Benefits of TCA membership

If you don't know why you joined then you possibly probably shouldn't have.

Going to York was the catalyst for me to join but other benefits including the publications and conventions also interests me.  Other TCA meet/shows are also fun going to even though they are always open to the public.  I'm sure I don't take advantage of a lot of the TCA has to offer.

Maybe you should loook at it this way...Don't ask what the TCA can do for you, but what you can do for the TCA.  Seems fitting to a point.  I think many members join looking to take and not give.  I'm somewhat guilty of that.

The above mentioned and free admission to the money pit called Toy train Museum.

When I can no longer make York, TCA will be done for me. At $35. I would stay. At $50 I will quit. They knew us Yorkies would be held hostage when they made the $15. increase.

And then we have to pay $15.00 to get into the York meet.  I guess I joined because many years ago, I would be asked if I was a member.  Not being a collector, I never felt the need to join.  So I posed the question here in my original posting, Why did I join and what are the benefits for me, for fellow members and for the organization.  

I can go to train meets all year long.  I can visit the Toy Train Museum as a non member and pay admission.  The last time I was there has to be thirty years ago.  Now anyone can go to the York meet.  

So again, what are the reasons to be a TCA member?

Dan Padova posted:

... 

So again, what are the reasons to be a TCA member?

I think the list of reasons is getting very, VERY short.

Dan Padova posted:

And then we have to pay $15.00 to get into the York meet.  I guess I joined because many years ago, I would be asked if I was a member.  Not being a collector, I never felt the need to join.  So I posed the question here in my original posting, Why did I join and what are the benefits for me, for fellow members and for the organization.  

I can go to train meets all year long.  I can visit the Toy Train Museum as a non member and pay admission.  The last time I was there has to be thirty years ago.  Now anyone can go to the York meet.  

So again, what are the reasons to be a TCA member?

I am a TCA member for one reason and one reason only. That is to go to York. If the entire York show was open to the public, I would drop my TCA membership. I have no use for it nor really any interest in having it (except York of course!).

I went to the TCA museum last summer for the first time in many years. I paid cash to get in. I hear tons of comments about how the Museum needs the $$$. I can spare a few $$$ to help keep the doors open.

Like any organization, you get out of it what you put into it.  There is a lot of misinformation regarding the TCA, it's budget and it organization. 

For me, TCA national is a ticket to be involved with my Division which has 10 meets a year for members, operates trains on a portable layout for the public, hosts an annual train show, has a spring picnic, 2 to 3 auctions per year where I can get very well priced trains, and a Christmas Dinner.  The friends I have met through local involvement are friends for life and I have been exposed to a world of trains I never would have cared anything about had it not been for involvement.  I have had the honor to serve in several positions at the national level and while no organization is perfect, there is no lack of enthusiasm to preserve the hobby in it's collections and publications.

Remember the York show is not a National TCA function, it is an Eastern Division meet.  It is not totally true that anyone can get in as only the Orange and brown halls are open to the public.  Those halls are dealer and manufacturer halls only.  The remaining halls are still members only where you find the more collectible, and or unusual finds. 

The museum is no longer the money pit it once was.  There has been very good management of the museum and it's budget over the last 10 years and a lot of deferred maintenance has been completed. 

I find it interesting that $50 a year seems too high for membership when a new boxcar from Lionel is $80.00 and people regularly spend thousands of dollars a year on their personal collections.  My memberships to other organizations is in line with the price of TCA membership.  PRRT&HS is $40.  A local operating club I belong to is $100 per year.  That is cheap compared to my professional society membership which is over $700 a year, or my professional licenses that are anywhere from $75 to $225 a year.

I would encourage you if you can to get more involved and you will see the value.  Even just seeing old friends at York is worth the price alone.  I'll be working in the Orange Hall for 3rd Rail in April.  Hope too see forum members there!

One advantage is that it makes your check better than mine in the eyes of some sellers.

My personal view (Lionel aside)..

