Great Scale Model Train Show Newsletter 

Mid August 2008

Just two months to our upcoming Oct 11/12 show and registrations are coming in now.  Please note our new fee schedule before sending in your registration and let us know ASAP if you want to participate in discount coupon program.  As mentioned we will be including with the new admission a sheet of 10 coupons worth $1 off any purchase of $10 or more.  You would be obligated only to accept 10 coupons. Any more would be dealer’s choice.  You will be highlighted on our site and be given special signs denoting that you will accept these coupons.

Many have already signed up for this.

When we began this show in 1982, it was about serious scale model railroading only.  Times have changed.  We do not know what the percentage is of folks leaving the hobby vs. the new ones entering.  We suspect that the figures would not be positive.

We began a program last year to attract new families through Thomas the Tank Engine trains.  Not only is it possible to plant the seed within these young tykes, but many fathers and moms are seeing for first time how this hobby can expand way beyond Thomas.

Some have suggested that giving Thomas dealers a break in table rentals is not fair.  We disagree!  What we are losing in rentals and what we are spending on ads to attract these new folks is helping our show for all, in addition to possibly making the hobby stronger.  Only facts and figures can prove this.  It is conceivable that Ken and I may not live to see the results.  Then again many folks who came to our first family promotion in February, have since returned.

With the upcoming election, it is almost certain that fuel prices will come down.  We found later that many of our dealers did not let the fuel cost dissuade them, but still came to our June show and some opted for the WGH in Louisville .  Our attendance was not at all affected.  Still some will say no to recreational travel and expenditures for now, but we believe from what we have witnessed that this percentage is very small.

HZ

Summer show… June 28-29

$4.07 plus per gallon………….. indeed uncharted territory!  We had to use the smaller 4H building, as we could not fill the larger Exhibit Building .

We have heard that recent model railroad and other similar theme events have gone somewhat south due to these prices.  We saw a dramatic reduction in vendor participation when gas rose above $3.00 per gallon.  At over $4.00?????????????

Well we still had a decent show with many vendors doing quite well, and some were breaking summer show sales records.

We used 325 vendor tables on Saturday, 292 on Sunday.  Saturday’s paid gate was 1199, Sunday was 488, Sunday returns were 200 and with family rates….an extra 55.  Total attendance with kids was a hair shy of 2000.  We have had worse summer shows, but considering the current loused up state of affairs…. proportionally this was one of our best summer shows.

We lost over 100 tables to the Louisville WGH show, and we heard on Sunday morning that many of our vendors who chose to attend the WGH show………… well ask them!  Our information is second and third hand.  Plus we will never say anything about competition.  We will only talk about our shows.  I do, however question the sanity of some local vendors to spend well over $1000 plus in transportation and lodging to attend a summer show during these uncertain times in a far distant city with a model railroad market considerably smaller than the Maryland-Baltimore/Virginia/ Pennsylvania market. Gee folks…. what did we do?  Come back… we still love you!

We are immediately beginning work on the October show.  Our goal is to once again be able to fill the entire building and bring in many attendees including newbies.

For this upcoming October show and winter show we will again be using Stinson Marketing to aid us in promotions.

We have found in these insane and volatile economic times basically there are three types……..

Type 1…. is the person who will spend little or nothing on hobbies due to fear of what is happening to this country, what could happen to his or her job, fear of investments going sour, and just in general not feeling secure.

Type 2…. is the person who due to these troubling times will postpone or cut back vacation time, not buy the new car, second home, boat, or addition to home………or for that matter, any major purchase.  But he or she will now spend time at home and with hobbies which are still quite enjoyable and affordable.

Type 3…. is the person who is not at all affected by current events, and proceeds with life as if all is normal.

Ken and myself are a blending of all three types.  Personally, I’m overwhelmed with anger, but will not post my feelings on this site.  I have indeed posted my feelings on my zanestructures.com site under ………  “Howard’s politically incorrect thoughts on the world today”….. My ideas, thoughts and rantings ain’t pretty and read at one’s own risk!  It is my safety valve and by writing down my thoughts, I rid myself of much anger and hostility towards our leadership and the idiots who put these morons in office.  Remember Peter Finch’s character in Network………. try it!  It works!

