TMCC Demo Group AOL Banquet

Clyde was there. He came in his crop duster.

 

It wasn't a Demo Group Banquet. As a matter of fact the demo group was born at one of the banquets.

 

Frank Razz started the whole get together thing by bringing food, grills and everything else in his car along with 2 extra riders (that was a sight) just to share some time and food with the AOL crowd. Frank was the original Vinny.

I'll never forget at one of the AOL Viking Club banquets my youngest daughter Caroline(who was about 5 or 6 at the time) had a long "talk" with Mr Bracy. He spent a long time with her talking about trains and other things. Caroline is graduating from high school this year, how time flys! 

""Alan Miller was one of the early attendees when we met at Lunch at the Lionel tent.  A tradition that goes back to the late 90's.  Remember Yankee hats?  We had hand made AOL name tags made by a TCA member from NC.""

 

Don't forget the AOL train gang hats... I still have one hanging in the train room.....

 

 

Indeed I do remember those days well, and fondly.  That was years before my association with OGR, back when AOL was pretty much the only toy train Internet discussion group around, and certainly the largest at the time.  I don't recall if Compuserve had a group like that, but I don't believe it did.

 

I still have my "AOL Train Gang" cap in pristine condition.

 

If you "cut your teeth" on those often contentious AOL boards, you developed a thick enough skin to handle anything online that has come up since.  

Those some great times, I think the best ones were under the car port where the brown hall is now.  I think Lionel missed the boat letting the demo groups go by the wayside. They owe Ted capt  kraftomatic Steve and Ernie a big thanks for keeping it going.

Here is the link (still works) to Tony Donnadio's photo album, which includes many photos of the AOL Get-Together on the fairgrounds and The Viking Club, the Lionel Ambassador Club, TCA Museum, York, etc.

 

http://tdonnadio.5u.com/

   

My, how time fades away.

I was part of the very small Midwest Demo group, so we were not as vocal as the East Coast guys, but I do see Lionel's (or any company's) concern endorsing a rogue group.

 

From a marketing stand point, there was absolutely no way for Lionel to control what information was being passed (both correct and incorrect) and if Lionel can't control the fanboys, do they really want them?

 

The other issue I saw was that Lionel was put into a position of liability, as small as it was, that their very well could have been an incident with a group that legally affected Lionel, (Someone traveling to a show in their car, with the sole intention of setting up a table/display and getting into an accident). We all know that it was not much of a stretch that Lionel’s name would come up as a defending party.

 

We can also point to a few cases where good intentioned people had the opposite effect of promoting a manufacture. Think Tony Lash just for example, (and there are others), great guy, huge fanboy for MTH, do you really think Mike did not see all the ill effect Tony had on winning additional customers? You can't keep telling people that MTH is great and Lionel is junk without alienating potential customers, can't do it. It’s called negative selling and most people don't like it. I'm sure that was NOT his intention, but that was the result and that is what counts.

 

Lionel was in the same position and in my opinion, made the hard, but correct choice. Nothing personal, just business.

 

Charlie

Wow, memories of the AOL On-Line Train Gang.

 

Who can forget the volleys between TrigTrax and Dahdad (with his "going Postal" MTH Engine)

 

Very fond memories on the fairgrounds and then the Viking Hall. Roman - I remember your daughter joining you one year and talking to her about her softball pitching?

 

The Viking Hall provided a few great years of gatherings. I forget who finally had the bright idea of setting up some track on the stage so we could run our purchases. Maybe it was Jim B?

 

I don't have a AOL Train Gang hat, but I do have that special boxcar that K-Line made for us signed by many attendees including the late Stirling and Mike Newcomer. How Clydes name got on the car is anyones guess.

 

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

 

Paul

Roman,

 

FYI, all four of those pictures you posted are exactly the same.

 

That, or maybe Roman snapped the photos each and every time the trains passed the exact same spots on the layout and the girl in the background was left in suspended animation by Charles Xavier of the X-men. 

Serves me right for being on OGR at work!!!!

Its a little funny --  Jerry referred to the Demo group in some of his early years when interviewed by OGR or the other train mag.  Pretty sure it was OGR though.  

