I was going to do this write up back in February but things got in the way and now I'm playing catchup with all the stuff that I was going to post. Better late than never. The Amherst Railroad Show (aka Springfield Show) was held on the last weekend of January as it has been ever since I have been going. My club has been going every year (other than Covid year) and this year was no exception with a small group of the active members. The show was very good with all gauges covered. T-Trak had TWO combined layouts as we out grew the single one. The attendance was record breaking at 27,535 attendees, announced over the PA on Sunday after closing. This was for a two day "9 to 5" show. What said the hobby is dead?????!!!!!!! I didn't take too many photos like I normally do as I was having way too much fun running on the second combined T-Trak (more later). Here are some that caught my attention at the show. This was the first time that I saw Micro Engineering having a booth at the show and I have been going for the past 10 years or so. Maybe this is a sign that the new owners have good intentions with the company and hopefully they get their N-scale stuff back into regular production. Bachmann was there as usual and it looks like they expanded their Thomas collection. They look very good but they have no intention of selling DCC versions of them. But have no fear, I've heard they are easy to convert using the smallest ESU decoder (Lokpilot 5?). And for those who just like to work with water based wood glue there are these. The one against the wall was HUGE! Contemplating some bridges for your layout? These are made with real extruded aluminum stock. They were very nice. I didn't even bother to ask for their prices. They can't be cheap! I found this at the Kadee booth. Quite an interesting poster. I wished they had a suitable for framing size. I would buy it and have it framed and hung up near my layout. I didn't know the lowly ( ) coupler has such a fascinating history! Note the year that each came on to the market. In case there wasn't enough modular model railroading, we have this, Hex-Trak! Interesting concept. It even allows for bi-level modules (see upper left module). I've heard that it's more common in Europe and starting to spread to places like Japan where space is a premium. What? Is T-Trak too big now???!!! More to come...
We normally hang out and run at the Combined T-Trak layout at the Young Building, typically 32' x 32', shaped like an "E". But, the layout has become so popular that we were running out of space and things/people have become a bit tight. This year, my club branched out and expanded on the Combined T-Trak over at the Mallary Building which is right across from the Young Building. We expanded the combined layout to a 65' basic oval. Unfortunately we could not explore other shapes other than an oval because there were no space to expand into. We were surround by aisles and the Fire Marshall would ax any expansion into the aisles! Here is one end of the loop. And here is the other end. Note the red circle that I added. It's actually a below table level chasm module that bridged between two tables. Unfortunately I did not get a direct picture of it but here you can see one of my Japanese express train crossing it. Don't get a derailment here or it's a long way down! Though not T-Trak, I spotted this Kato Diorama modular railroading. Only one section of Unitrack per module! On Sunday afternoon, this gentleman comes strolling by with his layout on a hat!!!!! He was running his T-Scale layout around the hat he was wearing. The key is that T-Scale uses magnetic wheels to keep the lightweight loco and rolling stock on the track as well as picking up power at the same time. He was walking the show and the train stayed on track running circles!
Such a great show. Thanks for the pictures. I missed it this year because I was sick ughhhh. Can't wait for next years show! I just did hear about another show up in springfield this year May 30- June 1 its https://www.nerpm.org/ The Northeast Railroad Prototype Modeler's Meet. I haven't been to this before but am excited to attend on saturday and learn
Nice pictures! I made the show this year, my first time! I really enjoyed talking with vendors and modelers. Looking at the layouts was the highlight for me! The only bummer was the lack of Z. Scott
Railroad Prototype Meets are very different from the "typical" train show. While there are usually vendors, that isn't the focus of the show-- for me, anyway. The highlight is what I would call a Great Big Show And Tell, where modelers display their latest work, sometimes completed, sometimes in progress. There are usually "clinics" -- presentations on a single topic, when can be very specific-- and sometimes layout tours. You may have seen photos of some of this work on different sites. It's all very good to excellent in my opinion, and probably much better than I could execute. But there is no pretension and no looking down on anyone's skill level or interest in any given topic. I have not been to the Northeast meet that's coming at the end of May, nor have I treated myself to two other large ones, in Cocoa Beach, Florida in January and the St. Louis area in late July. But I have been to a couple "north of the border" in Toronto and Copetown (near Hamilton) and in New Jersey. I took my father to one of the RPMs in New Jersey, not knowing how he would react, given that his usual train shows were, well, the usual train shows. He was fascinated and had conversations with many of the modelers who brought their work, especially if it had to do with the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was the last show we attended together before his passing. I'm really glad I took him. Here's more on the concept: https://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/ And here's a calendar of upcoming RPMs: https://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/rpm-event-calendar/ If there's one in your area, I heartily recommend attending. We now return you to MK's photos of the Amherst Show, already in progress...
Good points about the difference between train prototype meets and train shows George. Don't expect much train running at the meets (vs. shows). More Amherst pictures later in the day...
