How long have you been in Z

Normal : how many dealers of US Z-scale in France ? The only well known, "big one" is TransMondia in Paris, and I heard that his conversion rate is 1$ --> 1.20€ (?)
For myself, despite of the fact that I live in France (Bas-Rhin), I had to move to the ... German dealers, HRT, Marsilius and Case Hobbies : they deliver faster and their conversion rate is more interesting ; I must add that another shop in France tried to DISSUADE me from going to Z. No comment ...

My love of Z scale started in 1994. I had never heard of Z scale ... I was in the middle of a proposed 4 hour drive and ended up stopping halfway at a friend's house to rest instead of driving late at night. It was close to Christmas and I had been driving from my college town back to my hometown. As I went to lay down on the couch at my friend's house, I noticed that his mom had set up on an end table a Marklin Z small starter set with an 0-6-0 locomotive and two rolling stock. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that entire night playing with that train set.

Move ahead a couple of years to when I started thinking about my own z scale setup ... as alberich mentioned, shops also here in Southern California STRONGLY DISSUADED me from Z scale! I went into about 10 hobby shops in the Los Angeles area (yes, there were that many back then!) and was turned away at all of them! I was told I was wasting my time looking for Z scale and especially looking for pre-formed layouts from Noch. "We have N scale here ... buy this!" Of course, they don't want to sell what they don't have and many don't want to support something in which they don't have much expertise.

So, I went into the business and filled a hole that the local shops didn't want to fill. That was 1999-2000 timeframe.

I respect ProgressRail and Doug's comments on the scale. Criticism is ok. At times, it does seem like it might be stagnant, but I think given what's presently available this is the best time yet to be in Z scale ... and I see it only getting better as Doug mentioned. The Atlas entry is actually quite significant. But honestly, the entry of Rokuhan into the market really changed the entire game. That and AZL's steady stream of releases ... these are the groups to whom we are thankful for the present state of Z ... and I must say, it looks pretty good and I'm not just throwing out some marketing scheme ... it's real.

Mark has us on the edge of our seats about this poll. Would like to see what is his direction ... But I agree with ProgressRail in that the turnout here is actually quite low. Might be best to put this up on Facebook or on Trainboard for wider reach.

Wow, that was a nice little plug for our scale!!


And the hobby in general.

I always get a chuckle when I hear folks talking about the death of Z. Why? I have been hearing this since the 1980s! And guess what, we are gaining in popularity every year!I am in a very fortunate position to gauge the growth of the scale. There are a lot of factors at play here. Let me address a few.

First Model Railroading and publishing in general. The whole industry is in decline. Even Ztrack is loosing print subscribers. But we are gaining digital subscribers every year. Eventually, we will be a digital only publication. But for now, we plan to print as look as it is economically feasible. We love paper!

The shift to purchasing online really took off in the 1990s. Brick and mortars can't compete. It is really sad, but true. Hobby shops closing is not indicative of a declining hobby. It is an indicator of a shift in purchasing patterns. Online over stores.

I agree with Frank on Walthers. They had no love for Z and never promoted. They tried to sell AZL, but the customer experience was poor. I had folks all the time telling me Walthers said items were sold out, when we had shelves full here in our offices. They never would bother to even check with us!

The migration from N to Z has been going on for well over a decade. Every time AZL comes out with a new piece of rolling stock or a loco, we tend to see a few more converts. It makes sense. As we close the gap in the products we offer compared to N, more people will come to the scale. Frankly, many N scalers I talked to really wanted to go to Z, but were talked out of it.

There are a few key metric I monitor. Of course, sales is one. And we are very steady when it comes to sales. But sales are also influences by new items versus existing stock. Years we have a lot of new items will also be those years with higher sales. There is another metric I use to gauge growth. I have been following this since 2015. It looks at components sold. From this metric, I can share that we are seeing on average 19% growth year over year with on average over 400 people per year getting involved into Z. Surprised by this? I'm not. Not too give to much away, but Ztrack added 470 new Z scale customer and clients in 2019 alone.

