i GO TO MY LOCAL SHOW IN DUPAGE COUNTY IL. i HAVE ALMOST ENTIRELY BUILT MY LAYOUT THROUGH IT. i KEEP A MENTAL LIST WHEN I GO FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR AND FUTURE HARD TO GET PIECES. JUST KNOW YOUR PRICES WHEN YOU GO.
Cash not only gives you a budget but sometimes negotiating power. I remember picking up enough trees at one show to populate my layout for $5 cash.
Joe Staten Island West
IRONROOSTER Cash is how I budget myself at these shows. I take as much as I am willing to spend. When it's gone I'm done. Usually I don't spend all of it and sometimes none of it, but I never go over. Enjoy Paul
Cash is how I budget myself at these shows. I take as much as I am willing to spend. When it's gone I'm done. Usually I don't spend all of it and sometimes none of it, but I never go over.
Enjoy
Paul
Same here, I bring some cash and when it spent, thats it. Since I am a western fan at an eastern show, there are almost never loco's I need or want so thats not usually a problem; usually I do spend all of what I bring. My MO is to make a pass over the whole place to see what is there and then decide where I'm going to spend it, unless I find somthing that I'm sure I want and then I may get it during the first pass.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
maxman SouthPenn One of the things that is really starting to bug me is the vendors that don't take plastic. SouthPenn I was out of cash so no sale Most of these larger shows have an ATM available. Regarding the taking of plastic, I wonder what it would cost a vendor to have one of those credit card swiping thingys?
SouthPenn One of the things that is really starting to bug me is the vendors that don't take plastic.
SouthPenn I was out of cash so no sale
Most of these larger shows have an ATM available.
Regarding the taking of plastic, I wonder what it would cost a vendor to have one of those credit card swiping thingys?
Square charges 2.75%, but they're definitely not the only game in town.
SouthPennOne of the things that is really starting to bug me is the vendors that don't take plastic.
The Timonium is a little over an hours drive for me. I agree that this show was a dud for the most part. One of the things that is really starting to bug me is the vendors that don't take plastic. I did buy 2 Proto 2000 E8s (NIB) and a couple of Accurail boxcars. All wanted cash. Then I found a few more Accurail cars burried in a box and that vender wanted cash. I was out of cash so no sale. ( I try to stay with Accurail or Bowser; made in USA)
Don't know if I will go to the next show.
riogrande5761 joe323 Actually the Greenberg shows are OK for me I go and look at the HO stuff while my wife looks at the toys and knick knacks. By now I know which vendors I like and a few I did not. There is too much Lionel and toys, but that's OK I have picked up some stuff for the under the tree layout at the November show. I go to Greenberg shows too, but because they have so much Lionel and toy stuff, I only bother driving to those which are fairly close to where I live - worth it for a drive of max 45 minutes, but not for a long drive. I've found some goodies at those shows.
joe323 Actually the Greenberg shows are OK for me I go and look at the HO stuff while my wife looks at the toys and knick knacks. By now I know which vendors I like and a few I did not. There is too much Lionel and toys, but that's OK I have picked up some stuff for the under the tree layout at the November show.
Actually the Greenberg shows are OK for me I go and look at the HO stuff while my wife looks at the toys and knick knacks. By now I know which vendors I like and a few I did not. There is too much Lionel and toys, but that's OK I have picked up some stuff for the under the tree layout at the November show.
I go to Greenberg shows too, but because they have so much Lionel and toy stuff, I only bother driving to those which are fairly close to where I live - worth it for a drive of max 45 minutes, but not for a long drive. I've found some goodies at those shows.
I agree with you all of the Greenberg shows that I go to are in Raritan Center in Edison NJ. On a Saturday Morning That is a 35 or so minute drive and I usually combine it with a stock up trip to a Walmart (Which there are none in NYC). Sometimes the wife just drops me at the he show and goes to Wally World then picks me up about 2 hours later.
I am passing on the Somerset show this weekend I have other more pressing things to do.
Soo Line fan Also, its an excuse to get out of the house for many, especially if they are retired.
Also, its an excuse to get out of the house for many, especially if they are retired.