I really enjoy the museum, and feel the $50 is well worth it for such a wonderful place and collection. As others stated, I've also been part of clubs that cost much more per year and didn't have anything close to what the museum is. 

It was also worth it to me when I lived in CA and went to swap meets, etc out there. The TCA members there were very friendly and I always enjoyed myself. I enjoy going to different shows/swap meets outside of just York. Always great meeting people and talking trains. 

Jim 1939 posted:

The above mentioned and free admission to the money pit called Toy train Museum.

When I can no longer make York, TCA will be done for me. At $35. I would stay. At $50 I will quit. They knew us Yorkies would be held hostage when they made the $15. increase.

. I was a TCA member for 30 years and when the dues went up to $50, it no longer seemed like a good value. I dropped out two years ago and stopped going to York.  York is a great show but its not a big deal for someone who has been building his collection since the late 70's. No TCA membership and no York was perfectly fine with me. Hostage??? I don't think so. No one holds LaGrua hostage.   The $500 that I would spend to attend the meet was put to better use. If the public admission to the two dealer halls is open for the three full days I might go back this year mainly to meet up with some old friends. If not that's still OK with me.

I belonged to the TCA for 2 years but the membership amount got too high for me, think I paid $40.00 for local and $10.00 for national dues or $50.00 for the year. If you get to go to York it might be worth it but I have not gone to a York PA meet. I have been through the city of York PA many times and even passed by the TCA hall but not when they had a TCA meet. I think that York PA is on route 30 not too far from the I-83 junction, remember coming up I-83 from Baltimore Maryland I-95 exit a few times.

Lee Fritz

I have been a member since 1972. The benefits were supposed to be relative freedom from crooked dealings, plus a chance to buy trains from fellow collectors. 45 years later, mostly because of the Internet and eBay, one can buy trains from anyone. There are still crooks, but now the crooks have a wider audience upon which to prey.

The basic benefit to TCA nowadays, is York. There are still monthly trading meets, but in my area, they are too far away.

On a somewhat related note...  Does anyone here REALLY try to "financially justify" York or their membership in the TCA?  I just really attend York, because it's something I enjoy.  And for years, TCA membership was the requisite gateway to attending York.  Plus there's the social element too.  Any good deals I might come across at York are typically wiped out by travel and lodging costs -- not to mention the admission fee and TCA membership dues . 

I hear the same arguments made in my professional society, the American Institute of Architects.  "What is in it for me?" is a common question.  While there are tangible benefits, it is often the intangibles that make belonging to a group more worthwhile.  My benefit to being an AIA member in the tangible sense is that I get to use the intials AIA after my name which is commonly understood to mean "architect".  Instant credibility for a potential client.  Those who do not belong do not have that privilege.  There are other tangible benefits as well such as a small PAC fund nationally to advocate on our behalf, access to knowledge centers that are members only based, outstanding events both locally and nationally, and opportunities for very high quality continuing education.  However for the cost of membership, it doesn't look like a great deal on paper.

The intangible benefits are really the better part of the value.  We have a voice for the profession that can promote a unified message as there is strength in numbers.  I have found job opportunities through my involvement with the organization that were not advertised.  I have, like TCA, built life long friendships and have mutual respect with my peers regarding our work in the profession.  By being involved I have learned what the best practices are as opposed to how I've always done things.  Finally, membership has encouraged me to give back to the community.  

TCA is very similar.  To paraphrase a famous president, "Ask not what TCA can do for you, but what you can do for TCA".  At 22,000 members we have a strong voice in the community to promote this hobby and a group of experts in their various fields of interests.  When doing events for the public, I get lots of questions about value of trains and depending on the manufacturer I can give out a name of a go to person for an honest opinion.  I get asked what train set should I purchase for my child?  After asking a few key question, I can often make a reasonable recommendation.  

