Lionel Announces Merger Between The Lionel Railroaders Club and the LCCA

This is interesting. From the LRRC bulletins in recent years, it was evident that they really had no direction for that organization. Lionel has also posted the announcement on their website; it's on the bottom  news rotator

Excellent concept.   Look forward to this expansion in the LCCA.  Should make special runs more practical with more potential members.

Should be good for all involved.

I guess mt timing on joining was pretty good. LOL!  

Not only no direction, but the membership has been aging and declining in recent years.  Maybe this will be a good shot in the arm for the organization.

As a LRRC member what does the LCCA merger mean to me? I have no idea what the LCCA is all about except that they have club cars.

Wonder what happens if you already belong to both!

 

Peter

This is a win win for both parties.  The LCCA is the best organization around.  Their leadership and activities are second to none.  Lionel will benefit from their class act and LCCA will benefit from the special runs  I like it

 

The LRRC seemed to have been operated by very few people while it existed.

 

 

Andrew

Well, if you belong to both groups, you will save some money now.

With declining membership, consolidation between groups makes sense.

 

What about the TCA? Should it merge with another organization?  How many different train organizations can be supported nowadays?

I think this is a natural for Lionel. It also adds additional support for the LCCA which in my opinion is a good thing.

Go up a few posts and read Ben's (bluelinec4) post if you haven't.  Ben nailed it.  Can't say it any better. 

 

David

do LRRC members become LCCA members?

The LCCA is America’s premier toy train club

 

The TCA might have something to say about that - or any TCA member who has ever been to York. Not to bash the LCCA, which is a perfectly good organization and many of my friends are members - but that statement is a grotesque piece of marketing hype. 

Take away York, and I think LCCA offers more. The are better rounded as an organization

Or if not merge, streamline?  The TCA has more divsions and chapters than the BAR or Ruthland 6464 Boxcar has variations.  With declining membership, some streamlining might be needed.  And I can get more collecting info from OGR and CTT per year than from the TCA publications.

Very intriguing news.  As others previously mentioned, the wholesale decline and languishing of club memberships in general nowadays it seems only natural that a consolidation of two clubs with what amounts to similar objectives (sharing and promoting the O gauge hobby in general and Lionel in particular) would be beneficial.

It will be interesting to see the membership fee and dues structure. Will LCCA members see an increase, will LRRC members see a larger increase ?

I hate to tell you guys but the LCCA does not have a declining membership  They have increased their membership continually.  With the merger it will just add to some good numbers already.  Its a well run organization that I have had the pleasure to work with a few times at our club with special events.   

>>What about the TCA? Should it merge with another organization?  <<<

 

AARP might be a good match. 

Joe

 

bluelinec4, do you have any numbers or statistics that indicate the LCCA membership is increasing, not decreasing? Just curious.

I'm sorry, but that is funny!

My instincts tell me when Lou Caponi passed, LCCA did as well.

Forrest,

 

Based on what Howard Hitchcock stated, both the LRRC itself and the LRRC Membership will become part of the LCCA.  Moreover, there will be communications coming down the pipeline both from Lionel and the LCCA to help clarify how the merger will affect both parties.

thanks, james.

That coulden't be any further from the truth. The LCCA leadership is working incredibly hard to honor his memory and continue to turn out new product that Lou would be proud of. You'll continue to see that product in 2014-15.

I believe that the TCA should merge with the NMRA. The education that you get from NMRA blows the TCA away.

Sounds like a good move for everyone involved. 

 

Art

My dealings with the LRRC in the past 2 years has left me dissatisfied with the club. I have missed a couple of the newsletters and I even did not get the catalogs from this past year. I even called them about about this and their response has been, oh they are in the the mail.

 

And I even did a dumb move and signed my 2 daughters up last August to the LRRC at Lionel's open house at service center. One of them also did not get the catalogs from this year and also missed a newsletter. The other daughter did get the publications so that's how I know about the missed ones. And also this daughter was given a different last name by the LRRC and we tried to get this corrected at this past Red Carpet event and guess what she still has the same last name.

 

I also tried to purchase some of the special LRRC cars from the Lionel web site a few times this year and the only thing I get is page a page that tells me that I have to join the LRRC. 

 

So my opinion of the LRRC is that they are dead in the water.

 

On the other hand the LCCA is by far the best club for a Lionel fan. Their publications are way ahead of the LRRC's. It's like reading a nice magazine compared to reading a sales publication.

 

And the LCCA is now offering a discounted membership if you only want a electronic publications.

quote:

And I can get more collecting info from OGR and CTT per year than from the TCA publications

 

What benefits do you get from belonging to the LCCA, besides the right to purchase limited edition trains?

"What benefits do you get from belonging to the LCCA, besides the right to purchase limited edition trains?"

 

To me the main benefits are The Lion Roars, the annual convention, the limited edition trains and the website.  There is a buy/sell publication/website but I haven't used it yet.  The limited edition trains have been numerous and inventive, in my view. Their offerings also have probably outnumbered (in three rail O gauge) the output of all the other clubs put together, at least in recent years.  I'm a member of TCA, LOTS, TTOS as well as LCCA, and I like them all,  but I'd say overall, LCCA is my current favorite.  Their leadership seems very dynamic. They've done a great job of fostering local events throughout the nation, engaging the leadership of Lionel (as in this instance), building bridges to various media and producers (Notch 6 being one, TW Trainworks being another), posting videos and encouraging kids activities.  For a small organization they're doing a great job, in my view.

Lionel just found a graceful way to dump responsibility for the LRRC without looking like they really don't care about it.

