Well, I attended the WGH on Tour train show yesterday in Pittsburgh. Simon (simon1966) asked those of us who went to give our impressions of it. So…here is my review.
Initially, I wasn’t entirely sure if I was even going to be able to drive the 150 mi. to get to the show. The trip was contingent on what happend with the aftermath of the lake effect snow warnings that were posted here on Friday. Thankfully, the 8-12+" that we were supposed to get overnight in NE Ohio, in reality, only ended up being an 1" or so. (At least where I live.) Seeing that, I took full advantage of the weather window and left early Saturday morning for Monroeville, just east of Pittsburgh.
First impressions
For those of you who said that you should expect A LOT of people and kids at the WGH show? WOW! - Were you RIGHT! [:O] When I arrived a little after opening (~10:15 AM), the place was already buzzing with activity! As time went on, there was just a constant, steady flow of adults and kids going in and out of the Monroeville ExpoMart. I finally left around 3 PM and it was STILL crowded.
BIG kid and Small kid friendly environment
Adults were $9 per head, but kids under 16 could get in for FREE. There was a Thomas the Train (TtT) activity center on the north side of the ExpoMart, where they had a bunch of TtT track and cars set up for the kids, plus TtT “tents” for the kids to play in. On the west side of the building they had a 7-1/2" rail train ride loop for both the adults and kids. Lotsa happy smiles on the riders. (The kids, too.)
Who showed up?
ALL the major locomotive manufacturers were present at this year’s WGH train show:
Hmm, where the locomotives and cars covered in patriotic decorations (ala the Bicenntential stuff that Tyco and Lifelike used to market 30 years ago)? I ask simply because I saw a display at the December 2004 WGH show (Edison, NJ) that sounds the same, and maybe they just take this layout from show to show.
To be honest, I didn’t really look at the layout that closely - mainly from about 15’ away. The dominant white car with red and blue lettering and design just didn’t appeal to me.
There was one particular gentlemen who was working very fastidiously at putting each car on the individual tracks. Perhaps he was wanting to be patriotic, I’m not really sure. I didn’t particularly notice a lot of flags on the cars and locomotives. Just an overwhelming number of white cars with red and blue lettering.
As luck would have it, I had to come back to the city within a couple blocks of the Train Show. Since I never shower, I still had my stamp from the day before. I felt I could really visits the booths with my kid in tow–he was always pulling me a long to the next thing.
It was every bit as crowded at 1 hour before closing on the second and final day as it was an hour from the beginning. I was really looking to find some bulk roadbed, some board and baton styrene and a couple other scratch building supplies. But they didn’t have any. I did go back to the details booth and walked away having spent the rest of my money on Musket Miniatures.
I thought I’d repeat my review from yesterday here.
As with most shows, I didn’t find anything I came for, but still spent my money. There were very few booths that sold used or old stuff, so I only found two pieces of old-time rolling stock that both fit my layout and were not duplicates of my inventory. My shopping list I thought was pretty simple. Some cork roadbed, and some Evergreen plastic. Didn’t see any.
We saw Mike. I think we can just call him Mikey. MThrules will know what I mean.
I did get some very good news–worth the trip for me. MDC makes two road numbers for SP in the 4-4-0 series. I’ve never seen SP advertised. The guy says that there are plenty of the SP’s available. I had thought, because I’d never seen them advertised, that they were not run. I saw them run at the show, and I like them. They were far superior to the Bachman and IHC that I had in the past. Also for those of you modeling the 1800’s, the 2-6-0 is due out soon as you know, but the 2-8-0 will be right on it’s heels.
Also, I was under the impression that MDC was not making any more kits. They are, it’s just the stores are not ordering many. If you log onto the Althern site, you can see which kits are being produced.
For those who are looking for Dash-9s in NS, forget it. K
I thought it was pretty good too. I picked up an Athearn penn Central boxcar and a magnuson models crew cab pick-up which I had been looking for for the better part of five years. The display layouts were pretty good. My bro joked around with one of the guys whose HO train experienced a derailment no fatalites. I was particularly impressed with a freemo club’s scratchbuilt steelmill module and a small cottage industry called Mirrored Model Buildings’ modern HO scale skyscrapers. All in all it was a pretty good show.
It seems that as the WGH show matures the manufacturers are taking it more seriously. This is a good thing IMO. There are many places to buy hobby supplies from. I am lucky and have a really good low priced LHS and then there is the web of course, so I find it very rare that I find anything that I have to have at a train-show. Chip, I also find that scratch building supplies are not easy to find at a train-show. I can’t say that I blame the dealers. I am sure the profit is low compared to a pre-built structure and an R-2-R loco. With few looking for this type of material and with space at a premium I would leave this stuff behind as well.
Getting a chance to interact with the manufacturers and to see their new products up close is an enjoyable and valuable experience. For me this was the most enjoyable part of the National Train Show and the real dissapointment with the WGH show held in St. Louis. I am pleased to see that this seems to be changing.