Subject:
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Re: LEGO trains...The Future of Model Railroading?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Sun, 21 Nov 1999 11:47:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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1061 times
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> I believe this story well illustrates the first of three attitude problems • that
> LEGO trains face. IMHO, unless these attitudes change, LEGO trains will never
> be the future of model railroading. (Might want to get comfortable, this is a
> long one...)
>
> Attitude 1: Model Railroaders.
> I took my LEGO catalog into the local train and hobby shop about a year ago, • to
> show the owner the potential of LEGO trains, and to suggest that it might be
> something to consider carrying. He seemed to be a bitter old man, and his
> response to me was essentially, "We don't sell -toys-," with derision in his
> voice on that last word. I tactfully avoided pointing out to him that Lionel
> trains were considered toys for many years, until the collectors took them
> over.
Been there, seen it done. I should ask my friends who are dealers if they
would be interested, but I think they would run afoul of the next comment...
> My opinion is that many model railroaders are slightly bitter and defensive
> that kids are not interested in trains the way they used to be, and slightly
> afraid that if things don't change, model railroading may be a dying art.
But
> in the same way that LEGO purists are often unreasonable in their quest to
stay 100% LEGO (I'm guilty of this too), Model Railroaders have a very hard
time
> with the idea of a model railroad that does not, and will not ever look even
> close to "realistic" (with appologies to some of the admittedly impressive • LEGO
> locomotive recreations out there).
Some do. Some want to have a microcosm of the real world, whereas some of us
want something that looks good, runs and is most importatly -fun- No-one can
accuse me of making purely prototypical engines, just take a look at _the
thing_ on my web page
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/2049/livesteam.html
Snip
>
> Personally, I think that LEGO railroading could be utilized by N, HO, and O
> clubs as a "gateway" to model railroading. You can get kids hooked from very
> early (my 2 1/2 year old has been playing with mine for more than 6 months,
> now) without worrying about them damaging valuable models. Then, as they get
> more sophisticated, and especially as they enter their dark ages, they can be
> easily switched over to the other guages. That's my idea of it anyway.
Yep. It really doesn't matter what scale you start off with. I have (lets
count! Lego, Falla(Playmobile scale, O gauge), HO (some still), OO, OO9, P4,
#3, and 3 1/2" gauge stuff.
> Attutide 2: LEGO.
> LEGO seems to be almost anti-train in the US. I understand that they don't • want
> to devote a lot of time and effort on a line that is a comparitive low seller,
> but it often seems to me that they do anything they can to avoid making it
> easier for us to buy trains. Note the following:
> A. Only one train is available through retail channels. Even if a store
> -wanted- to carry additional trains, track, accessories and train structures,
> they would not be able to. Lego's Shop-at-Home items are not availible to
> retailers.
This to me is the biggest bit of stupidity that is possible. Even if your
store could sell the track, you cannot get it to do so. If a store in Victoria
had had track on hand, I would likely have a lot more of it than I do have.
The only store on Vancouver Island that had -any- track had 2 boxes of curved
track left...like I need more curves!
> B. If a store wanted to carry the one LEGO train which is available, there is • a
> minimum order of something like $500, and returns are not an option. A small
> model shop that wanted to try the product out to see if it would sell will not
> be willing to outlay that much cash on a product they don't know will sell, • and
> that they don't think much of anyway
This wouldn't be insurmountable, if A wasn't true. It would only take 3 train
sets, and 2 boxes of track (1 straights, 1 points) to get to that level. That
is a reasonable order.
> C. I considered opening a LEGO train kiosk at the mall at Christmastime a year
> or two ago. That is, I considered it until I called LEGO. They won't sell
> products to a retailer unless they have a permanent storefront. An
> understandable policy to avoid shady dealings, but easily overcome in other
> ways. It would be a simple matter to produce documentation that all sales were
> legitimate.
This is stupid. I know I can find people who would resell the stuff to me, if
I wanted to order large quantites of sets. (or at least, I used to be able
to...)
How are you going to get shady dealings from anyone? all you do is say that if
your order is a first time order, or we have reason to believe, that you must
pay for your product before we ship. It's done all the time in business (you
have to pay for your own inventory, rather than the company owning it)
I also know a couple (The British Connection) who would carry LEGO trains (or
at least they would have a few years ago) if they could, and if they could get
the track.
They used to carry Hornby "Thomas the Tank Engine". When we used to as a club
display a TTTE layout at "The Hobby Show" in Toronto, or the Railway show, they
would sell out of as many sets as they could cram into the van. I mean, in the
3 years we were displaying, they sold out at -6- shows. Every electric Thomas
that they carried was -gone-
> D. The fact is, placing LEGO trains in toy stores is simply not a good
> marketing strategy except at Christmas. People looking for a LEGO set are
> usually looking for the under-$20 range. And people looking for model trains
> are not in the LEGO aisle. Potential customers for the product never see it.
> For that matter, No one ever sees it (Or maybe you've never heard anyone say,
> "I didn't know LEGO made trains!"?).
Yep. Get TRU to carry them, in the trains section, and get rid of the bacman
crap (NA crap) that they carry.
> E. LEGO does pretty much nothing to help the LEGO train clubs in the US. I
> haven't persued this except to make some initial inquiries, but LEGO Group did
> not exactly jump at the chance to provide either materials or permissions to
> reproduce materials (specifically, the small train flyer (can be seen at
> http://astro.caltech.edu/~rrg/lego/smeu1999v2f.jpg Thanks to Roy Gal's site,
> http://astro.caltech.edu/~rrg/lego/legocats.html))
> Actually, if you think about it, the best place to sell LEGO trains and
> accessories may well be at the train shows. Every other guage is busy selling
> everything they can, while LEGO remains display-only (per LEGO's policies).
This I am supprised at. Why not jump at the publicity that you can get for
free. Again, drawing from our TTTE days, when more than one of the british
resellers was around, we used to say that XYZ and ABC sell this stuff.
>
> Attutude 3: LEGO Train fans.
> The third problem is our own fault. I think it's minor compared to the other
> two, but it's a problem nevertheless. And I'm as guilty of it as anyone. We're
> not doing much to encourage kids to join us. Sales to kids is where the money
> is for LEGO. But when I was at the Washington show, the person who had come
> with me to the fair pointed out that those of us staffing the layout were a
> little bit standoffish toward the kids who came to see the layout. We were • very
> busy making sure they weren't touching the trains, and I myself was more
> interested in talking to other adults than to the kids. Now I'll admit I don't
> care for kids much (other people's, at least), and kids in the 7-12 range can
> be particularly talkative about the most inane of topics. But treating them
> like second-class LEGO fans is not helping matters. We gotta figure a way to
> include them in the layouts at the show, without them knocking everything • over.
> (I know some of the clubs have a special kids area, but I think that's the
> exception.)
Yes and No. You are at an exibition. It is hard to get through to childeren
to start with. PNLTC's choice of 30" benches make it easier! to do so, because
it is more on a childs eye level. You -have- to take the time to answer the
questions, but against that, it can be very hard to manage to do so. Long
experence shows this one! You need probably 2-3 people answering questions,
and 1-2 people running trains, at least on any size of layout.
James P
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: LEGO trains...The Future of Model Railroading?
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| (...) I believe this story well illustrates the first of three attitude problems that LEGO trains face. IMHO, unless these attitudes change, LEGO trains will never be the future of model railroading. (Might want to get comfortable, this is a long (...) (25 years ago, 21-Nov-99, to lugnet.trains)
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