I’ve only attended “The Great Scale Train Show” in Timmonium twice. I can tell you the thing is “HUGE” One half of the building is dedicated to layouts (about a dozen or so clubs) And another is nothing but vendors.
About 30 minutes west of Baltimore to ellicott city is one of the oldest station houses in America http://www.ecbo.org/ They often have holiday layouts.
Go about 1 hour North to Lancaster/Strasburg and you have “The Model Train Museum” and the “Pennsy Rail Road Museum” (each with good layouts) You can ride a steamer if you wi***here.
Go about 2 1/2 hours east and you can ride the 2-8-0 New Hope and Ivyland Steamer in New Hope Pa. (It’s a really nice town to visit) They even offer cab rides in the summer.
This year I attended my first NMRA Great American Train Show, it was amazing. It was overwhelming to try to see everything in one day. This year was also the first chance I had to visit Philadelphia as a tourist. It is a great city, easily walked and it has world class museums and historical (for this country) sites every time you turn around. I would strongly suggest trying to catch the show the weekend after the NMRA Convention even if you can’t catch it next year.
In 07 the convention is in Detroit, also hot and humid in the summer. About the only good thing I can think of about Detroit is that Windsor is just across the bridge.
Seriously though if you get a chance to stop over in Halifax, take a day to see the city. It is as clean and friendly as I wish Cincinnati was and has the best sea food I have ever had.
Whenever you get to come over I am sure you will have a good time. We are not all as bad as our press would have you believe.
If you get to Chicago, be sure to see the super HO layout at the Museum of Science and Industry. It is a model of the BNSF from downtown Chicago to Seattle. The Sears Tower is 14 feet high! Don’t forget the Art Institute, and, if it’s summer, a Cubs game.
I don’t know if it was covered in an earlier response to your question, but you can find ALL sorts of shows/meets/conventions by going to: http://www.trains.com/maghomepage/maghomepage.asp?idMagazine=3
This is the homepage for Model Railroader magazine.