Who on this forum is going to the Lionel Collector's Club of America Convention in Buffalo in two weeks. I will be there between July 24-27.

It will be interesting to see how many OGR on-line forum members will be there.

If you are going, say so here.

Thanks in advance.

Erol Gurcan

I will be there Tues thru Sun

The Pittsburgh Indenpendent Hi-Railers will have there modular Layout on display,Stop by and see us.

My wife and I are going Thurs. to Sun.
Joe S.

Ed Boyle and I will be manning the OGR Booth. We should arrive on Thursday in time for the evening get together and also will attend the Saturday evening banquet.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wparisi,

I would like to go but I'm not a member. If I register on-line could I attend during the week? I have work commitments on Tue 7/22 & Sat 7/26.

Our family will be attending the LCCA convention in Buffalo.

Thanks;
idea-thinker

Will be there Sunday through Wednesday

My wife and I are going to be there from Sunday, July 20 to Sun July 27th.

I will be there from Sunday July 20th through Saturday the 26th.

David

The wife and I will be there Tuesday through Saturday.

quote:

Originally posted by CSX Al:
I would like to go but I'm not a member. If I register on-line could I attend during the week?

I'm in the same situation...anyone have an answer for us? Thanks.

To CSX Al and Signals:

It isn't clear to me but it appears you are talking about becoming a member and then registering for the convention

I am just an LCCA member and would yield to any LCCA official on this matter, but it appears to me you could join LCCA online and then register for the convention.

The online membership application form says, "Please allow 5 business days for processing." So if you completed the form tomorrow (10 July), it seems processing would be completed by 17 July. You could then register online (in the members part of the website) for the convention.

So technically, it appears it should be possible.

Would love to go, but got too many prior committments. Looks like my next LCCA convention will be at Denver in 2010.

Charles
LCCA CM 16

Thanks PGentieu, what is the cost to register for the convention?

The convention has started.The Pittsburgh Indenpendent Hi-Railers are set up in the same room as Lionel.I talked with them today and they were having a good time.I was not able to go due to work And Family.
I am sure the will post some pictures when they get back.

Below are some notes from the LCCA Convention reposted with the authors permission. Originally posted on the AOL Lionel board.

Sounds like an informative and overall good time.

I'm sure Locolawyer will expand later.

"Preliminary report from the center of Lionel worship, the Lionel Collector's Club of America annual convention . Worship is an appropriate word as the LCCA convention is sharing the Adams Mark Hotel with a large group of devout Christians who have some of the best behaved kids ever, and who are joining us trainheads in enjoying the large displays by Lionel and the Pittsburgh Independent Hi-Railers. Lionel is here in force, including Jerry Calabrese, Richard Kughn, Mike Reagan, Rich Moser, Tom Nuzzo, all arriving before the weekend, so this is a big commitment from Lionel to their most loyal fans. The exhibits look polished and Lionel seems to be doing very well indeed. The Lionel staff are sincerely gungho about the direction(s) the company is taking and the leadership of Jerry C.

The Lionel Grand Central Terminal layout from Christmas is in the hotel lobby for all to see, whether by LCCA's or Conservative Christians, or non-conventioneers in this 468 room hotel and downtown Buffalonians. Had a long and entertaining talk with Tom Nuzzo for the first time. Spent lots of time with Al and Barb N. Had a long talk with Michael T., the oncologist from LI whose Dunham layout was featured in Lionel Nation, Vol. 1, and also met John W. (Lionelski), his train friend from home. Mike Mottler the editor of the Lion Roars was at the LCCA booth, so I took the opportunity to thank him for his hard work. Along with the TCA Quarterly, the Lion Roars is the highest quality club publication IMO, and the one I enjoy most (no surprise).

The "conventional classics" (actual from the last century) and I believe some pre-production samples or mockups of the Conventional Classics are being shown in the Lionel booth. Fun stuff. The registration gift was afirst Lionel water tower (one of those mushroom cloud shaped deals) marked for the NYC, very nice. The convention on-site car is a hotbox MDT Anchor Bar Buffalo Wings car for $70.00, very reasonable and attractive, not to mention appropriate. More information to follow the business meeting (where is that New Haven set?) and the Lionel Seminar this afternoon.

Friday:

LCCA is a really great club if you are a Lionel fan in any way, shape or form. Particularly if you like postwar Lionel these days as they have some cool repros or novelty items.

