This organization is having a show this weekend about three miles from my home. I’m curious if these shows are worth the $7 admission being charged?
Definately. I go to their shows everytime they come through my area. It’s like a giant hobby shop. They also often have some local club’s layouts set-up. In my area we always get the Allegheny Northern railroad club’s layout along with a couple others.
I think it’s worth the admission fee. Usually pick up a couple of items at decent prices. And as remarked in another reply, the layouts on display are always interesting.
Tom
I would agree, though from what I have seen on previous threads there can be quite a variation from show to show. We just had one of these in Illinois and I really enjoyed it and felt that there was a good mix of vendors.
I think the admission price is worth it just to look at the layouts, and then there are all those neat vendors besides. It’s a good place to look for odd things like sets of figures that you can’t find at your LHS, and you don’t want to order on-line because the shipping is too high. Jerry the train-cam guy is usually there, and also the animated-sign people.
Besides, it’s in the Shriners Hall. I assume part of the revenue goes back to the Shriners, who help fund some good-cause charitable hospital things. Go for the sausage sub at the snack bar - well above average. See you there.
This show is typically well attended and full of dealers. Parking is free, so it really is only $7. The Northeast N-trak club usually puts together a nice layout, and other scale layouts are there as well.
If you’re looking for good deals from dealers, well, to be honest it’s always a flip of the coin. This show (Wilmington) is put on twice a year. There are times when you feel you didn’t bring enough money with you to purchase the steals, while other times you can walk out empty handed and cursing at the dealers under your breath.
Bottom line – if you have not been there before, it would be worth your while to go and check it out. If you’ve been there several times before (like me), then spring cleanup will have to take priority this time around.
I usually do not go. We typically have 3 - 4 major train shows in the area and this one always comes in last. Too high an admission price, plus another high parking fee combined with the majority of the vendors selling Lionel are reason enough to skip.
Jim
It varies greatly from show to show, even shows in the same city. An example is here in Denver. Last November the show had very few exhibits, huge empty spaces in the vendor area, and was poorly attended. I was expecting the same thing for the February show and wow - what a difference. It was almost as large as the GATS used to be. There were layouts I hadn’t seen at all or hadn’t seen in a long time, a great variety of vendors, and a zillion people. Being an exhibitor I didn’t get to sit down all day…
So it is sort of a pay your money and take your chances kind of deal. Possibly the best thing to do would be to find some people that attended on the first day to ask if it is worth going to. Then attend on the second day.
Great input guy! Thanks.
If you end up going, let us know what you thought of it.
[#ditto]
Your not kidding, The show in SE Michigan was $7.00 plus $7.00 for parking. There are some really great shows that charge less for admission and offer free parking.
Also, Since I am in HO and the venders are very O, it was a no brainer to skip it.
I went to the one in Cicinnati last week and there were enough vendors and layouts to make it worth the $7.00 admission. On the other hand there were a lot of just plain toy exhibits including a Leggo club’s display. Lots of little kids running around loose too. Still I’d go again.
One word of caution. Check out all the vendor tables before you buy anything. There can be a great deal of difference in the price of the same item from vendor to vendor. I came away with a half dozen box cars and some turn outs, all at better prices and variety than I could find locally, so I was happy.
I guess you could say it’s the kind of thing where you pays your money and you takes your chance. It’s always worth at least one shot.
Fritz v B
The one in Ft. Washington was well worth it.
I’m wondering when the show with all the manufaturers is coming back to my area. The former Greenberg was OK but it’s pretty much the same vendors with the same products. I’d usually go if I needed something older or out of production.
BTW , the Fort Washington Expo center in Mont. County Pa was recently sold and it will no longer be an exhibition hall. I wonder where the hobby and train shows will go ?
OK, I went today (Saturday) and came away happy. No, I didn’t see Jerry the camera guy, or the animated signs, or the really good pine trees. There was a lot of O and S, including a really neat S-gauge layout with a working coal dumper. It’s not a true rotary, but rather a tilt-up. Scratch-built, and really very neat to watch in action. The woman running it (yes) was filling the cars from a container, because loader isn’t running yet.
The Lego Layout was there, along with a number of other O-gauge and other large-scale layouts. A really nice N-layout, and some HO modulars I’d mostly seen before.
There were a lot of O and S vendors, plus a lot of “off-topic” stuff like Star Wars and doll houses. Lots of cars and trucks.
It seemed like HO got lost in all this, but I did manage to find my favorite kind of relic, an old Athearn Milwaukee F-7 for $10. I took it home and it runs well enough to get a decoder. I also found some small stuff, like Walthers bumpers and a package of pigeons.
All in all, well worth the trip and the price of admission. And those sausages are still only $3.
If you get a chance go to the Pocahontas Chapter of the NRHS show in Bluefield, WV, the second week end in November. I think the cost is $4, maybe $5 now. It is one of the greatest you’ll ever see.
I am headed for the show Sunday, I want to see how it stacks up vs the Great train show at the BIG E in Springfield, Ma in late January each year.
“No, I didn’t see Jerry the camera guy, or the animated signs, or the really good pine trees.”
They had huge quantities of really nice pine trees at the show here in January, and it turned out the manufacturer is local to me, Indianapolis. I decided to try my hand at building some myself first and haven’t bought any yet, but I have their flyer with pricing and contact info. If you need it e-mail me at jeff4303ATyahooDOTcom.
I went to the show today, if the size of the crowd is any indication of the health of the hobby, then I would say we don’t have anything to worry about.
I found some good buys, lots of older cars 5 for $10, some good buys on steam and diesel locos also. As Mr B said who went yesterday, there seemed to by a lot of S and O gauge stuff there, but certainly a good selection of HO, N and Z gauge also. Woodland Scenics had a decent display also, as well as lots of matchbox cars, trucks, etc. and loads of Lionel and American Flyer trains and assessories. Is this show worth going to? YES !
If I were to rate this show comparing it to the train Show at the Big E in Springfield, Ma, held the last week of January each year, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being top dog, I rate the Big E a 5 and The Great Train Expo a 4. The Big E has much more being shown and more vendors present as well as demos.
This show actually has more floor space than it did last year. This time, the lobby was packed with layouts after being half-empty last time. They had a large “play-mat” setup with train toys for kids, which proved very popular with the younger families. (Yeah, this “layout” was running 5-DCC exclusively. Amazing how quickly the little ones picked up on the user interface.)
They also opened up the “Fez Room” (this was at the Shriners’ Hall, after all) and had 3 large layouts in there. I’ve never seen this space used for a show before. It also provided some table-space for lunch. The bar was closed for the day.
And there was a very good turnout. I’m sure the warm weather helped, and having a very kid-friendly show will probably keep the families coming back.