"L!CENSING 2002 INTERNATIONAL"

By Bob Mintz

On June 11-13, 2002, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City (same place as Toy Fair), the 22nd Annual International Licensing & Merchandising Conference, Exposition & Annual Meeting was held.

A trip to booth # 1267 found our friends at Lionel Trains.

Lionel® is the most recognized toy train manufacturer in the world. In 1999, Lionel ® was featured as one of the "Top Ten Toys of the Century" from the A&E® Network. They were rated # 4!

Official Lionel® Licensees include the Accessories and Apparel of Impulse Wear; the Gifts and Collectibles of Ande Rooney, Ashton Drake Galleries, Bradley Woodworks, Danbury Mint, The Encore Group, Enesco Corporation, Giftco, Hallmark, John Boswell Management, Northwest Company and Zippo Manufacturing Co.; the Home Furnishings and Housewares of Carriage House Concepts, Desperate Enterprises, Emson, and Springs Industries; the Publishing, Video/Audio and Software of Knowledge Adventure, Krause Publications, Sierra Online, TM Books & Video, and Ziccardi Publishing; the Stationary and Artwork of Angela Trotta Thomas, At-A-Glance Group, Period Toys and The Time Factory; the Toys of Golden Bell, Jakks Pacific, Learning Curve International, Schylling, Taylor Made Trucks, Toys R Us, USAOPOLY and the United States Playing Card Co.; and Other items by MDI Entertainment and MBNA America Bank.

Here Cara Orchard meeting me at the front of the convention center. She asked that we get together at familiar surroundings so we would recognize eachother. Seems we picked out an adequate location, huh?

As I walked in the door, I couldn't help but notice a new Subaru WRX in the famous Lionel colors.

When I arrived at the Lionel® booth, I was greeted by both John Brady and Joyce Dearhamer.

The Lionel® booth contained a variety of Licensed Products.

According to Lionel®, over 50 million adults have owned a Lionel Train, and the typical model train owner is male, 48 years old and college-educated. Since I qualify by the last three criteria, negating the "adult" status, I decided to investigate further and took the challenge of the photo frame, even though I have been known to eat quiche on occasion.

The following is a partial listing of Licensed Products.

USAopoly

I stand next to Hallmark Christmas decorations on a tree as it was 85 degrees outside

A Wendy's promotion to occur this winter.

Metal sign by Ande Rooney

Taylor Made Trucks # 3, 4 and 6

Jakks Pacific diroramas

Traintown by Sierra Online

Trans-Con! by Knowledge Adventure

Tinplate trains by Schylling

Calendars by the same people I use for my daily appointment book, At-A-Glance/Mead

More calendars by The Time Factory

"As Seen On TV" alarm clock by Emson Corporation

"How to" books by Krause Publications

Videos by Tom McComas

Books by Ziccardi Publishing

Miniature trains by The Learning Curve

Cookie jars by Danbury Mint (no relation)

Various items by Enesco

Battery operated G-Gauge train made for Toys R Us

Children's playthings by Golden Bell

Teddy Bears by Ashton Drake

Plaques by Period Toys

We got reacquainted with many of our Lionel® friends, whether that be at Toy Fair or York.

If Lenny is the Lionel Lion, then Mike Newcomer is Mike the Muscle, the man behind the Lionel® exhibits. Notice the sticker on his car

A familiar childhood character visits the TCA Internet Committee chaired by Former President Gordon Wilson (left); Frank Samaritano (center) and website developer Brad Kaplan (right). Trivia question: A girlfriend of Gumby has been introduced. What is her name and what color is she?

If you answered a dark blue, blond haired retread named "Goo", you would be correct

TCA Committee Chairman Gordon Wilson speaks with Lionel's John Brady, hawking licensed shirt of course

You saw it here first! Cara Orchard (left) and Mike Newcomer welcome back Lionel's Licensing & Communications Manager Julie Laird from her maternity leave, although she officially returns at the end of June. She came to the Big Apple just for this show. That's dedication!!!

Okay, we have to throw in some railfanning into this article, but how? Did you know that the Javit's Center is actually built on sacred train ground? The New York Central had a freight yard just underneath what is now the convention center, the LIRR has the Westside lay-up yards for their commuter, and Amtrak still runs underneath on its' way from points north like Albany to New York's Penn Station.

Can you see the catenary lines in this photo leading into Penn Station? The former freight yard was on the right.

A red block signal can be seen as the single line coming from Penn Station continues north and becomes two lines.

Another shot of the northbound tracks