Piermont Division layout…….. New visitor policy.  But first let me state how much I love to share my art with others.  This could be the major reason why I built my layout, but the excessive thefts recently have countered my feelings about sharing.  I have found that 99.9% of the many thousand visitors over the years have been wonderful, but I had no idea how the .1% could sour me on opening the layout for large groups.

Big open houses are now history.  I will accept visitors, but no more than five at a time and by appointment only.  Again please understand that I am honored when asked to see the layout.  My railroad will be on the MER tour in mid October, but I have already stated my security terms and there will be plenty!

The last major theft occurred the week before the January show during a visit from a local club.  The thief even emailed me the day after saying that he stole an expensive C&O brass loco and dared me to catch him.  Thinking he was blowing smoke I had a huge open house the week after and during our January show.  A month after we finally discovered that a C&O 4-8-4 by PFM in addition to three MTS B&O C-15 single door baggage cars were indeed missing.  The case is in the hands of the good guys now, but even if the thief is caught, hanged, and disemboweled, my interests in having large groups over has waned quite a bit.  During the April show I again had almost 60 or more over on Saturday night, but I found myself suspecting everyone….. even folks I have know for decades.  This ain’t fun nor is it healthy!

Some have suggested…….. well maybe it was not the club, and the theft occurred during the subsequent visits.  It was indeed the club,  as they came unannounced on a Wednesday choo choo night.  We were way in the back of section 3 when we discovered that these guys had been in the basement for at least 5 to 10 minutes wearing coats as it was mid January.  They came with someone I had known and had been part of my Wednesday night group.  Plus the hateful email the day after cemented the fact that the theft did occur during that visit.

During open houses I do not allow coats, bags, boxes or loose clothing in the basement, but even still items have been taken, but small things like autos, tools and accessories.  It is easy to see if a vehicle is missing by the dust line on the road.  A year ago, some guy sent me through the roof with anger.  We kindly told him the rules, but he insisted on wearing his Army field jacket.  As he tried to descend the stairs, I grabbed his collar and pulled him up.  I asked him to get out of my house, and he threatened litigation as to my grabbing him.  I was so angry, that I almost asked the 50 or so folks already in the basement to leave immediately.  Fortunately I have a large kicking tree in the back.

I hope some who read this can learn from my experiences and I most certainly hope that no one else has experienced these assaults.  I guess just use common sense………..if that don’t work, call Guido and Tony!

Free appraisals……… Since I retired from selling brass and general HO model train sales in 2005, I am no longer current and qualified to do these.  Roy Brakmann use to appraise Hi-Rail and tinplate, but Roy has been in the big roundhouse for over 6 years now.  Not only was he an excellent appraiser with a retentive mind, but he was tops in repairs for all scales.

Point, we are looking for volunteers to appraise choo choos at our shows.  There is no pay, but it is a lot of fun, and you will be doing a service.  You will have staff privileges including meals and snacks. But you must be qualified!!

Repairs………….. The Four County Society of Model Engineers have two excellent repair folks……….. Charlie Bullinger, and most recently, Jan Willard.  Jan works with brass, and is excellent with DCC…..mainly NCE.  Both of these fellows have performed miracles for me, and I’m sure can be of great assist to you.  You can contact them through the Four County group or through me.

And speaking of the Four County layout, I’m indeed impressed.  I would travel to our shows just to visit this layout and see it in operation. It is HO scale and varies in size depending on how many members can set up for each particular show.  This layout on occasion has exceeded 100 feet in length.  It is of course modular, but with very high design standards.  No way does this look like your typical modular group as everything blends in perfectly.  Many have asked if this a traveling layout built by a club or one person.  When told that is a modular layout, they seem to be in disbelief.  The pike is powered by NCE digital command control combined with the latest in hi-tech electronics.