Jerry Calabrese gave a long talk at today's Lionel Seminar at LCCA. Clearly the catalog is going to shrink in that they will be covering the waterfront in product niches with many fewer SKUs, recognizing that the market will not support the current situation, the dealers cannot stock even a fraction of their current product line, and most of the Lionel's customers are less obsessed with specific railroads or locomotives than typical model railroaders. They plan to throw a lot of resources and effort at developing Legacy as a simple, but powerful layout control system that will work for layouts of all sizes and complexities. The high end first subway is at least a few months away from being finished for those who care. They will continue to make models that appeal to beginners (sets mostly), postwar and prewar fans, high tech fans and hi-railers (scale models). The variety of products will be decreased for each catalog from recent years, which will mean that some folks will find only a few or no pieces to interest them in any given catalog.

Here are some more notes:

One of the big issues being addressed by Mike Reagan (new chief of customer service) and others at Lionel is proper documentation for both operation and repair of Lionel products. I saw volume one in draft form. This should be of great assistance to repair stations and to consumers who wish to do their own work.

The issue of New Jersey came up (given Neil Young's comments) and the only comment I heard is that they are indeed investigating distribution center possibilities on the East Coast, and Jerry Calabrese mentioned that they are exploring in very preliminary fashion what the issues would be for assembling or even manufacturing some products domestically, given the two fold increase in their shipping costs and four fold plus increase in wages in Asia. Nothing is imminent I'd guess, but if things continue as they are, something might become imminent eventually.

It sounds as if Legacy's initial bugs, mostly very minor, have been fixed in 1.2.

Calabrese also noted that with the bankruptcy and lawsuits behind them, they can really devote money and effort to developing new products in a way they could not over the last eight years, including the four he's been there. He mentioned the word "play" several times in his talk
He also mentioned a total figure of the cost of the lawsuit to Lionel, including their legal fees of 14 million. Nobody was very interested in discussing the lawsuit and clearly Lionel has put this behind them.

(1) New Haven set will be shipped next week some time.

(2) Burlington F unit postwar set is next, along with some special LCCA buildings. Likely further sets will have TMCC, by vote of hands at convention.

(3) Subway with Legacy is nearing completion of design, which has been fraught with difficulty. Trying to avoid any teething problems some ACELAs had.

(4) Conventional Classics represent Lionel's commitment to reinforce their iconic and traditional conventional models, but slightly improved in performance (traction tires and Magnetraction; electronic E unit, horn bell, whistle) but with near perfect physical resemblance. They understand that conventional operators still are a large, and perhaps predominant part of their business. They also understand the need to provide exceptional value through much higher margins to dealers (looks like as high as 50% to me) and really affordable prices to their loyal fans. Didn't hear any discussion of what comes next. Everyone agreed they are going to get a landslide of orders for these models at these prices. Almost to a man, folks were ordering at least one set, often two, and some of the separate sale cars and locomotives. I think they may well be the best selling products Lionel will have had in many decades, with the exception of the Polar Express."

Johnsgg1- Thank you for the report and update from Lionel. Happy railroading!-Don Klose

quote:

Below are some notes from the LCCA Convention reposted with the authors permission. Originally posted on the AOL Lionel board.

Sounds like an informative and overall good time.

Thanks for the report. From that catalog and from this report looks like Lionel will focus on PW reissues and lower priced sets.
I'm wondering if anything was mentioned about the JLC program? Is it dead?
Joe

Joe, a response for you -

In response to threerailnut's question, it is clear Lionel is still committed to the Lionmaster and JLC series of high end locos with Legacy. Just the number of issues will be smaller and the range of road names offered probably less extensive. Lionel is not abandoning the high tech scale end of the market, just the number of different SKUs offered at any one time will be limited. There will be additional offerings like the scale Big Boy and the Legacy SD series.

quote:

Joe, a response for you -

In response to threerailnut's question, it is clear Lionel is still committed to the Lionmaster and JLC series of high end locos with Legacy. Just the number of issues will be smaller and the range of road names offered probably less extensive. Lionel is not abandoning the high tech scale end of the market, just the number of different SKUs offered at any one time will be limited. There will be additional offerings like the scale Big Boy and the Legacy SD series.

All Lionel, All PRR an' lovin' it

Thanks John, I'm really not into PW copies or lower priced sets so its good to hear they haven't given up on the better stuff.
Joe

LCCA is going to have Lionel produce the Alco Burlington postwar passenger set? That's great!

WHY NOT JOIN AT THE DOOR. I DID IT THIS WAY WHEN I FIRST JOINED THE LCCA. LOCOMOTION