The days of shelves of dusty train collections is not going to last forever, and while it's not always obvious TCA is well aware of that and seeking answers on how to address this issue.  Having attended and run trains at the Phoenix World's Greatest Hobby, I can say with complete conviction that kids still love trains.  We had hundreds of children watching trains run on our layout.  Most were well behaved too as evidenced by the survival of my Golden Gate Depot El Capitan running on the outside track.   

Rocky Mountaineer posted:

On a somewhat related note...  Does anyone here REALLY try to "financially justify" York or their membership in the TCA?  I just really attend York, because it's something I enjoy.  And for years, TCA membership was the requisite gateway to attending York.  Plus there's the social element too.  Any good deals I might come across at York are typically wiped out by travel and lodging costs -- not to mention the admission fee and TCA membership dues . 

Give the man a prize!

Of course, the ROI of your TCA membership relies heavily on the quality of your local division.  Not all divisions are created equally.

ecd15 posted:

Of course, the ROI of your TCA membership relies heavily on the quality of your local division.  Not all divisions are created equally.

This is absolutely true.  As a member of Desert Division, we are lucky to have the most active Divisions in all of TCA while being one of the smallest even though we cover all of AZ, NM and 12 counties in Texas.  Lots of opportunities in Phoenix, Tucson and Albuquerque.

My decision to possibly quit TCA and attend York as a "public" has nothing to do with the membership fee. As a retired 75 year old, I am blessed in that my wife and I have all the money we could reasonably desire. That does not mean spending it on useless stuff (we drive a 4 year-old Chevy and a 17 year-old Acura). We do, however, enjoy occasional worldwide travel, and our beach house.

When I joined the TCA in the early 1980s there was no internet and no train forums or eBay. I did not get a personal computer until 1997. Can some of you young folks even comprehend that? Going to the York Meet was my #1 reason for joining (I live less than 2 hours away). The TCA publications were my main link to other train people in terms of information and buy/sell activities. Yes we had train magazines, but if you had a question, you were lucky if it was answered months down the road. Now the game has changed. 

Some of you often refer to "promoting the hobby". Frankly, I find my choice of hobbies a very personal thing. I have no desire to convince any of you to start collecting 3-D family photo slides from the 1950s. Even with that, I no longer go to those conventions, but participate in our "vintage stereo slides" Facebook group, and now do my buying on eBay.

To start things on a positive note, the purpose of the TCA is a noble one. A group of like minded people coming together for a common cause, but it should be to Promote and further Interest in the Hobby. No doubt there are many nice people in TCA with fine intentions, but I don't see how a mission statement to the effect of promoting the hobby was ever put in place, implemented or acted upon.

You want to see a group promoting the hobby go to the Worlds Greatest Hobby on Tour Show. The number of admissions blows away the York attendance numbers and you will see families, young children and the general public who want to know more about the hobby.  Television news programs have reported on the event, its broadcast on radio, on billboards and its not a secretive exclusionary event like York.  When York is for everyone I would say that's doing the job of promoting the hobby?  As  the TCA  wants to stay in business, I have confidence that the message will slowly work its way into the association.  If not you know the result.

Dan Padova posted:

I am probably going to get myself in trouble.  I have been trying to figure out why I joined the TCA.  I joined only a year ago, so don't have much experience with the organization.  I understand the reason for the TCA to be in existence, but what do I gain by paying $50.00 yearly dues, beside the magazine, which I do like.  

I've heard many stories about the grading system and how it gets abused or misunderstood by buyers and sellers.  To me grading is in the eye of the beholder.  

Perhaps I need to be enlightened as to why I joined.  

Why I joined, for friendship, most of the time (good food), a great place to exercise (walking for six hours), an opportunity to OD on trains, and I finally have the time to fully enjoy the experience. In relation to a bad day at the track or dancing the night away with some babe, York ain't bad at all.

