Just finished watching a video on the train show. Geez I wish they would bring that show to my area. The museum would be worth the visit alone ! Did anyone in the forums go ?
YGW
Howard Zane, who posts on these forums, is there.
I was not able to go.
John Mock
I knew nothing of this show. Where (and when) was it? I assume you are not talking about the monthly swap meet at DuPage where there usually are a few used brass vendors.
Dave Nelson
If that is a public video, it would have been nice if you had posted a link.
Maybe YGW was refering to this one?
James gets around…
Regards, Ed
Some may not know you can “subscribe” to any of these video producers, like James Wright, that you want. You probably need a google or gmail password.
Here is a list of James’s videos https://www.youtube.com/user/jlwii2000/videos
What that means is you don’t get any emails, or notifications or spam. If you go to YouTube and click on My Subscriptions, you see who, that you follow, posted new videos today, or iin the last couple days. You can watch them or not, depending on if they are interesting to you. If they don’t produce videos of interest to you, you unsubscribe. All that is free.
Some of these guys actually make a living out of producing YouTube videos. I’m not sure whether they get a kick back from YouTube or are being paid by sponsors, or they are there for the ego trip of having viewers. Nor do I lose sleep over it.
Well I could easily have gone to this … had I known the first (or slightest) thing about it.
Dave Nelson
Yup, I was there and loved everything about the event. Ken Young, Bob Hess, and I began the original Brass Expo in 1995. The first Expo was held around the corner from me in Columbia, MD at what was then called The Columbia Inn. From the onset the show drew over 1000 and attendance peaked in 2000 with around 1500 brass afficiandos through the doors. That show was held at the B&O Museum among the fabulous 12"= 1’ models. We moved the show several times during the initial period due to an almost complete change over of hotel sales staff…none desiring to honor previous agreements and contracts for future shows. I only hope Dan does not run into these problems with the Westin in Wheeling as it is a top venue and the show can only grow if it stays in this one location.
Rather than go to court over broken contracts, we found it easier just to move the event, and we did. Our longest run was in New Brunswick, NJ…1996-1998. The rates then doubled and parking went from free to $15 as concession was sold.
The last Expo was held just 4 months after 9-11. Only 70% of registered vendors made it along with just a bit over 200 attendees as flying in was rather impossible during that period. This was a shame as we had to move from the museum due to needing a larger space, so the Hunt Valley Marriott was the venue of choice in Timonium, MD…and what a fabulous facility!!!
Just last year after a 13 year break…why not begin again, and I did, but as a solo act this time running tandem with the already established and successful Timonium train show aka the Great Scale Model Train Show. It was fine…no where the previous attendance figures, but a respectible 650+ Personally my sales figures were the best ever for a train show, and others did well. Dan Glasure sought me sought me out during the Expo with an offer to purchase the rights to the show. Unfortuately my wife, Sandy heard the offer and accepted before I could bat an eyelash…and rightly so as I ha
If I recall correctly, there was rather heavy advertising for this brass show, even to the point that ads were running, I believe, on the MR website, and in the magazines, and there has been discussion (at least comments) about it on various forums, including this one.
Howard specifically has made a point of personally inviting people to the show.
I lack the time off and funds to go (would have had to take wife and kids to Chicago as well) but this was actually one of the better advertised shows that I can possibly remember, perhaps only exceeded by some of the national traveling shows.
Sincerely,
John
I’m sure these guys are running a top notch show, but how accessable it is depends on how “well to-do” you are. I would enjoy browsing like I might at Mercedes or BMW dealership. This is a genre for those with “means”.
Like my set of Kumata OL/HCB/Challenger CZ passenger cars which I believe I got “maybe” 50 cents on the dollor when I finally unloaded them. Ok, bad example.
Brass, at least the more recent say 1980-on models, does hold its value. Will it bring full MSRP from 5 years ago on 2011-produced models from Boo Rim?
No.
But, excepting the slump a couple years back which may have been “the low point” it reaches a certain price point and holds its value at that point. The values on 1980’s Samhongsa produced steamers are not that far off the inflation rate from then till now.
Prices recently have been holding steady. Nobody is giving away Texas & Pacific 2-10-4’s or other steamers just because BLI has a new hybrid out.
John
Thanks for all of the replies.
I really appreciate Howard Zane responding to the post.
Howard I have a question for you. Will this show only be run only from Chicago ? It would be nice if they ran this event at multiple locations around the country. One of the problems I face is I am “married with children”, I can afford brass, but I cannot afford a divorce lawyer. My wife is very supportive of myy hobby even buying me a brass hybrid. BUT I get one vacation a year and she is not very open minded to me using that vacation to travel to a train show. The kids would be bored out of their tree and frankly the cost both emotionally and money wise of dragging all of them to something they are not interested is to high.
Will there be a show coming to the Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC area ?
I’m in the same boat: only so much PTO (paid time off) from my job in a given year, wife and kids.
I could have attended but only if I took the whole family to Chicago. My wife would have taken the kids to the art museums, etc. and toured the city. I’m sure she’d have found things for them to see there.
But my work is very busy right now, and I burn PTO for baseball coaching as fall daylight hours are waning, and I simply don’t have the money to travel out there (as that would buy my one brass model per year possible quota).
I was very thankful for James’ video as it gives one a taste of what it was like.
John
The brass show began as a mid-Atlantic event in 1995. When I resurrected it last year at Timonium, the plans were to have two brass events concurrent with the spring Timonium show and then move it 2 miles north to Hunt Valley at an opulent venue/hotel. Only problem was since I have graduated from “artifact” to “collectible”, I just found that I was too damn old to carry on. Dan Glasure (brasstrains.com)purchased the show from me last year and chose Chicago (Wheeling, IL) as a center point for folks to either drive, fly, or choo choo in. I do concur, but for ease of travel, I tried to get him to continue here, but in all fairness, my motives were self-serving.
Dan is a marketing genuis and then some. The Brass Expo will remain now in Chicago, and believe me it is well worth the trip as the experience was tantamount to a kid going to Disney World …assuming you have an interest in brass models. To say that Dan and staff’s Brass Expo was a first class event, it would be an understatement of biblical proportions!!! Youse gotta see it to believe it. Being a veteran and founder of the original brass show, I did not believe the scope and design of this event…and I was there!!! My wife, Sandy is a class act (retired college professor), but upon entering…her comment was classical: “Great buckets of bubbled bullcrap!!”
You would have to ask Dan if he has plans for other cities. I do not know, but if I were still in command, I would say…no.
Folks, this was not a typical train show with boxes on tables on concrete floors, it was a convention about brass trains. There were trains for sale, importers displaying next years models, fabulous clincs from the who’s who in the field and a chance to meet importers and manufacturers in a sort of round table discussion.There were also consignment tables and many folks brought in items for sale. How well they did, I do not know, but I did quite well with my out of production (used) brass sales and I sold
Well, maybe I can try to make it next year…