well, my dad and i went to the show today. it was ok, but not the best i’ve been to. quite a few people there, lots of layouts, and most of them were really nice, but NOT alot of sellers.[:(] seems like every year there is less and less. all the reps were there, atlas, athearn, bachmann, mrc, kalmbach(looked for bergie two times, didnt see him. they were always packed.), mth(they had a nice setup, but DONT let anyone kid you, they DID NOT rule the show[;)]), and MANY more. sad fact was, hardly ANY sellers.[:(] in my eyes, for HO & N there was about five that was worth seeing, lumbard hobbies(ALWAYS BEST DEALS), tonys train exchange(was ALWAYS WAY packed), jerrys, and about two more i’m sorry i cant remember their names. GREAT DEALS?..not really, but we picked up a few engines. dad got a nice RS3 CNW atlas classic, and bought a digitrax decoder witch i installed in it in about 20min tonite. sure RUNS sweet! i picked up an P2k UP E6 with an AWSOME mars light[:p], an athearn AB CNW F7, and two bachmann DCC FT’s($35 each). i wanted a cheap CNW F7 DCC, but didnt find any, so i got the idea to put the athearn shells on the bachmann DCC motors, with VERRY minamal customizing(about 15min) it worked GREAT! the bachmann DCC engines are not bad running engines, dont get me wrong, they arent close to atlas, but still, not bad, well worth $35 dollars[;)]. all in all i had a good time, no great deals, but a good time. if anyone else went to the show, please chime in on your take on it.[;)][8D]
Sounds like I picked an okay year to skip the show then, as the vendors are mainly what I go there to see too. I decided not to go this year as I really don’t have a whole lot of extra money to spend, although I do plan on going again next year. I’m glad to see you got some fairly good deals though!
Noah Hofrichter
Reedsburg WI
Shows certainly aren’t what they use to be, not from what I’ve seen anyway… When I first started going to them, they were probably 80/20 private vs commercial dealers… All the shows around here (except the greenberg shows) are club sponsered events so after the hall is paid for, the club gets the proceeds (from table fees, admission, etc)… They do it mostly to support the club and that’s fine by me.
I haven’t actually been to a show in about 3 years because they are now more like 90/10 commercial vs private… By commercial, I mean hobby dealers who make thier living at it… I always preferred (maybe just me) to pick through the stuff being offered by someone changing or leaving the hobby or simply selling off the excess… You know, the guy who has room for a 12x96 inch shelf layout and bought enough stuff to fill a 24’ x 96’ building… NOW, the private sellers have the collector / ebay mentality that thier stuff should bring the same $$ that some fool paid for like items on ebay… Not that I really have anything against either and I’m not suggesting they give thier stuff away, to each his own… But I see most of these people carrying their stuff back home at the end of the day.
For me, the quality of the shows has slid way downhill since internet shopping (of all sorts) Really took off. But, again, maybe that’s just the way I see it… I’m in the Detroit area btw, where, when I first started going in the mid 80s, there were at least 2 shows per month from october to april within a 100 mile driving distance, and all of them had something to make them worth attending.
My [2c]
Jeff
I skipped Trainfest this year, but have been tot he last three years. You’re right; the number of sellers is shrinking. I find that the show is most useful for talking to the small cottage industries that show up, like Depots by John and Greenway Products. You find the neatest stuff from manufacturers who barely advertise!
For the Chicago area, the Wheaton swap is actually a better sales venue. And for Cheesers, nothing beats the Mad City show in February (that’s the best annual sale I’ve been to, including NMRA national sales!)
orsonroy, i was looking for depots by john yesturday at the show, we bought a couple of his depots in N scale last year, wanted to get one in HO this year, he wasnt there, perhaps at the madison show he’ll show up. greenway products WAS at the show this year.
Bergie was there Saturday. As per another post on this Forum we had a Forums reunion get together.
Well there was one major dealer (sorry forget the name) who evidently is liquidating so there were P2K engines at 40% off which is not bad, and even bigger deals on old Athearn blue box and MDC kits. Also tons of decals and vehicles.
Lombard (who had the Kata C&NW bi levels cheap), Jerry’s, Norm’s Trainworld, Sommerfelds, Jetco Hiawatha (where I bought the Athearn sd40-2 in Wisconsin & Southern 25th anniversary paint scheme), Greenfield News/Hobby, and others were there. At the Walthers exhibit I actually got to see people construct entire buildings using their new modular system. Until you see it done you have no idea how well thought out and neat it all is. Moreover the guy doing the constructing was obviously no expert modeler but at the end of the day he had created several very nice structures.
