One of my favorite bargain hunting strategies is, when visiting a seller's table, is to gather up several items that I'm interested in, and then say "Make me a deal!" The seller will always discount the total from the combined sticker prices. Usually I'll accept the offer, but I'll still have the option to make a counter offer should I so choose.
The chemistry here is that the perfect day for the seller would be to sell everything on the table, and go home with an empty box and a wallet full of cash. So he is motivated to discount prices to move the inventory. For me, I might include a few "iffy-items" - those that I need, but maybe not anytime soon.
After all, I want him to come back to next years train show!
Jim
There are two Ohio train shows that I really enjoy finding true bargains within. One is in the fall and is held at the fairgrounds near Cleveland, Ohio in Berea and the other is farther south in Amish country called Mount Hope.
When I am looking over my stash of model railroad goodies I like to recall the 'bargains' I've come home with. One fellow at a table saw me looking over his boxes of HO detail parts. I already had a few packages in my hands and he asked me "Do you use these detail parts?" Well, yeah, I do was my reply. "Twenty bucks for everything" he says. For everything in my hand, I ask. "Twenty bucks for everything in both boxes" he says.
Berea Detail Bargain by Edmund, on Flickr
I didn't hesitate to get my money out fast enough. There were two boxes stuffed like this and I've used dozens of the parts on little projects already, probably saving lots of money plus, in some cases, these parts are impossible to find.
Sometimes brass engines are a good find as well. I was in search of an Overland ERIE gas electric 'doodlebug' like the one I remember at the Ohio Railway Museum and had been outbid several times at eBay (one going for $900!) when I stumbled across one at Mount Hope.
ERIE_Gas-electric by Edmund, on Flickr
He also had a New York Central K-5 pacific from Samhongsa —
NYC_K-5_Samhongsa by Edmund, on Flickr
I bought a few other things from his table as well and when it came time to tally-up the seller kind of sheepishly asked, "Well, would five hundred for everything be OK?" In the best poker face I could muster I told him he drives a hard bargain but, well, OK, I guess the baby can wait for new shoes...
Cheers, Ed
I use the train shows, specifically at Allentown, PA, and Timonium, MD, to find new old stock items that stores in my area don't have at prices often significantly below current Ebay prices.
So for me, the train shows have provided relative bargains even once food, gas, etc. is accounted for. Plus there is the cameraderie of attending with my buddies...
MJ4562 Are model train shows worth attending if your only purpose is to shop for good deals on quality items? Or is it more hit and miss and more about joy of the treasure hunt? Is it more older stuff that is bargain priced and not so much new top tier stuff? I ask because around my area train shows within driving distance are maybe once a year so I haven't attended one since I was a kid. I'm now in acquisition mode so thinking it might be time to try one out, then again maybe not. I hesitate though as time is limited and my experience with trade shows in other hobbies is that while there is the occaisional bargain to be found, they take a lot of time to track down. When you add of the cost of travel, entry and time spent, those bargains are a bit of a wash.
Are model train shows worth attending if your only purpose is to shop for good deals on quality items? Or is it more hit and miss and more about joy of the treasure hunt? Is it more older stuff that is bargain priced and not so much new top tier stuff?
I ask because around my area train shows within driving distance are maybe once a year so I haven't attended one since I was a kid. I'm now in acquisition mode so thinking it might be time to try one out, then again maybe not. I hesitate though as time is limited and my experience with trade shows in other hobbies is that while there is the occaisional bargain to be found, they take a lot of time to track down. When you add of the cost of travel, entry and time spent, those bargains are a bit of a wash.
Like others stated it depends on what part of the country you are in. The Northeast along the I-95 corridor seem to have the best shows IMO from the Great Scale Train Show in Timonium, MD to the biannual TCA Show in York, PA, to the Amherset Show in MA.
The next best area is a vector encompassing Ohio-Chicago-St. Louis-Milwaukee, that part of the Midwest since it historically is a major rail corridor of East, West, and Southern railroads.
Other areas outside of those two areas I hear the most complaints from other modelers about train shows. Having lived in Florida for a few years the shows there were not that great and visiting my father there last year, the show in Deland was a fraction of the size it used to be! Used to be two buildings full of stuff but this time it could barely fill a gymnasium! Granted, the two areas mentioned have the greater chance to find things you want with more people and vendors available to choose from but another factor is what you model.
So if you want to see a good train show, I would recommend looking at the Northeast or Chicagoland areas for shows.
AEP528 Trains shows in the US are mostly retail, relatively little exhibition.
Trains shows in the US are mostly retail, relatively little exhibition.