It looks like part of the problem -- for lower attendance -- at this year's show was due to other competing events such as the Santa Claus Parade on the Sunday and other train shows.

In any case, I'm frustrated that I totally missed the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's display -- especially their train simulators -- and the live steam models. I blame my sons for distracting me! My youngest son would have enjoyed seeing these but my eldest was getting antsy to leave.

Rob

Hi Rob,

I can tell you for a fact that the Christmas Train Show and the Santa Claus Parade are always on the same weekend for as many years as I have been doing the show.

It also conflicts with CFL playoffs!

A mother complained to me that there weren't any Hobby Shops inside city limits anymore, so there wasn't any place to browse with her kids.

Credit Valley has moved to an Industrial Park, and George's has moved too...

Although Keith's didn't sell Trains, they still had lots of other stuff, but they've moved out of town too...

We can't support our local hobby shops when there aren't any that are LOCAL!

The bigger problem is that the manufacturers won't sell through department stores anymore, so you can't get trainsets for Christmas in order to get kids started in the hobby...

TinGoat Wrote:Hi Rob,
I can tell you for a fact that the Christmas Train Show and the Santa Claus Parade are always on the same weekend for as many years as I have been doing the show.
It also conflicts with CFL playoffs!
A mother complained to me that there weren't any Hobby Shops inside city limits anymore, so there wasn't any place to browse with her kids.
Credit Valley has moved to an Industrial Park, and George's has moved too...
Although Keith's didn't sell Trains, they still had lots of other stuff, but they've moved out of town too...
We can't support our local hobby shops when there aren't any that are LOCAL!
The bigger problem is that the manufacturers won't sell through department stores anymore, so you can't get trainsets for Christmas in order to get kids started in the hobby...

Good point about the Santa Claus Parade!

There are still a few hobby (model railway) shops in Toronto. Two are just minutes from where I live ... One is Hornet Hobbies on O' Connor in East York and the other is John's Hobbies & Photo on the Danforth near Woodbine. At least those two are still chugging along in the city. Apparently, Toronto's high business taxes make it difficult for small hobby shops to succeed inside Toronto (I've also heard that a similar situation exists with London, UK, where it's very difficult to find LHS's because London is so expensive).

On a positive note, the Thomas phenomena has probably done an awful LOT to get kids interested in trains, what with its TV show, books, toys. There are a couple others -- Chuggington and Underground Earnie. Chuggington is another British series similar to Thomas. I've seen the Chuggington toys for sale at a local Toy Shop as well as at the Halton County Radial Railway. Underground Earnie -- also British and also kinda Thomas-like -- is mainly based on the trains of London's Underground/Tube, they have names, faces, personalities, etc. Admittedly, it's not as popular as Chuggington or Thomas. My son is going through a Chuggington phase at the moment!

Just some thoughts,
Rob

Hi Rob,

For a West-Ender like me: Civilization ends at Yonge Street! I rarely cross that chasm that separates the city unless I'm forced to... :o

RobertInOntario Wrote:There are still a few hobby (model railway) shops in Toronto. Two are just minutes from where I live ... One is Hornet Hobbies on O' Connor in East York and the other is John's Hobbies & Photo on the Danforth near Woodbine.

RobertInOntario Wrote:On a positive note, the Thomas phenomena Chuggington and Underground Earnie.

Yes, but they may be too baby-ish for kids over 8-or-9-years-old...

The manufacturers may think that they are protecting the hobby shops by giving them exclusive access to the products, but my first train set came from Woolco!

I'm sure that there are a few kids who got their start with the Lablaw's President's Choice Train Sets...

Put the products where people can find them, instead of hiding them and making people have to go out of their way to find them!

I was sitting at the show directly across from a wall of Chuggington products. I've tried to watch the show a couple of times but couldn't take more than a couple of minutes. Haven't seen Underground Ernie, but a lot of the product was on sae cheap in the UK and now forms the basis for a number of scratch built locos.

Hi Ron,

Quote:"For a West-Ender like me: Civilization ends at Yonge Street! I rarely cross that chasm that separates the city unless I'm forced to..."

I agree -- the West End and East End feel like two different cities ! There are also a couple hobby shops in Pickering, but that's the "far East" end !

Yes, you're right about Thomas/Chuggington/Underground Earnie being for very little kids. Even my kids (ages 7 & 10) turn up their noses at Thomas, but the youngest will still play with his Thomas trains though (just won't admit it too much to his friends)!

There are a few train sets being marketed for the newcomer, although I have often seen these at the LHS's ! Occasionally, Costco will have a pretty good train set for sale. Costco had one a couple years ago that I almost bought. It was a reasonably well-detailed steam engine. It was a Santa Fe Northern but painted up in CN colours! I'll keep my eyes open as you never know if they will sell another/similar one. It was a similar train set to the one that Loblaws used to sell.

Rob

BR60103 Wrote:I felt it was smaller than before -- possibly because one of the bigger British dealers wasn't there.
...

Hi David,

Which British dealer was this? Model Railway Imports was there and at least 1-2 others.

Just curious.

I might be able to go to Broughdale Hobby this weekend in London, Ont., as I believe they have a good supply of British stuff.

Cheers,

Rob: the British Connection; I hear they balked at the fees.

BR60103 Wrote:Rob: the British Connection; I hear they balked at the fees.

Oh yes, I remember them now. I've also seen "Fares Please" and others. I usually buy from Model Railway Imports and / or from the various Triang or Dublo sellers.

If the fees are too high at the International Centre, maybe the show needs to find another (smaller?) venue that's more reasonable?

Rob