One outfit had a nearly complete set of Trainshed Cyclopedias for sale; that is a first.
I saw John Dornfeld (Depots by John) there Saturday but not Sunday. Bill Bedell’s truck models were there Sunday but not Saturday.
The most spectacular new layout was not really a layout at all but a trade show exhibit created by P&H Mining equipment for a Las Vegas Show. It features scale models of their big strip mining equipment with an N scale coal train which included an OPERATING flood loader. That is as the moving train went under the coal loader the coal loads would flip over. An astounding bit of animation in N (or any other scale) and not surprisingly a Best of Show.
Dave Nelson
dknelson, depots by john WAS there?..CRIPES, i didnt see him, and i really wanted to get some of his stuff.[:(] and you seen bergie,… i feel like i missed out on alot now.[:(] of course i was all looking for deals on engines, so i was running from place to place like a wild banshie.[:D] did you see lombard hobbies had katos DC, for $40, and walthers heavy weights for $25, problem was they wernt in roads i model.[V] i cant remember the name of the place, but it was in the back, not far from kalmbach, had P2k engines for 55% off, thats where i got my UP E6.[^][;)] one last note nobody has mentioned, the 4x8 layout at the kalmbachbooth(if i remember right was called stoney creek) looked great, had an ammi***ype theme, lots of wagons & barn building, think it will be in next months MR.
Yes my Beloit friend, I saw John “Depots by John” Dornfeld at a table on Saturday constructing a model, and I later saw him taking photos of someone else’s model depot. I do not think he was there selling (for which he would have to pay $$$ for a table) he might have been there just as a demonstration which presumably would be free.
I neglected to mention that the ToolMan from Texas was there as usual this year; that is always a great chance to get dental tools and other tools that the LHS never carries.
When it comes to sellers don’t forget the historical societies. The Milwaukee Road, Soo Line, and C&NW Historical Societies all had models to sell that are not to be found at the local hobby shop. And Accurail has a tradition of painting up models as “Trainfest Specials” that are not part of the regular release schedule. Thus I was able to get a Green Bay & Western 2 bay hopper to add to my “Train Fest Special” collection.
I talked to one guy, sorry I forget the name of the company, who was selling detail parts especially for piers and fishing villages. His take on this year’s Trainfest was that there were “too many dealers” selling ready to run and not enough catering to scratch builders and builders from kits. I bought several bags of industrial roof vents and fans from him of a style that I have not seen offered anywhere before – not to be found in the Walthers catalog for example.
Dave Nelson
I tend to agree with you Ray, that the Madison Mad City Show is much better. It has usually a great selection, and there are several local vendors that come that you can find steals from. And I credit this to all the hard working people who put on the show; I know several personally, and they run like mad in the 8 months preceding every show, trying to organize it all. This next February’s show will be especially interesting for me, as I am going to be displaying a module with a local HO modular group for the first time(A chance to show off my handy work, or, my really bad modeling), and so I will have to be juggling looking through the show and running trains on the layout!!!
I’ve slowly seen the trend of Hobby shops and Sellers selling more ready to run and less kits and scratchbuilding supplies myself. My local hobby shop, which is only about a year old, started with a bunch of kits and has started to slowly stock more and more ready to run Athearn.
The other thing that worries me was a converstation I had with a friend a few weeks ago. He coordinates the WSOR’s model work with Athearn, and when he mentioned to me that he was going to order some more WSOR cars and engines, I asked him what type they would be, ready to run or kits. His reply, “Oh they will be Ready to Run, it seems like that is what everyone wants now days, doesn’t it?”
It kind of scared me, I fear the inexpensive kits are going the way of the dinosaur…
Noah
I agree with Ray Breyer. I went with some friends and we were disappointed in this years Trainfest. I was there last year and it was much better. I noticed that there was a lack of small “Mom and Pop” manufacturers there. We ran into a couple that have there own small model business and they said they skipped Trainfest because of the high table cost. They told us they were heading down to the Dupage County (Wheaton) swap meet. We decided to head down there the following morning and we had a great time. Yea, there are a lot of tinplate, Lionel and AF dealers there but we found some great deals. There were plenty of dealers and private individuals selling stuff. While the layouts at Trainfest are always great if you are looking for some deals, check out the Wheaton show.