Who went to the Amherst show in Springfield, MA? I wish I could have gone but was unable to attend this year. Did you see anything interesting? MTL and the TriStateZscalers were there so I hope you had fun. It looks like there was a 4th building added to the show this year.
Went on Saturday I went on Saturday and had a great time. The show did span across four buildings, and was very busy the whole time I was there. The Tri-State Z Scalers had a nice long layout and were running several trains at once. They also had the Pro-Z Japanese layout up and running, which drew a lot of interest. The Pro-Z Japanese trains are very nicely done. The TSZ folks had plenty of blue flyers advertising "Zscale Monster Trains" Unfortunately, theirs was the only Z-scale layout I could find at the show. TCS decoders had a Geep running with their new Z-scale decoder. Marklin had a pretty thin display, no Z-scale at all. (Compare this with other manufacturers like Atlas, Rapido, InterMountain who all had much more professional booths). I didn't have a chance to stop by MTL. I got my fix at Jim's Hobby (where I picked up the exquisitely detailed 81437 set) and Time Machine (the new 86619 freight set). Were any other dealers selling Z at the show? I also picked up back issues of Railroad Explorer to complete my collection...still need Vol 4, #1 which is sold out I don't know what the overall attendance was at the show compared to previous years, but I had to park pretty far out and the aisles were as crowded as I remember from previous years. Wish there were more Z layouts at the show (might have to do something about that). And if you could make it to this show, the July NMRA Convention in Hartford is just a short drive down Rt91. --Mike
We are jealous of all the great big train shows you get on the east coast. We might have lots of Z Scale at our shows, but they are not very big. 4 buildings sounds much larger than the NTS.
The Amherst show was just a little show when I was a wee lad. Then it moved to Springfield and for years it was just half the BIG building. Now this year it is a whopping 4 buildings on the "Big-E" campus. It is FUN and it can really be hard on your wallet. It is usually around 0 Degrees F at the time of the show and when you go from building to building the sweat just about freezes because.... who wants to put their coats back on. Burrrr! LOL Rob, I can only imagine the layouts you have on the west coast. I get lots of pictures emailed my way. The TriStateZscalers always have an amazing Z scale layout and plenty of people crowded around it. I missed hanging out with everybody this year but I did not miss the line for... the bathroom or the absolutely delicious yet greasy food. Sounds like you had a good time Mike!
This year's attendance was reportedly 19,173 - which is 1,500 less than last year and in spite of the show-space having been further enlarged this year. Interestingly, attendance has very slowly slipped virtually each year for a while now, even as the Springfield show grows ever more widely known and attracts folks from further afield. While the 2009 show was probably a bit too early to reflect much of a change, it will likely be very interersted to see just how the state of the economy impacts on the January 2010 installment. NYW&B
