If I were the CEO... of XYZ model train co... how do I promote the hobby?

I guess in a round-about way the last thread by Floridaboy "Ken" got me thinking about the state of the hobby again.

I know that in many regions of this country and other countries... this hobby may still be thriving... but more often than not I read about model train stores closing and fewer attendees to model train shows. Manufacturers have cut-back on releases and even cancelled previously announced items due to lack of pre-orders.

I'm sure that 'we'... as the collective model railroading enthusiasts of the world... should be looking for ways to motivate others to take this hobby to heart and become future model railroaders to carry on the tradition. Unfortunately... I'm getting the feeling that most of use may be 'Lone-Wolves' and pretty much don't do any promoting of the hobby.

I guess JFK' quote... 'Don't ask what the country can do for YOU, ask what YOU can do for the country"... isn't going to inspire us to a similar quote like... "Don't ask what model railroading can do for YOU, ask what YOU can do for model railroading". I'm guessing that because we have perceived that we have very little to offer and really don't have a major vested interest in the success or failure of the hobby... we are NOT the ones to do the promoting.

Manufacturers and Hobby retailers... on the other hand... have a lot to lose if the hobby should fail at some point in the future. This in not to say THE SKY IS FALLING... in fact... I doubt I'm going to wake-up one day during my lifetime... to find all hobby shops and model railroad manufacturers out of business. So rather than put the onus on the average model railroader to promote the hobby... why not ask what the model railroad companies NEED to do to assure a continued growth or at least stability in the hobby.

I guess if "I" were the CEO of a company...
I would want my company to be self-reliant on the manufacturing of the products.
Keep the product in our country and have tight control on the Quality Control, Parts & Service.
Consider the use of 3D printing for very special runs of products which are geared towards a relatively small market.
A wider variety of models which are more customized to the modeler's desire as a pre-order (road specific details added).
Have the costs linked to the complexity of the work requested; such as, plain DC minimally detailed diesel <$100 MSRP, while fully detailed DCC diesel ~$150.

So have at it... give us your recommendations... perhaps a model railroad manufacturers are waiting for the next big idea.
PS... Don't limit yourselves to the manufacturing of models... include ways to promote the hobby through shows, advertising etc...

 

Grandpa Joe,

Well there are a few things to add. Most the hobby shops that closed, did so more to poor management than real economics. I am not saying that the economy didn't put a few under, but that with good management strategy, it may not have happened. The shops I knew that closed, didn't really do much to cultivate patronage. Ones that did, did things like have modeling clinics of some sort or another. Or they added functionality like repairs of DCC installations for customers. The mindset that customers will just come because I have products on the shelves doesn't work.

And yes, sometimes they just shut down due to retirement.

And this model doesn't just apply to hobby shops either.

Now speaking as a manufacturer, which I have been, there is a lot of waste in the current system that can be eliminated. For example, use state of the art CAD-CAM and you can cut tooling for a couple of thousands of dollars instead of tens of thousands of dollars.

Next modularize the product line such that base models can be upgraded to road specific details with a minimum of additional cost or effort. Fox Valley did this to some extent with the grabs and sunshades on their Gevo models. The difference would be that the details would be factory installed not consumer installed.

Source all paints based on the pantone palette published by the road name historical societies. Use them also for car types, numbers, paint schemes and even fonts.

Innovate with every release, how long did it take Atlas to make locomotives with ditch lights? Why to this day does Kato not make the marker lights work on the P42 locomotives? Why not hire a good metallurgist to create a custom alloy strong enough for the hand rails and stanchions to be closer to true scale size. In the area of decoders, why not have them also model consumables like sand, fuel and water? And even toss in the random equipment failure that temporarily suspends the decoders ability to respond.

And look at doing things in sets, like Kato does their passenger cars. Locomotives are released to support the passenger cars, and the passenger car sales. Likewise look at things like the Runner sets, only follow a pattern that can time the released to allow modeler financial recovery. Could be something as simple as First Quarter - Eastern roads , Second Quarter - Southern roads, Third Quarter - Midwest roads, and Fourth Quarter for Western roads as an example. or you may opt for an era by quarter model too. But release enough products to make up a train. This way the consumer isn't sitting there with a locomotive and no cars. You can still count on the other manufacturers to help fill in, but if you can deliver a reasonable train, it is something that can be used right away.

