Are model train shows worth attending if your only purpose is to shop for good deals on quality items? Or is it more hit and miss and more about joy of the treasure hunt? Is it more older stuff that is bargain priced and not so much new top tier stuff?
I ask because around my area train shows within driving distance are maybe once a year so I haven’t attended one since I was a kid. I’m now in acquisition mode so thinking it might be time to try one out, then again maybe not. I hesitate though as time is limited and my experience with trade shows in other hobbies is that while there is the occaisional bargain to be found, they take a lot of time to track down. When you add of the cost of travel, entry and time spent, those bargains are a bit of a wash.
It’s kinda like fishing, you might go a couple of times and not find anything too interesting, then the next one you find three things you really wanted.
You probably will have to go to the shows in your area and see what they’re like. In my area, some retailers are there selling a mix of old and new stuff, and some book dealers are there. Many are selling older stuff bought from estates or from now-closed hobby shops.
I generally am looking for older stuff rather than brand-new; I’d more likely buy something new online or at a hobby shope. For example I recently bought a Walthers Proto engine for a good price at a show; it hasn’t been made for a decade or so but mine was in the original packing with the warranty card etc. and runs great.
I go for the fun of it. If nothing else, there are always layouts to look at and photograph. I seldom come away empty handed. If I go to a show with a specific goal, I am often disappointed, but if I just keep my eyes open I almost always come home with happy surprises.
I always bring an up-to-date spreadsheet of locomotives and rolling stock with road numbers to avoid duplicates. I’ve got lots of Accurail boxcars in my home road, the Milwaukee, with all unique road numbers.
I find scenery stuff at shows all the time. Nothing planned, but if somebody is selling cheap hydrocal, I’ll buy some. I will always look at nice die-cast autos from my era, and maybe packages of people. Dealers have selections of detail parts that invite browsing.
I did learn to think carefully about buying structures on a whim without a place to put them. I’ve still got unopened kits I bought at train shows 20 years ago. That taught me not to be impulsive.
And the thing about fishing is, you rarely hear people complain about what a waste of time a fishing trip was, even if they didn’t catch many fish, because it was still fun to hang out and enjoy the experience with other fisher-folks. To me, that’s what a train show is: it’s an opportunity to enjoy the experience of hunting for cool deals and meeting other model railroaders, learning new things, discovery, and fellowship. Plus you might find some cool stuff that’s worth buying, or you might not. While I make a checklist of things I’m looking for at a train show, I’m not disappointed if I don’t find many items on the list, or end up buying very different things–it’s a tool to provide general guidance.
I also take this attitude with me when I go to things like antique fairs or estate sales–I like to think of them like I’m visiting a museum, and I’m principally there to appreciate the objects and the experience, but unlike most museums, if I really like an exhibit, I can spend some money and take it home!
I’ve only been going after COVID stopped, since about 30 years ago when I first started going to train shows.
The fishing analogy is a great one. Unless the stuff is really old and out-dated (at least in HO), the pricing and selection is not that good at a train show, IMHO. It’s no way comparable to Ebay, for instance. If you’re there for odd stuff - used structures, books, photographs, t-shirts, caps, and maybe the odd electronics stuff here and there, a train show is good.
I’m usually looking for the 5 to 10 year old stuff that is DCC and DCC-ready and was produced in road names I want, but that I missed back then before I returned to the hobby. (Intermountain Illinois Central GP10s come to mind.) Train shows are not that good for recent, more advanced stuff. Then again, maybe I’ve just been going to the wrong ones … I’ve found more on Ebay by checking often and reacting very quickly to sellers when they first list something.
Train shows are great! You will find things you never knew you needed…
Generally older stuff, but occasionally a dealer has a table with new products. I like a bargain, and this is the place! Fun to look around, and they usually have some layouts running.
I rarely go to a train show looking for anything specific but almost invariably I’ll find things worth buying. It might be an item that has been out of production for a while or some other hard to find item. I have especially good luck with scenery items. My LHS stocks mostly Woodland Scenics which is good but I’ll find things WS doesn’t make. Also, train shows are a great source for railroad memorabilia. I’m a sucker for old timetables.
I primarily go to Train, shows to look to see what’s available. And view the layouts.
I think it’s a great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday morning/afternoon with like-minded folks. Relaxing Road trip.
One item in particular, I will look for are Peco turnouts.
i’m currently in the designing phase of my next layout and plan to use code 100 Peco turnouts throughout the layout.
My most recent find of Pecos was a box of gently used like new ( no ballast, paint, solder, etc) Various sizes and configurations a box of 20 at @ $5 each
two vendors down I found two double slips, and a three-way @ $15 each same condition
One other item not yet mentioned: many (if not most) vendors will entertain an offer if it’s not unreasonable. An adage from the Book applies: “You have not if you ask not.”
