Well, I was standing next to Bob and was also observing the barely-on-life-support people... right next to the thousands of little kids RUNNING to our layout to see the trains, the lights, the fire engine, the sound, the model water, etc. A show official told us that within the first 2-1/2 hours they clocked 2,400 paid tickets and over 4,000 attendees, in other words, there were 1,600 kids (kids got in free) at the show. I saw no waning of interest toward model railroading with regard to the children. I even observed teenage girls video-ing our trains and our scenes onto their cell phones and cameras. Why would they bother if there was no interest...
Our S-scale layout was right at the public's entrance and we got LOTS of positive feedback. I personally talked to several people who expressed a sincere interest in wanting to model in S, but expressed the lack of S being available in the local stores was a big deterrent, therefore they were considering HO or O. I explained that "stuff" is available online and directly from the manufacturer, but that is a hard sell. People want to buy things right there and then. We need to resolve this chicken-n-egg situation we find ourselves in (i.e. us promoting the scale, and no stores stocking the items). The issue with the Chinese builder is aggravating the situation. One of the local vendors had a great weekend and sold lots of "train sets", mostly O and G scale with some HO and very little N. If we could only have some S scale sets on the shelves... (the world observed from my point of view) - Peter. On 10/18/2010 6:16 pm, [email protected] wrote: > Bob's wife nailed it, lots more scooters and chairs at TCA Eastern Div's > York Meet this week, also. IN FACT, there is a vendor renting said > appliances/conveyances on the Fairgrounds. All of OUR hobbies seem to be > the same > way, model trains, "classic" cars, etc. Yet, the more interactive hobbies, > RC cars, planes, electronic gaming etc seem to be attracting the younger > crowd. I am sure that DCC, TMCC, DCS, etc are helping, but, somehow the > mark is being missed. Is it because we have only "one" passenger RR, freight > RR's are homogenized, I don't know. Once you hear the EMD's roll past > -------- > > Jim Lyle > > > In a message dated 10/18/2010 5:38:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > [email protected] writes: > > At the train show this weekend, my wife pointed > out all the guys (gals too) with their Hover/Rascal motorized > wheelchairs, oxygen tanks and the like. > > Bob Werre > BobWphoto.com > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > -- Peter Vanvliet ([email protected], or [email protected]) Houston, Texas "It is easy to give up; anyone can do that..." http://pmrr.org/ (my model railroad) http://fourthray.com/ (my company) http://houstonsgaugers.org/ (model railroad club) -- ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> 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/
