Here are some photos I took in the hall. I arrived late Friday, and when I walked in Saturday morning I was afraid I had really messed up by missing Friday, as it looked like many vendors had already cleared out. However I came to find out that it wasn't very well packed with vendors from the get go. Sad to say, since this meet is so much closer to my home, that it was very small compared to the Chicago March meet, and also very small compared to the last Indy meet I went to (fall 2021).
One bit of bad luck I had. I am a fan of the SP Moguls done by Sunset (about 15 years ago now). The one I saw at a good price ($200 under retail) was a model I already have, and then on another table I found one of the models I am missing, but the price was $400 higher ($200 over retail).
However, I was able to find a few nice items at a reasonable price. My haul:
A couple of the well-connected peole at this meet seemed to have a difference of opinion on how to improve attendance. One thought they should move the date back to February (I think it was only in February for a couple years). The other thought it wasn't promoted well enough.
I personally like it being on a 3-day weekend, because I have a chance to make a family trip out of it. We drove up Friday evening. Ate Saturday morning at Sara's Kitchen (nice local diner), then attended the show and checked out of our room. Spent Saturday afternoon doing some things in Frisco (Lombard Street, Ghirardelli's, a coin shop, clam chowder, Golden Gate Bridge) before setting off for Reno by way of Lake Tahoe. Hard to believe how much snow is still in the high Sierras; they tell me there will still be skiing in Mammoth until mid July. Woke up Sunday morning and had a great breakfast in Carson City at Black Bear Diner, then visited the mint. We had planned to drive across America's Loneliest Highway, but flash flood warnings changed those plans, so we headed down to Tonopah, then the ghost town of Rhyolite (nice old train depot) and ended Sunday in Las Vegas. Monday we had time to go to Battlefield Vegas (a popular shooting range) and do a couple other things before heading back to Southern California.
I guess my point is saying all that is that the train show was just one stop on a 4-day road trip. And given that, the train show was a wonderful stop on that journey. However, if the trip had been all about going to the train show, I think I would have come away very dissappointed.
