Rutland Train Show

We're always on the lookout for events providing us with a good reason for short little day trips. My health really hinders all of us far too often so, when my health is relatively stable, we like to have an on-going list of events to choose from to keep life interesting and fun. This past weekend, we traveled down to Rutland, Vermont for a little train show which turned out to be quite nice. The proceeds from the show went to the Rutland Railroad Museum. We will have add this museum to our on-going list of events.

We have been to so many train shows in the past few years that were at 'national level' that this small regional show seemed too small to us. It wasn't as small as it seemed though and we have definitely been to smaller shows. It was, however, a bit short on working model railroads for people to view. They had a few small modular layouts but we were left wanting to see more. Of course, there may never be enough working model railroads!

We're used to seeing miles and miles of model track meandering through highly detailed scenery... cities, suburbs, rural, industrial, and even fantasy... snowy scenes, autumn scenes, spring scenes, summer scenes... we're used to seeing scenes with flashing lights, animation and even sounds... we're used to seeing so many vendors of model railroading merchandise, new and old, that there is not nearly enough time to see them all! Although this show in Rutland was really nice, it was more like a 'train meet' with most vendors selling used trains. I have to admit, I was tempted to buy one or two used trains and a few new products as well!

Adam and Sheila, blocking railroad and car traffic...

Outside the conference center, they had a few real-life trains on display. That was nice to see and is something I have always wished was done at the Amherst Railway Society's show in Springfield, Massachusetts each year. The Amherst show is huge and quite impressive. The show is adjacent to a very large train yard with one or two sidings running to the four buildings which house the show. It would be nice to get a few trains there each year... something interesting... maybe one or two historical trains like some antique passenger cars and street cars as well as one or two new trains with new technology like the newest Amtrak high speed trains...

The only frustrating thing about our entire trip that day was trying to find a restaurant that was open in Rutland! Compounding this problem was the fact that our Wifi hotspot could not find a signal anywhere in Rutland so we could not get online to do a more effective search for restaurants. We ended up driving around the main roads of Rutland until we finally came upon a Friendly's restaurant. Vermont really needs to move into the 21st century when it comes to cell towers, high speed service, and signal reception...

All-in-all, this show in Rutland provided us with a nice little day trip and we had a good time! Afterward, we headed up to Church Street in Burlington so Adam could pick out some new climbing shoes. With the foliage season in full swing, Church Street was as busy as Christmastime! We had a really good time on a really beautiful autumn day!