The Amherst Railway Society’s Annual Railroad Hobby Show is less than 3 weeks away. The show is held at the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield, MA. It covers over 7 acres of floor space in 4 buildings. Further details at: www.railroadhobbyshow.com
It’s time to start counting your pennies and check the list of who will be at the show. You can generally expect new product introductions by most of the manufacturers.
Boothbay Railway Village will be there at our usual location, Better Living Center, section 15 (the next section over from Digitrax at #14). Drop by and see us, we recently had a couple of layouts donated to us. All we need to do is get it all priced and packed.
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It’s the greatest train show I ever froze my @$$ off going to. One year as I was driving east on I90, the ice kept forming on my windshield and my new RAV4 could not keep up with it. I had to stop, clear the ice and go until it iced up again. That is the Amhearst show in a nut shell. Seriously, it’s always bitter cold as heck but it’s also the best show! They need to move it a time of year when you don’t freeze to death just to attend! Used to drive the 3.5 hours from Syracuse NY to go there but now that I’m in the Washington DC area, it’s too far so I have to settle for Timonium, which ain’t a bad show.
Got a question on traveling with models to the show, and looking for suggestions on packing them. I am flying, and currently planning on putting them in a carry on roller bag. Packed in foam peanuts…nothing else in the bag, only the models. Any better ideas or suggestions?
Are the models going to be in individual boxes, or in individual plastic bags sitting in the peanuts? How fragile are they? And if there is any possibility that the flight attendent tells you at the last minute that you will have to check that bag, you might as well resign yourself to the possibility that some TSA person is going to open the bag and paw through it.
You might be better off packing everything in boxes wih foam cutouts. Pack those in a larger box with ample cushioning and then ship the whole thing via FedEx to your hotel. Saves the hassle of TSA pawing through everything and probably breaking stuff.
Best train show ever, but why in the middle of the winter? I went about 6-7 years ago (I live in Knoxville, TN) and froze my other end off just waiting to get tickets. I have friends in Providence, RI and out on the Cape (cod) but it has become too far for me to drive in the winter (going on 73!). I would love to make it one more time but it has become too inconvient for me. Maybe they could move it to the warm southeast USA???
-Bob
As to when the show is held, that’s largely due to the availability of the buildings. They are in use all year so you have to fit in the time available. You can now order tickets in advance so you don’t have to stand in line. If you look at the Attending the Show section in the website there is a charter bus that goes to the show from Cape Cod. As to moving the show to a warmer location, the Amherst Railway Society is based in Massachusetts so we can’t ask everyone to pack up and move south.
I’ve asked this question before. The answers seem to be tradition, and that the schedule for the Eastern States Exposition venue (that’s where the show is held) is full the rest of the year. I also suspect that the rate charged to the Amherst group that holds the show is probably less during these crappy months than what it would be during the “nice” weather.
Somehow the New England people don’t seem to mind. I drive up from Pennsylvania to attend. The paying attendance each year has been 20,000 plus. I’m told that one year they had a blizzard and still had 5 or 6 thousand people.
Maxman,
I agree about the people from New England being used to the cold, but I am from New York/Connecticut and moved to Tennessee to get away from that same thing. I used to laugh at people down here when they complained about 1-2" of snow, but now after living here for 30 years, I just accept their way of thinking and stay inside when we have one of their ‘blizzards’. I don’t even own a snow shove
Snow or shine, I’ll be there first thing Saturday with bells on.
riogrande5761 wrote the following:
now that I’m in the Washington DC area, it’s too far
Amtrak goes from DC to Springfield, then all you need is a taxi or rental car to the hotel and show. One of our Boothbay volunteers is fron VA, and took the train to help us with the show a couple of times; but he is retired from Amtrak and has a lifetime pass.
It’s not just a train show, Springfield is an event.
For the floor plan, go here:
http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com/files/files/ARS%202014%20Building%20Layout.12.30.13.w.names.pdf
For the vendor list, go here:
http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com/files/files/Exhibitor%20List.12.30.2013.pdf
Most every manufacturer of any decent size is there, including:
Athearn
Atlas
Bachmann
Bar Mills
Bethlehem Car Works
BEST
Bowser
Broadway Limited
Carstens Publishing
Chooch Ent.
City Classics
Con-Cor
Crow River
Custom Finishing
Digitrax
ExactRail
Funaro & Camerlingo
Intermountain
Iwata
Kadee
Kato
Lenz
LokSound
Micro-Trains
MRC
MTH
NJ Int.
QSI
Rail-Lynx
Rapido
Rivarossi/Hornsby
River Point Station
Soundtraxx
Spring Mills
Sylvan Scale Models
Tichy
TCS
Walthers
Woodland Scenics
Xuron
In all, there are over 450 different dealers, train clubs, and manufacturers attending this year.
I personally have gone to the last 20 years worth of Springfield shows. Sometimes it is bitterly cold. Sometimes I can go between buildings in short sleeves. It’s New England…you just never know. There’s only one show I can recall where it actually snowed heavy on the Saturday but not on the Sunday. IIRC, they had 5000 show up for Sat., and 15,000 show up on Sunday, so it was still 20,000 for the weekend.
Paul A. Cutler III
This will be my 17th or 18th year in a row for this show. Nice thing about having it this time of year is very little else to get in the way other than Mother Nature. Great way to beat the end of January blaahs !!! ---------- Ken
Just so the geographically challenged won’t have a problem the show is in WEST Springfield. Separ
Paul3 wrote the following:
Sometimes it is bitterly cold.
Sometimes setting up on Friday the building is so cold we have to wear our outside coats because they have the garage doors open to let in the trucks with layout parts and some large exhibits.
Things are moving alone at Boothbay. Today I spent all afternoon at the Freight Station sorting, bagging and pricing a box full of mixed detail parts.
So much fun!! [|)] [|)] [|)] [|)] [|)] [|)]
I am not worried about gate check, as soon as you tell them what is in it, they will find a place, even if it has to go with crew baggage (been there, done that). The models are really pretty tough, mostly 3d printed structures, HO scale, and we will have glue with us to put things back together. I am going shopping tomorrow for a hard side wheeled carry on to put them in. 
There are a few smaller details, like this HO scale forklift…construction details here: http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2013/12/fork-lifts-for-my-long-bell-lumberyard.html
But most are buildings, like this one bedroom house.
Construction details for the house can be found here: http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-house-3d-printed-down-on-farm-5.html
I have a clinic on Thursday morning. If anyone has any questions regarding my clinic, just let me know.
Kent in KC
nvrr49.blogspot.com
Fine if you have a lifetime pass, but otherwise too expensive. I’ve been to Springfield 3 times when it was a 3 1/2 hour drive. While it was a great show, it’s not worth that much cost to go from here. I can get my fix at Timonium up to 4 times a year at a fraction of the cost. Springfield is off my bucket list now! 
Hmmm. Riding a train to a train show…priceless! I’d do that in a minute. I’d take the train to the Amherst show, except that I only live 45 minutes away. Those of you who are going, please stop by the Valley Railroad booth, #122 in the Mallery complex, and say hi to my friends (I’m not working this year, but you may see me there anyway.