Scattered Thoughts . . .

It's that time of year again. This is when we head south for our annual train show at the largest train show in the United States.  A few other train shows around the country erroneously  claim to be the largest train show but, when we check the facts, none even come close to this show. This is a show we look forward to all year long.  Unfortunately, I am still exhausted from our past six months of hospital visits followed by a very eventful holiday season. Sheila is understandably exhausted too. She's having difficulty with this latest cancer treatment plan so far and it is cutting into her sleep significantly. Hopefully things will ease up soon since she has ten years of this last stage of cancer treatment. Regardless, we're both looking forward to getting out of town and strolling around the largest train show in the country.  There really isn't anything on my "wish list" for purchases this year so we don't need to attempt to see the entire sho

After our breakfast at The Cracker Barrel and buying a few gifts in the gift shop, we headed across the river to the Big E for the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show.  This is an awesome annual event. Not only are there eight acres jam-packed with train stuff, train vendors, and more than 50 operating layouts but it is a very worthwhile benefit fundraiser. The proceeds of this show go toward a children's hospital, railroad museums, and historical railroads in the form of grants. This year, a little over 23,000 people wandered around the 350,000 square feet of show over the course of the weekend.  My weekend was cut very short due to spinal pain. Subsequently, Sheila and I only spent two hours at the show each day. My spinal pain was brutal and the only relief was to get back to the hotel and get off my feet. On the positive side, this allowed me to take in a college basketball game I would have otherwise missed! We really missed quite a bit at the show though.

Every year, the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show starts with a rather high-pitched steam whistle blowing in the distance when the doors open. This year, the steam whistle was from a real, life-sized narrow gauge steam locomotive! We parked in a sea of cars and then started our trek toward the four huge buildings housing this immense train show. Typically, this can be a brutal, bone-chilling walk but, c ompared to our weather in Vermont, the weather in Springfield this year was quite mild in the upper 30's which allowed us to dress relatively lightly. This makes a tremendous difference while walking around indoors all day long.   Between the four buildings showcasing this train show, Boothbay Railway of Maine, set up some temporary narrow gauge tracks and one of their steam locomotives. Throughout the show, we would hear this locomotive's steam whistle blowing... we could even hear this whistle blowing while at our hotel a couple of miles away... boy, that

While in Springfield every year for the train show, until recently, we always attempted to find edible food at the hotel each morning. This proved to be a very bad idea every year!  Even putting aside my health issues when eating anything less than fresh food, it was always difficult finding anything satisfying to eat at this free breakfast buffet (a 'buffet' is enough to turn me off... food sitting out where every stranger in the hotel can touch it as it gets cold = very bad idea) so Sheila and I decided to start a new tradition... breakfast at The Cracker Barrel. We started going to The Cracker Barrel last year because I simply could not stomach another bite of the garbage they call breakfast at the hotel. Once I brought Sheila to The Cracker Barrel, there was no turning back! This year, two other couples joined us for breakfast. Everything... and I mean everything... was delicious! The biscuits were warm, soft and buttery... the bacon was smoked, thick and crisp..

The first time we ventured down to the Amherst Railway Society's train show eight years ago, we simply drove the three hours down there, visited the show, and drove back home that night... completely exhausted.  Once we arrived at this show that year, we immediately realized that there was no possible way to see all of the show in just one eight hour day so we decided it would be wiser to stay overnight the following year so we could attend the show both days. This would also allow us to avoid six hours of driving in one day. The following year (our third year), we decided to start heading down to Springfield on Friday and stay an extra night. This allowed us to settle in and relax a bit before heading to the hectic, crowded show on Saturday. We would use the pool, hot tub, have a few drinks and have food delivered to the hotel on that first night. This plan seemed to work out much better for a train show that is spread out over eight acres! Over the years, more and more

Sheila, talking with one of our newest train show fanatics... He went home with a new train set and a few other toys. Sheila and I had a great time at our annual train show extended weekend. It sounds as though everyone who joined us had a great time as well!  My spinal injuries were putting a painful crimp in our time at the show but, overall, we had a great time and are glad we ventured to the show regardless of my spinal injuries. I couldn't walk at all in the days before we left for the show so it was a bit iffy whether I would make it to the show at all. We still probably would have traveled down to see everyone but being able to walk around the show didn't look promising in the preceding days. After having problems getting around the show on my own this year... as well as some problems last year which weren't as bad as this year... and even some problems the year before that were milder (I see the pattern and it isn't a pretty pattern)... I have de

The pain from my spinal injuries is pretty damn close to the worst it has ever been in the past 20 years.  Back a few months ago, I was shopping around for wheelchairs because I had a feeling I'd need one for our upcoming extended weekend in Springfield as well as any other event that requires a lot of standing and walking. I quickly came to the conclusion that I might be jumping the gun on this purchase. After all, at this point, the train show was months away and I've always managed until now by taking a lot of breaks... why would I think I would be having more or worsening spinal problems in the coming months?  I was wrong... Getting around is difficult, slow and extremely painful..  sleeping is damn near impossible... my hips feel as though I have a nail driven into each hip... my torso, front and back, feels like it is on fire, inside and out... my spine is red hot inflamed... and the nerves throughout my entire back are tingling... I also get shooting pains down thr

Our annual extended weekend in Springfield for the biggest train show in the US is fast approaching so I was reviewing some of my video clips and photos from past shows to see if I can find some stuff to share to build some anticipation for the show. My videos and photos  of these shows now   have been published on multiple websites and have hundreds of thousands of views! While I was scrolling through my own videos as well as other people's videos of past shows on YouTube, I found one which I thought was interesting and worth sharing here... Lionel Strang... a well known model railroader, author and now host of a model railroading Podcast/Vlog... was wandering around the 8 acres of show space interviewing people. Check out the two people he decided to interview at the 2:00 minute mark... We're really looking forward to this long weekend with friends. My health has proven to sometimes crash while at this show but we always have a great time regardless. I just take

It was a busy three day weekend with the grandkids, overall, but Saturday was the day we squeezed a lot of activities into one day. When we awoke on Saturday morning, we piled into the car and headed to the cider mill up the road to purchase a dozen apple cider donuts right as they were pulled from the big kettle of oil. We headed home with a big bag of warm donuts and made some breakfast.  By 10:00 am or so, we were back in the car and heading to a local train show with the grandkids. We got to look at what a few vendors were selling as well as some operating model railroads. It was a nice show. Most of these model railroads were set up for kids to play... buttons to push to control trains, lights, railroad crossings... Thomas the Train tables... more buttons to push to control trains on other layouts... and even steps in the form of bleachers to boost up the little ones so they could view the taller model railroads.  The basement of the building was dedicated to "oper