Pine Bluff Show and Sale experience today

[Anonymous]

I ended up there also and spent some dollars as well. (One track mind) I usually depend on this train show for the "Hauls" but spent like triple at the LHS =)

I have one coming up in two weeks in Timonium Md. That one is gonna be really sumptin.

Try the Hobby Shack in Jacksonville if youre close enough. Between these two stores and occasional run to Conway's LHS it works out pretty good.

[dragenrider]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. My friend, Arnold, and I almost didn't make it to Pine Bluff. I got off work late Saturday morning and found a flat on my truck. That was fixed by the s l o w e s t mechanic I've ever seen [|)] zzz !

After that it was off to Pine Bluff! By the time we arrived most of the good stuff was gone and it appeared some folks had packed up and left. I just couldn't find anything of interest this year, so I only spent $1.00! That's sad, the biggest hauls I've ever made have been at that train show.

I made up for it, though! We stopped by Mark Silverberg's One Track Mind and I laid out about $77.00 for things I need for working on the railroad.

Over all, it was a fair show. The layouts were terrific! I'll try again next year! [:D]

[Anonymous]

I wanted to report on the Pine Bluff Arkansas's Cotton Belt 819 shops train show we had today.

First off, the crowds came. It is a rather small show and judging by the parking it gets a little bit bigger each year. This year all availible land was filled with cars. There is a Gunderson Wheel works next door and they had cars crammed among the stacked wheels. I am glad I came early.

The 4-8-4 Steam engine #819 appears to be well along in her restoration. I took video and will try to lift some pictures of her later this weekend, the lighting was poor. But a sign of progress was they had the tender attached. (Yes it had a state license plate used on cars I forgot to ask about that)

The layouts did a good job this year, you could tell some of the progress have been made on quite a few of them. The Arkansas Traveling layout club really progressed since I last saw it last winter. There are other modular layouts clubs that make the rounds in local shows.

The merchandise. One was a 1944 map printed for the military via the Union Pacific it showed every important base in the USA... imagine if that map fell into the hands of the enemy. (I did not know these existed during the war and apparently the owner did not know either)

Books had a good selection, tapes (DVD etc) there was a number of all gauges on the tables. I have to say the selection kind of declined. One local hobby shop expanded his show to 6 tables so I think some dealers kind of get bigger every year while others may not be so "fortunate"

I did find several Bev Bel boxcars but they were priced at like $15.00 and I decided that they were not worth the cost. I suppose the prices are creeping closer to ready to run cars but they would have needed work such as metal wheels and kaydees.

The bulk of the rolling stock was rather decent. I was given an oppertunity to purchase 40 MR magazines for 10 dollars flat. I passed because I had most of the issues already. (Oh well maybe someone else got em)

I bought a warehouse in HO scale that was used. I will rehabilitate it on the workbench and add it to my small town of Falls Falley at a later date. At first thought maybe I could "Heal" it and bring it back to life such as soap and water, repainting and fixing here and there. The more I thought about it the happier I was.

So. It was a good day today. Many people and many things to see. But I think half of my video probably will end up in the delete bin because the light was poor. I do have the ability for night time shots but only for 10 feet. And some of the subjects are so big you need to back up 50 feet.

Pine Bluff is a rather "hard" town and one of the things I hated about it is the trash and busted lumber (Nails??) scattered about the main road downtown. I had to do some fancy driving to protect my tires which I really need to keep from getting flat.

If the city of Pine Bluff did a better job cleaning up the stuff on the roads it would not be so risky. I came to buy trains and talk trains not replace 4 tires.

All in all.. a good day today.