Is the TCA irrelevant to todays hobby?

I like the museum. It is a credit to the hobby.

I know almost nothing about the TCA and in honesty don’t have a lot of interest. We own a ton of conventional, a lot in unopened boxes (including a Lionel backshop, bascule bridge, etc). But as we got into a layout, we decided to change direction and go with more realism, etc. We love the old but wanted to try the new stuff. Do not see that with the TCA. They appear to be in the dark ages and seem happy to be there. Nothing wrong with that IF they can continue long term.

Does the TCA need a good consultant... absolutely. But how many know enough to be able to give good and maybe not acceptable advice to this group?

It simply increases the cost of York. That said, we are glad to support the hobby.

Yeah, the internet is kinda better if all you want to do is buy trains. But most of the fun for me is socializing with all the friends I’ve made over the years with the trains as a backdrop. Can’t get that from an Internet vendor.

The TCA is not alone with membership issues. Just about every hobby, not only the model train hobby, is suffering from the same thing. Kids, and a lot of adults, can’t put their phones down to save their life and would rather play Minecraft.

Best way to make changes is to run for a TCA office. But it's like my old homeowner's association. Many wanted to be on the Board so they could make the changes they wanted. Until they received first hand knowledge of the problems and realized the limitations and then nobody heard anything again.

It'll take more than any one person or even a group of people to change the mindset of potential members. Because those outside the hobby don't want to run trains, they want to play video games. I could barely have a conversation with my oldest grandson cause he had his gaze plastered to his phone. Look around your neighborhoods, you don't see kids filling the ball fields to play baseball anymore. When I was a kid you couldn't find an open field to play, now it's just crickets.

I know it's probably for budget reasons but why don't the Importers advertise that they even still make trains?  If they promote what they make people will go to train shows.  They need to make it look cool again!

I'm going to continue to go to the York Meets and any local TCA Meets and support the TCA until it's no longer there or I head to the great train station in the sky (or the subway).  In the meantime I'm going to talk about the hobby, share my hobby, promote the hobby as best I can and buy as many trains as I can (it's cheaper than therapy).  And if they all go away in my lifetime, I have enough trains for a few lifetimes to enjoy.  I'll always have the hobby boiling in my blood!!

Some interesting posts about TCA. I am not a member and I will not join TCA now or in the future. There are no benefits for me to do so. Where we live the area is actually covered by TCA. There are no events of any kind. I have spoken to a few people about this and the responses have all been that TCA is an American thing. For a long time now I consider most things to be North American in nature. Not just Canadian or American. When I have posted about York when I was a member of another forum saying the York Train "Show" people corrected me by saying it is a "Meet". Lately I have seen it advertised as a show. Most likely as a way to raise attendance. To me TCA has one foot in the past while trying to find a future to place the other foot. Not an easy task. Open to the public or not open to the public. Member halls closed to the public. Trying to attract new members and keeping the public out of some of the areas is just not a sound practice. That is what Train Clubs usually do for their members. Nothing wrong with that....like minded individuals wanting to be together. York should be wide open. It has changed through the years. York is no longer just a swap meet. Once retailers started to attend the landscape changed. I have attended many large shows for products over the years. Boat shows,RV shows,Car shows,ARMX,SEMA,etc. All open to the public and all continue to increase their attendance and sales while York's numbers go down. I don't have any real solutions to give you as I believe that the TCA is struggling with the same issues. Obviously their is more than one reason for this. One big reason for the decline is that people are aging and heading to the big train station in the sky. It is difficult to get younger people involved in this hobby for many reasons. Times have changed and the hobby must change as well. Today doing something with your hands or building something is just not fun for an entire generation. They all seem to want others to do it for them. Just a couple of my thoughts and observations. For us, we will attend York this week to meet people and check out the vendors first hand,looking for deals while at the same time representing the O-Gauge Forum. I am sure a lot of you will be doing the same thing. We will also be doing non train related things. For us this trip is also a mini vacation. We are looking forward to York being a fun and thoroughly enjoyable experience!

See you there,

Gary and Cheryl.