Thinking too Big OR Thinking too Small ?

Sometimes, when we issue our challenge to produce a Conference on electric railways, we are shot down with comments such as :

1. Too much work for one club

2. No one will come; it will lose money

3. Who would travel to Florida ? and

4. Electric railways are just a small part of model railroading

I'd like to respond to each of these objections, if I may .

1. Ya know, it could be too much work for one club. BUT on what stone monument is it engraved that only one club can work on a conference at the same time ? ... and where does it say that you can't (as they say in psychiatry) "Seek professional help" ?

If you want to do a truly international conference and exhibition, you certainly should NOT restrict the planning or the staff to the same old half-dozen or so members who seem to be the
only ones who do any work ? It's the same in every club ; we all know who they are ... the same dependable Worker Bees in every club, no matter how large, how venerable its cachet or
existence, who do everything. Here's Trainman and his staff to offer some offsetting suggestions :

Ask HNILS@MSN.COM

a. work with another club in a different part of the country : East Penn, get together with CERA ; OR work with one of the many trolley museums . You should have information on these groups !

b. recruit assistance from some of the well-funded electric and light railway manufacturers that hope to sell equipment to U.S. jurisdictions. For example, Shinkiaryo's headquarters are located in a small community just north of Tampa/ Sgt. Petersburg. Get one of your more persuasive marketing members to explain that this could well be one of the best ways to get their story in front of the public. They can provide money, or maybe just backing with a guarantee, or put some underutilized staff members on the job. Explain the benefits to them, and don't take the first "No" as final. Escalate the request up the corporate ladder. They'll thank you for the PR coverage later, after the newspapers, the on-line journals, and the trade publications publish all those lovely photographs

c. Use imagination in marketing --- use the new Social Media; if you don't know what they are, find a yout' on their staff who does. Don't put a one-column notice in the Club newsletter and think that this is enough. Go to your local library and check out the Guerilla Marketing book series. Read it --- then Follow Instructions !

d. Obtain the absolutely first rate UK magazine called "Tramways & Urban Transit". Ask them to help with publicity; invite them to present a series of talks at the Conference. Leaf through the magazine and browse through their ads --- full page, full colour (nice touch, there!)
advertisements trying to sell stuff --- books, videos, classic films. Do you need their contact info ? Ask HNILS@MSN.COM

e. Recruit the trolley museums, NOT ONLY the American ones, but also the ones from other countries. Find out who and what Crich is doing right . Get out a railroad map of Europe, with city transit marked on it.

f. Light Rail engineering firms --- they're looking for exposure. Maybe this is their best opportunity.

g. Approach the firms that have participated in international conferences, such as the major World Congresses of the International Association of Public Transport or, rail consultants in various countries, or the programs run by the Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA). Approach
every company on that list, asking for help --- money, people, or conference savvy and advice . Add firms that act as suppliers and provide services to light rail prototypes.

h. Contact the large model railroad manufacturers (you certainly shouldn't need help with that one !) . Compliment makers like MTH, which launched a line of New York City Transit subway cars. That took courage and resources. Suggest that both you and they could benefit from more public exposure.

i. Run a series of the many videos, both current and historical, as recruiting tools in schools, on television, in essence, everywhere. History Channel might be willing to help here.

j. Lawyers that provide advice and legal counsel to Light Rail firms, to municipalities undergoing a LR installation. Suggest some Pro Bono work for the Conference (reviewing booking contracts, hotel room guarantees, forfeiture clauses, ask them for venue (exhibition hall) recommendations. Attorneys have many business contacts.

k. Get in touch with Citizens' Transit Advocacy Groups --- now, there's a bunch of active, hard-working people committed to trams, trolleys, and light rail.

l. Work with the Big Dogs --- Disney Conference Planning staff can be of enormous assistance --- remember, they're trying to sell ROOM-NIGHTS . They'll do everything they can to help, advise, promote, etc. your program. Think big ! ... but don't ignore the very-large-but-not-quite Disney-size Hotel Conference Centers. Write to HNILS@MSN.COM for some suggestions here. Beautifully situated, always looking for business, T-to-the-Fourth-Power is
fresh new blood for them.

m. The Electric Railway Clubs of Florida is a small group, but with historically heavy hitters, some retired or cut back on hours to enjoy life after a lifetime of hard traction-oriented work. Some famous names; some well-known historians and photographers. If you need their contact information , Ask Hal -- HNILS@MSN.COM.

n. Do not skip a single trolley museum in the country --- stress that this is one of their best
opportunities to reach their target markets.