That's the whole reason I went in the first place. Health expenses plus car expenses in the same month obliterated my spending ability, but after spending most of January laid up with illness, cooped up in the house from snow, and teleworking huge chunks, I hadn't been out of the house to go somewhere other than the doctor, Target, or the supermarket since December.I think the missing display at Timonium was the group with the Reading modular layout. The Baltimore club had two T Trak set-ups going. I'm really tempted to build one, even as an HO guy. Too bad there's no NoVA T Trak group. At least one that I know of.
slammin In the 90s while I lived in Dayton, Ohio I went to 10 to 12 shows a year. They ranged in size from approx 40 tables to 300+ tables. I drove to Toledo twice a year, and to Louisville, KY occasionally. During those years I would sell as well as buy. One benefit to having a table at the shows, you could cherry pick the other dealers before the show opened to the public. Since moving to Colorado, I have attended a few shows. There are no shows here on the western slope, so driving 3 hours to the front range for a show with 30 tables is not worth it. I really miss the shows, but its a small price to pay. I can leave my driveway and within 30 mins be able to hike, hunt, fish, and ski. Or just sit in my living room and see the snow capped mountains.
In the 90s while I lived in Dayton, Ohio I went to 10 to 12 shows a year. They ranged in size from approx 40 tables to 300+ tables. I drove to Toledo twice a year, and to Louisville, KY occasionally. During those years I would sell as well as buy. One benefit to having a table at the shows, you could cherry pick the other dealers before the show opened to the public. Since moving to Colorado, I have attended a few shows. There are no shows here on the western slope, so driving 3 hours to the front range for a show with 30 tables is not worth it. I really miss the shows, but its a small price to pay. I can leave my driveway and within 30 mins be able to hike, hunt, fish, and ski. Or just sit in my living room and see the snow capped mountains.
Slammin, I know what you mean about missing the shows in Ohio. I lived in Dayton too, for over 20 years; some real good shows, both in town and within an hour drive. Then I moved to Denver, CO. There were hardly any shows there. Now, living in Idaho, not many shows here either. However, here in town there is a round-robbin group that I'm a part of. There's also a man who goes to shows (mainly out-of-state) and buys and sells whole lots of motive power and rolling stock. I can get some really great deals on rolling equipment through him. Scratchbuilding supplies, what I can't get at craft stores I mainly have to order, but, bottom line: I still get my model railroading fix!
BTW, here in Idaho I too can look out at the snow capped mountains!
I seldom go with a list anymore. I usually don't find much for S scale, but you never know. Last year at Timonium, I got 2 out of production locomotive kits at 75% off that I had been kicking myself for not buying a few years earler.
This past weekend I went just for the fun of looking. I found some Atlas O scale locomotives from the 70's at a reasonable price so I bought them. Sometimes I find some HO stuff. I have a test layout where I can run stuff from different scales as they appeal to me. Also, I have a Lionel layout that my 4 year old grandson and I can enjoy together. So Greenburg shows work for me.
Since I finally admitted a few years ago that collecting is fun for me, I usually find something to buy. But all train shows are enjoyable - I just enjoy going and looking at the layouts and stuff for sale, even if I don't buy.
Happy hunting
I usually go with a want list too - didn't buy anything. Didn't even buy food at the show, but my wife and I always go get a Taco Salad at Taco Bell down the street from Timonium - then over to MBK from there - where I did buy a few things.
Sometimes I go to a train show with a "want list" that is so darn weird and strange that I almost know in advance I am sure to come home empty handed -- obscure Athearn spare parts from the old days, a volume of Railway Prototype Cyclopedia that has become a collector's item years ago, a truck that used to be offered painted Standard Oil way back in the day.
But you go because there is hope. And sometimes good things do happen. It would have to be a pretty awful train show for me not to have enjoyed it even if all I bought was food and drink.
Dave Nelson
I have some go-to vendors at Timonium but it seems most of them have disappeared during the period since HZ handed over management. I've read rumblings of some not being happy and pulling out. One went out of business too. It was a surprisingly disappointing show for me, but YMMV - depends on what you are looking for. To me the merchandise at this Feb show was unremarkable. I forgot about the Super Bowl - bet you can't tell I'm not much of a sports fan!
Negotiating prices at Timonium is very doable too. I just didn't see anything I had to have and I'm saving money for some items I'm expecting in the coming weeks; not that I wouldn't have spent money at Timonium, but there was this show was missing certain vendors that I likely would have bought. About every 3 or 4 T shows are like that for me, but this one was one of the worst for not finding anything I wanted.
riogrande5761 joe323 Actually the Greenberg shows are OK for me I go and look at the HO stuff while my wife looks at the toys and knick knacks. By now I know which vendors I like and a few I did not.
Actually the Greenberg shows are OK for me I go and look at the HO stuff while my wife looks at the toys and knick knacks. By now I know which vendors I like and a few I did not.
Greenburg is small, but I know what are my go-to vendors. I like that they have varous toys for my kids to watch while we walk around. It was great being able to trade-in a hopper for two other cars. I think many vendors are open to negotiating on prices. Still, it's MUCH smaller than the show in MD.