While l have always had to travel to "local" Division shows, of TCA, and TTOS, and LCCA, once active TTOS group with meets in Columbus, Ohio has vanished, TCA meets in Toledo are gone, l think Cleveland still has TCA meets, as does Indy, and know Cincy does. There is less local activity though. I don't collect Lionel, but buy whatever brand makes a model of an interesting prototype. (and nothing if they don't....l am not an addict that has to have a fix of ANY train) So dropped LCCA, and TTOS.  When first belonged, l attended conventions of all three clubs,but then they seemed to follow each other to the same location, and not much was found in their shows, and l was going for the trains, and the locations. TCA covers it all, has the Conventions, which do seem to have few trains, but covers all the brands and has York, which does have trains, and a museum. I belong to TCA to make a small contribution to preservation of this hobby, and childhood memories from another time.

Like I have said for years, If you really love toy trains, you would stay on as a TCA member. If you can't afford $50., gas & hotel, you can't afford to buy trains. Just my 2 cents. Seeing friend's that I have seen at York over the past 40 years has no price.

I have belonged to the TCA for 15 years and to me, personally, I see no benefit and I dropped it this year. The toy train museum is cheap anyway and is boring, to static. $50 for the right to pay $15 to go to a train show doesn't sit well with me. I'm 42 and the TCA is set up for older folks. My train son was bored at York and loved the Big E. So I see no benefit to it. Just a simple opinion. For the record I do belong to the LCCA.

It is hard to hand over 50 dollars  for anything . It better be worth it or people will not want to do it.

I joined in '88 so I could go to York. In all the years since I've missed two shows. I and my daughter have written several articles in the TCAQ. I've met some wonderful people at York from all around the world. The TCA is fun and I think for me it always will be. 

Sounds like a bargain to me.

Dennis LaGrua posted:

...

You want to see a group promoting the hobby go to the Worlds Greatest Hobby on Tour Show. The number of admissions blows away the York attendance numbers and you will see families, young children and the general public who want to know more about the hobby.  Television news programs have reported on the event, its broadcast on radio, on billboards and its not a secretive exclusionary event like York.  When York is for everyone I would say that's doing the job of promoting the hobby?  ...

Dennis, while I agree the mission to promote the hobby is a noble one indeed, I think York and the TCA in general can do that WITHOUT becoming another WGHTS.  Nor does York need to be another Greenberg Show.  Were either of those  directions to occur, I suspect York would lose its uniqueness and many of us here would no longer attend.

Surely there is a middle-of-the-road approach that would work.  All that needs to happen is for York to regain financial stability and grow with the times.  Nobody needs it to be anything more -- nor anything less.

David 

The friendships I have made over the years (joined in 83) are priceless and well worth the annual dues.

Peter

Putnam Division posted:

The friendships I have made over the years (joined in 83) are priceless and well worth the annual dues.

Peter

You are so right.  Train meets are more a social event now.

Lou N

76-10069

Farmer Bill asked a similar question in June 2016, and my answer remains the same.

"If you do not get any direct benefit from belonging to an organization, then it comes down to this:  You either want to support TCA and its efforts to promote the hobby or you don't.  If you are not interested in trying to keep the hobby as strong as possible, then I concur with MartyE and drop your membership.

I belong to many different organizations that I seldom interact with, but they are advocates of things that I support and I want to see grow.  I belong to TCA as well as other model train organizations for this reason.  York is an added benefit."

The only reason I joined TCA was so I could attend York in 2016. I did renew my membership even though I doubt I'll get to York this year. I renewed because I enjoyed York. I also enjoyed going to the Toy Train Museum and feel good about a nickel or two of mine helping to preserve the history of the hobby. 

That being said, I doubt my $50 to TCA is what helps keep the hobby alive. More likely it's the 50 pieces of rolling stock, the 3 new engines, a city's worth of O scale figures, and the scale miles of Fastrack purchased last year that make a difference. Still, I'd rather support TCA than not.

If you buy / sell online, and have a bad transaction with a fellow TCA member, the TCA can mediate the dispute.

Except for YORK I feel very detached from TCA. Living in the country as I do, one traffic light in the county, 50 miles one-way to the nearest train store, no local club or fellow train enthusiasts, etc., I do not enjoy the camaraderie of  train people that many of you talk about. I actually met one person at YORK who recognized me from my name tag. I even went to one of the OGR grandstand meeting but felt like I was with strangers. I like the quarterlies but usually read and discard them in a matter of days.