o. Write Letters to the Editor of every major periodical, especially in Florida . Remember that --- assuming this Conference and Exhibition is held in Florida, these newspapers and, especially these upscale magazines are a primary untouched audience. Writing to , for example, the Sarasota Herald Tribune will get your information syndicated --- if it sounds interesting or exciting enough --- to the New York Times and major newspapers throughout Europe.

p. Work with bloggers who are writing on transit topics. Make sure they're on your side . Stay away from sophisticated transportation research centers with an undisclosed Pro-Bus agenda. Some of them receive millions of Federal dollars, publish complex statistical analyses on bus ridership patterns in Northern Kazakhstan, and are widely quoted by municipal officials as transit experts. As the Scots say, Gang Warily ! (Translator's note : Step carefully).

More info, suggestions, and connections tomorrow on "No one will come", "Losing money", and "Travel to Florida"

Trolleys, Trams, Traction & Transit

We keep hearing about the Tea Party ; here's the ultimate relevant T party, where T stands for :

Trolleys, Trams, Traction & Transit --- The T-to-the-Fourth-Power Party
A Revolution in Trolley History, Rebirth, and Modeling

The Top Ten Reasons to be a Birther, and join us in our struggle for a Re-Birth of our hobby

1. Breathe new life into T4 modeling (The Four T's : Trolleys, Trams, Traction & Transit)

2. Blog rants suggest introducing new scales and gauges

3. Birth new models by encouraging manufacturers to venture into these new scales

4. Beloved traction journals and magazines have passed away . Replace them

5. Burgeoning light rail : springing up in Europe and in progressive American cities : Not your grandfather's streetcars

6. Build Beyond the rails --- with building fronts, figures, and trackside accessories

7. Beyond traditional publishers --- Beg Kalmbach and/or Carstens to venture into T4 with a new, fresh, American slant on traction & trams, large & small, from streetcars to light rail, from N scale to Mega-scale, from new perspectives to Forced Perspective

8. Bigger than merely reminiscences or historical nostalgia --- Look to the Future

9. Because so many good trolley people have moved to, or retired to, Florida, it's possible to bring an International Trolley Conference to Florida

10. Every modeler intdroduce one new person to the hobby each year, a New Birth of a New Trolley person .
.

NOTE : Creative Commons Attribution ---- Non-Commercial --- Share-Alike .
Feel free to use this, but --- please --- provide attribution to its creator :

Harold Nils "Hal" Pelta
P O Box 208
Ellenton, Florida 34222 U.S.A. HNILS@MSN.com
























2

NO NEW SCALES --- In What Sacred Scripture is it Written?

We have been involved in model railroading at many levels, in many scales, and one of the features of the hobby that strikes us is how the entire interest is divided into several non-intersecting components which, if they are not hostile to each other, are generally non-communicating. What do we mean ?

First, there's standard run-of-the-hobby-shop model railroading, which in itself is divided into the standardized scales : HO ; O scale (three rail, two rail, trolley / traction [where darn few people seem to be working in Light Rail , rather than historical streetcar); S Scale; G Scale (even tho' we know there is no such thing, only a G Gauge, with a variety of scales in a California Cobb Salad melange); and so on, with all their variations;

second, there's Live Steam, which includes a surprising number of scales and side interests.
Some (like one-inch scale) have sadly slipped into comparative oblivion), and which increasingly covers electrically powered diesel outline in 1:8 ; and some rather large variations like 2.5 inch-to-the-foot and 3.75 inch-to-the-foot scale narrow gauge running on the 7+ scales (thanks to the Robinsons for providing that handy-dandy inclusive name for that group) ;

Third, we find Park trains (which includes giant amusement park ride-in cars) whose enthusiasts, I have found, sometimes don't even seem to know about the rest of us (one recent memorable comment by a retailer of Park trains : "Live Steam ... what's that  ? ).

Finally (actually, I'm confident that you will be able to come up --- easily --- with other aspects that I've omitted), there are the railroad museum volunteer groups, who are trying to press the issue of railroad history. These range from trolley museums (generally doing a good job) to essentially short line tourist railways. I'll let you judge the effectiveness of those groups; and a large number (if not actually a plethora) of side interests ...

Few members of one group talk to members of other groups. Too bad, so sad !

