I would REALLY appreciate some suggestions as to how to go about helping to combat the disinformation concerning S. I go to 6~7 train shows a year, talk with lots of folks at the "other gauge" train displays in Union Station Kansas City, and I hear over and over again at all these venues stuff like: "Oh, S gauge, isn't that Lionel?" Or, "S gauge. Let's see, that was American Flyer. They don't make that anymore, do they?" Or, "S gauge is a good size, but you can't get much in the way of equipment." Etc., etc. There is so little S available for purchase locally (none now, actually, since Destination Trains moved to Libertyville, IL) that hobby shop visitors never see any. A little tale: a man and his family came into the largest hobby shop in the area recently and said they "wanted an S gauge train set." He had seen our modular S layout at a local show, everyone loved the size, etc., and decided that was what they wanted under the tree, and maybe later, a large layout as well. The train guy at the local shop is one who has been in and around the model train business for nearly 30 years, is a fine scale HO modeler, structures builder and scenery-maker himself. Yet he was unaware that both SHS and AM make excellent starter sets. So he proceeded to "build a set" for the family, ordering an engine here, a box car there, track from K-Line, etc., until he finally got all the pieces together. Which is fine, I suppose, because at least he got the customer stated in S. But if a guy such as he doesn't know what is available, the word just isn't getting out. This is not a new topic, but one which, IMHO, needs to be seriously addressed by NASG. I applaud their efforts at the continuing series of ads placed in major modeling publications and featuring S manufacturers. Bravo! But somehow, some way, we all need to do a better job to help the scale grow. There is an excellent book, "Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days" that has some ideas we could perhaps use. And there are probably others. Any marketing gurus out there with suggestions?? Roy Inman
> From: John Degnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: John Degnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:57:35 -0400 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [S-Scale Modeling] Re: Scale vs. hirail... > >> Any major growth in S scale will come from >> HO guys moving up and that can't happen till they are able to buy a >> better selection of modern equipment. > > Dave, I couldn't have said it better! Good call. > >> What S scale really needs is for >> Athearn, Atlas or one of the major HO manufacturers to get interested >> and copy some of their products in S scale size. > > I'm with you here as well. I'm hoping that the sales on my box car project > will not only justify the production of it, but that it will show some of > these manufacturers that there actually are some genuine "modelers" in S (as > opposed to those who merely play with toys). But I say that will respect > for all, so don't anyone get their panties in a wad. > > > John Degnan > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > The Seaboard Air Line Information Collective and Photo Archive > http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard > > > > To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For > those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to > edit the SUBJECT of your message). > > Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or > photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