Last, but not least, find the manufacturing resources in the US and no outsourcing. There are great machine shops and factories here using state of the art equipment that can match and in some cases beat Chinese pricing. In the field of secure electronic communications equipment, I used to beat the Chinese competition all the time and still make a nice profit. It can be done, you just have to change the way of doing manufacturing. The model above is basically how I grew my business before I decided to step down and spend more time at home with my then baby daughter. That company is still beating Asian competitors and still very profitable.

 

1) Cut cost. I remember Atheran blue box kits for $3-$5
Locomotives that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

2) Public outreach. Model railroading is not advertised. Many don't know the hobby exsist. This is where we pull in what Lionel did. Sons coming together with their fathers playing trains.

3) Attitude adjustments. I remember being a teen in the late 90's going to train shows and getting the cold shoulder or the attitude. I tried joining clubs but was discouraged by alot of the older members that did not care to share the hobby or lend an ear to anyone without gray hair or fought on a sub in the pacific.

We need to promote and engage. It's simply no longer an affordable or known hobby plain and simple. Plus youngsters no offense do not want to hang out with the older crowd.

 

To add to this....this may be off subject some but I'll throw it out anyways. When I was younger and without a computer at my disposal you could go to any store and see train mags everywhere. Model railroader, railroad model craftsman. Now....they are only found in book stores...a bit of a let down some.

 

I could be wrong, but... I think most kids get into the miniature, or virtual version of something... because they have seen and like the real version. That's how I got started. We rode trains a lot when I was a kid, and I just liked the idea of duplicating that. Same thing happened with me and some friends, when we moved to the suburbs, and we lived next to a line. I think one of the biggest things competing with actual models, is virtual models. Flight sims and train sims do fairly well. Without those, I would bet that more kids might be into the actual models. I'm not really sure what can be done to change that. I actually think promoting train WATCHING, could maybe have a better influence on kids, than going straight to models. The model part might just happen naturally after that. But as far as the economics of manufacturing goes... That's a whole other can of worms. I run a business and I mainly produce all of my own products here in the US. Believe me, there is what you want to do, and then there is what you CAN do... and unfortunately, those two things are pretty far apart lots of times.

 

To add to this as well....there isn't much in the way of really good budget friendly manufactured stuff anymore. Like with me. My locomotive funds are limited to around 50 bucks. That gets me what? An athearn bluebox that's as old if not older than me. I can't afford 100 locomotives for they would take a third of my paycheck. Train set prices have gotten high as well. If you can't attract the budget conscious or reach out to those who can't afford 100+ for a locomotive or 20+ for a single train car then love for the hobby will die...

 

I think cost is a huge factor. We have seen costs skyrocket of late. I am at the point where I have stopped my monthly purchases. Sorry folks but I am not paying over $20.00 for a boxcar or a open hopper.

 

Our RR club just did the Great Train Expo. Their were a lot of people there. Saturday the place was packed. Don't know if they are model railroaders or just people looking. It was very busy both days. As far as stores closing most are over priced on their trains.
We have one store in town the building has been paid for ten times. He still charges MSRP or higher. I can order from train stores
out of state and get a lot more for my money.

Don

 

To add a bit here, we model Rails can promote the hobby by attending non-rail hobby specific ahows with items to sell or better yet, a portable layout that runs reliably. Have done a couple of these events and the response is pretty good. And when the practice layout is done, it is modular, it will attend a few of the shows here locally. That is one way to put our hobby out there.

I also remember an old MR article(?)which was about how a school used model railroading as a course. Why? Because of all the different skill sets involved in it! So, getting some educators involved and using the hobby as a teacjing tool helps. I remember one of my high school teachers bringing his Lionel stuff in constantly.

As for lhs closures, I am not certain. I do know that one near my brother, in Iowa, closed due to retirement. The owner also had a mint dream, pie in the sky price tag on his entire inventory. Much of that was old and over priced and un-inventoried. And the building did not go with the sale, nor his net sales accounts! Whenever I went in there we always found good deals, but it was a hunt!

