Amherst O and G April train show

Looking forward to hearing more. Living in New England this is a welcome announcement.

This is awesome. Heard whispers of it at Amherst but cool to see it officially announced.

That is exciting. I hope to be able to attend. The Amherst Railway Society is very wise to have decided to do a show for the larger scales, especially at a time of the year when the weather is more likely to be favorable than for the January Big Railroad Show. I predict this will become a very important and well-attended show - just as in January. Great news!

MELGAR

Great News hope they get LOTS of Vendors to sign on.  Way closer for me than York!  Plus Lionel will probably attend since they were just there for the January Show.

I would certainly go. I hope it expands and becomes an annual affair.

Jerry

Don, you stole my thunder  glad you found it and posted.

I purchased a ticket yesterday, is anyone planning to go? I planned on going to the January show but my son came up from Florida that weekend and I had to cancel. Looking forward to this one.

Gene

That's the weekend after York. Sorry, no money left.

I will be attending.

I hope to go. My wife and I attended several ECLSTS in York over the past 10 years, but they started to lose some of the large G scale vendors and replaced them with non-train things like bathroom remodelers and such. It wasn't worth the 5-6 hour drive. But, Springfield is pretty close to us so I hope to go with my wife and son. Thanks for letting us know.

ECLSTS, what does it stand for?

This is great! Missed the show in January because the whole family was sick. Thanks for posting!

@eddie g posted:

ECLSTS, what does it stand for?

The East Coast Large Scale Train Show

http://www.eclsts.com/

@Jstewart204 posted:

This is great! Missed the show in January because the whole family was sick. Thanks for posting!

Don’t expect this show to be as large as the January show.  It’s the first of its kind, hopefully it will be well attended and it grows from there over the years.

@superwarp1 posted:

Don’t expect this show to be as large as the January show.  It’s the first of its kind, hopefully it will be well attended and it grows from there over the years.

I live in central New Hampshire. Any show nearby is worth checking out. Even though it will be smaller the focus will be on larger scales, sounds like a win. Easier to see everything in a few hours vs the whole day, better for the little humans I'll have with me 😊

Can someone define O Scale. I have been to an O Scale show and "3 rail toy trains" were not part of it.

I keep checking the site for a floorplan of vendors but 7 weeks out nothing on the site.

Thanks

Charles Ro Inc will be there and other O and G vendors. One of my club members will have a four table S and some O such as Lionel and MTH. His main sale will be S. If he has a vendor or table map I will pass it on.

Update: no vendor chart or map yet. Show is in one building, the large Young building. Parking fee most likely $5.

To Superwarp1   Hi Gary, This is Bill Park, we met at the Amherst Train Show in January. I have emailed you a few times and I don;t get a response from you so I am not sure you are getting my emails. I wanted you to possibly join our TTOS group, the Empire and Eastern which is mostly capital district guys with others from the Forum.  Other guys you may know who come on are Arnold Cribari, Melgar and Don Klose to name a few. My email and phone number are on my profile .  Bill

@DMASSO posted:

Update: no vendor chart or map yet. Show is in one building, the large Young building. Parking fee most likely $5.

Hey Don,

If you go, another lunch at Red Rose??  I checked today, and still no info.  Wondering if this is going to happen.

Hi @Bill Park, I checked my junk folder and I have nothing from you.  I know the email on my profile is good, as many OGR members email me all the time.  As for joining TTOS group, I'm not very interested but thanks for the offer.

They still show info for buying tickets.

Hoping to be able to make it not sure what day yet. Not thinking it will be much but **** it’s a train show so why not.

They have posted a list of vendors as of 3/31. looks like not much for us  "3 rail toy trains" folks.

Enjoy the show if you go

@bptBill I just checked but I can find a vendor list can you share the link?

The early 2023 Exhibitor's list is Here

Thanks Mike,

It's a start.

Thanks for getting it Mike!