The Four County layout was recently featured in 2005 Great Model Railroads by Kalmbach.  They were honored to be chosen for this annual publication, but I was disappointed in what was done to the copy and the photo reproduction.  If you have read this feature 3 years ago, and have not seen this layout, come visit and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.  It is literally many-fold better than Model Railroader’s depiction.

I’m known possibly as a respectable modeler and I’m almost satisfied with my layout and overall building skills, but I must say that every time I see the Four County layout, I become inspired and make immediate changes on my layout.  I’m always speaking of color and texture being an important part of scale.  These folks have mastered this. One member in particular has taken this color/texture/scale bit into the twilight zone.  I’d rate Bob Mott as one of the finest modelers I have known to date.  He is an Army colonel, physician, and I just learned… color blind.  This is amazing!!  Then again all of these folks are top notch and are most sharing and willing to assist in just about every facet of this hobby………. and they are indeed qualified!!  They do set up for all of our shows and we are most grateful, as I’m sure are all of the folks who have visited this fine layout.

Our deepest thanks to the Four County Group.

HZ

April 12-13, 2008

I’ll start this newsletter with a quote from a scheduled vendor fielded on the 10^th…….. “I was filling up the van and when the price went past $65 with just over 2/3 full……jammed the nozzle back into the pump, paid the bill and said… Screw it…… just ain’t worth it!!”

We don’t know how typical this was as still many vendors came including two from Florida: Denny Jelsma and TexnRails.  But we got the message loud and clear!!  ( At least they saved money going home as it was downhill.)  We did receive several cancellations in the past two weeks due to excessive transportation costs.

This was our smallest number of vendors for an April show, but we had the best ever attendance for this show.  Why??  First we made the Baltimore Sun’s Weekend’s best three picks. We were covered twice on TV…Fox news on Friday morning live from my home and train set:  Then…Saturday morning live from the show on WBAL /Channel 11 was covered by Rob Roblin, a well know local TV personality.  We placed large ads in several papers including “bring in” discount coupons.  In addition there were the fliers sent everywhere, direct mail and emails to thousands on our list.

The Saturday table count was 537 for vendors and 82 for display folks.  Sunday of course was less as we have some Saturday only folks set up.  Another problem was that we did not use the North Wing.  We normally rent this, but there were two reasons…..the major being the huge amount of rent we have to pay coupled with the increase this year.  Then for some reason it just was not available this time.  I believe they were setting up Sunday afternoon and evening for another event.  We did not push the issue as due to the cancellations, we could not have filled it.

We will be using the North wing for the October show anticipating more vendors as October and February are normally our two largest shows.  Either the fuel prices will come down (a free market and competition usually works), or we will have adjusted to the prices.  The fuel cost had jumped $.55 to .$65 per gallon just in the past 2½ months since the February show.  We believe that is some sort of a record……….but the real record is why the American people are putting up with it.  I promised no politics on this newsletter, so I’ll shut up………but be it known, I’m mad as hell!!!  I’m greatly looking forward to election day! Short of anarchy, which is not very popular in this country, our only weapon is our vote.  Use it wisely as will I!!

Our attendance was as follows…………

Saturday….paid were 2071
Sunday……paid were 1278

Total weekend attendance with families and children was 4456.   This surpassed our previous high for this show which was in 2002 at 4420.

If not noticed, we have been trying to bring new folks into the hobby by advertising to families.  We believe the future of this and many other hobbies lie within.  The teen entering by himself or herself……. just ain’t gonna happen.  Folks in their career formative years………..doubtful!!  Folks in their 40’s to 60’s…..some activity, but nowhere as in years past.  As a family endeavor, we have seen much interest.  You may have noticed the many little kiddies.  We now encourage entry level trains including Thomas as to plant seeds for this hobby.  Hopefully these experiences will take hold before computers dominate their entire lives.  WE STOP HERE!   Our emphasis will always be quality scale trains and quality Hi-Rail which has evolved into scale model railroading…..only on three rail track.

