This past sunday we had the annual train show for Lansing, Michigan, held at the spacious pavilion at Michigan State University. Roomy and plenty of parking. They put up little signs by the roads all over the area, and I do mean ALL OVER. Driving country roads 15-20 miles away, I saw the little signs. HArd to miss. And in town as well, plenty of the little signs. Didn't notice print or TV ads this time, though there may have been those
LAst year I griped that I went to the show in the afternoon, and they already had closed many of the tables. I got little sympathy, but that is OK, we all have our own feelings. This year I planned to go, but when SUnday came around after my morning activites and other errands, it was after 1PM already, and a half hour to get there... I decided not to go, based on last years missing vendors. Sorry.
Here's my Train Show policy
If I can't be at a show when the doors open or shortly there after I do not go because by afternoon the good deals is usually gone or been picked over.
If I have any unimportant errands or whatever,that will wait until I get back.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BRAKIEIf I can't be at a show when the doors open or shortly there after I do not go because by afternoon the good deals is usually gone or been picked over.
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I have a different policy. I go later, near closing, when hopefully dealers are more willing to deal. There are so few things I need anymore, I don't find much of my "must-haves" at train shows, but I am always in the market for a good bargain.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
There are certainly baragins to be had at train shows, but the 100 modelers who got in before you are ALSO looking for them. If you can;t get ther early enough to be waiting in line when the doors open, good luck. If you get there just as - you can sometimes chose an alternative strategy - most people walk the floor in a pattern. Unless they know a specific dealer has what they want and head right there. Usually this starts somewhere near the entrance and ends up near one of the exits, if the two are not the same - just human nature. Well, if a bunch of peopler are ahead of you going say clockwise around the building, and if the show is fairly evenly distributed (not like some which have all HO in one place, all hi rail in another, all books and misc stuff in a third, etc), go the other way - start at the end and work to the beginning. That way you get to at least some tables before the rest of the hordes have had a chance to clean out the deals.
The only way you're going to get a deal at the end of the show is if you are shopping for stuff no one else in area wants. Might work out if you model an imaginary railroad, or model something from the other side of the country, but when you model one of the local railroads, there will be NOTHING left after the initial surge.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker The only way you're going to get a deal at the end of the show is if you are shopping for stuff no one else in area wants. Might work out if you model an imaginary railroad, or model something from the other side of the country, but when you model one of the local railroads, there will be NOTHING left after the initial surge.
I don't believe this is always the case. Your statement above is only true if things are already priced low at the beginning of the show. However, dealers will frequently price items higher than "deals" but are willing to negotiate on them. Rarely, though, will they wheel and deal before the end of the show. So, there are deals to be had at the end of the show too when overpriced items are still left on the tables.
Modeling the D&H in 1984: http://dandhcoloniemain.blogspot.com/
It depends on what you're looking for. If you really want that just-released limited-edition diesel and hope to find it at the show for significantly less than the $250 list price, then being there right when it opens is really a good idea. If you're more like me, and are there to see if someone might be selling that 30 year old book that's long been out of print, or to see if you might find a deal on old AHM / Rivarossi passenger cars, then being first in line isn't that big a deal.
If the flea market / train show is like 9 to 4, I usually try to get there between 11 and noon. About that time, the first folks have shopped themselves out and are leaving, so I often get a good parking spot, and there are fewer people there so it's easier to snoop around and see what's available.
BTW, some of my most 'successful' train show / flea market adventures have come when I didn't really go looking for something, but just stumbled across something like a book I'd never heard of, or a guy who super-detailed some diesel locomotive shells for a railroad I like, but then changed his layout's theme and is selling them cheap.
Enzoamps,Well, then I guess you really didn't want to go to the show.
Dealers have to arrange their lives around train shows, but then they pay money to attend.
I make time for attending train shows when the doors open.
Dealers will sell what they want at the price they want and if its not worth their time to stick around to sell what's left......usually because of all of the people that got there early and bought a bunch of stuff.....they leave. Its not a mystery.
- Douglas
It was a good show -- over 500 vendor tables and a lot of great deals to be had! I know I found a few treasures that I didn't know i was looking for..... :)
Chuck
Modeling the Motor City
Paul3 - I did want to go, but it isn't the most important thing in my life. I have family activities every sunday morning that take me up to noon. Sometimes I have to run an errand and I did have to pick up a prescription. Those things are more important than a train show, at least to me. Had I freed up at noon, I would have attended.
Maybe the early birds snatch up that brass cab-forward for $100, but I am not in the market for one anyway. I am with the guys looking for old B&O books I don't have, or maybe an old Athearn RDC. Not worried about those being picked over. I enjoy looking at things not in my world, like G scale. and Z. An entire layout in a brief case. Sometimes there are G scales that don't look like toys. And I always have time to look at Lionel stuff.