Maybe a dumb question from someone who's never been there.  But is this the train show sometimes referred to as "The Big E"?  Thanks!

@Ted S posted:

Maybe a dumb question from someone who's never been there.  But is this the train show sometimes referred to as "The Big E"?  Thanks!

That would be the Amherst show that was held earlier in the year, but this one is held in the same place, which is where the Big E is held.

Matt

It's nice that there will be two shows in my area.  Hopefully it's successful and continues.

The "Big E" is actually the name of the venue where train shows, State Expositions, etc. are held.

Bet no one caught this, I didn’t.  This is a Friday Saturday show only.  No Sunday!!!!!

@superwarp1 posted:

Bet no one caught this, I didn’t.  This is a Friday Saturday show only.  No Sunday!!!!!

Thanks for sharing. I was just looking at the exhibitors list and floor plan.

Gene

Hoping that Charles Ro brings their normal show set up of both O and G and not just G.

I'll be there on Saturday.

DMASSO, thanks for getting this out there.  Will have to figure it out after I return home from York.  Maybe I can round up some of the usual suspects and take a day trip.  For me in Long Island, the trip is about 2hrs 20mins each way, same distance to Allentown, and half the trip to York.  I had to bail last minute in January as I got up at 3am Sat and had no heat.  Needed minor boiler repair - couldn't leave my wife and son home with no heat in January so I could go to a train show (BUT I did think about it!!!!)

By attending, we can all help this show grow!

See some of you guys at York.  I got 2 tables in Blue Hall.

@superwarp1 posted:

Bet no one caught this, I didn’t.  This is a Friday Saturday show only.  No Sunday!!!!!

I caught it! I am going on Friday. I am glad there is another option besides Sunday for the show. Much appreciated.

Do we want to try for a meet up/photo?

@Trainwreck nate posted:

Do we want to try for a meet up/photo?

This is such a small show, I don't think we'll have issues running into each other.  I don't plan on getting there until 10-11 AM and don't expect to be there but for a hour or two.

Thanks Gary

John came down to our club to look at our garden railroad. They are thinking of building their own club garden railroad.

This will be my first train show. I get the feeling it’s going to be geared towards the larger of large scale and not much o scale.

Gene

Most shows are limited on O. York is just about the only show dedicated to mostly O.

Your choice.

@Ted S posted:

Maybe a dumb question from someone who's never been there.  But is this the train show sometimes referred to as "The Big E"?  Thanks!

The train show really shouldn't be associated with the word Big E. The Big E is specific to the "Eastern States Exposition" that they have every fall. It's a huge Fair and exposition.

@Train Nut posted:

The train show really shouldn't be associated with the word Big E. The Big E is specific to the "Eastern States Exposition" that they have every fall. It's a huge Fair and exposition.

As a local, anything at the Eastern states exposition we call the Big E.  So it's understandable.  Train show at the Big E next weekend.  You going to the Big E this weekend for the RV show, or what have you.

@Genemed posted:

This will be my first train show. I get the feeling it’s going to be geared towards the larger of large scale and not much o scale.

Gene

It's being advertised as O and up but being geared to G scale.  Since G scale is small fry in the scheme of things they have included O.  I'm sure CharlesRO will have o scale and others.  With that said, I won't mind looking at all the G scale stuff as I've dabbled in G in the past.

@superwarp1 posted:

It's being advertised as O and up but being geared to G scale.  Since G scale is small fry in the scheme of things they have included O.  I'm sure CharlesRO will have o scale and others.  With that said, I won't mind looking at all the G scale stuff as I've dabbled in G in the past.

No matter what, being my first I’m sure it will be interesting.

Gene

@superwarp1 posted:

As a local, anything at the Eastern states exposition we call the Big E.  So it's understandable.  Train show at the Big E next weekend.  You going to the Big E this weekend for the RV show, or what have you.

Agreed! Living only 10 minutes away I go there quite often and I see banners and advertisements for other things such as equine shows, auctions etc and they use the Big E logo.

