I just got home from school and a friend had left me an IM that said GATS is gone, went over to the gats page and look! http://www.gats.com its horrible GATS is the only major show here. everything else is pretty small and not much good. and it really sucks because there was a couple dealers i really liked that only went to that show
GATS is gone from Arkansas as well. The last show I think was about 2 years ago winter of 04. It is really too bad because awareness was begininng to pick up among Arkansans.
Victim of eBay???
Well that stinks.[:(] I’ve been going to the GATS in the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the past 2 years, and it was the only show advertised much. Now I’m going to have to look harder to find any train shows.[:(]
Perhaps. I found pricing at the last GATS show to be pretty close to retail hobby shop pricing. However there were about one or two dealers with some VERY good selections at pricing im pretty certain is very close to either ebay or retail.
GATS was changed to that Great Western show about a year ago. A lot of the old GATS vendors were seen at the WGH Train show I attended in St Paul this past winter. GATS quality varied between locations. I never thought that they were that great, a lot of much better shows in my area(Trainfest/Mad City/La Crosse/etc…)
Jim
Aren’t all the shows like this? In Ontario they are. There are dealers (either from stores, or in estate sale business) that charge pretty close to MSRP. Every show I go to I already know those guys so I just say hi and walk by because I know they don’t have anything at the prices I like. Then occasionally there are new people who either unload their own stuff or someone else’s and they usually price things so that by the end of the day it will be sold. And then there are those who carry their junk from from one show to the other for over two years and none of it gets sold because their prices are unreasonable.
I thought the GATS show had just become the WGH show. They’re pretty much the same thing…at least the one in St.Paul MN was the same time of year and same location as the last GATS show (although a few GATS were out a Canterbury Downs in Savage MN).
p.s. never understood why they’d schedule the St.Paul show for January or February. Probably went to Tucson or Phoenix in July !!
GATS was cancelled here in Tampa back in Decemeber, but almost immedietly another train show took its place.
Times have changed indeed in just 15 years. Many of us shop on ebay and discount hobby dealers, we hang out on forums (oh the humanity!), fewer dealers today support the GATS shows, and NOT ALL but quite a number of vendors sell at MSRP.
Still, Great Train Expo and the GREENBURG shows are a help to the hobby and supporting the shows is a good move.
One aspect I enjoy is meeting newbies with questions and being able to “point them” in the right direction. ( especially, for example, you see a father about to spend $40 dollars for a junker Bachmann diesel, and then you point to an Atlas or Kato that’s on sale for $50 and kindly explain to him about the quality differences in the brands) .
[;)]Don’t worry! If you want a show that is really great, with layouts and dealers, go to the Pochontas Chapter of NRHS in Bluefield, WV, the second week-end in November. [:p] You won’t be disappointed.[8D]
Out here the old GATS show changed name and went to a better venue. The actual show seemed like the same thing; same vendors, same layouts, just differnet name…
GATS gone? Good riddance to bad rubbish in my neck of the woods. They came in and tried to kill off the smaller shows and darn near succeeded. These smaller shows, like the one for my club, represent 1/4th of our total yearly income. They are critical to our survival, and GATS always seemed to set a date for the same weekend of not just our show, but also several other local shows over the years. Of course, to display at GATS, you had to sign a multi-year contract that forbade you from going to another show on the same weekend they picked. This siphoned away a lot of our bigger dealers, adversely impacting our bottom line.
Instead of trying to set up on a off weekend, they deliberately tried to knock us off. For some reason, that annoys me deeply…
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Man, i went to one in Denver and it was absolutly Amazing all the exibitors and stuff! Taht stinks that its GONE
I always thought thier shows pretty much sucked. Then again, I’ve had that same feeling about most shows in the last several years.
In my neck of the woods GATS was replaced by The Great Western Train Show. Same format, same vendors… not a whole of alot different than before.
The organizers of the Worlds Greatest Train Show are now running a series of nationwide shows that are very similar to the GATS shows http://www.greattrainexpo.com/ there is a press release on their web site that suggests that Great Train Expo is going to be the main player from now on. http://www.greattrainexpo.com/PRESS%20RELEASE%20for%20May%201,2006.htm Last month in Collinsville, IL there was a GTE show that was virtually identical to the GATS show that was held in previous years. The schedule does not look to have as many shows as GATS and Greenberg combined in the past.
The GATS in Oklahoma was really just a rip-off and waste of good admission money anyhow, there’s a much better one in December sponsored by some local clubs and Hobby Shops.
Greg
GATS has been gone for a while.
Victor
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
I was in Collinsville and was very pleased with it. GATS is the Great Train Expo. If you look in the MR mag you will find an ad for Great Train Expo. Most, if not all, locations are the same as the GATS locations were.
Victor
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
I think it’s more involved than that.
GATS started out with a single monthly show that over time has become what is now known as the Great Midwest Train Show. It was run as sort of a hobby by an individual and some hired helpers when it first started out.
That DuPage show, as it is known locally, did quite well so the owner/promoter hired more help, branched out, and started other regional GATS shows.
You’d have to be an insider to know what all happened next, and I’m not. But I’ve heard stories that indicate other train show production companies were involved, shows were sold back and forth, the original owner sold off his interest, etc.
I would venture that the soap opera that whole thing turned into, along with other shows, eBay (and online merchants in general), and the economic slump of the past decade or so have all contributed to the demise of some of these shows.
The strong ones (DuPage, Trainfest, Timmonium, and the up and coming Mad City Train Show, to name a few) are still quite viable. Yes, prices are generally about the same as eBay or an online merchant, but the shows have three advantages that I think keeps them going:
First, the touchy-feely factor. Lots of people would prefer to have something in their hands RIGHT NOW, before they even think about parting with their cash. Those e-tailers who don’t stock anything, and only order after they get your order have contributed a lot to that.
Second, if you buy an armload of stuff from different vendors, the admission to a show is cheaper than the various shipping charges would come out to.
Third, the comradarie. The shows are as much a social event as a buying/selling event.
Just my opinion,
Steve