I went there for the first and last time last year and I was greatly disappointed. Like you said a lot of hi-rail and Lionel stuff but the picked were slim when it came to HO stuff and the few guys there weren't shy about their prices. I missed Timonium in Oct. but plan on going to Turf Valley show this month down in Maryland first show so I think it might be pretty interesting and worth the ride.
Resurrected a thread from TWO years ago... yeah I did not go this year. Nor will I be attending the Spring Thaw show. I was at Timonium a few weeks ago, and it looks liek we will be goign again for the Feb show. To me that will be the extend of my train show visits this 'season'. I understand Ag Hall raised the price another dollar this year - it's REALLY not worth it to me now.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Xword2005 Randy; Went to the show today and like you was very disappointed. Almost no HO dealers were found and that took a lot of walking. There was no Manufacturers stands demonstrating their products. The show was 90% O gauge or Lionel. I I told the show directors my feelings, and he seemed to think that 5000 people attending was justification for the items I complained about. I will not attend another First Frost show as I have been FROSTED. Drove all the way from Reading and could not find any deals, prices were the same as any Hobby Shop, no amatuer dealers or part-timers.
Randy;
Went to the show today and like you was very disappointed. Almost no HO dealers were found and that took a lot of walking. There was no Manufacturers stands demonstrating their products. The show was 90% O gauge or Lionel. I
I told the show directors my feelings, and he seemed to think that 5000 people attending was justification for the items I complained about. I will not attend another First Frost show as I have been FROSTED.
Drove all the way from Reading and could not find any deals, prices were the same as any Hobby Shop, no amatuer dealers or part-timers.
Yes, it was disappointing in that most of the items to be sold were Lionel and AF. But I think there were some deals there if the HO vendors happened to have what you wanted. There was a guy selling Branchline kits for $10 or less, and he had some of the Branchline passenger car kits for $15. I wasn't interested in them, but I thought the price was right if I had been.
There was also another guy just inside the partition between the small and big rooms who had several tables of HO, all of which seemed to be reasonably priced. He had 11 of the Proto 2K gondola kits (just love those things) that I bought off him for $60. That's less than $5.50 per car. I don't think you can do much better than that.
I went as I do every year. And as usual I was frustrated by all the "orange boxes". It seems masses of orange boxes! I'm always disappointed however I go just to get the juices flowing at this time of year, which is my biggest (till early April) model railroading "season". Also it's near my daughter's home so it's convenient to visit (and have dinner) with her, my son-in-law and grandchildren! Quality HO items at decent prices were few and far betweeen at First Frost. I did buy an L&NE gondola (I model the L&NE) and a few Thomas items for my twin grandsons. Minor items of course.I also noticed that vendor prices were close to or above list in many cases and that used prices were also much too high. I speak from some long experience as I am a long time ebay merchant with over 4000 sales (mostly general collectibles) who at times re-sells HO scale items found at flea markets and yard sales. I'm keenly aware of realistic prices. Frankly, the vendor prices at Ag Hall for both new and used equipment that I looked at were in no way competetive with either online hobby shops or ebay. My thought was that the show might cater to impulse buyers who want that take-it-home-under-your-arm instant gratification feeling because savy buyers would certainly pass on most things there. I suppose there must have been some good bargains (perhaps in orange boxes, American Flyer or G scale) however in my area of interest (HO) and collectibles in general, I personally didn't see any. So I was disappointed, but then realistically expected to be ahead of time.
One of the shows that i present with my dad in is also mostly Lionel or HIRail. The funny part of that show is that our n scale layout and our friends ho was the bigest size layouts at the show. They also has alot of venders compaired to layouts at the show.
I guess I shouldn't feel bad about not getting there. I've never been to any show or conventions for this hobby.
I went to the above named show today, first time in a couple years (I used to go every year, but being away from the hobby for 2 years I haven't been to any shows recently, other than Timonium in October). It seemed to be just a spacked as always, with their typical narrow aisles, but what really struck me is that it was almost ALL Lionel and HiRail. Outside of people with old Tyco junk, there were very few scale model tables - Funaro and Camerlengo, Skeet's Trains, RCT&HS, ARHS and only a couple others. The OTHER tool vendor was there (I missed him at Timonium, I'm pretty sure he used to be there), so I picked up the few missing things from my tool box, so now I am all set to build kits - just it time for there to be no more kits, it seems. AFter the show I hit up two hobby shops and ended up with nothing more than a stick of balsa to make supports for the track board in the Woodland Scenics diorama I picked up, and some Atlas Code 83 rerailers and straight track to make my test track. Pickings on kits were REALLY limited, what with P2K, Intermountain, and even Branchline now coming RTR. Bummer.