Tek34 wrote: tstage wrote: 20M stamp collectors in the US alone? I would like to see someone verify that statistic. I find that highly improbable.TomWhy not? Over 20 million bought stamps in U.S. last year... just because most share their "collections" and send them to their friends, the phone company, or to pay their mortgage.
tstage wrote: 20M stamp collectors in the US alone? I would like to see someone verify that statistic. I find that highly improbable.Tom
20M stamp collectors in the US alone? I would like to see someone verify that statistic. I find that highly improbable.
Tom
Why not? Over 20 million bought stamps in U.S. last year... just because most share their "collections" and send them to their friends, the phone company, or to pay their mortgage.
Most of us did purchase stamps last year and we sent them along their way by USPS. I would guess most of us did keep our model trains longer than the stamps so model trains is ahead of Stamps for me. I did purchase a page of the Daylight and the NYC 20th Century Hudson stamps, but those with just a few others could not be called a collection unless there is a catagory for the World's smallest collection of train stamps.
The World's Greatest Hobby probably is a good name for the one hobby you really like. I would call Model Trains the World's Second best greatest Hobby, but no one asked me lately.
P.T. Barnum is credited with the phrases "Greatest Show on Earth" and "There's a sucker born every minute."
As soon as someone uses the word "Greatest," you should immediately think of old Phineas and his imaginative use of the language to hype his product.
I'm a fan of the Patriots, the "Greatest Football Team of All Time," who were also this year's Superbowl runners-up.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Rather than dragging up arguments from the past regarding the effectiveness of the WGH capaign, or whether it signals good or bad times for the hobby industry, I'll just point you to the WGH site:
http://www.greatesthobby.com/
There you'll see what it really means. It's really just a campaign organized by several model railroad manufacturers and Kalmbach to promote the hobby.
It's not a company by itself, nor is it asserting that Model Railroading is the biggest hobby.
I personally don't think anything of it; I've registered as a WGH ambassador and show my layout at train shows... But I don't think it's any different than any advertising campaign.
That the hobby has never had to advertise so aggresively in the past is a sign of the changing times and the reality that there are more passtimes with which model railroading has to "compete" (witness the rise of online gaming...). Overall, though, I don't read WGH as a sign of boom or bust, just a nod to a changing reality.
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I could point out that WGH doesn't mean the largest hobby, nor the most popular, nor even the best.
I could point out that none of your comparisons actually used the "G" word. In fact the word doesn't appear in your post.
I could point out you are using a straw man argument.
But why belabor the obvious?
tatans wrote: I like model railroading, it's fun and interesting, and educational, but now I'm seeing "WGH" bandied about lately, are they referring to "stamp collecting??", it certainly cannot be model trains. In the U.S. alone there are 20 million stamp collectors, multiply that by every country in the world and thats a lot of hobbyists. We all know how much we enjoy this hobby and like to promote it, but to flagrantnly boast it's the WGH is a little much. I know, I know, the Dodgers are the best team in the world, the U.S. is the best country in the world, Mcdonalds make the worlds best hamburgers, etc etc etc, I think WGH is a company isn't it???? If a list is to be made of hobbies I think model trains would be down around 27th, who knows?? I like it.
I like model railroading, it's fun and interesting, and educational, but now I'm seeing "WGH" bandied about lately, are they referring to "stamp collecting??", it certainly cannot be model trains. In the U.S. alone there are 20 million stamp collectors, multiply that by every country in the world and thats a lot of hobbyists. We all know how much we enjoy this hobby and like to promote it, but to flagrantnly boast it's the WGH is a little much. I know, I know, the Dodgers are the best team in the world, the U.S. is the best country in the world, Mcdonalds make the worlds best hamburgers, etc etc etc, I think WGH is a company isn't it???? If a list is to be made of hobbies I think model trains would be down around 27th, who knows?? I like it.
I cringe everytime I see that slogan! I'm sure the ad company that came up with it is the same one that came up with "Mission Accomplished!"
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."