ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION

We plan great conventions, so you can plan on having a great time!

Hotel Information –

Hilton Garden Inn, 1307 E Market St, Akron, OH

Registration is now open $139.00 + tax/per night.

You must register by June 14 to receive the discounted rate.

Click here to make a reservation.

Registration and Group Tour Information –

All Group Tours depart and return to the Hilton Garden Inn, 1307 E Market Street, Akron, OH.

Link to view the 2025 Group Tours and Schedule – 2025 LOTS Convention Brochure.
Link to register online – 2025 LOTS Online Registration Link

O Gauge Toy Train Auction –

Toy Train AuctionJuly 11, 2025 – Hilton Garden Inn Akron – 1307 E Market St, Akron, Ohio

No Reserve, No Registration Fee and No Buyer’s Premium Live/In person Toy Train Auction!

Viewing 6:30 pm – 7:00 pm – Auction starts at 7:00 pm.

Rubber City Model Train Show

July 12, 2025 – Open to the Public! 10 am – 3 pm

On Saturday, July 12, we’ll share and promote toy trains by hosting the Rubber City Model Train Show. The show features all types and sizes of trains in Emidio’s 30,000 sq ft Exposition Hall. Free parking is available! All registered LOTS Members and their guests can attend the show free of charge beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 12, as long as they are wearing their 2025 Convention name badges. Registered LOTS Members get exclusive access to the show for the first hour! If you do not register for the convention, you will not be admitted to the train show during the exclusive access time. You are welcome to attend beginning at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available at the door for $8.00 per person Cash Only or with credit card at – TBA  Location: Emidio’s Exposition Hall – Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

Click here to Register for Tables 

Individuals or groups with modular layouts – please click here to submit your request to be an “Exhibitor.”

If you have questions, please call Javen: 316-two-five-three-5918 or email lotstrainshow (at) gmail.com

Annual Conventions Typically Feature:

  • Daily excursion tours to various sites of interest
  • Member home layout tours
  • Annual Train Show – table sales of all sizes and types of toy trains (swap meet)
  • Operating layouts
  • Annual Business Meeting
  • Closing banquet – Great Camaraderie with fellow Members!

Visit World Class Layouts

Perhaps the greatest benefit, after camaraderie, is the opportunity to visit world class layouts around the USA. Many of the layouts that we visit have been featured in such magazines as Classic Toy Trains and O-Gauge.

Each layout is unique and interesting in their special ways. These visits leave all of us with ideas for our own layouts, present and in the future. One-on-one conversations with the layout owners/builders give us a unique opportunity to probe, question, marvel and perhaps the impetus to put our layout dreams into operation.

Although most of us are O and O-27 gauge hobbyists, we can learn from every scale/gauge that your LOTS Convention team presents for its attendees. After the LOTS Convention layouts, visit the layouts and collections of your friends and acquaintances. I bet that they will allow and encourage you to bring along a train or two. It is always fun to run trains on someone else’s layout.

Perhaps it will take you back to your initial days in the hobby when you ran your trains at your friends houses and ran them around the track at breakneck speeds to see if and when they would fly off the tracks!

Edward Mazur, DM 3123

Divisions and Chapters

Although LOTS is to remain a national club and shall not be subdivided into formal divisions or chapters (see Article II, Section 3, of the Constitution), LOTS members are encouraged to develop informal local operating groups to promote the enjoyment of operating and collecting Lionel and compatible trains and accessories.

Such operating groups may, for example, build and operate modular layouts; run trains on each other’s layouts; or meet periodically to share their knowledge regarding any aspect of operating Lionel and compatible trains and accessories.

Local operating groups are encouraged to submit periodic reports to the Switcher Editor in the interest of sharing their knowledge, experience and layout construction tips with all LOTS members.

Local operating groups also are encouraged to sponsor regional LOTS train meets. Host a meet today!

LEARN HOW TO HOST A MEET

LOTS’ Annual Convention Cities

1980 Little Rock, AR
John Ourso & Al Otten
1981 Cincinnati, OH
Larry Keller & Al Cigolotti
1982 Kalamazoo, MI
Seth Giem
1983 New Orleans, LA
Dom Schwab
1984 Pittsburgh, PA
Al Jaworski
1985 St. Louis, MO
Adam Laffleur
1986 Philadelphia, PA
Vernon Vercoe
1987 Tulsa, OK
Dave Stonecipher
1988 Seattle, WA
Geoff Swan
1989 Dearborn, MI
Gary Montagne &
Michael Urban
1990 Baltimore, MD
Kenneth Starke
1991 Dayton, OH
Richard H. Johnson
1992 Modesto, CA
Tony Tesoriere
1993 Ft. Wayne, IN
John Gallacher

1994 New Brunswick, NJ
Steve Horvath
1995 Chicago, IL
Cris Matuszak
1996 Boston, MA
Paul Bernier &
Steve Horvath
1997 Scranton, PA
Robert K. Thomas
1998 San Diego, CA
Joe Lesser
1999 Mobile, AL
Herb Kern
2000 Detroit, MI
Joe Wilhelm & Scott Kuntz
2001 Baltimore, MD
Mike Solly, Dave Przyborski & Sherman Silverman
2002 Milwaukee, WI
Scott Kuntz & Cris Matuszak
2003 Lancaster, PA
Herb Kern
2004 Cincinnati, OH
Frank Kammer, Mike Rolcik &
Paula Smith
2005 Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA
Ralph Spoettle & Bruce Goettel
2006 Saratoga Springs, NY
Robert Taylor, Richard Silber & Tony Rudmann

2007 Portland, OR
Paula Smith & Tom Steeves
2008 South Bend, IN
National Committee
2009 Chattanooga, TN
National Committee
2010 Hartford, CT
National Committee
2011 Omaha, NE
National Committee
2012 Rochester, NY
National Committee
2013 Reno, NV
National Committee
2014 Pittsburgh, PA
National Committee
2015 Chicago, IL (St. Charles)
National Committee
2016 Philadelphia, PA (Valley Forge)
National Committee
2017 Denver, CO
National Committee
2018 Manchester, NH
National Committee
2019 Louisville, KY
National Committee

2020 – Postponed – Covid
National Committee
2021 – Postponed – Covid
National Committee
2022 Dayton, OH
National Committee
2023 Knoxville, TN
National Committee
2024 Lawrence, KS
National Committee
2025 Akron, OH
National Committee