Gentlemen: The idea of selling S to the public is perhaps similar to
democracy in Iraq. Most people don't care and the ones who do all have
different ideas about it and how to make it happen. Luckily we don't
have shoulder fired rockets!
But seriously, while attending the NMRA train show in Vancouver
Washington a few years back, we overheard two modelers approach a S
gauge area and one guy said to his buddy "we don't want to go there,
that's a bunch of AF guys', but straight ahead was a display of some
very fine brass models and a very nice modular setup supplied by the
Oregon group--something about a horse and water!
I was in a local train shop, behind the shelves somewhere minding
my own business, when a customer comes in and asks the owner (a very
astute narrow gauger) if he had any SN3. The owner proceeds to try and
sell him some HOn3. In this case he wanted to make a sale on the stuff
he had in stock--many HOn3 items, several On3 items, and one Sn3 engine.
Other customers have asked about S scale, but the owner inquired about
their needs and tried to sell them a Atheran train set made up on the
spot! again he was selling what has sold in the past, is generally
reliable, and he has in stock.
One newer shop in town actually stocks a fair amount of S
(generally SHS and AM in hi-rail) but I doubt if they would 'try' and
sell S over anything else in the shop--most of the staff model in HO.
I think much of the problem goes back to the 50's when AF was sold
in mass to the mail order and large department stores. I would suppose
these operations demanded better wholesale prices and often special
train sets made up. I doubt if the local hobby shop could demand the
better prices to compete with Sears and others. Additionally, HO was
arriving with many smaller manufacturers not wanting to sell to the big
outlets thus finding their nitch in the hobby shops. After AF died, S
nearly died because all we had were part time mail order guys who often
didn't 'produce' leaving a bad taste in lots of people.
Fast forward and we have almost no trains being sold by the big
stores, no Christmas catalogues from Sears. The hobby shops (like Hobby
Lobby and Michael's, and the locally owned train stores) are very
content to sell HO as well as, the new On30 and keep there inventory in
control and somewhat seasonal.
I feel the NASG is doing a good job at the train shows but until we
crack the train stores and the large mail order stores somehow, it will
be a very uphill battle. However, O scale 2 rail has much of the same
problem.
Bob Werre
Roy Inman wrote:
>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
>
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