Each show is a little different, that is, each show put on by the same organization is a little different from the last years, as there may be a few different vendors along with some annual standbys. Shows sponsored by diffeerent groups ususlly differ, as larger vendors may have a preference for a show in a given area, due to previous experience. ( A friend of mine didn’t care for one show “too much Lionel” but I noticed he always went and usually found plenty of HO to lighten his pockets.) Shows that have a lot of small vendors, those downsizing, selling for the family of a friend that has past or other reasons, may have some unique items. I had to downsize, even before I was able to get a good start on my layout. Had many new in the box items from the last 20 years at good prices. One show I did the booth next to me was selling off items from their father’s collection, some really beautiful and unique locos.
You have to go to a show to see what is there. As I said each show is different. Then there are working layouts to see as well as people to talk to for ideas that may improve your layout.
When my dad was asked about how good the fishing was at our cottage on northern Georgian Bay, he always said that the fishing was great, but then he would quietly add that sometimes the catching wasn’t so good![swg][(-D][(-D]
I attended train show-swap meet in Fort Wayne Indiana this past Saturday. I was surprised by the large turnout, I actually stood in line for about 30 minutes, waiting to get in. I Never saw this before at past train shows in this area. There was vast amount of vendors and I took home both some hO and O gauge stuff. One vendor was selling Menards freight cars that I have never seen in the local Menrds stores and his prices were 40% less than Menards, so I picked up several cars for my O gauge train set for around my Christmas tree this year.I also found some HO stuff for my large HO layout in my basement. I enjoyed the camraderie of like minded hobbyists and found a guy who repairs HO locomotives in my area. Plus none of them were charging state sales tax, another savings. I consider this show a very positive event and it was fun to attend! I saw some Lionel Classic trains from the 80s all brand new and pristine in standard gauge!
I like to perouse Ebay for deals also and have occasionally come across some great deals there also. I am still enjoying working on my free lanced PRR HO layout in my basement, based in the mid 1940’s to early 1960s I chose the pRR because my Dad and several of my relatives all worked for the PRR in the past. my grand dad on my Mom’s side worked in the Ft Wayne freight car repair shop in Ft Wayne in the 1940s. My Dad was a brakeman and my Uncle was steam engine engineer.
It is very much the thrill of the hunt. Especially if you enjoy hunting for older models, European stuff like Marklin ect. Or odd scales like TT or American OO. Train shows are a boon right now as so many collectors are passing on and their estates are showing up at train shows as kids that have no interest in “dads trains” or flippers that buy up the stuff at an estate sale and flip it for a profit at shows. Since the covid lockdowns lifted. I have not seen so much brass, and other harder to find models at shows since I was a kid in the early 80’s. To me, its a great time to be in the hobby and activly looking for older models. For me right now its vintage Marklin HO with a side of gauge 1 and older LGB G scale. So I might go to several shows and find nothing of interest. I still enjoy the day, visit with dealers and other modelers I know or may not know. Then one show I will hit the jackpot and find one or several things to purchase. Thats the whole fun of it for me. Mike
I would like to see UK-style exhibitions in the US, which would require quite a mindset change.
First, it needs modellers to embrace the small exhibition layout idea, rather than large club or modular setups that are typically present. This seems like it shouldn’t be difficult, because it would give many modellers the opportunity to do something different, in a smaller size and perhaps even in a different scale.
Second it would require shows to embrace the concept of booking and paying for the layout exhibitors to attend. This will be difficult, because many shows barely make money now.
And third it would require visitors to embrace that syle of show. This is hard to predict.
While I nearly always carry some sort of “want list” with me to train shows, I’d agree with those who say the most enjoyabe purchases are of those things you didn’t know you needed until you saw them. Sometimes you see things you didn’t even know EXISTED until you saw them, and this is particularly getting more and more true as small 3D printing based suppliers start to populate the shows.
I also benefit from those shows who sell off the “estate” items of deceased members of the local NMRA region or division as a fund raiser for their division or whatever. The Madison (WI) train show especially --has a substantial area devoted to that. Unless you have memorized the Walthers catalogs of the last 45 years you can’t really plan ahead for what you might see at such a sale. And model railroaders being model railroaders you sometimes can glom on to partially completed projects that are exactly what you need for your own partially completed project.
Something seen at some train shows years ago but you never see now – rejected brass. The Japanese or Korean manufactures would sometimes have their first batch be rejected by the importer for various reasons and at one time it seems there were vulture firms that would swoop in and buy the rejected merchandise at bargain prices, later to be sold at train shows. I purchased a nicely made model of a large CB&Q tender that way – didn’t need it but it was just $10. It was evidently 4 scale feet too long. Similarly I saw stacks of what looked like CB&Q or California Zephyr domed observation car shells, no floors, selling real cheap and bought one for $20 I think the importers eventually demanded that this rejected stuff be destroyed because I suspect it was diluting their own sales. Another approach was that taken by North West Short Line – accept the rejects and sell them yourself at bargain prices. But that w
Train shows hardly exist in southern Delaware where I am now. There may be a couple of small ocal ones, but they are more club layout open houses than shows. My closest big show now would be Timonium, almost 3 hours away. When I lived in Taxachusetts a had a twice-annual Greenberg show a half hour away, and even the big Springfield only an hour and a half away.