If the layouts are O and G, not only will I be able to see everything really well (unlike some of the HO layouts) but the trains should be running good too (unlike some of the N scale layouts). I am planning on having fun no matter what!

If anyone goes to the show today.  Please post some picks and give you're opinion.

At show now.  It was advertised as S to G.

Tons of LGB, USA trains. Some O, didn't see any S.  Light turnout so far. I'll post pictures shortly, then off to White Hut for burgers!!

I second that request. it would be nice to know if it will be worth the drive tomorrow. My wife will be working and that means loading up a toddler and an infant and driving down over 2 hours one way to get there.

@John Mitchell posted:

At show now.  It was advertised as S to G.

Tons of LGB, USA trains. Some O, didn't see any S.  Light turnout so far. I'll post pictures shortly, then off to White Hut for burgers!!

White Hut Awesome.   If anyone has a FB account search for Amherst Railway Society, they are posting pics and videos now.

You are all going to witness the pain of my amateur photography and video skills. I apologize in advance. Fell free to take 2 aspirin before viewing. 😁

The largest dealer for O gauge and Standard gauge at the show is Marty V.  He can usually now be found in the Blue Hall at York.

Westchester Toy & Hobby has LGB and O stuff.  I hope this stuff comes through, I'm doing it from my phone in the parking lot.

More to follow.

More

And

More

More more

@John Mitchell  CharlesRo didn't bring any O gauge?  Thanks for posting.

Didn't see any O from Ro 😄

@John Mitchell posted:

Didn't see any O from Ro 😄

Nuts, I'll go to support the hobby and hopes this show will grow in the future but i don't think I'll be there very long.  More like a stop over before heading to Red Rose.

@John Mitchell posted:

Didn't see any O from Ro 😄

Thanks, for posting pictures, doesn't look like it will be worth the drive for the O scale selection. The time will be better spent working on the layout

Thanks for sharing.  I had a conflict and wasn't able to attend but I'll try to make it next year.

For everyone who's saying "doesn't look like it's worth it", remember, if you want to have train shows to go to, you need to go to the train shows we have.

I.e., Please consider giving it a try, if only to show your support of the hobby.

Steven J. Serenska

P.S. Seeing the picture of a smiling Marty Visnick made my day.

I will ask CharlsRo if they are getting back into the train show gig or is this a one off.

Been over a month since I have posted, or have done anything train related as I have been recovering from a Surgery.  Didn't feel I could survive York so passed on that.  However saw information pre-surgery for this show and made it a goal to get to it.  I did go today, it is about 2:15 hour drive for me each way.  While I enjoyed getting out and back into "Training" my personal opinion is if you are looking for O items you might find as much, or more, at your "local model train show".

I do have to agree with the comments if you want this show to survive, than attending could definitely help.

Compared to the "BIG SHOW" this was probably 10% the size.  Hopefully someone from the club can comment on attendance, but my guess might be closer to 5%.  Maybe Saturday will be better.

The prior photos and comments describe it well, from that make your own decision on if it is worth attending or not.

Now the reason I enjoyed the show was as follows.

1) I had seen a live steam model only once before at a train show, and thought it was Waaay Cool.  Spent literally over an hour talking to the guys running their equipment to get more info and just watch it run.  As much as I like O, gotta say if it was more practical for me, still really think the live steam is on another level.  No sound system or smoke fluid to make it seem like a steam engine, it actually is.  I wasn't sure about photography so I didn't.  But with one of the engines in particular it sounded like a steam engine (because it actually is, plus there is a "trick for that") and steam was trailing out of the smokestack (real steam, not smoke fluid). WOW!!!

2) Really wanted to try my to second guess myself on moving from HO to O, should I have gone for G?  Heck no, I made the right decision.