I was unable to go up there this past weekend b/c of being sick and Super Bowl prep. It seems that the show was a bit lackluster. I wonder the reason(s)?
BigDaddy OP here, well I was pleasantly surprised by Timonium yesterday. Of course my memory is always suspect, but a huge number of modular layouts, a traction group using PVC pipe for benchwork, a Japanese layout, and a European layout. I believe there were a couple shows on the East Coast, but the turnout was big among vendors and customers. I picked up a couple cars I wanted but I am not up to speed with current prices yet to recognize if there were any bargains. Only 3 people were selling paint and one of those was old Floquil.
OP here, well I was pleasantly surprised by Timonium yesterday. Of course my memory is always suspect, but a huge number of modular layouts, a traction group using PVC pipe for benchwork, a Japanese layout, and a European layout.
I believe there were a couple shows on the East Coast, but the turnout was big among vendors and customers. I picked up a couple cars I wanted but I am not up to speed with current prices yet to recognize if there were any bargains. Only 3 people were selling paint and one of those was old Floquil.
In a previous post I said I almost always find something at Timonium. This trip was for me a total dud. My wife has always come with me and she felt the same.
There were fewer of the "better" dealers that we were used to seeing and most of what we saw were a mix of old trains, lots of secondary market Athearn, Walthers, Proto 2000, Intermountain etc. and not as much recently produced stuff. I didn't buy one thing at the show, not one, which is unusual for me - a show has to be a real "dud" for me to walk out with zero, "nowt" as my wife would say. I did visit MB Kleins a mile away and bought a turnout and an Atlas box car that way I didn't come away totally empty handed for the 90 minute drive.
This how a train show can be like a box of chocolates - sometimes they are great and sometimes it's just a lot of olders stuff or items that have been on the market a few years or longer. I did go and watch the layouts which for me was the consolation prize, and even that there were fewer interesting trains running and it seems one of the big layouts was missing that I was used to seeing.
The parking lot was packed with cars and the show well attended. Well, hopefully the next one will be better. I think now that I've been to enough shows since Howard Zane quit managing it, Timonium's quality of vendors had decreased over all it seems.
When I first got into the hobby, I went to every train show I could find. Over time I went to fewer shows as I really never found anyting I needed.
Nowdays, I save the money from 2 tickets, breakfast and gas and just get the exact item I need for 1/2 the train show cost on ebay.
Train shows serve a purpose. As the demise of LHS continue, its about the only place the general public gets a opportunity to actually see a model train.
Jim
I was hoping to pick up a couple used interlocking towers but they all looked like they were glued by a ham fisted 8 year old. Could have picked up lots of Atlas snap switches, mine cars, heavy weight horn hook passenger cars and WM coal hoppers.
Custom was the word of the day, custom rusty old car frames, custom cars and structures. Here is one from Howard Zane.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
A big reason why I like Trainfest, Titletown in Green Bay WI, as well as the Mad City show in Madison WI (which is coming up Feb 20-21) is that even if I am not particularly in a buying mood there are operating layouts to see and learn from -- and inevitably I run into folks I know but might not see otherwise, so yes there is a social element. Trainfest also has live demonstrations and clinics by very skilled modelers so in that sense it has some of the elements of a good NMRA regional convention.
One year at Titletown I was browsing a particular vendor (Teske's Trains) and just sitting on a box of marginal trainset quality freight cars were two books containing the AAR rules (with drawings and information) circa 1949-50 for how to secure certain open loads on flatcars and gondolas. This is information I had been looking for. At $8 each I considered that alone worth the price of the gas, meals, and admission. A friend of mine picked up an ORER from the very month and year he models for less than the cost of a blue box kit. He was in heaven. He would have been willing to pay 4 times that.
One reason I also like going to train shows a fair distance from home is that in Galesburg or Davenport Iowa the Chicago & North Western stuff I am interested (which tends to get snapped up at Trainfest or Mad City) in is often available because locally the guys want Rock Island or CB&Q or BN.
If they keep the guys out who sell Chinese knives and beef jerky, I'll be happy.
Pretty much what Paul said. I haven't been to any tiny train shows in many years but to me the Greenberg shows are small because they are mostly toys and large scale shlock and relatively few HO dealers. Last one I went to I picked up 3 86' auto box cars (2 Walthers and 1 Athearn) for $20 - a nice bargain. The Walthers boxes were extremely worn but the box cars inside appeared new.
