National Train Show Downsizing

[dougnelson]

The NMRA announced today on Facebook that this year's National Train Show in Long Beach, CA (in conjunction with the NMRA annual gathering) is downsizing from the Long Beach Convention Center to a hotel ballroom.  They are asking exhibitors and club layouts to downsize.  There will be tables only, no booths.  I assume that means it will be much less desirable for manufacturers and large retailers.  Admittedly I have not been to a National Train Show in several years, but it used to be the annual model railroad industry trade show where you could expect to see all the model railroad stars.  It sounds like it will be more like a local train show now.  I was planning to attend the NTS, but now I probably will not.  Sadly, the last one planned for California (San Jose) was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.  There was some mention by the NMRA that this is due to rising costs at the convention center, but these things are booked and contracted for years in advance.  It is hard to imaging how this happened at this late date.  I am not positive how this works, but the NTS may have been run by a separate company that contracted with the NMRA, so before people start laying blame, we need to find out more.  The NMRA now scrambling to squeeze into a much smaller space, but they may be cleaning up someone else's mess.  Seems like the Springfield Railroad Hobby Show is now the industry's annual trade show. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nmragroup/permalink/10160330944889677/
NMRA - National Model Railroad Association

[dougnelson]

Also of note, there seems to be no website for the 2024 National Train Show.  The link only takes you to the 2023 show webpage.

[Point353]

Also of note, there seems to be no website for the 2024 National Train Show.  The link only takes you to the 2023 show webpage.

Yet, there is already a website for the 2025 show: https://nmra2025.com/

[dougnelson]

Although held in conjunction with each other, the National Train Show and the NMRA Convention are separate events. There is a website for the 2024 NMRA Convention, but not the 2024 National Train Show. 

[Ike the BN Freak]

I was planning on going to NTS this year as Long Beach is a quick cheap flight from Vegas or a 4ish hour drive. Guess I'll just have to keep checking back on it

[Chris333]

I went to the NTS when it was in Cleveland. And the place it was in was huge, the show really wasn't.

[Rossford Yard]

Last year's NTS in DFW wasn't much bigger than the local Plano Train show.  Maybe they are just recognizing the reality that it isn't as important to modelers.  It sure could be inflation that squeezes us all at this moment, or maybe a longer term trend.  I just don't know.

I went to the Salt Lake show a few years ago and it was bigger, but the biggest I recall was KC before that. "Back in the day" it seems they were always larger than life.  I went to Hartford and Detroit as well.

[Englewood]

If this was in my town, I'd go just for the shopping and to talk to the manufacturers. I had a bad experience with the NMRA when I joined in my mid 20s. I was completely ignored by the grumpy old guys who predominantly modeled in HO. I quit after 2 years. I find the NSE to be the complete opposite, and have been a member for over 15 years. There's a T Track club here that I would love to join but they require NMRA membership. Nope.
Maybe the exclusionary attitude of the members of the NMRA is catching up them?

[thomasjmdavis]

I wonder if the doubling of hotel and restaurant prices in the past 4 years has had an impact on attendance, both in terms of manufacturers and modelers?  The only reasons I can think of for such a radical downsizing is that there wasn't enough space being reserved for booths, or advance ticket sales aren't going well.  I know I am not traveling much.

I've only been to one- 2012 in Grand Rapids.  Hour and a half from here (I was working in the UP in those years, but spent my vacation time here). The Grand Rapids show had all of the usual suspects- many booths and lots of tables.  Modular layouts. Good representation, no issues finding N scale, talked to a lot of smaller manufacturers.  The space was bigger than the show, as I remember it, even then. 

I'm planning (as much as I plan anything since I turned 70) to go to Novi next year.  My wife goes to a 'fiber festival' every year, so I am due for a train show.

[ridinshotgun]

I wonder if the doubling of hotel and restaurant prices in the past 4 years has had an impact on attendance, both in terms of manufacturers and modelers?  The only reasons I can think of for such a radical downsizing is that there wasn't enough space being reserved for booths, or advance ticket sales aren't going well.  I know I am not traveling much.

I've only been to one- 2012 in Grand Rapids.  Hour and a half from here (I was working in the UP in those years, but spent my vacation time here). The Grand Rapids show had all of the usual suspects- many booths and lots of tables.  Modular layouts. Good representation, no issues finding N scale, talked to a lot of smaller manufacturers.  The space was bigger than the show, as I remember it, even then. 

I'm planning (as much as I plan anything since I turned 70) to go to Novi next year.  My wife goes to a 'fiber festival' every year, so I am due for a train show.

Is that local to CA?  Because the Amherst show smashed attendance records this year so I doubt the hotels and food did anything to disuade people from attending that show.

[John]

Maybe us geezers are avoiding Cali?   Flying there from back east is pretty steep, and like it or not there is a perception about the environment in the bigger cities.  I’ve been to Long Beach in the last 4 years, it wasn’t too bad, but costs were quite a bit higher than even Maryland. 

[dem34]

If this was in my town, I'd go just for the shopping and to talk to the manufacturers. I had a bad experience with the NMRA when I joined in my mid 20s. I was completely ignored by the grumpy old guys who predominantly modeled in HO. I quit after 2 years. I find the NSE to be the complete opposite, and have been a member for over 15 years. There's a T Track club here that I would love to join but they require NMRA membership. Nope.
Maybe the exclusionary attitude of the members of the NMRA is catching up them?

That was my experience too. Often people too up their own  at best, Rick Spano being a prominent local exception. Left my NMRA round robbin a year ago now after a group rant on how my town was so much better before (__Slurs____)  came in the 90s. And despite my name. being from a family who came to town in the 90s that the tirade applied to I promptly left them to do their FnC kits and custom paint jobs themselves.

[EspeeGoldenState]

If this was in my town, I'd go just for the shopping and to talk to the manufacturers. I had a bad experience with the NMRA when I joined in my mid 20s. I was completely ignored by the grumpy old guys who predominantly modeled in HO. I quit after 2 years. I find the NSE to be the complete opposite, and have been a member for over 15 years. There's a T Track club here that I would love to join but they require NMRA membership. Nope.
Maybe the exclusionary attitude of the members of the NMRA is catching up them?

Interesting that they would require NMRA membership as the NMRA doesnt have much to do with it. I know of some T-Trak clubs that do the N-Rail (N-trak) membership.

[John]

Interesting that they would require NMRA membership as the NMRA doesnt have much to do with it. I know of some T-Trak clubs that do the N-Rail (N-trak) membership.

Could it be that they require nrail.org

[arbomambo]

If this was in my town, I'd go just for the shopping and to talk to the manufacturers. I had a bad experience with the NMRA when I joined in my mid 20s. I was completely ignored by the grumpy old guys who predominantly modeled in HO. I quit after 2 years. I find the NSE to be the complete opposite, and have been a member for over 15 years. There's a T Track club here that I would love to join but they require NMRA membership. Nope.
Maybe the exclusionary attitude of the members of the NMRA is catching up them?

I do remember those days…
Thankfully, the leadership of the NMRA has evolved. Many of the top spots are filled with N-scalers - Gordy Robinson, the president, in fact.