I have taken and been given confidence in internet business buying and selling trains because of my TCA status. It does seem that there is a higher level of trust among members. But, if someone is a long-time member here I get the same feeling of reliability and trust.

I feel OK about paying the $50 dues but honestly that is about the limit I will pay for the right to go to a meet (now open to the public) and a magazine.

I hope one of those people that I vote for to put into TCA office every once in a while is listening,,,,,

That's another reason to not continue after I am done with York I live north of Detroit Mi and the nearest.TCA event is held in Cleveland Oh. about a 6 hour drive each way.(plus Ohio turnpike tolls) Just to see some toy trains, I don't think so.

York is different, for me it's a social event and a five day vacation.

http://traincollectors.site-ym...?page=MemberBenefits

Very, very interesting discussion! 

One could ask:

What do I get for my money?

or...

What am I giving by my money?

"...50 miles one-way to the nearest train store, no local club or fellow train enthusiasts, etc., I do not enjoy the camaraderie of  train people that many of you talk about..."

Have you searched in the member directory for members who may live close to you? 

I joined initially for York, but since joining have really enjoyed the TCA annual conventions.

You must be a member to attend the Conventions. The events are terrific, and the group prices on the rooms and excursions are a real bargain, a cheap way to see the country surrounded by train folk and riding on luxury coaches. The Saturday night farewell banquets are super fun, with a live auction at the end and a table full of door prizes for everyone. The layout tours and events are great, plenty of time riding around to meet train enthusiasts from all over the country.

This summer I am going to the TCA Convention in Pittsburgh with my 16 year old son. I also plan on attending the 2019 Convention in Albuquerque, with the whole family, we will ride on the Combres and Toltec, attend a Diamondbacks baseball game, and much more.

In the past I have attended the Baltimore Convention and the New Jersey Convention.

With TCA you get what you put into it. $50 is a small fee to open a door that is priceless.

www.tcaconvention.org

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

"...50 miles one-way to the nearest train store, no local club or fellow train enthusiasts, etc., I do not enjoy the camaraderie of  train people that many of you talk about..."

Have you searched in the member directory for members who may live close to you? 

I actually didn't' know you could do that. I'll check it out. Thanks......

Here's my list of reasons to be a member:  There's a lot to be learned from the magazine.  Local meets to attend.  Grading standards to help us speak a common language when not trading in person.  A nice museum to visit when I go to York.  A library to maintain archives and for reference.  Would continue to be a member even if I didn't attend York.  

Like Craig, I initially joined the TCA 16 years ago to go to York and while I love York if I stopped going to York I would stay a TCA member for the reasons mentioned above. 

One thing I have never done is attend a TCA convention even when it was just 30 minutes away. I just figured the convention was predominantly about toy trains and being that scale trains are my main interest I didn't think it was worth it for me. When the convention was 30 minutes away I had already seen practically everything on the tours so I didn't go. About a month ago I was reading the TCA HQ News and I was looking at the convention pages and I noticed there was a tour for the Age of Steam Roundhouse. I have been wanting to see this place in person ever since it opened but as I am sure pretty much everyone here knows it is not open to the public. This was my chance to finally see it. After thinking it over to see if I could afford it I decided I was going and registered. I am really looking forward to my first convention. I also signed up for the tour to see Rob Enrico's 2 rail layout. Another reason why I have been wanting to attend one of these conversations is for the last year I have been listening to a lot of the Notch 6 podcasts and there is usually more than one podcast dedicated to the convention. The podcasts really made the conventions seem like a lot of fun just like what Craig said above. It should be a great time and maybe I will go to another convention in the future. Also it seems a lot more reasonable price wise than the NMRA convention. If I remember correctly the registration fee was three times as much. 

Bottom line the TCA is more than just York to me.