Happened to notice that both USA Trains and Aristocraft pulled out of the convention at the last minute. Kinda disappointing. My dark side wants to assume the worst, but does anybody have any verifiable info? It would have been nice to see their stuff here...
NGRC No-Shows...
NW Jim
1 - 2 of 61 Posts
Joined
·
2,266 Posts
Very surprising about USA and Aristo! The NGRC is considered one of the "Big Three" and as such, I would have expected at least a booth with three or four tables displaying the current products! Disappointing...
Joined
·
2,266 Posts
Nexus.....how come we haven't heard of this before now? 38 states now and it's been growing since 1990 when there were seven? C'mon! Get real! The reason the manufacturers aren't showing up is the economy plain and simple! Aristo puts out pictures and builds one roadname and people notice! Bachmann re-issues older items (actually not an unwelcome decision!) and comes out with one new boxcar and that's it (no, I'm not counting Thomas items!!) LGB is.....well, we're not sure exactly sure what LGB is doing or where it's at! Hartford? It's just getting back on it's feet. Phil's Narrow Gauge? Same story. Pacific Coast Garden Railway Supply had to go part-time again. HLW? Limping along (I may be doing it an injustice but that's my impression.)
When I was at the 25th NGRC in Denver last year, I was told that the number of dealers in the dealer's areas was "down signifcantly" from the 20th when it was last here. What has changed between 2009 and 2004? Um.......could it be that the economy tanked and that unemployment soared over 10%? Has the economy rebounded with average Americans spending like no tomorrow again? Huh uh. Washington hasn't found the answer (and won't in an election year!) This "Nexus" is probably just another bad idea by the politicians "Who only want to help us!" I don't really see it as the main reason conventions are having problems. Now, poor planning, bad communication, local unions extort....uh, requiring exclusive rights to charge for all services (whether we want them or not) well..... those reasons I can see being most of the problem! How much David learns from these last two NGRC's mistakes will hopefully help the Kansas City group to avoid them next year! (Of course, there will be a whole slew of new mistakes for the KCGRS to make!
![Image]()
) The point is that we shouldn't just give up on conventions and train shows! If we do that we might as well give up on the hobby in general! There's plenty to do in KC! It's going to be a great time and I'm looking forward to it!
When I was at the 25th NGRC in Denver last year, I was told that the number of dealers in the dealer's areas was "down signifcantly" from the 20th when it was last here. What has changed between 2009 and 2004? Um.......could it be that the economy tanked and that unemployment soared over 10%? Has the economy rebounded with average Americans spending like no tomorrow again? Huh uh. Washington hasn't found the answer (and won't in an election year!) This "Nexus" is probably just another bad idea by the politicians "Who only want to help us!" I don't really see it as the main reason conventions are having problems. Now, poor planning, bad communication, local unions extort....uh, requiring exclusive rights to charge for all services (whether we want them or not) well..... those reasons I can see being most of the problem! How much David learns from these last two NGRC's mistakes will hopefully help the Kansas City group to avoid them next year! (Of course, there will be a whole slew of new mistakes for the KCGRS to make!
1 - 2 of 61 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
