# future of g scale?



## hawkfanjohn (Nov 17, 2009)

Seriously thinking of getting into hobby! Even went onto ebay and bid once~ now proud owner of a three truck shay by Spectrum. The I went to local train hobby shop and both people in store advised that garden rr was dead with the demise of LGB. Also went to a Colorado Springs club and membership was all loder and they said noone was entering the hobby.

What is you peoples view on future of Garden Railroading?


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Good grief! People there think LGB is all there is? 

Lots of garden railroading going on 'round here!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

A dealer friend has been saying G scale sales have been dropping for years, even before EPL went under. 

But the hobby shops also told my dad in the 1960s that slot cars would replace trains. 

Just a new era would be a better way to put it.


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## Splicer (Nov 29, 2008)

Wait a minute...What do you mean "LGB is dead"? What, When, How?


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

Yup. Once all the old farts are dead and buried I can buy their trains cheap!










My empire will be awesome by the time I become an old fart!









-Brian


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Dealer sounds like a he has a serious case of sour grapes as they obviously didnt stock anything from Bachmann, Aristo or US 

Given the amount of stuff on Ebay I'd say even if every maker stopped tommorow there would still be a good supply of everything for another 10 years


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Splicer who??????? Hey, where you been????? 

From all indications on the left side of the Mississippi, Large Scale is alive and well. We've been busier that ever getting calls and emails every day for stuff.

Hawkfan AKA, John.... Glad to see you're getting into the hobby. It's still going strong. Lots of stuff available. Check classifieds here for some great deals as people upgrade to more and better stuff. There's a wealth of information here.


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## digger (Jan 2, 2008)

Not dead, not dying, just breathing hard.







There are *thousands* of us in this hobby, and at least from my perspective, as a club secretary, there's still a lot of interest and new folks getting in. True, LGB lit the fire, but even before they got extinguished, other manufacturers got into the act and are still producing. A tight economy has put something of a damper on explosive growth, but there's still a lot of action out there. eBay is not a good barometer of how things are going. Most of what I see there is overpriced, particularly when you add on shipping. the fact that there are a lot of listings is deceptive. A disproportionate # of the listings are for trinkets and not the kinds of things that would really help a guy (or gal) build a nice RR. There are good alternative sources to get the basics. 
Re: club memberships. Most of our members are retirees, but we have younger folks interested and getting started as well. A lot depends on how the club membership treats newbies and how well they share their interests with the public. Our open houses and displays have brought in many of our new members. Sure, some folks drop out, but we've found others who get on board for whatever period of time they feel that the association is of value to them. We try very hard not to be exclusive. We just turned 10 years old as a club, and we're still growing.


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## CLBee (Dec 11, 2009)

I am a soon to be newbie to Garden Railroading also, just waiting for things to warm up outside.


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Is G Scale dead? The short answer is "no" and not only "no" but "HECK NO!! (censored to PG) As with everything, these hobbies have phases where they increase and decrease. Due to the economy (and some unfortunate timing) the local hobby shops have moved away from large scale as too expensive to keep a large inventory in stock. This is due mainly to insane pricing from internet and wholesale retailers making it nearly impossible for the local hobby shop to compete! This is not necessarily a bad thing for large scale enthusiasts!
G Scale dead? Not hardly!! As has been mentioned, ebay is a great place for finding those hard-to-find items at reasonable prices (if you are willing to do your own research) so, really, the entire country essentially becomes your hobby store!!
Other enthusiats? They're out there! Only a fraction of them are on the internet and there are _thousands_ of us right here on MLS!!! There is plenty of support and commaraderie!! G Scale is not only alive but it is still growing! The hobby is going through that transition between the "old guard" that has been in the hobby for decades and the next generation. In some ways I wish I were starting all over again! The offerings now available to the hobbyist are incredible! Look at your Bachmann _Spectrum_ Shay! Twelve years ago, it's predecessor showed up on the market and everything changed! Now, we _expect _this kind of detailing with every new offering! G Scale is alive and well and waiting for you! What are _you_ waiting for?


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Posted By altterrain on 11 Dec 2009 04:46 PM 
Yup. Once all the old farts are dead and buried I can buy their trains cheap!










My empire will be awesome by the time I become an old fart!









-Brian 



And when youuuuuuu die, i can buy your trains cheap.........AAAAAAAAAA the future is BRIGHT.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Nicholas Savatgy on 11 Dec 2009 06:15 PM 
Posted By altterrain on 11 Dec 2009 04:46 PM 
Yup. Once all the old farts are dead and buried I can buy their trains cheap!










My empire will be awesome by the time I become an old fart!









-Brian 



And when youuuuuuu die, i can buy your trains cheap.........AAAAAAAAAA the future is BRIGHT. 


You have no idea what the kids think the junk is worth!


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Local hobby shops can't support large scale trains because they can't carry the inventory, nor compete with the internet. And E-Bay certainly has NOTHING to do with large scale trains, other than ripping off innocent newcomers to the hobby on a regular basis. 

