The incredible shrinking York

irish rifle posted:

 

I found this particular Meet to be excellent. The weather was better than usual for an April Meet. While a couple of the manufacturers were not there, virtually all of the top dealers were. The dealer halls were busy and in speaking to a few of the dealers, the consistent response was that sales were brisk. The member halls were also very busy when I visited them. There were plenty of great deals at this Meet. There always are at York Meets. You just had to search them out. I was able to find and purchase everything on my list. I also purchased some items I had no intention of purchasing, like a PRR Lantern from the lantern guy in the Blue Hall.

 

Already looking forward to October!

Pat 

Pat, it was nice talking to you. That's another cool aspect of York, you never know who you're going to see!

I heard rumblings at the York Show that it shrinking and that manufactures/dealers rather go to bigger shows like Amherst, MA, Worlds Greatest Hobby Shows, Rock Mountain TCA Division in CO, and Train Fest in Milwaukee.  They said these shows draw 20,000 people compared to 8,000 at York. Do you think this is true?

Allan Miller posted:

gmorlitz posted: My new plan is to give people who are interested in my layout a one year paper subscription to OGR. That way they will be getting something about the hobby throughout they year and they can become aware of meets, etc. That will start with someone visiting me in a couple of weeks.

Gerry

It goes without saying, I suppose, that from my perspective it sure would be great if a whole lot of folks did that! Heck, it would be truly great if the majority of those many thousands who participate on this forum would just subscribe to the print, digital, or both forms of the magazine. That would really help OGR and the hobby as a whole in many ways. Supporting and advancing the hobby is what we are all about, and I would like to believe we are going about it in the right way.

Everyone who has ever been invited to our home to see our layout, hobbyists or not, has been given, upon leaving, a T-shirt, specially made with the name of the layout, "Moon Township," on it, along with a copy of one of the OGR Runs in which the layout has been presented. Guests have liked that.

FrankM

TrainHead posted:

I heard rumblings at the York Show that it shrinking and that manufactures/dealers rather go to bigger shows like Amherst, MA, Worlds Greatest Hobby Shows, Rock Mountain TCA Division in CO, and Train Fest in Milwaukee.  They said these shows draw 20,000 people compared to 8,000 at York. Do you think this is true?

Yes I think that is true. John

john dellagrotte posted:

TrainHead posted:

I heard rumblings at the York Show that it shrinking and that manufactures/dealers rather go to bigger shows like Amherst, MA, Worlds Greatest Hobby Shows, Rock Mountain TCA Division in CO, and Train Fest in Milwaukee.  They said these shows draw 20,000 people compared to 8,000 at York. Do you think this is true?

Yes I think that is true. John

Those numbers are highly misleading, as it's an apples to oranges comparison for some of those Shows. I regularly attend the Amherst Show. While it is terrific, the vast majority of those who attend are HO and N Gauge collectors/operators/dealers. O Gauge collectors/operators/dealers are a small minority at these Shows. That is also the case at World's Greatest Hobby and Greenberg Shows. 

TrainHead posted:

I heard rumblings at the York Show that it shrinking and that manufactures/dealers rather go to bigger shows like Amherst, MA, Worlds Greatest Hobby Shows, Rock Mountain TCA Division in CO, and Train Fest in Milwaukee.  They said these shows draw 20,000 people compared to 8,000 at York. Do you think this is true?

Drawing 12,000-20,000 people out for a day with the kids is a lot different from 8,000 train nuts planning on spending maybe an average of $100.+ each. I can speak to Greenberg and WGH shows because I spend full weekends at them with our modular group. Few people, at the 2 shows I mentioned, walk out with a purchase. However, I think Lionel is better off spending the $ for the WGH show.