I also attended the show on Saturday with my two kids (wife chose to stay home
). I had been to a few Timonium shows in Maryland when I lived in the DC area, so to be honest, I actually thought the Costa Mesa show was kind of small by comparison. One thing that did impress me about the CM show was the large number of club layouts. I know the Z-scale layout you're referring to, and yes, it was impressive. My favorite layout (I didn't catch the name of the club, unfortunately!) was an HO layout that in the corner of the "layout only" building (opposite from the Lego vendor). I think it's the same one you mentioned.
One highlight for me was getting to visit the ScaleTrains booth and see the new GECX Tier 4 GEVO in living color (that I've previously pre-ordered!), and getting to chat with Mike Hopkin live and in person.
Although there wasn't a TON of vendors, it was just enough and a nice mix. I got a good deal on some Blue Box sets of undecorated shipping containers to round out my intermodal fleet. I bought decals for them from the detail parts vendor mentioned above.
My biggest score was the elusive Intermountain CN rainbow covered hopper. I have been kind of wanting one of these for a while, and apparently missed the boat on the latest Rapido version. Asking price was $40 new, which wasn't exactly a bargain, but it was the only one they had. I held it for a few minutes, and almost set it back down to think about it and maybe come back later. My 10-yr old son wisely pointed out that somebody else might buy it in the meantime before I got back. I knew he was right, and I had been burned before in this very scenario, so I decided to bite the bullet and fork over the cash. In retrospect, I'm happy I did. Now I don't have to keep hunting for one, or live with the regret of not buying it when I had the chance, and truth be told, I'll never miss that $40 anyway.
The kids had a good time and enjoyed the Lego layout the most. My son bought a couple of used Lego sets from each of the two Lego vendors there. Little sister also picked up an inexpensive Lego set, so she went home happy, too
.
I'll try to post a few pics I took at the show when I get home later tonight.