Sorry to hear the Colorado Springs club gave you a bad impression. I thought they were pretty active down there. If you feel like driving north, we are the Northern Colorado Garden Railroaders, and we would be glad to have you in the club, or just show you the hobby isn't dead. But even closer ... get with the Denver Garden Railway Society. They just hosted the National Garden Railways convention in Denver last summer ... long ways from being dead! 

Just hang out here for awhile. You will get a feel for what is going on in the hobby. Welcome to MLS!


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## jfrank (Jan 2, 2008)

If you think it's dead I suggest you go to the Garden Railway Convention in Tacoma next August and check it out. It aint dead yet.

http://www.2010ngrc.com/


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## Splicer (Nov 29, 2008)

Posted By Stan Cedarleaf on 11 Dec 2009 05:11 PM 
Splicer who??????? Hey, where you been????? 








I've been here 'n there my friend. Sounds as if all has been well for you. For this I am happy to hear.


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

No its not Dead, but the money to do it with is very tight! I would say for the majority of us in it, which then makes it also tight for the retailers who want to sell they're higher priced or raised price inventory me thinks????????? There will always be g-scalers or garden railroads but maybe just not as elaborate or complex when things were less expensive. Del is right a retailer has an up hill climb with the internet and its pricing with no inventory or employees, I think Evil Bay does have some decent bargains if you watch wait and have patience! What you are looking for will eventually come around and if you are patient enough you will find the right price also fair and or cheap!! Also watch when other guys are getting out for bargains or if they just get tired of what they have and want something different after awhile like me. Regal


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## Splicer (Nov 29, 2008)

Posted By Splicer on 11 Dec 2009 09:39 PM 
Posted By Stan Cedarleaf on 11 Dec 2009 05:11 PM 
Splicer who??????? Hey, where you been????? 











I've been here 'n there my friend. Sounds as if all has been well for you. For this I am happy to hear.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Hmmm...

Well speaking as a neutral, here I think that the Garden Railways are alive and well!!! In the US you use the term "G" scale to mean anything that runs on Gauge 1 track and is either Standard or Narrow gauge. Here in the UK we are a little more liberal. There are at least 6,000+ members of the 16mm NGM Association, G1MRA -I don't think even *THEY* know how many members they have(!), and about 200 members of the Gauge '3' Society, (I will admit to not being sure how many members of the National 2.5 inch Gauge Association there are?) 


So, all I can really give you is that the typical English Garden Railway may have anything from a 16mm scale 4AA powered "DOT" loco pulling wagons made of lollipop sticks to a fire breathing coal burning Gauge '3' "Duke of Glouster" Super Pacific loco -and they will probably be owned by the same person(!)


regards

ralph


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Posted By ralphbrades on 12 Dec 2009 12:00 AM 
Hmmm...

Well speaking as a neutral, here I think that the Garden Railways are alive and well!!! In the US you use the term "G" scale to mean anything that runs on Gauge 1 track and is either Standard or Narrow gauge. Here in the UK we are a little more liberal. There are at least 6,000+ members of the 16mm NGM Association, G1MRA -I don't think even *THEY* know how many members they have(!), and about 200 members of the Gauge '3' Society, (I will admit to not being sure how many members of the National 2.5 inch Gauge Association there are?) 


So, all I can really give you is that the typical English Garden Railway may have anything from a 16mm scale 4AA powered "DOT" loco pulling wagons made of lollipop sticks to a fire breathing coal burning Gauge '3' "Duke of Glouster" Super Pacific loco -and they will probably be owned by the same person(!)


regards

ralph 



Hmmmmmmmmmmm I was under the impressoin G stood for Garden railraod ? Hear in the US anyway. Im a newbie so i could be wrong....


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

I like to ask GRYs staff how the hobby is going. 
As with any scale ,many times you see the same old faces. But there are new faces. Who knows how many private ,hidden G folks are out there. someone is buying all this large stuff.


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

im sorry you met some folks who were so negative-its easy and popular to take this approach with a combination of poor economy, and changing market as well as old fart mindset 






the hobby is alive and well






there is a wealth of stuff available both new and used






ebay can provide some quality used items if youre savvy






the hobby itself doesnt take anything other than persistance, patience and the willingness to slowly accumulate what you like-just the way it did when LGB was in business






like all train guys, most of us have far more in the way of rolling stock and engines that are really necessary to have a wonderful, operational railroad






very few things are unobtainable-you simply need to school yourself in what you want and what it should cost and be patient in the market






while an "LGB" guy myself, i can say that i am still able to find items long out of production that i want for reasonable money






do your homework, determine what you want in the way of equipment etc and simply get started






its not dead


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## Truthman (Dec 13, 2008)

I also had a local toy store here in town that carried some LGB, and a very little bit of Aristo. I just talked to him the other night and said he has stopped selling trains because LGB is out of business and what's the point? Well, that's the world according to him anyway. First of all LGB is NOT dead. It isn't what it used to be but it is far from dead. I think G scale still has potential.