The diehards have been dwindling in numbers over the years.  Ten years ago the opening line with these diehards would have extended up the hill and almost to and sometimes beyond the Exhibition building.  Now more folks are coming in all hours, meaning that the interest is there, but they have not yet discovered the value of being the first in line to scarf up the deals.  They will learn in time, and we are banking on it.

Ken and I are real old critters now, but we are in excellent shape and we feel strongly that we will be around to see the resurgence in train shows.

Model railroading in no way is dying.  What is happening is that marketing and buying trends are changing.  On-line buying is rapidly growing, but this will not attract new folks into the hobby. The shows, hobby shops and club open houses will continue to be the saving venue.  Although a competitor, the World’s Greatest Hobby Show is doing an excellent job in promoting our hobby.  We take our hats off to them and say…”THANKS!

Don’t forget our June 28/29 show.  There will be fewer displays and we always keep this the more serious scale show for buying and trading.  Without the many layouts we fear the public may not capture the enthusiasm and excitement of this hobby.  We of course will advertise for the public in addition to folks well into model railroading.  This show usually has 400 to 500 tables as it is held in the AIR CONDITIONED Exhibition building.  Please check our site for updates on who will be attending.

Vendors -- please don’t forget that the table cost will be going up $5 and the admission will be going up to $9 beginning in October. Please read previous newsletter posts for more details and what we will be offering as an offset.  We will not be pocketing the extra funds, but putting them into advertising.  This could increase your bottom line after all of the dust settles.  All is pure conjecture now, but what is fact is that we could not continue with our current pricing structure.

Vendors who sign up and pay for tables before and during the June show may have the existing rate and if desired, may pay for as many future shows they would want to attend……still at the old rate.  One dealer booked through 2009 even though the dates have not yet been published.

   
NEWSFLASH!!

Well we promised we’d let you folks know when we can no longer hold our present rates.  It seems that everyone today wants a piece of us … Rent increases again for the building, table rental up, we are now charged for electricity (BUT WE DO NOT CHARGE YOU FOR IT!!!), security, advertising costs have more than tripled, and insurance is drastically up!!  Also, our staff have not received a raise in years.  Ken and myself???  Yeah sure!!!

STARTING IN OCTOBER

Here is what we have come up with and we will also be following with a mailing to vendors who have set up in the past five years………

    1.   Tables…………………..$70.
    2.   Tables (extra wide)……$75
    3.   Admission……………...$9.

  Here are the good parts………….

=> First we will include a discount coupon sheet with each admission.  There will be 10 coupons worth $1 off for each $10 spent.  These may be used at participating dealers tables.

Dealers who choose to participate will be listed in large and highlighted type on our site.  They will be given a “discount participating dealer” sign, and we will include a list of all participating dealers with the coupons.  You will be receiving a post paid card … just fill it out, send it back to us, and we will do the rest -- or let us know by email.  Should you elect to join this program, it will help greatly in keeping the show viable and you will receive our warmest thanks and I’m sure from others.  It should also increase sales.

=> Children 15 and under will be free.

=> Unlimited family will be $18.

=> Still all admissions will be good for both days.

=> We are offering a 4 show ticket for the price of 3 shows … or $27 beginning in October.  Presently the fare is $21 and will be honored until ticket is used up.

=> Vendor tables may be purchased at the current price up to the June show and for all future shows you are planning on attending if paid in full. After the June show all tables will be rented at the new price.

=> We will still include a free table for every nine tables rented.

=> Electricity will still be free ………. unless it goes up again. (Currently we can absorb the increase)

=> We will still provide free coffee and donuts during the Saturday set up, and coffee on Sunday morning set up.

=> There is still no admission charge for dealers and their helpers.

=> Starting with the April show, dealers who have done 100 (or more) of our shows will be given a special award and may hold the table fees at the old rate for the following year of shows.

We are sorry to have to raise fees, but in the last 20 years our costs have increased many fold, but we have only increased the admission by $2. and not much more for the tables.

Howard and Ken