So folks, there are a lot more of us out there then you may believe. The shift in the hobby is to go smaller. This also ties in well with the downsizing of living space. I also see a lot of younger folks going the hobby. While we would love to see teens and more 20 year olds come on board, they key demographic is middle aged folks. There is longevity in the scale. I am very optimistic on what is to come!

Rob
Z scale cheerleader #1

I'm in Z for 16 solid years now, after spending decades as a serious N Scaler. Why the switch? When I got into N, there was a lot of modeling going on. You had to build everything, make your own details, and kitbash anything you can to build something representative to your favorite railroad. When you did something in the 1980's, you were the first N Scaler to do it.

Over the years, everything had been done before, and by 2000 to focus had switched to superdetailing, Lots of great detail parts, and automobiles were released then.

In early 2003 I purchased a laser engraver to do a home business, cutting architectural models, and was asked if I could make an HO Scale caboose for someone. I shrunk it to N, and started selling N caboose kits. I decided to do another shrink to Z Scale, and took my model to the NMRA meet, and won my first AP points under car builder. But it was when I posted a photo on the Yahoo Z Scale list that people there convinced me I should offer the cabooses as a Z Scale kit. So, I starting doing Z.

At that time there was a guy wanting to start a Z Scale Modular club for European trains and had started another Yahoo group for it, so I joined. One day I posed the question if we could use the Z-Bend Track standard that came out of Texas, and also have other types of modules representing American trains too. He got angry, said "NO, I Like ETE Z Only" and immediately left the forum he started, AND Z Scale, never to be heard from again!

About 3-4 serious Z Scale guys were left hanging, so we agreed to meet at the Cow Palace for the GATS show, and talk about starting a Z-Bend Track modular club. We formed the BAZ BoyZ, buits some modules, and the next year displayed them at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. People seen Z for the first time, and wanted in, and we grew to a dozen guys.

In those days there were only a few North American models available, so we laser cut stuff, and modified European stuff to look the part. F7's, 4-6-2 Pacific's and 2-8-2 Mikado's were the core of our NA trains, but we also ran all out European trains too. Z was Z, anything Z was welcome.

In the summer of 2004, I went to the NMRA in Seattle, where I met a lot of Z Scalers in Seattle, and for the first time seen Z-Bend Track modules, as well as a concept I had never heard of before... BYOZ, which were tables setup for folks to bring their own z scale hatbox layouts, small displays, etc. I had never seen so much Z Scale before in my life. It seemed Z Scalers from all over the world were there, representing Canada, Norway, Germany, Holland, and the US for Z Scale. I met the movers and shakers of Z, and they were all so upbeat, showing lots of great new products coming out for us. I was hooked then, and have been modeling Z exclusively ever since.

I found that joy I had lost in N, where everything had already been done, now I could do stuff nobody had ever done before. Z Scale brought back the joy of model railroading, and it's still here today. ALZ is bringing out "Firsts" to this day, with their upcoming RS-3's and SW1500's. Little guys like The Z Maker are utilizing rapid prototype brass to bring us SW1200's, and S2 switchers, and of course we are getting lots of great new stuff from Europe too, like the REA building, and all those other new laser cut structures.

It is true that the hobby is aging, Z Scale with it, but it is also adapting. Where small mom and pop shops handmade things before, we now are seeing lots of 3D modeling entering the hobby, and where the growth of Z-Bend Track modular clubs has slowed, it's only because they are big and heavy, and aging guys like myself can't stand on the concrete all day for 2 or 3 days anymore, so we will see the growth of T-Trak Z modular clubs, where we can build smaller and easier to carry table top modules that we can sit and talk around, while running our trains. It's still a great time to be in Z Scale!

Since 2008 or 2009 for me.

Interresting comments about lack of support to Z from "institutional" modelrailroad groups (magazines, hobby stores, Walthers, NMRA, etc)... How can one explain that, as Z scale is every day growing more and more ?

Dom