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

For those who bleeve that LGB is dead, I suggest you come over here to UK and have a look at some of our dealers - one of whom, slightly north of me, has a room thirty feet long and eight feet high stocked with end-on boxes of LGB locos and rolling stock - at least $2.5M worth, he reckons. My local dealer is Glendale Junction - I suggest you look him up on the internet and cast your peepers over HIS stock.

Here we have even got a brand-new LS site - GScalecentral.com - with hundreds of members on it already, and just to rub some noses in it - the Gauge 1 Model Railway Association has over 3000 members.

Whatever you call it, G scale or Garden railways- it's alive and doing VERY well, thank you.

A look at our website - under my signature - will show you just how popular garden railways are on both sides of your northern border. 

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

I think G or large scale is doing very well and keeps getting more popular. Large scale seems to be more of a family affair due to being outdoors and more accesable in the backyard compared to down in the basement where the smaller scales are often found. At the last train show I went to there wasn't much for G, there seldom is I think due to the cost and sheer size the dealers would need to lug to the show but the equipment I did see at a decent price was snatched up fast. 
The only thing that bothers me about large scale is it seems the prices are going up and UP. I for one cannot justify spending $80 for a boxcar or $500 + for an engine so I search for deals.... part of the fun. There are deals out there and good equipment to be had. 
Jump in to G it is a great hobby with lots of great people to share it with. Fun.


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Posted By hawkfanjohn on 11 Dec 2009 04:23 PM 
... and they said noone was entering the hobby.


_*B. S.*_ - I just got into G this summer.









Forrest Scott Wood


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## Truthman (Dec 13, 2008)

eBay is not the end all be all indicator for G scale and it certainly is not the cheapest anymore. But I still look and find a deal or two here and there for people selling off their stuff. Heck, I've had quite a few false starts in this hobby and have liquidated my small inventories in the past. I'm starting at it again and being much more selective about what and where I buy and especially for how much I spend on it. Well, that being said which probably doesn't relate to this thread, but I think G is alive and well.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Hawfanjohn posted: "What is you peoples view on future of Garden Railroading?"

1) I have no idea of the future. I feel comfortable saying that it will probably not disappear.

2) Garden RRing is a high-end hobby, high enough that fans can and do tolerate poor design performance, customer service and suchlike ills.

3) A significant proportion is RTR (ready to run). No I do not have numbers, just impressions, though a strong, but smaller fraction are avid builders, either kit or scratch.

4) To me, its greatest strength is its size, because I build, or will. It easier to make details of larger scale, and I'm an older person.

5) It exists in several NG (narrow gauge) versions--at least one commercially available--so it can have a wider following than one would expect.

6) It does not seem to have a blatent 'toy' sales approach, though the mis-scaling and detailing errors are there.

A) The plethora of scales is a nightmare.
B) Not too many people seem to care, however.
C) There are several ways to control the train (excluding steam) such as DCC, DC, PWM, R/C + Battery, where the proponents of each seek to drive the others to extinction by fair means or foul.

7) I think it is humorous that LGB was 'toylike' (but they built some awesome-looking equipment, rather as Lionel did two generations ago) and now that it isn't 'dead'--like Elvis isn't dead to True Believers--Large Scale is said to be going away.

 A) The subject of LGB's demise--or not--can lead to nuclear war around here. 

8) With large radius curves, it isn't well suited to indoors, unless a conscious choice is made to limit the size of cars, curves and engines, and even then it's still pretty big.

9) Be prepared for a long slog up the learning curve.

I have said before that if LS had a low-end, bare-bones manufacturer, it might be an asset.

Les


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I wish somebody had told me..... I'm still building !


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

" where the proponents of each seek to drive the others to extinction by fair means or foul."

Extinction? No, just to madness


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## Allan W. Miller (Jan 2, 2008)

Garden railroading is not dead or dying (not even close). Large Scale is not dead or dying. LGB has had some problems in recent years--even major ones--but the trains are still being made and other manufacturers have stepped in to fill any gap that may have existed. Truth is, there are more manufacturers involved with Large Scale today than there were eight or ten years ago, and they are producing a broad range of products that should appeal to just about any interest. 

Over my many years of involvements in the hobby, in Large Scale as well as others and both personally and professionally, I've learned that there are VERY few dealers who you can trust to provide accurate information and that most don't have a clue about what's happening outside the walls of their own shops. This is not meant to be a blanket indictment of all dealers by any means, but rest assured that those who are in the know and who will be honest in conveying information to the customer are few and far between.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

If G scale is dead why is AC and USAT still investing in new products. I think the hobby is going quite strongly thank you very much. Later RJD


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

I can't think of any hobby that has ever died. Maybe some have been on life support. 

(If all the G gauge companies failed, I'm sure some entrepreneur would step in (if they could get a bank loan







))


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