Promotion comes down to local folks getting the hobby out there in the public eye. That's you and me.

So help our grandkids and such to enjoy it. and any neighbor, co-worker, etc to get interested.

As for the manufacturers, I agree with all the above,

 

1. I would have some employees whose sole responsibility was to join and monitor the various model railroad forums.
2. I would make certain a website was created where potential customers could ask questions and get answers directly from the company.
3. I would manufacture all products within North or South America.
4. I would have a representative at every major model railroad show.
5. I would sponsor a TV show to promote the hobby.
6. I would review and revise the pricing and special deal practices that most manufacturers and distributors in the USA currently use with
the aim of setting wholesale prices the same for all dealers and encouraging all dealers to sell retail at comparable prices.
(Experience: The LHS could not believe an e-tailer could have sold the same products I bought from him/LHS for $3 less than his price.)
7. I would attempt to maintain a procedure for announcement and release of new products with reasonable length of time, and when that time
was exceeded, post announcements that explain the delay and new estimate of release.

 

I agree with what has been said so far. I'm not sure if an individual company could economically pull it off, but the hobby needs infinitely more out-of-market exposure. Perhaps a North American Model Railroad Manufacturers Association could pool enough funds to launch a television ad campaign on some of the channels that appeal to kids, and hobby-minded individuals.
I'm only 30, so I do remember when I wasn't outside how the Lego and Hot Wheels ads on Nickelodeon caught my attention and sparked my imagination. I had two big Lionel trains for Christmas time, but I had no idea people had trains they ran year-round, let alone built miniature worlds for them! Perhaps my parents purposefully isolated me from it for fear I would get carried away...
In addition to kids, there are plenty of adults who may be interested in the hobby and get no exposure to it because bricks and mortar shops are disappearing, or don't deal in trains because they aren't profitable like RC. I have a channel called RFDTV on my Dish that has a show about classic toy trains at 4 on Thursday afternoons. How is it that a model trains show doesn't exist? Or, if it does, why is it that it's on public access at 3am and no one watches it?
Finally, the elephant in the room, DC and even DCC are complicated and archaic in today's tech society. The manufacturer that comes up with a viable intuitive control technology, probably a powered-rail/radio control hybrid that can be controlled by an app over WiFi, and markets accordingly at a reasonable price will in all likelihood sell a lot of units.

Sent from the magical mystery box

 

1) If you can get costs down for labor here, then I'm all for it, but no one can now....MT is an exception. Lower detailed models and they also have been using tooling for decades that have helped fund lots of their recent products.
2) Not feasible at this time. China has the best pool of manufacturing workers that can handle small parts, etc. And the costs are lower.
3) See above. If you want models more customized, the costs go up. You're trying to work both sides of the coin, and it doesn't work that way.
4) Again, lower detailed models = lower costs, less parts for the manufacturing work pool to put on. Atlas has this with the Trainman line. Not sure how feasible that line has been for sales, as we've only seen the GP15, and re-run older tolling cars used.


As for promoting, up here we have High Wheeler and Trainfest as the two big shows I attend each year with Modutrak. Having friends within Trainfest's committee, I get to hear about the attendance there every year. It continues to go up each year. High Wheeler seems to have tailed off the last year or so, but there's been a change in getting more complete layouts displayed, and the year they had Radio Disney there, the attendance was ridiculous. So, I'd agree that the hobby maybe stale in certain areas....likely in areas where retirement community age is more prevelant.

I have been in multiple clubs. I've left them all after a couple of years, and frustration of dealing with politics and egos. As one member has posted here, there seems to be a certain demographic that has a chip on their shoulder, and can't let things go. My Dad is a terrible offender of this, and tries to rule the club he is in with an iron fist. His way, or he takes his ball and goes home. It's a major turn off.

The virtual modeling thought is an interesting one. If one visits the Trainz Forums, you'll see that a vast majority of the members are younger. Many of them model railroaders too. I think programs like Trainz and Train Simulator might bridge the gap for the age discrepancy we think we're seeing. Again, at the shows I attend there's a vast set of ages interested in the hobby, it's getting them activated in clubs, etc. that's the key. When they can create something instantaneous on the PC rather than at a work bench, it's tough to pry them away. As an avid Roller Coaster Tycoon builder (at 39), I have the same issues sometimes. Instantaneous gratification!