3) While I missed the clinic by RCS of New England, was able to touch and ask questions about RailPro equipment.  I have posted in the past, really think Dead Rail is the way I am going to operate.  After getting more information today, pretty much have made the decision.

4) Walked by the White Elephant table at least 4 times.  As I came up the third time saw a guy unloading a cart of Weaver boxes.  Ran right up to him and perused what he had as he unpacked.  Bought 2 Weaver and 3 Lionel TOFC cars, Weavers are 2R, the Lionel had been converted (improperly, I will fix).

Anyhow good to be able get back to the hobby, and life in general.

I agree that there wasn’t a ton of O scale, but it was still a fun show with some nice modular layouts and the Kids Creek Railroad for the kids to push buttons. The show was well produced and I have a new appreciation for G scale.

I went with low expectations of making a big O scale purchase just to support the show with the hope that it becomes an annual event.

I ended up with 4 freight cars - My favorite is a nicely detailed smoking K-Line New Haven caboose that’s in new condition.

It was a fun way to spend a few hours and help support the hobby.

I went this afternoon (Friday) for about 2 hours with most of the time spent inspecting the layouts. My impression was that if you model G scale, you'll love the show. Plenty to buy in G scale and the NH Garden Train Society layout was huge with an impressive collection of New England themed engines and rolling stock on the rails. I live within 45 minutes of West Springfield, so it was an afternoon out for me. Anything O scale seemed incidental.

I wanted to get information on the show posted last night to help potential attendees.  Unfortunately was too tired to post pictures of what I bought.  Soooo.

BTW thanks for the likes to my previous post.

Ok I just got back and here is my take on this new show.

1.  I actually found something to purchase.  A MTH NYC 50b express reefer from a nice gentleman Scott who used to be Pioneer Valley Hobbies MTH tech.  

2.  Talked to CharlesRo JR. From my impression he will never do another York show or Amherst for that matter.  He’s in his late 60’s and he sounds burnt out.  Charles has even cut back hours at the store on weekends.  Doing this show wasn’t  as much of a hassle as the other showed are.  They were really blowing out there inventory of G scale stuff.

3.  I also talked to the powers to be about this show.  They have a three year commitment for this show.  It will be back next year.  As it grows they plan on moving it into the better living center which is twice the size of the Young building.  They got a lot of late interest is this show, a little to late for this one but look for more venders for next year.  Also look for a Saturday/Sunday format over Friday/Saturday

Good info.  All shows need a starting point.

I got some Railking W&A Passenger Cars yesterday.

How was today's foot traffic?

If I didn't injure myself doing a food delivery 2 weeks ago, I would have gone to this show. I lost 2 weeks worth of money (about $700-$800 worth of money) due to staying home for 2 weeks. Next year I'll go if it's around the same time frame along with the big Springfield show in January.

@John Mitchell posted:

Good info.  All shows need a starting point.

I got some Railking W&A Passenger Cars yesterday.

How was today's foot traffic?

The ones I talked to say it was much better than yesterday.

@superwarp1 posted:

Ok I just got back and here is my take on this new show.

1.  I actually found something to purchase.  A MTH NYC 50b express reefer from a nice gentleman Scott who used to be Pioneer Valley Hobbies MTH tech.  

2.  Talked to CharlesRo JR. From my impression he will never do another York show or Amherst for that matter.  He’s in his late 60’s and he sounds burnt out.  Charles has even cut back hours at the store on weekends.  Doing this show wasn’t  as much of a hassle as the other showed are.  They were really blowing out there inventory of G scale stuff.

3.  I also talked to the powers to be about this show.  They have a three year commitment for this show.  It will be back next year.  As it grows they plan on moving it into the better living center which is twice the size of the Young building.  They got a lot of late interest is this show, a little to late for this one but look for more venders for next year.  Also look for a Saturday/Sunday format over Friday/Saturday

Thank you very much for checking into, and reporting this information, it is VERY helpful!!

I do want to make a comment thou about Charles Ro.  I do agree he (they-company) seems to be in a wind-down (not blow out) mode.