 

My feeling is that Lionel does not truly care about the fraternal nature of toy trains...they are just interested in producing more and more detailed and technologically advanced trains that the fraternity with all the money (remaining greatest generation and their kids) might purchase.  Lionel puts on a good front...but, they are all business...and that's fine by me.

 

Just my humble opinion...I guess skewed a bit because I don't really need to belong to a club...of any kind.

IMO the club is dated, I'm guessing the membership numbers didn't warrant continuing. 

 

This forum makes a much better/ more sensible club that I'm sure a couple of measly flyers a year and a button simply can't compete with....... and its free.

 

Maybe Lionel doesn't care about flyers or buttons, and of course its a "buisness". Having said that, their customer service and parts is second to none. The "guys that make it happen" over there, engage here with their customers on a regular basis. I think they must care on some level.

You're pretty much spot on.   

Joe

LIONEL IS JUST GETTING A MONKEY OFF THERE BACK.

I've been a member of both the LRRC and the LCCA for about the last 7 years. I'd actually decided a couple of months ago to drop my LCCA membership at the end of the year and just keep the LRRC membership. Obviously I'll have to go to plan B once I figure out what that is going to be.

 

That isn't a negative towards the LCCA. I'd have to agree with the comments that the club seems to be well run and has good officers and good publications and plenty of product. But, I'm cutting back on hobby purchases, and the products the LCCA offers are either too expensive for my tastes or items that don't interest me. The free catalogs are nice, but they are all available to download from the Lionel site and the only paper copy I keep is the Christmas catalog. So, I had decided I could drop the LCCA membership and I wouldn't be missing anything.

 

For the LRRC, I've received all the Inside Track publications although the publishing schedule doesn't seem to be all that punctual, and I've either received catalogs from the LCCA or the LRRC. I do have the general impression that Lionel has not been putting much time or effort into the organization. My main reason for belonging to the LRRC is I collect the annual Christmas boxcar. I haven't purchased any of the other LRRC trains or rolling stock. So that is why I'd planned on keeping the LRRC membership rather than the LCCA membership.

 

It is going to be interesting to see what is really meant by "merger". Are some recognizable elements of the LRRC going to remain within the LCCA? Or as some posters have opined, is Lionel just making a face saving gesture to get out of the manufacturer's club business? I guess we are going to find out as more info is released.

 

The LRRC has 4 main benefits: 1) free Lionel catalogs, 2) Inside Track magazine, 3) opportunity to purchase club exclusive items and 4) 10% discount in Lionel store.

 

Both the LRRC and LCCA have the benefit of free catalogs so that is a wash.

 

For publications, The Lion Roars by the LCCA is a good publication, but it has a club member/hobbyist perspective with a just a little bit of Lionel manufacturer info. The Inside Track magazine from the LRRC is only a few pages, but it presents more info from Lionel's viewpoint and also has some interesting history articles on some of the upcoming Lionel products. Is the Inside Track magazine going to continue to exist?, is it going to be incorporated into The Lion Roars with an expanded Lionel manufacturer's section?, or is just going to cease to exist?

 

For exclusive club products, the LCCA products tend to have a higher price point and more sets and sometimes innovative products. The LRRC tends to have less expensive products based on post war items and last but not least, the annual Christmas boxcars. Are the LRRC type items going to continue to be produced?

 

Another potential problem with the merger is pricing structure for the products. While some people complain on the forum about the price for LRRC products, they probably aren't too bad considering they are a limited run production. The LCCA items tend to have a larger mark up because part of the purchase price goes to support the club. Nothing wrong with this for a hobbyist run club as it is a way to make some money besides dues. But, are the former LRRC items, assuming they are going to continue to be produced, now going to see a price increase to help support the LCCA? I don't see how that is a benefit of the merger for LRRC members if they have to start paying more for a boxcar to support the LCCA?

 

Here is an example. For the LRRC, I'll look at the 2013 Christmas boxcar. It is a traditional size boxcar with nice graphics and sprung trucks. Club dues were $20. The price of the boxcar was $59.99. Tax was $4.80 and shipping was free. Total price of $84.79.

 

For the LCCA, I'll look at the 2014 Convention Car. It is also a traditional size boxcar with nice graphics, but no sprung trucks (I think they were originally planned, but changed to be more prototypical). Club dues are $35. The price of the boxcar is $89.90. No tax outside of Illinois, but $10.00 shipping and handling. Total price is $134.90.

 

Oops, edit to ad this info. I forgot the LCCA car is an operating boxcar, so it would be more expensive than a regular boxcar, so the price difference isn't quite as drastic. The latest operating boxcar I found on the Lionel site was in 2012 for $74.99 list.

 

The fourth benefit is the 10% discount in the Lionel store. Does that transfer over?

 

Given my reason for joining the LRRC to purchase the annual LRRC Christmas boxcar, I'm apprehensive of the LRRC-LCCA merger for two reasons. 1) the annual Christmas boxcar may no longer be produced. 2) If it is produced by the LCCA, but has the increased LCCA dues and the price increase to support the club, and the shipping costs, then the new price for the Christmas boxcar is going to be about $35 higher than the price I was paying as a member of the LRRC. Those are both good reasons to stop my membership in the LRRC-LCCA club.

 

As some have asked, is there going to be a different price structure for LCCA-LRRC memberships? If the merger is going to happen this fall, how does this effect people who belong to both the LCCA and the LRRC? Are they losing 25% of their LRRC membership benefit this year? The LRRC has not advertised any new products in 2014. That is part of the benefits. If the merger is happening soon, are there going to be any LRRC products this year?

 

 

It was mentioned at the LCCA Banquet that the LCCA membership has the potential of doubling with the merger with the LRRC. I wonder if the LCCA has done a data dump of LRRC membership files to bounce against LCCA member files to check on current dual memberships.