 

I see many ideas here that I agree with.

BUT, this is the N-SCALE forum. That is NOT a good scale for young children to play with, and a difficult scale for beginners to start with.

It's main attraction is that you can model a lot more prototypical space and action than you can with larger scales, even HO.

So, focusing on how to imorove participation in N-SCALE, here are a few suggestions:

1. Focus on RELIABILITY and DURABILITY. I am not saying to make solid, unrealistic blobs that are unbreakable. But, pay attention to how the details are made and attached. Choose materials that do not easily break (i.e., grabs and whistles that are brass or Delrin, not styrene or "pot metal"). Pay attention to how the locomotive gears are made and asembled. Avoid like the plague selling a customer an expensive item that will quickly break or stop running or continuously derail, despite careful handling.

2. Make more SMALL n-scale rolling stock, particularly passenger cars and locomotives. Ironically, Bachmann seems to have done the best at that recently. But, there is currently minimal availability of GOOD quality staples like 60'-to-65' passenger cars, medium steam engines like Pacifics and Mikados, and the later, larger small engine models like Ten-wheelers. (Bachmann has produced a nice late-version Consolidation that can really fill the bill for layouts with sharper curves because of space restictions.)

3. Emphasize actually PARTICIPATING in operating the trains. Get T-Trak past watching a couple of trains run in circles so that kids can DO something besides sit back and watch adults build models and assemble portable displays. In N-scale, remote uncoupling is a big reliability problem that I don't see being overcome cheaply and robustly any time soon. So, pick-uncoupling is going to be required, and that is not easily done by very young children. But, I'll bet that a session that allows a youngster to operate a locomotive while his adult "brakeman" tells him how to manuever it to assemble a train, then lets that youngster take HIS/HER train out on the main for a laps or more, perhaps with station stops or even some switching, would hook that young future customer, even with N-scale, so long as he had a place to go play with a group of "kids" of every age who can already do the things that he isn't able to do yet.

4. Which brings me to my final comment. Race cars seem to be taking the "steam" (and customers) out of model railroading. One of the LHSs I visited had THREE tracks for various types of race cars, and people were lined-up to use them all. Another one near me has no tracks for race cars, but is constantly zooming them around the parking lot. Those places have NOWHERE that a kid can even TEST a train that he/she just purchased. Having a place to RUN trains BEFORE you build a layout would be a big draw. LHSs that want to bother with trains SHOULD make some space available. And, they should ENCOURAGE T-Trak groups to form, letting them use the shop location for meets and clinics, and working to make them independent so that they can meet in any member's garage or porch and set-up and OPERATE for a day, then take it appart and do it again at another member's place whenever they feel like it. That is how I understand that T-Trak is done in Japan, in much smaller places than we US homeowners have to work with. But, the T-Trak groups in my region are few and far between (at least a 2-hour drive for me, one-way), and they all seem to be on a treadmill to go to some public exhibit EVERY weekend. ALL they seem to do at those exhibits is set-up poorly detailed modules, start the trains running around the two loops, and then sit and talk among themselves as they "cover" the exhibit to prevent damage and pilfering. They seem burned-out. They aren't attracting anybody, including me. And, I am an n-scale modeller who can't do a layout of my own right now but COULD do some really neat modules IF there were others with compatible modules and the urge to PLAY with them in locales NEAR me.

 

Engineering students should have to plan and build a model railroad, which most would fail miserably!

 

Data_engine,

Most engineering students DO have to design and build something at various points in their educations. Robotics is a big "hands-on" attraction for that, right now. I would not denigrate current engineering student's hands-on abilities.

But, I think that it is important to recognize that there is as much ART as engineering in model railroading. A person who enjoys the hobby without getting frustrrated and quitting needs to either encompass both talents within him/herself, or quickly become involved in a group that needs that person's particular expertise and provides support where the individual is lacking.

Steve

 

I'd think it's more important to recognize that model railroading can go beyond art and engineering. It's just a question of how deep you want to go.

