Decatur (IL) Civic Center Train Fair......worthwhile?

[DFORD]

Is the upcoming (8/21/04) train fair at the Decatur Civic center worth a 2 hour drive?

[CP5415]

I've found that any train show is worth the drive. Even if it means that you find it wasn't.
I've driven an hour to shows only to find that it was a really small show & that 99% of the prices were that of the LHS's. It would have been a waste of time if I hadn't found a F unit body for $5.
But, if you don't go for yourself, you may never find that locomotive or car you've been looking for.
I've driven a couple of hours to a small show in Hamilton, ON. once.
I ended up picking up a couple of passenger cars cheap.

Worthwhile is what you make of it.

Just my 2 cents.

Gordon

[orsonroy]

Depends on what you mean by worthwhile. While I've never been to the swap in Decatur, I have been to most of the others in north & central Illinios (Rockford, Wheaton, Galesburg, Peoria, Bloomington, Kankakee, etc). Mostly, these swaps have the same 8-10 vendors running a circuit, with one or two new vendors, and 10-20 local guys thrown in for variety. Swaps can be a good place to pick up bargains, but you usually have to wade through vast piles of full MSRP stuff and vaster piles of junk. Swaps are good places to look for long out of production stuff, or newer limited runs. They're also good places to stock up on Athearn and Train Miniature cars, if that's what you stock your layout with.

In general though, I don't usually make special trips for small swaps. For new items, I can get a better deal by negociating a discount at my LHS, or by plying Ebay or discount mail order shops. For old items, nothing beats Ebay. I do head to the big swaps in the region (Wheaton, Milwaukee, Madison) for the sheer vastness of the swaps, and for the deals and rare items. It's generally better to spend one day at a swap I know will befruitful, than blindly hitting every swap int he area, which is usually a waste of time (unless you just like going to swaps. In that case, have fun, but don't expect much more than ambiance and hanging out with other modelers!)