There’s a show coming up at the end of the month in Allentown Pa. I’ve heard a few guys talk about it but was wondering if anyone here had ever gone and what you thought of it good and bad.Is there a lot of vendors, scales etc. I know the York show is coming up as well but if I am not mistaken that strictly an O scale show.
It has been a couple of years since i last went to that show, my first time there actually. I was very surprised at the amount of vendors there, as well as what was for sale. Pretty much everything was represented-stuff from the private collector as well as local and distant hoppy shops. Would I go again? Yes, but it is not in the budget this year.
I’ll probably go, I go every year. It’s getting to be more and more tinplate, but there are always a bunch of scale dealers. Funero and Camerlengo always show up, and there is always a delaer with lots of tools. It’s cheap enough for an afternoon’s entertainment. Plus I can get some goodies over at the Farmer’s Market. And since it’s not too far away I make a stop at Trains and Lanes too.
–Randy
I did notice that Funaro & Camerlengo were going to be there. I had emailed the promoter and he was kind enough to email me a list of vendors that would be attending supposedly over 625 so that in it self should be worth the ride. Most of the time I’m like everyone else walkin & gawkin and not too much buyin but its a cheap day out and it’s fun just looking for a deal.
I wish they’d just put it on their web site. But they are a bunch of cumurgeonly old guys who’ve been running the train show the same way every year and pretty much will NEVER change anything. There was an attempt to make a competitive show and it was actually better in MANY ways (more room to walk around being the primary one), but the timing was a bit off plus there are rumors that the ATMA people were less than friendly to vendors who went to the other show. No idea if this is true or not, but the other show folded after the one event and ATMA stays as the only one. They got a lot more space when they expanded Ag Hall but rather then open the aisles up like at Timonium they kept things the same and just added more tables.
Timonium is sort of the standard I judge other shows by. Wide aisles, plenty of info on the web site, nice directory they hand out when you enter, etc. And they keep the tinplate and scale stuff seperate.
–Randy
“Timonium is sort of the standard I judge other shows by. Wide aisles, plenty of info on the web site, nice directory they hand out when you enter, etc. And they keep the tinplate and scale stuff seperate.”
Thats been my experience as well, from what I understand they ahve been around longer then any other show so that must mean their doing something right. Going to go on Saturday and check it out at least to see whats what, will send the boss lady off to the farmers market and anything else in the area that she may find interesting while I roam around. At least here in NJ I have found the small trains shows to be better then the big one’s like The Greenberg shows. All you see there are dealer charging you the same prices as if you went to their store or ordered online.