 

A few thoughts about evangelizing... Model Railroading has many aspects, and I think the key is to somehow get the word out about all those aspects to the various types of people who would be interested...

Many of the younger video-game types could be attracted by the puzzle solving and empire building aspects of layout design/planning and operations, and by the electronics/control/automation parts. These aspects have many elements very much in common with the better video games, including storylines and such.

The more artistic types could be drawn to scenery design and construction, including structures, rock forms and so on... to an extent many of these things are like a 3-dimensional painting.

Those with a historical bent could be drawn to the research and prototypical accuracy aspects.

Then there is simply the "play" and "fun" aspect, along with the social part. One of the truly best parts of the hobby is spending time hanging out with other modelers... lots of other popular hobbies have this, including the R/C crowd, sports enthusiasts and so on. Many things we do recreationally are merely excuses to get together and socialize. The key there is for those of us who are "in" to be open and welcome to newcomers and make them feel welcome.

I think a lot of this has to be grass-roots, but will also have to be supported by the (relatively) deep pockets of the manufacturers, distributors and retailers. The T-Track idea is fantastic... one thing there would be to get with Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts/Brownies, having the kids construct, connect, and run modules. This can connect both the kids and the parents to the hobby and show how it can be a shared family thing. The Boy Scouts already has a Railroading merit badge. Industry types should be ALL OVER making sure every Boy Scout on the planet has an easy way to earn this badge.

We've got to get out and show folks how much fun this can be, how social it can be, and how it ties in with other interests (game play, history, art, electronics, etc.) the hobby can be.

I really don't see the cost of the hobby as being that big of a problem. People spend crazy amounts of money on things they find important. A decent set of golf clubs cost hundreds of dollars. A single GAME of golf can cost as much as a locomotive. Tickets to sporting events or concerts, likewise add up FAST. The R/C toys are selling like hotcakes and are NOT cheap.

I DO, however, think that the emphasis on building a layout is a mistake. Building a layout can take YEARS, and take space that many people don't want to allocate to a hobby. A focus on beginners getting in and building structures, doing dioramas or T-track style modules (or even NTrack or Freemo-N) can really make a difference here. Even at the shows, I think the modular clubs should have some "loose" modules out where people can see them in isolation, get a feel for just how NOT big they are, and how easy it would be to construct just one module... instead of a whole room-sized empire.

 

State of the Hobby Address

I live in a small town in Western Oklahoma and you could draw a circle around that town with a 120 mile radius and you wouldn’t find a single hobby shop within that 45,240 sq mi region, that’s larger than the state of Ohio.
This state of affairs is not uncommon in the United States anymore; though it didn’t always use to be that way.

Growing up, I often spent my summer vacations here and at other small towns in Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona and I spent much of that time perusing the many small town hobby shops that are now long gone. And no; neither Wal-Mart nor the internet killed them off, they were all gone before either of those two showed up.

When I attend the Big Oklahoma City Train Show I never encounter anybody from any of the small towns out this way. As far as I can tell I am the only model railroader within that same aforementioned 45,240 sq mi area. How can any manufacture promote a hobby if there is absolutely no presence of that hobby? About the only hobby I see any adult participation in out this way is radio control airplanes and even there it takes people from the entirety of that 45,240 sq mi region and then some, just to put together a couple of “Fly Ins” each year.

Since I left N. California back in 2000, at least three big hobby/train shops that I know of that were located in the Bay Area have closed down. This in what is one of the most densely populated regions of the U.S. and supposedly one of the wealthiest. I know of other shops in the SoCal region that have closed as well.

Economic and demographic changes were probably responsible for many of those closures, what was once a solidly white middle class neighborhood drifts into something well below middle class and/or moves from predominately White to perhaps Hispanic or Asian; who even if they are solidly upper middle class have different ideas as to their hobby activities.

Let’s face it folks, model railroading is, at least currently in the U.S., predominately an activity of the Caucasian Persuasion, we are pretty much White Bread.
Yes, I know there are always exceptions but they are the exception not the rule.

Sadly in much of today’s America; if it isn’t sold at Wal-Mart nobody even knows it exists and if it is sold at Wal-Mart then it has stopped being a hobby and become a toy.
I have no idea how to change this trend/scenario.