Ok, N is officially the red headed stepchild...

[Rossford Yard]

It may not be indicative, but I asked the MT and Kato reps at the national train show, and they both said they sold way more modern stuff.  Kato, no surprise, MT may be more indicative of the N scale market as a whole. I kinda think it mostly diesels, because when it came of age, most of the products were Kato and Atlas diesels inducing many switching over at that time to go the post 1970 route.
JUst MHO

[DKS]

I honestly don't think the model railroading industry as a whole is in a good position to give us reliable metrics on scale popularity (whether they're unwilling or unable--no matter), so I devised my own way of gauging it. Doubtful it's all that reliable (more reliable than nothing, let's say that), but here it is: eBay. The percentage of items for sale, I should think, ought to give us at least a rough guesstimate of the distribution of interest across scales. Some time ago I did the math, and this is what it looked like:
 


The curious thing for me is the large blip in O scale; however, I believe this number is greatly skewed by having tinplate and related toys tossed into the same pot. If nothing else, the graph perhaps serves as the basis for further discussion...

[2-8-8-0]

Yeah, they did a run of them...like 10 years ago. Think they did one run of BN ones since, that I remember hearing werent right for BN (I know nothing about BN except that they had green engines) but its been a while.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think the last run was about 5 years ago, and Kato doesn't see a need to re-run them because they still have them in stock in multiple colors:
http://www.katousa.com/N/SD40/index.html

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Lol... I can't help but chuckle after reading the Kato marketing copy for the CR units:

About the Conrail SD40

By the time Conrail was created in 1976, production on the SD40 had been replaced with the upgraded Dash 2 series. As a result, Conrail inherited its entire SD40 fleet from the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Penn Central. The CNJ units came from the Baltimore & Ohio, whereas the PC units came from the Penn Central.

[2-8-8-0]

So one run, of 4 roadnames, five years ago, of what is probably the most numerous loco ever built...

Unsurprisingly, Santa Fe and UP were 2 of em. At least they did do a CR one I guess.

Impressive, indeed.

How many roadnames, runs, and versions is that loco available in in HO?

[jnevis]

While not a great indicator, the two closest shops to me have very little N, some HO and LOTS of the various O incarnations.  One shop is completely O and Large Scale (G) with a very smal  lsection, 6ft of three selves, of Marklin HO and about 2ft of Z.  The only N in the shop is a display with WS people, foam roadbed, and tunnels.  The other has a small display case of N and Z and another case and shelving with HO.  The first wants nothing to do with anything smaller than O, the other orders what he doesn't have on hand.  The shops further up the road aren't as bad but one is mainly O/G with a shelf of OLD N cars and a couple structures.   None I would consider catering to N by any means.

[jmlaboda - RIP]

And people sometimes wonder why folks buy from mail order houses instead of supporting their local hobby shop.  My best local hobby shop is over an hour's drive away but I can find great stuff when I go... which is like maybe three times a year.

[FloridaBoy]

Luckily, I live in South Florida where within an hour's driving distance, there are still several surviving hobby shops.  Two of them are founded on N scale, and carry N dominantly, Discount Model Trains in Ft. Lauderdale, and TexNRails in Miami.  Several other hobby shops have respectable N scale inventories and carry a healthy array of trains and supplies in all scales, Warrick Superstore in Ft. Lauderdale, the Depot in Lantana, and Ready to Roll in Miami.  Plus we have a few organizations that generally host a few swap meets and train shows every year.

Down here, N probably is stronger than elsewhere because AIR CONDITIONED space is at a premium.  It is not tenable to model a railroad in any scale in Florida's sultry and humid summers, and even winters have a few warm days.  Plus Florida has zero basements because the water level lurks just below the surface.

So, with energy considerations, it is probably most practical to model N, and N is strong down here because heating and cooling a room large enough for an HO layout is way more expensive.  

My passion is N because of the size and integrity to proportion and detail, and with today's high performers, you will always see hobby shops with respectable trains carrying a lot more N.  I have traveled through the south through more moderate weather, and HO remains strong, because it is still possible to retreat to a basement.  As for performance and choices of users and manufacturers, I think N is always a strong second place finisher, mostly because due to finances, many people are not willing to sell off their HO to spend a lot of money on N in these times.  A few of us were, and took the chance and look at the rewards.

I still model HO, G, Z, O and S inside my place, with 3 layouts in my living quarters, all smaller scales.  

I do not listen to anyone denigrating N scale because I know these provincial guys are threatened by N's burgeoning popularity, which of course they feel comes at the expense of any resources spent on HO.

Ken "Floridaboy" Willaman

[2-8-8-0]

I envy you guys with decent hobby shops.

Within reasonable driving distance of my home (1 hour) we have two hobby shops; one has one glass case of N scale stuff, some track, and...thats about it. HobbyTown in Mentor, Ohio, and they seem to be primarily concerned with RC and model kits; even their HO selection pretty much sucks.

There is an actual train shop, Stewarts Hobbies in Willoughby, but he has one TINY case devoted to N...and about 4 aisles, and all under counter space, devoted to HO. Meh. He had a full aisle and display case of Lionel the last time I was there too. He also thinks that ordering something means that he needs to get it for you sometime in the next six or so months. Lost my business and frankly never had anything I wanted anyway.

Neither one gets new stock more than maybe once or twice a year, at least in N. I order undec MTs from HobbyTown, simply because Stewart charges about 4 bucks more a car for them (in addition to their horribly slow ordering).

Anyone thats been to the NE Ohio Railfest (our biggest train show) can attest O is insanely popular here, as is HO. There are usually only 1 or 2 N dealers there at all. There may be a decent shop in Cleveland, Youngstown, or Erie, but TBH i gave up looking; I really despise the phrase "we can order it" which I am perfectly capable of doing on my own, and without the LHS owner tacking on 10 or 20% for his "trouble". Everytime I hear people talk about running to their LHS and actually being able to get structure kits, decals, detail parts, etc, I think "wow, I wish".

[asarge]

You can't use Ebay as a way to gauge % of Model Railroad sales. No way that is anywhere close to accurate. In some area's O maybe more popular than N but not everywhere. In our little corner, N scale is a solid 20+% of $$$ and O scale items are more expensive than N scale.

Also, the I-1 in HO has been out for about 2 years now, so as far as it being news, it's old. It is very true that in sales are strongly trending towards the more modern era's (70's +), especially in N and HO.

[Dave V]

If N scale is the red-headed step child, then S scale is clearly the dumpster baby.  After all, S Helper Service, one of the very few S scale manufacturers, is getting shafted by Sanda Kan.

[Mr. G]

True, S is really small, but Sn3 has seen a revival in recent years.  Look at where S was circa 1990.

[Bob Bufkin]

If S didn't cost so much and there was more to offer, I would try and model in this scale.  Cut my teeth on American Flyer and I wish I had kept my old equipment.  In my eyes American Flyer S was much more to scale than Lionel.  Lionel always looked like toys to me.

You are all forgetting the truly new and small scale - T.  Don't think it will catch on in the U.S. but I know there are a few who will try it just for the challenge.

[DKS]

You can't use Ebay as a way to gauge % of Model Railroad sales. No way that is anywhere close to accurate. In some area's O maybe more popular than N but not everywhere. In our little corner, N scale is a solid 20+% of $$$ and O scale items are more expensive than N scale.

But... "In our little corner" is a tiny market segment. eBay is global. Which do you think will represent the market as a whole better? This is a mistake made all too frequently by people trying to quantify market shares. And I didn't say eBay was going to give us uber-reliable figures, but it ought to provide some general ideas--more reliable than "well, at our hobby shop..."