The Great American Train Show is the name of what was, for two decades, the largest traveling model train show in the United States. Model railroading (US or Railway modelling (UK Australia and Canada is a Hobby in which Rail transport systems are modeled at a reduced scale The company was incorporated in 1985 and went defunct in 2006. During the 1990's the company operated as many as 90 train shows every year in 40 different states. A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government
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Corporate History
The Great American Train Show, or GATS, was founded by David K. Swanson as an outgrowth of a monthly train show in Wheaton, Illinois near Chicago that was itself an outgrowth of a local model railroad club. Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Beginning in 1982, Swanson began running train shows in cities outside the Chicago area, eventually expanding the operation to the west coast by the mid-1980's and to the east coast by the mid-1990's. The " West Coast " " Western Seaboard " or " Pacific Seaboard " are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the Western United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard" refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern
GATS was originally run as a subsidiary of the NIART company, but following incorporation as GATS Limited became itself a parent to a series of subsidiaries which existed at one point or another. A subsidiary, in business matters is an entity that is controlled by a bigger and more powerful entity Incorporation (abbreviated Inc in US and Canadian business names is the forming of a new Corporation (a corporation being a legal entity These included:
- Great Midwest Train Show
- Great Western Train Show
- Great American Travel Service
- GA Technology Services
- Computer Renaissance (franchise)
- Computer Central
In 2001 the company was sold by Swanson to Elmo Geoghegan, a former Bob's Big Boy employee who had worked for GATS as a show manager. Big Boy is a restaurant chain started in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale California, as Bob's Big Boy. Geoghegan moved the emphasis of the company from train shows towards computer shows, a change which proved financially disastrous. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. A disaster is the impact of a natural or human-made hazard that negatively affects society or environment. In 2004 the company's name was changed to Great Western & Atlantic Train Show, and in April 2006 the company ceased all operations.
Operations
The core business of GATS consisted of running consumer shows focused on model railroading. A trade fair (or trade show) is an exhibition organised so that companies in a specific Industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products service study These train shows consisted of several dozen vendors selling a variety of model railroad related merchandise, as well as several operating model train layouts. In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need In model railroading, a Layout is a Diorama containing scale track for operating Trains The size of a layout varies from Shows were opened to the public over the course of two days, Saturday and Sunday. Public attendance could range from around 1,500 to as many as 10,000 attendees over the course of the two-day show. As show promoter, GATS performed facility and show operation personnel contracting, exhibitor registration, floor plan design, and on-site management functions, as well as conducting advertising and public relations campaigns to draw attendees. A floor plan ( floorplan) in Architecture and Building engineering is a Diagram, usually to scale, of the relationships between rooms Management (covering theory practice and scope of management and Manager' (covering the people who manage might help clarify and systematise Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand Public relations (PR is the practice of managing the flow of Information between an Organization and its Publics Public relations - often referred
Successor Train Shows
After selling GATS, Swanson went on to purchase Greenberg Shows, an east coast train show company that had formerly been in competition with GATS. This operation was later folded into the Great Train Expo company, which was created by Swanson when GATS went defunct. Swanson also founded the World's Greatest Hobby on Tour, a model railroad industry trade and consumer show.
Citations
Huckaby, George (June 2006). Interview with Dave Swanson (html). Trolleyville Times. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
Huckaby, George (May 2006). Rest in Peace - Great Western & Atlantic Train Show (html). Trolleyville Times. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
Great Train Expo (4/24/2006). "What we know about GATS Limited/Hobbies Unlimited". Press release. A news release, media release, press release or press statement is a written or recorded Communication directed at members of the News Retrieved on 2007-04-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
Huckaby, George (November 2001). GATS Sold! (html). Trolleyville Times. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
External links
- GATS goes out of business, from the Trolleyville Times
- Archived GATS website, from the Wayback Machine
- Greenberg Shows, longtime competitor to GATS
- Great Train Expo, founded by David K. Swanson in 2006
- Former GATS official website