The "Big E" Show To Be Held This Weekend

The Amherst Railway Society will be holding their annual Railroad Hobby Show this weekend at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds (Big E) in West Springfield Massachusetts.  I've never attended this show but I'm told it is a good one.  Visit the Big E website for directions and the the Railroad Hobby Show site for photos and information about the show.sat the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds (The Big E) in West Springfield Massachusetts

NJ Hi-Railers Open House

If you live in the Paterson, New Jersey area and are looking for something to do this Sunday, March 25th,  the NJ Hi-Railers (formally known as the Northwest Jersey Hi-Railers) will be holding an open house from 10am to 4 pm. Their web site states the club layout is over 185 feet long and averages 30 feet wide and growing.  If you can't make it this Sunday the club will be holding other open house events throughout the year.  See the NJ Hi-Railers website for more details and directions.  Be sure to also check out the photo, video and web cam section of the site. 

Also, if you just so happen to be in the vacinity of Karuizawa, Japan you can check this show out :)

Finding Train Shows, Displays and Train Shops

It's model train season and there are plenty of shows and displays scheduled across the country throughout the winter months.  The following sites are a great source for finding events.

Trains.com Events Calendar - Search listings by zip, state.
O Gauge Railroading Magazine - Events listed by date.
Great Train Expo - Shows listed by date.
Little Toy Trains - Events listed by date and state.

If you're looking to visit a train shop in another area during your holiday travels check out this site from MapMuse.  I've posted about it before and mention it again because it's a great site that enables you to search for shops by region, metro area, address, city, state or zip.

Related Posts
Train Shops In The Southern NJ Area

NMRA National Train Show

The National Model Railroad Association held their National Train Show/Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention center (on the site of the old Reading Terminal) in Philadelphia this year.  The show was open to the public from 7/7 to 7/9 and featured several large modular layouts as well as all the major S, HO, N and Z scale manufacturers and a few model RR train vendors. 

I attended the show Saturday and was amazed by the size and quality of the modular layouts and less impressed with the number of vendors actually selling products. I ended up snapping a ton of photographs with my new Nikon D50 setup.

North West Jersey HiRailers to Hold Open House

If you are in the Northern New Jersey area you'll want to make plans to visit the North West Jersey HiRailers Open House to be held on May 6th and 7th at club's Paterson, New Jersey home.  Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children ages 5 - 12.  The layout is over 185 ft long and based on the pictures from their last open house it looks like a fantastic layout.  The North West Jersey HiRailers are located at:

185 6th Avenue
Paterson, NJ 07524
Phone: 1.800.225.5360

York Roundup Part 3

This is the last post about my visit to the Spring '06 York show.

For the first time at York a modular layout was on display.  It was located in the "black" hall and was a huge layout built by the National Capital Trackers out of the Washington, DC area.  The layout must have been over a 100 ft long and it had some very neat equipment running on it.  The day I stopped in they were running a Union Pacific Big Boy and Challenger lashed together pulling numerous Union Pacific boxcars and coal hoppers, probably close to 40+ in total.  It was a sight to be seen.  They also had a C&O M1 Coal Turbine sitting on a siding with a large consist of streamline passenger cars but I didn't get to see it running.  I also enjoyed their version of Lionel's "disappearing" layout where the train enters a tunnel, disappears on a loop of track under the layout and appears exiting the same tunnel it entered a few seconds later.

O Gauge Railroading magazine held it's semi annual Grandstand meeting on Friday and there was a great turnout.  OGR invites folks to sit in the Grandstands at York to listen to a number of speakers from the industry.  This is where Walter Matuch of Ready Made Toys unveiled his BEEFs and PEEPs.  There was some other interesting news as well.

It's That Time Of Year Again

The most talked about event in O Gauge model railroading circles, the TCA's Eastern Division Meet in York, Pa, begins on Thursday, 4/20, and runs through Saturday, 4/22.  OGaugeWatch (me) will be attending York on Thursday and Friday.  I will also be attending the TCA open house being held at the TCA Museum in Strasburg, Pa on Wednesday, 4/19, and plan to attend OGR's gathering on Friday, which should be interesting because they have a long list of speakers.  I will be posting daily updates so stay tuned to OGaugeWatch for the latest from the York events.

Fort Washington Great Train Expo

The Great Train Expo is being held at the  Fort Washington, Pa convention center this weekend.  I arrived around 12:30 pm yesterday and parking was scarce due to a crafters show being held in the same complex.  I thought the crowd was a bit lighter than a similar show held in Edison, NJ a few weeks ago.  This show also seemed to have more non-train related toy vendors and not as many folks buying.  I saw two  vendors selling Lionel's Acela set for $1,795 and another two were selling William's semi scale GG1's for $150.  I could have gotten one of the William's GG1's last week for $140 dollars at the TCA meet in Northeast Philadelphia. 

There were a number of modular layouts with N, HO, S, O and G scales represented.  The most impressive was the layout by the Philadelphia N-Trak group.  The Independent Hi Railers O Gauge layout was also very nice. 

Overall, the show was not as good as the Great Train Expo held in Edison a few weeks ago, there were less O Gauge vendors and no real bargains.  If your looking to just browse and maybe take in the crafters convention next door then the show will be worth the trip.  Admission price to the train show only was $7.00 and kids under 12 are free.

If you plan to attend the show today (click here for directions) the parking lots fill up fast.  The best place to park is in the Honeywell parking lot which is three quarters of the way around the other side of the convention center just before the parking lot exit.  From this lot the train show, which is held in the "B" hall, is just a short walk around the front of the Honeywell building.

I snapped a few photographs of the modular layouts which can be viewed here.

Looking for a Train Show This Weekend?

If you are wondering if there are any train shows in your area this weekend, there is a nice listing of shows at www.littletoytrains.com.  If you are a show organizer and don't see your show listed, send an email to web@littletoytrains.com with information about your show.

Great Trains Expo Show - Edison, NJ

I attended the Great Trains Expo Show in Edison, NJ on Sunday.  It was a good size show with plenty of O-Gauge vendors.  The show started at 10:00 am but I arrived at around 11:30 am  with my 2 year son in tow.  The price of admission was $7 for adults.  By the time we left around 2:00 pm the show was packed.  Judging by the number of bags being carried by attendees, a lot of people were buying but it didn't seem like there were many bargains to be had.

The modular displays were best part of the show.  The Raritan River Hi-Railers layout was the most impressive as was the amount of equipment they were running on it.  Their roundhouse module was jammed with Pennsy Railroad equipment. The New Jersey Southern N-Trak N scale module was also very nice.  I snapped a couple of photos of both modules using my cell phone camera (I left the house without my digital camera!).

Raritan River Hi Railers Layout:

Roundhouse modules

GG1 on a siding

A scene from the N-Trak Layout:

The next Great Trains Expo Show in the Edison, NJ expo center is scheduled to be held on August 12-13, 2006.  See the Great Train Expo web site for details.

2006 East Coast Hobby Show Canceled

The East Coast Hobby Show which was scheduled to take place on March 10, 11, 12, 2006 at the Fort Washington Expo Center in Fort Washington PA has been canceled.  The show's website has the following message:

The East Coast Hobby Show has been canceled for 2006 due to circumstances beyond our control. Please check back with our website for 2007 East Coast Hobby Show date and location.

Please note that the "Great Train Expo" show scheduled for March 18th and 19th has not been canceled.

No news from the promoter's of the event as to why it was canceled but folks are speculating in a post by prrhorseshoecurve on the OGR forum.