Going to Europe - Germany & Czech Republic

[Fluesheet]

Of the model-train vendors, my buddy probably has the closest relationship with Noch. I like this first image from in front of their booth because it gives a good feel for what the show was like - crowded and lots of big flashy vendors (though there were plenty of small, not flashy ones as well!)!

   

As part of the meeting that we had with his Noch rep, we got a tour of the new items they have introduced for 2009, some of which I've pictured in the next post. During that walk around, I also learned that Noch is the official distributor of Athearn and Kato in Europe (not sure what the scope of that statement actually is), and were told that they will also be distributing Atlas. Atlas apparently had held off naming a distributor in Europe for a year in order to wait for Noch to have the bandwidth to market their product. The rep specifically brought these latter two brands to our attention to illustrate the standing that Noch has with American manufacturers and by extension, the standing of the company in Europe. This wasn't presented in an arrogant style at all (which would have repelled me), but rather in a pride of company manner. Granted, this was a salesman, but it felt sincere.

In any, it was nice to see some more American prototypes!

   

   

[Fluesheet]

New products:

Road surfacing - I wouldn't do it this way, but I thought it was cool. The asphalt depicting the "new" pavement was a very finely ground powder, the old pavement was painted.

   

These last two were more intriguing - pre-made fields with grassy tufts of varying heights. Very convincing. They also used a similar product for the strip of grass you find down the middle of a dirt road. Didn't get a picture of that unfortunately.

The garden in the following picture was created with two-side printed, laser cut paper. Also very eye-catching once poked out and folded up (the come as sheets of paper)

   

   

[eightyeightfan1]

Nice. I read that North American model railroading is big over there.
I just checked Noch site. Been over twenty-five years since I had to read German, But I did understand Athearn, Kato, (No mention of Atlas) and oh yeah WOODLAND SCENICS!
Which I find odd, being that Noch makes a lot of scenery materials.

[Fluesheet]

Last for Noch are some layout pictures. They sell several different styles of injection-molded shells that form the structure of a small layout. I didn't measure, but I'd guess they were 1m x 2m. These seem to be very popular in Europe, which makes sense given the smaller spaces. The shells come bare, very lightly scenicked (a thin ground foam), or if you want, they will completely scenic the layout, lay the track (your choice of European vendor) and wire it. My friend has sold one of the latter and reports back that it was VERY nicely done.

There's something to be said for this way of building a trainset - you're more likely to get it done, for one , and in my case the pre-design removes a lot of layout design paralysis!

   

This second layout picture I'm including partly because of the roundhouse in the background, which is a kit constructed of something similar to artist board. Up close, the detail is not what I'd like, but it is perfect for something set back, and of course could be detailed. I asked about plans for an American prototype - none in the works at this time...

   

Last, look how CUTE those structural 1X2's are!

   

Matt

[Fluesheet]

Nice. I read that North American model railroading is big over there.
I just checked Noch site. Been over twenty-five years since I had to read German, But I did understand Athearn, Kato, (No mention of Atlas) and oh yeah WOODLAND SCENICS!
Which I find odd, being that Noch makes a lot of scenery materials.

I recall seeing Woodland Scenics in several places - based on the above Noch must be one of them! I'll have to check my video - I've yet to look at it!

The Atlas distributorship was a very recent event - they didn't even have any Atlas product at the show.

A couple years ago a gentleman at the Marklin booth at the National Model Train show in Detroit (actually the same guy I mentioned in my Marklin post - Jeff Stimson) said that there was a German writer that wrote a boatload of novels on the American West in the early - middle of the last century. The German kids that read those books were hooked by the adventure and romance of the stories and later expressed it in their model building. Jeff said to this day, you can find German trainsets with Big Boys circling a desert layout with teepees! (He conceded that the writer may not have portrayed those times very accurately..).

Matt

[nkp_174]

Noch = Woodland Scenic in my view.

What was the approximate scale breakdown of Z, N, TT, H0, 0, #1, and G? Was TT more popular than N? Was 0 nonexistent?

[Fluesheet]

What was the approximate scale breakdown of Z, N, TT, H0, 0, #1, and G? Was TT more popular than N? Was 0 nonexistent?

Hmm. Good Question

It fell into two tiers: HO and everything else. I'd guess that HO was 60% of the total.

Within the remaining 40%, I'd guess:
N - 40%
TT - 30%
G - 10%
O - 10%
Z - 5% (This surprised me)
T Gauge - one (and the only) vendor. (T = 3, for a 3mm track gauge)
Other scales - > 5%

I'll have to add the caveat that my interest is mostly HO, so I may have been more inclined to "see" it.

Interesting comment on the Noch - Woodland Scenics relationship(?)

[nkp_174]

Very interesting...especially with the quantity of TT and N.