Peter and All,
Yes, this show was designed to bring in masses of people to pay for that
large a space--I was told they needed 10K to break even. So tons of
little kids similar to the mall shows were expected. However, most of
those kids will be into something else next week. This is especially
true down here in the basement-impaired South. where the parents will
find it difficult to find space for any kind of layout.
The Division 8 of the NMRA has a yearly scholarship for a youth
member--they haven't been able to find one yet! I'm President of the
San Jacinto model RR club, probably the largest in the metro area. I
think we have one member under 40. I put out a sheet inviting the
teenage kids to join us, that was given out at the show to a few kids.
The best age to get the kids into modeling is from about 10 to 17, after
17 most are into other interests, but if the hook is still there, they
will come back in their late 20's. The days of Lionel and Gilbert
running TV ads to hook the kids is long gone. I remember Gilbert
sponsoring "Mr. Ed the Talking Horse" bi-weekly with Studebaker. Funny
that both those companies faded into history about the same time.
Regarding, having S on site... that's something I've been complaining
about for years. However, we've had two regional part-time dealers
(Pufferbelly from Waco and Tom Henderson formally of Austin (SideTracks
in Ouray now) appear with both AM and SHS plus vintage AF items, but not
really train sets. I don't think either one did that well at the shows
and with much of their revenue coming from the AF collector crowd. Tom
has left for the high mountains and I haven't seen Pufferbelly in
several years. At this particular show I didn't see but two S items at
all--one of the Casey Jones engines and a NH Pacific. I bet there was
over 100,000 HO or N cars on display (you can stash hundreds of N items
in those plastic bins).
I had proposed (to anybody who would listen) that the suppliers send
down items to the various clubs who display in areas without a reliable
dealer. The club then would become a temporary dealer to sell those
items. Of course unsold items would then go on to the next show with
sold items replaced. The club could receive some of the profits and
the supplier would sell to a new crowd without having to actually be on
site. With the exception of liability and shipping costs, it would be a
win-win situation.
Bob Werre
BobWphoto.com
>
>
> 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 inte
> (the world observed from my point of view)
> - Peter.
>
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