MATT TAYLOR shows us what he found at this large toy fair in Germany.
It's that time of year - again Christmas is an distant memory and we are now well into 2019 (and we've definitely all stopped writing '2018' on everything - Ed). For Gaugemaster however, it's a time to take stock of how 2018 went and look to future in 2019 and beyond. Last week Ian, Terry and I travelled out to Germany for the 2019 Spielwarenmesse, or International Toy Fair.
The event running since 1949 is the largest toy fair in the whole of Europe, attracting all the big brands in the toy industry from around the world. Featuring in 14 halls this is by far the largest exhibition we get to visit each year.
This year we all travelled out together and met at Heathrow airport on Tuesday morning. This year was slightly different as we travelled to Munich and then took an ICE-3 from there up to Nuremberg. With most of the new items already announced we didn't have many surprises, but some companies did decide to hold back some of the information until the fair started.
I'll admit that I'm not of the age where all the information would be obtained at the show, but I do understand when people say it was more special if you had to visit the fair to get all the information for your customers.
As we do each year, we plan and make appointments to visit as many suppliers and customers as possible over the four main days we are at the show. Each supplier is unique and it's good for example to be talking with a supplier from Japan like Kato and then the next meeting you could be talking with a supplier like Walthers from America.
From the fair this year we have been able to walk away with some exciting news, we will be stocking some new ranges soon - keep an eye on RIGHT LINES, mailshots, and our news page. I'm sure we should have something that would take your fancy!
Here are my personal highlights from the Toy Fair this year:
From Piko it was a model of the new DR BR50 Steam Locomotive in G Scale. This model was very impressive and to see the pre-production model on the stand was a sight to behold.
Roco are producing a new range of small diesel locomotives in HO. I specifically liked the NS Sik Diesel Locomotive.
From Faller it was the new FA140418 Deamonium Haunted House Fairground Kit, perfect for a spooky corner of your layout.
And from Kato the big news was the announcement of the ICE-4 in N Scale. This model is the first ICE-4 to be produced in N Scale - and when we got to see the model first-hand it looked amazing! We hope to have the model with us around May/June time depending on final production and shipments times. This model will require a special decoder for operation which should be available shortly. Also, the model has the ability to be run back-to-back just like the real thing. I'm sure someone would like to try and run a full 24 car unit!
These are just some of the new items arriving in the future and gives you all a little idea into what happens each year in Germany. Keep an eye on RIGHT LINES for more details on new items by manufacturer.