The Great American Train Show is the name of what was, for two decades, the largest traveling

model train Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

show in the United States. The company was incorporated in 1985 and went defunct in 2006. During the 1990s, the company operated as many as 90 train shows every year in 40 different states.

Corporate history

The Great American Train Show, or GATS, was founded by David K. Swanson as an outgrowth of a monthly train show in

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, near

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that was itself an outgrowth of a local model railroad club. Beginning in 1982, Swanson began running train shows in cities outside the Chicago area, eventually expanding the operation to the

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by the mid-1980s and to the

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by the mid-1990s. GATS was originally run as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of the NIART company, but following

incorporation Incorporation may refer to: * Incorporation (business), the creation of a corporation * Incorporation of a place, creation of municipal corporation such as a city or county * Incorporation (academic), awarding a degree based on the student having ...

as GATS Limited became itself a parent to a series of subsidiaries which existed at one point or another. 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

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employee who had worked for GATS as a show manager. Geoghegan moved the emphasis of the company from train shows towards

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

shows, a change which proved financially disastrous. 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 show A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and c ...

s focused on model railroading. These train shows consisted of several dozen

vendors In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these terms ...

selling a variety of model railroad related

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

, as well as several operating model train layouts. 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 Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

contracting, exhibitor registration, floor plan design, and on-site

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

functions, as well as conducting

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

campaigns to draw attendees.

Successor Train Shows

After selling GATS, Swanson went on to purchase

Greenberg Shows Greenberg is a surname common in North America, with anglicized spelling of the German Grünberg (''green mountain'') or the Jewish Ashkenazi Yiddish Grinberg, an artificial surname.Beider, Alexander (1993). ''A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames fro ...

, an east coast train show company that had formerly been in competition with GATS. This operation was later folded into the

Great Train Expo Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

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.

References

* * * * {{cite web , last = Huckaby , first = George , title =GATS Sold! , work =Trolleyville Times , publisher = , date =November 2001 , url =http://www.trolleyville.com/tv/times/november2001/index.shtml , accessdate = April 13, 2007

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
Model railway shows and exhibitions American companies established in 1985 Defunct companies based in Chicago