I've definitely been to large shows before and walked out with nothing or next to nothing, which to me is a flop of a show... mostly that happened when I went to the big NY State Fair Grounds train shows in Syracuse in November - those often were big junk shows with not a lot of good deals or new stuff in the years before I moved away. Timonium almost alway has something I can use and often some excellent deals.
Gumpism: "Train shows are like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get."
Train shows, big and small, are considered "good" or "bad" based only on our own experience on finding something we want. As such, all shows are both good and bad as no show has everything for everybody (at a great price).
For example, I've just come back from the Springfield show. It's a huge show, but I really didn't buy anything (a t-shirt, some detail parts, some Kadees, etc.). Some people would consider that a "bad show" because not much was purchased considering the 100-mile trip out there, food and hotel costs, but I had a great time talking to people, networking, and seeing the sights.
OTOH, I once went to a tiny (20-table) show that was held on a Friday night from 7pm to 10pm. That show had a White Elephant Table where a big coiled piece of stainless steel was laying on it. There was railroad lettering on both sides. I asked the guy, "How much?" He said, "$20." I bought it, got it home, and found that I had purchased the name board for a New Haven passenger car called, "Housatonic River" (the other side said, "New Milford"). Some people would consider this a "good show" because I got a heckuva deal, but it was an otherwise boring little show that had nothing much for sale.
You never get anything from a show you don't go to.
Paul A. Cutler III
jrbernier The Woodbury train sale is the 'Grand Daddy' of train sales on the Twin Cities area. It has dropped off somewhat in the past several years, but had a very good turnout the last time it ran. There are 9-10 of these train sale venues each model railroad season(Oct-May) in the Twin Cities area. I just returned from the La Crosse 'Tri-State Rail Sale' a couple of hours ago. I did pretty good selling off my excess stuff, and I did not buy anything! My buddy did 'killer', selling 2-3 brass engines and a lot of other stuff. I guess he is not to concerned about paying for that new Scale Trains 'Big Blow' turbine he ordered last month! I was looking for some out of production decals and Atlas 11,000 gallon tank cars - None to be found. All in all, a good Saturday. Now to read my Trains & MR that arrived in the mail when I got home. Jim
The Woodbury train sale is the 'Grand Daddy' of train sales on the Twin Cities area. It has dropped off somewhat in the past several years, but had a very good turnout the last time it ran. There are 9-10 of these train sale venues each model railroad season(Oct-May) in the Twin Cities area.
I just returned from the La Crosse 'Tri-State Rail Sale' a couple of hours ago. I did pretty good selling off my excess stuff, and I did not buy anything! My buddy did 'killer', selling 2-3 brass engines and a lot of other stuff. I guess he is not to concerned about paying for that new Scale Trains 'Big Blow' turbine he ordered last month! I was looking for some out of production decals and Atlas 11,000 gallon tank cars - None to be found. All in all, a good Saturday. Now to read my Trains & MR that arrived in the mail when I got home.
I may try to get to the Century College show next weekend, we'll see how work and grad school homework stack up if I can find the time to get there. Woodbury is a short (20 minute) drive for me so the entrance fee and just to be around the trains again was enough to get me excited for what's to come in the new house. I'd love to get to La Crosse this summer for the July(?) show.
I enjoy train shows just as entertainment. I love seeing the effort that goes into all the layout displays, and the assortment of products that vendors have available, even if I'm not interested in buying them. I consider the entrance fee, parking fee (if any), cost of gas and cost of food to be just the price of entertainment for a day. Any bargains I might find are icing on the cake.
I try to get to one or two of our local shows a year, no more than 25 miles or so from home. Today, I planned ahead and went to the big Amherst/Springfield show, a couple of hours drive from home. It's always a great experience, and I get re-energized every time.
These shows have, if anything, grown a bit over the last 10 years I've been going to them. I just read that there were over 11,000 paid customers for today's show. Even if they weren't all actual hobbyists, it's still a good sign.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I went to my first show in about 10 years a few weeks ago. I had gone to that particular show in Woodbury, MN a few times when I was first getting into the hobby. Back then, it was super crowded and took up several large spaces. This time, it was a bit shocking that it had shrunk so much in terms of what was available. At least in my opinion. It was great to go back to a show, and I hope to get away next weekend and go to another at Century College. However, it was a bit of a let down that there wasn't as much on offer. I was still able to find a few things that sparked the fire to get going with more purchases. Little discouraging that one reefer car I purchased was in the box and came out broken. It appears that the packaging was incorrect and was reboxed. My fault for not looking more closely. Enjoy the show! Even if it's not what it was several years ago, it'll be good to be back!