three UTC's for a buck each, 6 wood barrells and this:
I got it for $22 from a guy who bought it at York last week!
Same me, different spelling!
Nice score Becky! I've never seen anything quite like that, Lionel bridges sure, but not one with what appears to be pedestrian walkways.
Looks solid too!
It's a 270. At 10" long it's supposed to be for O gauge, but Standard track works fine as long as the bridge cross members don't touch the center rail. Electrical tape cures that problem. The 280 Standard Gauge bridge has a higher side panel and looks more like a truss than the 270, which resembles a girder bridge.
pennytrainsIt's a 270.
Thanks! It's a wasted day if I don't learn something new!
rrlinemanIt was abour 1/3 third empty. Lots of empty table,
Inside scoop I got from an dealer who WAS there said those empty tables belonged to the regular exhibitors who chose not to go this year for various reasons, COVID being one of them. They were being cautious and you can't blame them.
As he put it, if you DON'T buy tables from the TCA for the York show THIS time there's no guarantee you'll get them NEXT time, so the no-shows played it safe and bought tables anyway just to make sure, which is why those tables were empty and stayed that way.
He also told me its unlikely the Charles Ro organization will come back at all, current management doesn't like doing shows.
When the father was alive, Charlie loved the show. His son not so much. Kinda a winer. Hobby Surplus Sales was the same way, Mr. Amato liked it, his son didn't and stopped their attendence after His father got ill . George tebolt stop because of illness and it was down to him and his wife. Olsen's Train parts the same also.
DJSpanky Can't cure stupidity. These people don't realize that these shows aren't valuable to them for selling things, these shows are valuable for marketing and visibility. Think of show attendance as the same thing as a loss-leader at grocery and department stores. They lose money on the product but make more money overall.
Can't cure stupidity. These people don't realize that these shows aren't valuable to them for selling things, these shows are valuable for marketing and visibility. Think of show attendance as the same thing as a loss-leader at grocery and department stores. They lose money on the product but make more money overall.
While I can't deny they will be a major missing element at the meets if they do not return, "stupidity" might be pushing it a bit. They might know a thing or 2 about the business that they have been dealing with for 40+ years.
They are, after all, still supposedly the #1 Lionel Dealer. Not top ten, top 5, but actually number 1, supposedly.
If you are the top dog, and you know your business well, why would they be "smarter" if they lose money each meet they attend? Seems smarter to not attend if you think you can maintain your position as number 1 and not take on losses that far exceed the costs you are now saving by not attending.
The point is, they may not (at the moment) need any additonal visibility and marketing. Pretty much anyone in the hobby knows who they are, and if someone doesn't, they will find an ad on the first few pages of either major O-gauge magazine or they will easily be one of the first 2-3 vendors mentioned when some new person comes up with a question of "who is a good low cost mail/phone/internet dealer to order o gauge trains from?".
I'm sure they will still have quite a few mail/phone/internet orders even if they don't spend the money to come to York. If they actually start to see a decline in general sales that can be traced to coincide with their lack of presence at the meet, I think we can be sure they would return. I'd bet any such decline would be a drop in the bucket when compared to their costs to attend the meet.
Again, I'll miss having them there if they really are considerring no longer attending, but I can hardly see it as "stupid" for their particular situation.
-Dave
I remember seeing Sidetrack Hobbies from Leonardtown MD at quite a few Greenberg shows here in VA, then one day they stopped coming. I suppose they didn't think it was worth their while anymore. Too bad, I got some nice stuff from them.
I don't know if they ever did York, I've never been there, not yet anyway.
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dlagruaThe model train hobby is probably contracting a bit. Audience is getting older, relocating, downsizing, retiring, stocked up and health is also an issue. I see ED York continuing but in a smaller scale
Predicting the future of the hobby is a tough call, and I'm not sure how it's going to go.
On one hand the Boomer generation (And I'm one of them) are aging out, retiring, downsizing, what have you, so the interesting in post-wars is waning. On the other hand that's a good thing, prices are dropping on post-wars (mostly) and making them more attractive to hobbyists on a budget. Plus the fact the post-wars are easy to keep alive once you know how to do it.
Considering the young YouTubers I've seen (and their enthusiasm) there is a cadre of new hobbyists, although most of their interest appears to be in the high-end high-tech new products, although they're discovering post-wars as well.
Show attendance? Around here it's pretty strong and encouraging, with a lot of young families showing up. Maybe because it's a fun and colorful outing, maybe because it's cheaper than going to the movies? I don't know, but from speaking to attendees the interest and excitement is certainly there.
I'll put it this way, I don't see too many frowns at train shows.
I won't try to predict the future except to say it's going to be interesting.
It's also hard to predict when "the nostalgia factor" will kick in. When would we say the Standard Gauge / all things prewar revival began? The 1980's? So we should be at the beginning of the postwar revival by those who weren't alive in those days just like I appreciate (and covet) the trains made before I was born.
pennytrains It's also hard to predict when "the nostalgia factor" will kick in. When would we say the Standard Gauge / all things prewar revival began? The 1980's? So we should be at the beginning of the postwar revival by those who weren't alive in those days just like I appreciate (and covet) the trains made before I was born.
Sometimes popular culture can kick-off the nostalgia factor. I don't watch the show "Young Sheldon" but I understand a "featured player" is Sheldon's post-war / MPC era Lionel layout. Depending on how popular the show it THAT might trigger interest.
If someone does a TV show set in the 1930's and Standard Gauge trains show up (although those were for rich kids back then) that might trigger interest as well.
I couldn't begin to guess what impact Bobby Baccala's Lionels had.
Yes the exposure on primetime TV does wonders for the hobby, as did everybody being on lock down, for all its bad side, it did get people back active in the hobby again. Just look how trains available online dried up, some stuff was hard to find in the second hand world. I know the one local hobby shop that has a nice online store was doing a booming business during the height of the covid lockdowns. Now he deals mostly with N and HO scale with Kato and Scaletrains, but does have some second hand Lionel on hand. I know Mr Muffins was very busy from talking to the owner at the last open air street train show this past summer. Everything is in cycles, whats old becomes new again at some point. From cloths to hobbies of all kinds, nothing ever really dies out completely. It just fades into the shadows till its time for it to step back into the light again. Just look at American OO, of which Lionel played a big part of in the late prewar era. The scale for all normal reasons has been gone for decades. Yet, there are still those out there that chose to model in this scale(its NOT the UK stuff on HO track). I am sure we will see York rebuild its head of steam as we move forward.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
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