 

I do recall, that near the end, several guys were talking about accidents to or from a demo.  Therefore, the comments about legal issues could be dead on, especially as that was the time the big lawsuit was hot in the courtroom.

 

For me, the group founder, it was always about the trains, and helping others have the most possible fun with trains.  This group started when the Ambassadors were killed off.  Unfortunately, the ambassador group was before its time.  There was not enough formal organization to the group.  However, one of the AOL board members, Joe (whose cousin Ritchie was another great fan) got enough demo points to be awarded the only gold leather jacket Lionel gave out.

 

I still have my name tag signed by Clyde Coil in person, and my AOL hat and t shirt.  The hat is loaded with buttons from a lot of Yorks.  Now, being a Westie most of the time, I can't seem to get back to catch a train meet like York.  Without the old gang, it would be quite a bit different.

 

I still have excel spreadsheets of the group members, lists of AOL train Gang members, and lots of pictures.

 

I remember bringing 6 coolers, a ton of drinks, and 20 pounds of special Western NY Hot Dogs with all the fixings to the very first carport "banquet."  There wasn't much room for new train acquisitions in my Malibu.  Got better gas mileage driving home though. 

 

Lots of good memories of great times, especially how York transformed from very spread out to getting somewhat concentrated in the Toyota and Silver Blue and Red halls among others.

 

I too fondly remember Stirling, Mike and T-Rex.  Stirling used to call me at the wee hours of the morning, many times when he was over in the Middle East -- Dubai maybe.

 

Between Neil and T-Rex, there sure were some well stirred pots back then.  

 

Many might not realize this, but T-Rex was one of Lionel's few beta testers for early TMCC, a system he (in public) would say he would never touch.  Pat sure did know the control codes and insides of the early system.  Most people remember Pat for the Steel Cat, but I believe his real passion was electronics.  I was helping him with "Rexonite", a Pat discovery to make a mag lev train system.  I think RailRunning could tell some good stories of Pat's basement operation.  (Paul L for those in the know)

I remember FBcoop, capt kraftomatic, Fsilo, Pepe and RADIV sitting around going on about Lionel and TMCC, a lot of the AOL guys aren't even into trains anymore.

The longer I sit here the more guys  I think of.

Lou thanks for the link to Tony's pics. I just spent some time going through them. Lots of good times with plenty of great friends. I paused each time I came across one of those friends that passed. Too many pauses but plenty of laughs too.

Saved the badge, bummed about the smudge.

 

Enjoyed seeing the pictures through Tony's webpage but saddened when I saw the pics  of Sterling & Mike who have since passed. Sterling had Danika & I stay at his place on my last visit to York and he made us feel very welcome. Very fortunate to have made a lot of friends through this hobby.

 

 

Richard Keppel (RAK) does DCS/TMCC demos at the TCA and Cal Stewart meets. I've worked with him on several and we make it a point to demonstrate both systems and their inter-operability.

 

AGHR does a version of that every year in December at Pershing Square for the City of Los Angeles using both systems.

At one of the Viking Club gatherings Mr. Bracy asked if my wife or I minded if he sat across from us.  We had a great conversation.  Mr. Maddox was a few rows over and was as gracious as ever.

 

Dr. Neil made his first appearance and he had a crowd around him almost as large as either CEO.  Pat, AKA T Rex, red suspenders and all was always the most interesting one to converse with.

 

The comaradery was fantastic.  It was the highlight of a rather long and tiring Friday.

 

"Those were the days, my friend".

Hey Don, funny stuff...

 

Pat swore me to secrecy about that basement. I think OSHA would have used it as a training ground for new inspectors...let's see acetone by the arc welder: Check

 

And you are right that Pat had some deep knowledge about electronics while publicly stating he had no use for "that stuff".

 

Captain Kraft was instrumental in getting me involved and I owe him a big tip of the hat (and a few beers). Thanks Ted.

 

Paul

 

Paul

Matt once we lost the support from Lionel we included DCS in all our demos and still do it at all the Greenberg Edison shows. It's always a lot of fun but we still get people asking why we have DCS too since we're the "Lionel guys". LOL

Where have I seen this boxcar before?  

Joe

I really enjoyed those pictures I did get a chuckle seeing bob Grubba there, my how times have changed