Looking forward to more show pics! Also yes great points on the differences, I was listening to around the layout podcast with Ray Arnott and he had on Dave Owens of the NERPM and he explained basically what to expect out of a RPM show. I’m going to learn and meet new folks in the modeling world in my area. I’ll be considering myself a beginner for a long while, hopefully I’ll pick up a thing or two at their show. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
More pictures from the show. Here are some pictures of the Combined T-Trak layout in the Mallary building. This one is one of my Japanese express train that I happened to pick up when I was in Japan. It reminds me of the Battlestar Galactica Cylon bad guys! BTW, I actually rode this train when I was in Japan back in October (more in Japan 2024 thread when I get a chance to start that!). This one is another Kato train that I picked up. It celebrates wild life and is a limited edition run. The Kato bookcase, cover, pamphlet, etc. are specially designed. The printing on the car bodies is amazing. Real photos of animals! This one is at the original Combined T-Trak layout in the Young building. The gorilla actually moves (with a remote). It scared the begeezus out of some of the smaller kids as they walked by. Isn't MRR supposed to ATTRACT kids into the hobby???? But, it was all in good fun. How Fast Have You Run Your Train? Finally my 8+ foot 16-car N700S Nozomi Shinkansen. Since the layout was a 65' oval, it provided a good, long straight away. I was running it at freight speed since there were other trains ahead of me. The Peanut Gallery started to heckle at it's speed and how slow it was. I told them that there were congestion ahead of me but that did not satisfy them. I then told all the trains ahead of me to pull into sidings so I can let my Shinkansen breathe a little. We run Digitrax and I got it to "50" on my DT throttle. It was going at a REALLY good clip on the long straight away. The Peanut Gallery was not satisfied! I said to myself, what the heck! I gradually upped the speed. It ran faster and faster. I finally MAXED OUT at "99" on my DT throttle. I told the crowd I can't go any faster and showed them the 99 on my throttle. The crowd was silenced. Everyone, myself included, was amazed. BREATHTAKING was the word that came to mine! I have not and have never seen anyone maxed out on a Digitrax system. I did this a few times throughout the weekend and it was a crowd pleaser every time! When I told them that the 16-car train only has ONE motor car they were even more amazed (so was I!). Testament to Kato/Japanese engineering!
I have almost clicked 'add to cart' countless times on that Panda Kuroshio 287 lol and your E353 looks great! Really well done club layout. Fantastic pictures, thanks for sharing, but 27K ppl in 2 days?? That's nuts.
DOooooo it! It is a REALLY NICE 6-car set! Picked it up when I was in Japan for (don't bang your head on your monitor!) $120! The E353 was $149 which included the 4-car add on set, total 9 cars!
Wow that’s a deal in my book! Looks great running on that layout. Your club really puts on a show. I’ll have to stop by next years show if y’all are there. I went in 23, the place was an absolute zoo Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
NOooooooooooooooooooo! I can't buy any more trains until I actually have a track set up for them to run on. which is killing me, btw, because here in about 2wks Kato is dropping a beautiful KUHA683 set that I really want lol Great deals on both, btw. The E353 is kind of the big brother to my E259, and I won't tell you what I have in that set plus expansion cars although I know you have a few that I'm too cheap to ever own (looking at you, 10-942) haha
Finally, to wrap things up a few odds and ends. The show has always been a hit or miss in terms of what bargains you can find. I remember one year where a guy was clearing out his basement and he was selling brand new Kato SD70MAC's (BNSF and CSX) for $40 each! Then there were some years where there's really nothing unless you are looking to restock your supplies at decent prices and save on the shipping. Well this year there was a guy in his early 80's who's getting out of the hobby. Selling his house, moving to an Adult Community with no basement. He's done, but not regretting any of it as he will save some of his trains to run at his friends' house who still have layouts. I picked up two of these. Yes, the price is correct, $15 each!!!! Thing is some of my club members happened on this guy, bought most of his decoders at $15 each and THEN tells me! I rushed over and couldn't find any until I dug deep and these were the last of his supply. Perfect as I have two Kato F3's that need decoders. Some friends I have right? Every year the Northeast N-Trak club also runs a parallel event called Winterfest. It's a get together of all N-Scalers and they have contests, group dinners, manufacturers' showcases and give-aways like one MTL freight car of their choosing from a pile of them courtesy of MTL, etc. Prizes vary for contest winners each year depending on vendor donations, etc. This year I was surprised by a trifecta win! I didn't listen to suggestions and submitted two photos for the contest. People have told me that it was hard for them to vote on one. Result? I split my votes and allowed another person to slide between the crack and take First Place. Had I listen and submitted just ONE! Oh well! But I did get two MTL cars! Oh, in case you are wondering.... Second Place Third Place - with the added caption "When you have to get out of town as fast as possible on the fastest train possible!" Hope you like the show report!
I certainly liked the show report! Maybe in 2026, we'll get there in person. I've been to the show exactly once. January always has weather criteria...
