All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm
March 1, 2015
By STEVE WILLIS/Cowcatcher Magazine
The Rocky Mountain Toy Train Show appears to be growing from its modest beginnings with hopes of becoming a giant in the business.
Organizers of the Denver-area show, set for March 7-8, hope to transform what were cozy holiday meets in the ’70s to an annual event on par with the top shows in the country. A gamble to move a few years ago to the spacious Denver Mart and lots of legwork by Chairman Jim Marski appear to be paying off.
This year’s 39th installment, billed as the largest train show west of the Mississippi, is filling 120,000 square feet of space with a host of model manufacturers, more than 600 sales tables and nearly three dozen layouts. The show, hosted by the Rocky Mountain Division of the Train Collectors Association, is the first of two in 2015, and the fifth in the spring since the group expanded its format.
“One of our goals was to develop the show into the must-attend railroad show for the western half of the United States,” Marski said in an email. “The East Coast has the Amherst Show in Springfield, MA, the Midwest has Trainfest in Milwaukee, WI, and the West will have the Rocky Mountain Train Show. To meet this goal, we needed to attract the major hobby manufacturers.”
This year’s show will feature such notables as Bachmann, Broadway Limited, Kato U.S.A., MTH Electric Trains, Marklin/LGB, KamKonnect and Walthers. Also scheduled are Caboose Industries, Evergreen Hill Designs, GrassTech USA, Hornby, Iwata, Lunde Studios, Monroe Models, Motrak Models, North American Railcar, Sundance Marketing, Sunset/3rd Rail, Tutweiler Studios, White River Productions and Yard Goat Images.
Marski said additional manufacturers have expressed interest in attending in 2016.
Originally, the group tried to bolster its annual fall show, held around Thanksgiving since 1976. Attendance never topped 2,500 and declined to about 1,200 by 2008, Marski said.
Seeking to energize the show, a committee was formed in 2009. The decision was made to “bet the farm,” Marski said, and move the show to the Denver Mart, a world-class exhibition facility. The committee also decided to invest heavily in advertising.
“After much discussion it became obvious that the manufacturers would not attend a show on Thanksgiving weekend, so we added a March show in 2011,” he said. “We have had significant success adding manufacturers for 2015.”
To cultivate manufacturers, Marski spent the last four years traveling to Amherst, Trainfest, the Oklahoma City Train Show and other events to promote the new venue.
Attendance at both shows has since improved. The holiday shows are attracting about 7,000 each year, and the 2014 spring show attracted 10,700. Profits have been reinvested to promote future shows.
Marski stresses that the Rocky Mountain Toy Train Show needs to attract new families to the hobby, and will continue to advertise. The group’s 2015 advertising program for the spring show includes 190 TV commercials, 64 radio spots, 20 outdoor billboards, newspaper ads, 7,500 color flyers, 8,300 direct mail postcards, 15,000 emails, advertising in hobby magazines and plugs on Facebook.
And the shows will go on. A contract was signed to host the spring and fall shows at the Denver Mart through 2017.
A significant change this year is moving the holiday show, which generally doesn’t attract manufacturers, to the second weekend in December, after the Oklahoma City Train Show. Marski said the move will help attract more vendors from outside of Denver and enable better advertising penetration. He also hopes it will encourage modular clubs from other states to display.
“The show’s future looks bright,” he said.