Therefore, I want to applaud the efforts of several groups in the Greater Tampa Bay area, which have broken the ice (although there may still be some icebergs which are not showing the cold temperatures beneath the surface). They have begun to band together with a land-owning utility and a private citizen, and a Florida State railroad museum. They've met at least once on a special train ride on the old Seaboard RR in Western Florida for a nicely run and well-managed open discussion regarding everyone working together to build a major rail-oriented nexus in a small town called Parrish about halfway between Tampa and Sarasota. The effort is expected to include all of the segments of the interest, presumably and hopefully working together to produce the railroad eqivalent of Einstein's Grand Unified Theory. I hope they do well ; I'm waiting with bated breath to hear more.

Update : Lots of talk, no action !

Further update : They don't even seem to talk to one another any more !

Destructive Behavior (continued)

11. If a hobby newcomer stops at your place of business, put him down sarcastically when he displays his lack of information or knowledge about the hobby or the prototype.

12. Double all those hints if the customer is a teenager; who needs them, anyway? All they're really interested in is that gaming stuff.

13. If your customer doesn't know what a Brill 67E truck is, sneer ! It took you a long time to learn that stuff, and he should wait until he's familiar with the hobby before jumping into it.

14. Pick a fight with another manufacturer. Better yet, put it in print, so that the entire Internet can read about it.

15. Make your website very large and difficult to navigate. You paid for 50 gigabytes of storage and you're going to get your money's worth !

Destructive Behavior (continued)

6. Don't bother answering eMails; less work for you and, besides, if they can't figure it out from the info on the Website, you don't want them as a customer
7. Start up a really beautiful line of models and after everyone is really hooked, discontinue them
8. Continually contradict everyone else; this will quickly establish you as an expert
9. Disrupt every forum of which you're a member with irrelevant fluff, like your mom's recipe for Christmas cookies. [Don't scoff : I've seen it done]
10. As soon as someone comes out with a model of an unusual prototype, in which --- maybe --- 20 people in the world might be interested, produce the identical model yourself. It's called "competition".

How to Destroy your Model Trolley Manufacturing Business

1. Criticize and find fault with every model offered by other manufacturers
2. When displaying your wares at a model exhibition, frown at visitors to your booth; glare at everyone who stops by
3. Make sure your website is full of broken links --- if you don't understand that term, maybe that's part of the problem
4. Proudly count your rivets. We'll bet that at least 3 out of every 100 customers care
5. At a model exhibition, leave your display frequently for a cup of coffee, to chat with a friend, or just to look around the Exhibition Hall; after all, your display is practically self-explanatory

TO BE CONTINUED

WHY A TROLLEY AND TRANSIT LAYOUT ?

Why don’t we build more trolleys and other electric transit models in very large scales, such as 2” = 1’ (1:6), and one inch = one foot (1:12) ?

Jimmy Sparkman, an active, build-from-scratch modeler of Philadelphia transit lines ---elevated rail --- has provided us with an excellent standard in his Fallon Street El, running at just below chest level on metal framework resembling girder bridges, and therefore providing an impressive front-car-window view to visitors. It has proven a hit at every East Penn Traction Club and other transit & trolley exhibition at which it has ever been displayed. Sparkman has chosen for his models a scale of ¾ inch to the foot (1:16), in this regard following the common practice of many tram modelers in the UK, where this is a popular choice.

Why ? We could give many reasons … so we will :

1. Small radius curves make gigantic scale much more feasible.
2. As the operator is not sitting on the car, but is operating it by remote control, trolleys --- with their fragile rooftop details --- are a new and welcome addition to possible rolling stock
3. As trolleys operate primarily in urban areas, the use of forced perspective and smaller scale backdrops --- say, in O Scale --- makes sense and is quick and easy to install
4. It would be unique, distinguishable from the live steam hobby
5. Trolleys cater to the trend in nostalgia
6. We maintain the realistic scale effect for which we strive: the motive power of the model reflects the motive power of the prototype.
7. Single unit trains are easy to run and require relatively little power.
8. Especially with passenger railcars, like urban transit, it is possible to stock the car with realistic --- even removable and therefore changeable --- figures reflecting the historic period we're trying to represent.
9. It epitomizes my feelings about sitting on top of mega-gauge models, as live-steamers do. It throws the whole scene completely out of scale, like a grown man on a child's tricycle.
It’s just one guy’s opinion, but we think that it might revitalize the hobby. Instead of just running a car around and around a repetitive course --- as attractive as the models are --- we begin to reproduce a segment of real life. We believe that the additional realities that we can then model in miniature will bring in hobbyists from many other skills and interests.
Until you’ve seen the Thorne Rooms, in the Art Institute of Chicago --- an entire world modeled in breathtaking miniature --- you might not fully appreciate what we mean.