I actually went to the show thinking it might be neat to have (1) Passenger Consist of G for display only.  The only item in that category "Blow out priced" (unless they changed pricing today) was the Congressional Cars at $179.  They only were available as coaches and parlor cars.  Also putting together a full consist of any of the Streamline cars is tough, as many have already been sold through.  I asked if they were going to be re-run and got a definite NO!

Everything else was "Slightly" discounted.  The Heavyweight cars were $275 vs $290,  The Streamline cars except Congressional were $290 vs $300.  The ATSF warbonnet F7 AB set was $700 vs $780.

If they were willing to sell the ATSF Streamliners at $179 per car, they "probably" would have reduced inventory by at least (1) consist.

I went yesterday from 9:30 to 12:30 and had a good time. As it was said, excellent for anyone in G scale, not much at all in O scale. I was very impressed with the G scale layouts. I would definitely go again with the hope of more vendors and layouts in O scale. I was looking for some scenery items and figures for my new layout extension but not much at all to choose from. I did purchase some cool looking trees. From what I was told, they actually grow these.

Gene

@superwarp1 posted:

I also talked to the powers to be about this show.  They have a three year commitment for this show.  It will be back next year.  As it grows they plan on moving it into the better living center which is twice the size of the Young building.  They got a lot of late interest is this show, a little to late for this one but look for more venders for next year.  Also look for a Saturday/Sunday format over Friday/Saturday

This is great information, thanks. This show has a lot of promising potential as it grows especially the time of year not having to anticipate a winter storm like the January one. I’ll be looking forward to going back next year.

Gene

I went today for maybe 1-2 hours. Overall, I enjoyed it, and I can echo that if you were into G scale there was definitely a lot of choose from. Westchester Toy and Hobby had a good amount of O rolling stock and some engines. Ended up picking up two Nothern Pacific ore cars for $30 bucks. Not a bad deal and I look forward to next year.

Matt

@Genemed posted:

This is great information, thanks. This show has a lot of promising potential as it grows especially the time of year not having to anticipate a winter storm like the January one. I’ll be looking forward to going back next year.

Gene

It was nice to park right next to the building and walk in in a T shirt over snow, or cold temps.

@superwarp1 posted:

It was nice to park right next to the building and walk in in a T shirt over snow, or cold temps.

My feeling exactly.

From the Amherst railway society a note on the show

”The first ever Northeast Large Scale Train Show (NELSTS) was a great success this past weekend. With just over 1000 (1080) at the gate, a great time was had by all. Add in the 250 participants (exhibitors) and we had 1330 people enjoying the two-day Show. Show features were the best: live-steam, "drag and brag," white elephant tables, the banquet, the raffle and the clinics made for a fantastic first Show. Special thanks to the 45 exhibitors and sponsors who added the "icing on the cake!" WE WILL SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!”

I was there and it was mostly G Scalers, some live steam and a few  dealers with o gauge. I did pick up a nice Lionel 665 and with a new rear truck spring clip she ran  well today. Good first try but having it right after York may have not been the best plan. USA Trains was there with a big display but they did not anything from Charles Ro for O Gauge. The G scale layouts were nicely done. Hoping this show continues to build and grow

@superwarp1 posted:

From the Amherst railway society a note on the show

”The first ever Northeast Large Scale Train Show (NELSTS) was a great success this past weekend. With just over 1000 (1080) at the gate, a great time was had by all. Add in the 250 participants (exhibitors) and we had 1330 people enjoying the two-day Show. Show features were the best: live-steam, "drag and brag," white elephant tables, the banquet, the raffle and the clinics made for a fantastic first Show. Special thanks to the 45 exhibitors and sponsors who added the "icing on the cake!" WE WILL SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!”

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Thanks for posting.  My previous guess for attendance was 5% of the big show.  So 1080 x 20 = 21,600, am I in the ballpark?