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Thank You to everyone who has participated in the National O Scale Meet discussions, both here as well as the other social media platforms.
It is evident by the lack of comments stating how important the National is that it is no longer relevant to many O Scalers. The March Meet in Chicago is still doing very well and is often considered to be the "unofficial national meet'" by some. This is most likely due to it's central location as well as it's longevity. As people are a creature of habit, they're more comfortable when they know what to expect. Those who attend the March Meet on a regular basis often know what they're doing before and after the meet; which restaurant they'll visit on Saturday night and which layout tour they'll attend this year.
As far as trade show meets are concerned, I think we should concentrate on the March Meet as well as the remaining regionals.
With regards to the National, I would like to propose a derivative of the O Scale National Meet which "could" be coordinated by O Scale Central. The derivative would exclude the trading floor. Gone would be the hotel room commitment as well as the trading floor costs. What would be left is a low cost, low liability event for those of us whom still wish to get together annually. We would still have the railfan trips to and from the meet and we would still have the social get-togethers at the hotel as well as layout tours. I'm sure that a group of 50-75 people could obtain some free space in the hotel for a couple of nightly social events. Otherwise we could crash the hotel lobby until they either usher us somewhere else or call the cops.
Oklahoma City comes to mind as they have a relatively new club layout under construction, although since the last two Nationals were held out west, perhaps we'd want an eastern destination for 2024. An easy start that would also provide for a few trading tables, would be holding the National at the same time as the August Strasburg Meet. I'm told there are a couple O Scale clubs in the area. and both the Strasburg Railroad and Steamtown are close by. I personally think the National should be separate from the Strasburg Meet for consistency so those attending future Nationals do not expect trading floor space. They could still coordinate together and promote each other.
That is my suggestion for review. The final outcome will obviously be dictated by the desires of the O Scale Community.
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Hmm......not a bad idea Brad!   This is something to ponder.    I honestly forgot about the National show last week, until hearing about it from someone who did attend.    For some reason, thought it was still some time off (brain fa*t).   With other commitments, I would have been unable to attend, plus the distance.    I will certainly follow this subject.

Last edited by R Nelson

Great thoughts Brad. Another bonus if it were to be held at the same time as the August Strasburg meet- there’s a ton of train related stuff within a 1-2 hour drive of Strasburg. Hotels are in abundance in the Lancaster area at all price points. In addition to what you mentioned, there’s also the excellent Pennsylvania Railroad Museum, the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (Cumberland, MD), Northern Central Railroad (York, PA), Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad (Jim Thorpe, PA), New Hope Railroad (New Hope, PA), and quite a bit more. There’s also one of the finest hobby shops in the country- Mainline Hobby Supply (Blue Ridge Summit, PA)- which stocks and carries 2-rail. There’s also quite a few excellent 2-rail home layouts in addition to the clubs in the area. Someone visiting the area could easily spend a week here and see a different museum, layout(s), train ride every day. And to boot…the Strasburg meet is awesome (I never miss it).  

Brad,

I wouldn't say that the O Scale National is now longer relevant by the lack of comments on on what is primarily a 3-rail board.

I'm hearing that this past National did not have great attendance. There is no ONE answer to why that might have happened.  Living in New Jersey it would have been a long distance to travel for me. I did not attend the show.

There might be a lot of reasons why folks didn't go to the National. Just as there were a lot of reasons why folks didn't go to O Scale West 2 weeks earlier. Scheduling and timing has a lot to do with attendance. I would be interested to know if people attended both were they local to the region or did they travel across the country to both shows?

Last spring, I mentioned that having two regional shows in the same basic region two weeks apart was not a good thing. I got blasted with comments about "we need more shows" and "it doesn't matter if they are drawing on the same audience, from the same region."  Well maybe scheduling and location does matter.

The fact that this National was in the same location the year before. Maybe some folks went before and did not feel the need to go back to the same location again so soon.

There is no simple answer to this question and there are a lot of moving parts. This topic has been talked about in earlier threads and we keep having more of the same threads. Maybe having too many of these same threads after poorly attended shows is part of why more people are not responding now.

Great thoughts Brad. Another bonus if it were to be held at the same time as the August Strasburg meet- there’s a ton of train related stuff within a 1-2 hour drive of Strasburg. Hotels are in abundance in the Lancaster area at all price points. In addition to what you mentioned, there’s also the excellent Pennsylvania Railroad Museum, the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (Cumberland, MD), Northern Central Railroad (York, PA), Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad (Jim Thorpe, PA), New Hope Railroad (New Hope, PA), and quite a bit more. There’s also one of the finest hobby shops in the country- Mainline Hobby Supply (Blue Ridge Summit, PA)- which stocks and carries 2-rail. There’s also quite a few excellent 2-rail home layouts in addition to the clubs in the area. Someone visiting the area could easily spend a week here and see a different museum, layout(s), train ride every day. And to boot…the Strasburg meet is awesome (I never miss it).  

I could get excited about that.  I'll run this by Rich Yoder.

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