Train Show Day One

We arose at 6:30am on the first morning of the train show so we could get some breakfast and then get to the show by the time the doors open for the day.  The doors to the show all open to the sound of a loud steam whistle that can be heard from miles away.  We were at the ticket booths when the whistle blew.

While at the ticket booths purchasing our tickets I was shivering uncontrollably.  Nobody else around me seemed cold but I was shivering.  I don't seem to be able to handle hot climates nor even cold climates anymore!  I was even wearing a heated jacket and it was not nearly warm enough for me.

Anyway, we got our tickets and then headed into the first building of four giant buildings filled with model railroad layouts, manufacturers and vendors.  This allowed me to warm up again while we walked around this expansive first building.  This show encompasses all model railroad scales up to real-world 1:1 trains and vehicles.

Here are a bunch of photos from day one of the show...

Sheila stopped at one of the food vendors to get some coffee...

Aside from all the model railroad stuff, there is also plenty of real-world railroad stuff too...

This, below, is one of the best long modules of the show...

This water wheel, below, was turning on this model.  I think I got a few seconds of video of it but I haven't done much with my video clips yet.  I started to sort out the video clips until I realized that about half of my videos have no audio.  So, I might not do anything with these video clips.

Sheila found a beam of sunshine...

There were a few model campfires scattered around the layouts.  The simulated fires are created using fiber optics...

While we were walking around in the first building on the first morning of the show, we heard a big crash.  It actually sounded like a real train wreck.  We quickly made our way toward the sound of the wreck and found that a large G scale train had toppled on a curve.  When it toppled, it also toppled the train on the inside curve.  These are large G scale trains so it did make a loud train-wreck noise...

Frank and Christine, unknowingly heading toward us...

I need a light for my bicycle... 

This module is an outstanding, highly detailed model of an urban city scene...  one of my personal favorites of the show...

This photo, below, shows how crowded this show can get.  Getting at some of the layouts can be difficult especially for viewing some of the best modules of these giant layouts.  On this first day, the attendance was just over 14,000 visitors...

This, below, is another one of the many modules on one of the large layouts that is part of the show every year.  I always refer to this scene as Bluesville...  a town in a story written by the talented musician Harry Connick Jr.  

In "The Happy Elf", Bluesville is a depressing town of sad, unhappy people living in the seemingly perpetual darkness of a steep, deep valley that is shaded from sunlight for entire days except for a few seconds at noon when the sun is directly overhead.  This is a nice scene with trains passing on the bridge spanning this steep valley...

I'm not too fond of most of the attempts at modeling autumn but this module depicting autumn was worthy of a photo.  Most modelers make colors appear florescent but this module was very accurate in color which was really nice to see...

Another fiber optic campfire...  a nice little detail...

There was a layout for sale at the show.  This highly detailed O gauge model railroad appeared to be 4'x12' in size.  Retail cost of everything not including all the labor involved in building this layout is probably north of a few thousand dollars...  or even north of $10,000 including all the trains and control system...  so maybe a finished purchase cost of around $20,000? 

The following six photos are of this layout...

One of our friends, George, is checking out the layout that is for sale...

While George and I checked out the layout for sale, Sheila and Barb talked for a bit....

Although I had no intentions of purchasing anything at this show for a number of reasons, I have to say that I was really turned off by most of the vendors.  First, their prices seemed higher than what I can get online.  Next, most of the vendors seemed pushy looking to make a sale and to up-sell whatever product you showed some interest in.  All I was looking for was information on these products so I can make a wise online purchase sometime later yet they were all about pushing a sale now.  I have to say that this pushy behavior really, really annoyed me.

I've mentioned this in previous blog entries but I'll mention it again here.  January is a really lousy time of the year for a train show.  We're only a month beyond Christmas and money is still tight.  The months leading up to Christmas is the time of year when most people are reminded of trains running under the Christmas tree sparking a desire to get busy in model railroading again.  Money is more readily available in the months before Christmas too...  January, not so much. 

Vendors laser-focused on pushing a sale rather than being helpful and providing information about their products was a major turn-off though and worth mentioning.  If I just glanced more closely at a particular product to learn more about it, the vendor would jump in with a price and then immediately provide a cheap sales pitch and then a lower price than marked.  I will NOT purchase anything from someone who behaves like a stereotypical used car salesman.  There were far too many of this type at this year's show and that was a major disappointment.  He guys, it is a "SHOW" providing you a place to highlight your knowledge, customer service and website for ease of purchase.  Plus, who wants to walk around a huge train show carrying big train products?  It's a show so show your stuff rather than being a pushy used car salesman.

Regardless of the pushy salesmen-wanna-be's, it is always nice to view all the layouts, dioramas and products!