Amherst Railway Society Train Show

One of the many exceptional models at the show...

Christmas is now behind us... tomorrow is New Year's Eve when we say goodbye to 2014 (or good riddance, whichever the case may be) and welcome in a bright new year. In the first month of the new year each year is the biggest and best train show in the United States. This enormous train show is something we look forward to every year. Actually, we look forward to the following year's show the moment we leave the show the previous year! We now have only another few weeks to wait before we find ourselves in Springfield, MA again with tens of thousands of other model railroading fanatics.

This year Adam will not be attending the show with us since he will be beginning his new career in the Air Force. The weekend of the show will be his first weekend at basic training. We will, however, be accompanied by some new train fanatics to take Adam's place... the grandchildren and they will be bringing along their mom.

It is great that there is plenty to do for the younger
kids but this friendly woman just might scare
some... she's as tall as a real train!

Sheila and I knew that the kids would love the show so we have arranged for Liza and the grandkids to accompany us for a day and night. The show really has a lot of activities for the younger train lovers... a big Thomas the Train ride... a few cordoned off areas with multiple Thomas the Train train sets for playing... Leggo trains... clowns... children's variety shows... and more operating trains than they ever imagined seeing in one place. The biggest problem with having the kids accompany us is going to be talking them into leaving the show! I suspect there will be a lot of frustration, tempers and tears... the kids won't be too happy either!

Young kids at train shows require a bit of planning. The operating trains are actually at a height which is comfortable for adults but this means all these trains will be too high for the kids to see while standing on their own little feet. I certainly don't have the back nor energy to be carrying around toddlers all day... I can barely walk through this show under my own power. Instead, Liza will be bringing along a couple of five gallon buckets with lids. These buckets can be used to carry little jackets, toys, needed supplies and can also be used as pedestals for standing upon to watch trains.  

Bathrooms are always...  ALWAYS...  very busy so a large bundle of pull-ups is a good idea...  hmmm... wouldn't be a bad idea for me either!  They sell food at the show but finding a seat to sit down comfortably to eat is rare. There are too many people and too few places for seats. Those buckets will come in handy for this as well... sitting upon and storing pull-ups and assorted supplies. I actually carry a small folding stool that folds up into the size of a small umbrella so I can get off my feet when necessary. (Every year I swear that I will bring a wheelchair with me the following year but I just have not be able to actually buy a wheelchair. There is no doubt I could use one on long days of walking. The pain gets so unbearable that I have difficulty breathing and then the pain causes my health to fail. At some point soon I will just have to admit I need a wheelchair at times and go out and buy one.)

One of the Thomas the Train play areas at the show...

Between now and then I'll need to think of a good idea to get the kids to want to leave the show.... maybe buy them something at the show that they can play with after we leave... maybe the promise of pool time when we get back to the hotel would work... or maybe one of us will need to cast some sort of sleeping spell...  

Saturday evening we plan to eat at a German Festhaus. We missed out on the Festhaus last year because of my health so I am really looking forward to that this year. Actually, my health was kind of lousy for a good portion of the weekend last year so I didn't get to see much of the show. I'm definitely looking forward to the show this year and I'd like to buy a few toys as well!

A highly detailed city scene of an operating layout...

It will be nice to spend a long weekend in a nice hotel too. The past few months have been extremely hectic for us as Adam's departure date approaches. Those who accompany us each year are a nice group of people too so we always look forward to spending time with them as well.  

As with everything we do, I hope to get some nice photos at this year's show... particularly of the grandkids' at their first train show. There should be a lot of surprised, happy, smiling faces!   

Well... until we have to tell them it is time to leave...

I've always felt it would be interesting to model a city subway system... here is an N scale subway station.