Michael,
What we really need is to siphon off some of all that useless political
pac money and put it to good use. A few million and some experienced
people could make a lot of difference. At this point were just short
the $$$ and my piggy bank has been broken into so many times I can find
the pieces anymore!
I'm sure the S Sig will send some stuff for you. I think it's important
to have someone around to make sure the resources are managed. Case in
point, I remember and I'm sure Ed remembers very well, when 3/16's S
Scale Railroading was brought to life at the NMRA national here in
Houston. Both Ed, aka the idea man/publisher, and Billy Wade, the
advertising sales guy, distributed many, many folders seeking
subscribers. I don't know how many subscribers resulted, but certainly
not enough. I used to know approximate figures for direct mail, but I
know it was less than 1% typically respond (obviously that's for more
generic offerings). But getting people to open their eyes to our scale
takes lots of exposure and effort.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 10/25/12 2:34 PM, Michael Ostertag wrote:
Ed,
Trainfest is the largest train show north of Chicago and is held the
week after S Fest at the Wisconsin State Fair Grounds every year on
the second weekend in November. It is geared toward all scales and
modeling abilities. Last year, S Scale Workshop was there and so were
the Badgerland S Gaugers, as well as Scenery Unlimited. It draws over
20,000 probably closer to 35 or 40,000 every year. S Fest is the
weekend prior to Trainfest. http://www.trainfest.com/
I hope that the S-Sig can get the word out about S scale to the
manufacturers. I already see that Lionel is turning a blind eye on
scale and continuing to produce things that are geared toward the
American Flyer and toy market. I have strong beliefs about the future
of S Scale. I know that scale is the future of S and not AF. Until
there are more things manufactured to draw future modelers to the
scale, S will not grow out of it's current state. Future modelers are
going to model what they grew up with, and therefore more modern
equipment needs to be produced to draw modelers to this great scale.
Steam is fine, but it's generation is departing us, unfortunatly, at a
very rapid pace. Steam era still needs modelers, but as time goes on,
fewer and fewer will be out there, so the product lines need to turn
towards things from the 60's to today. That doesn't mean we need 2
different SD70ACE's on the market either. Alco's, GE's and 70's era
EMD's (SD40-2's and GP40-2, and SW1500's etc.). And not limited run
items either. Making only 200 of something isn't going to bring
anyone to the scale. Oh and detail parts, like a Cannon and Company
line of parts.
Thanks
Michael Ostertag
