So the National N Scale convention is in Bethehem PA which isn't that far from me. Has anyone gone to it in the past? What was your experience? I was thinking about just Friday and Saturday. The other days seemed mainly focused on tours. Was mostly interested in the layouts and clinics on Friday and Saturday.
The tours this year are pretty heavily biased towards some of the best layouts of Pennsylvania. If its layouts you like to see, you might want to consider the whole thing. Further, one of the most fun things about the convention is Room Sales, which happen from the first day. It's kind of like a combination of a progressive block party and a very focused floating crap game, er swap meet where you can spend time talking N Scale with some very enthusiastic folk. There are also two hobbyshops that are open on the convention floor all week. PLENTY to do, and its all N Scale!
If you plan on only going Friday and Saturday, those days are typically open to the public. I did that same thing when it was in Salt Lake a few years back.
I, too, went to one of the public shows, on a Saturday some years ago, when it was mainly a Micro-Trains collector-centric affair. Specifically, I missed out on the room sales - mentioned above by George - which were not advertised to the general public because you had to be registered for the show and a guest of the hotel in order to be able to wander the halls and access the rooms.
The current full schedule is available on the website: https://www.nationalnscaleconvention.com/ I am seeing the public show as Saturday only. I have been to a total of three of these over the entire history of the conventions. The most recent was 2022 in Nashville. I've enjoyed them. It is a place to catch up with old friends and make new ones. The reasons I've not attended more of them are mostly around scheduling conflicts.
To be very specific, as my brother George noted (all Georges are brothers in G)- the Public show is advertised as Saturday only, but the show is open to the public from 1 to 4 on Friday. From open to 1 it is registered folk only. And as noted, you do have to be registered for the convention to attend room sales BUT you just have to be a guest of someone who is staying at the hotel to get up to them. If you are registered for the convention and staying elsewhere, just ask on the convention app and you will very easily get an escort.
So, $85-95 to register for the convention in order to be able to access the room sales - even if you are only able to attend the public show on Saturday?
Quote: So, $85-95 to register for the convention in order to be able to access the room sales - even if you are only able to attend the public show on Saturday? Point 353- Yes, if you want to access the room sales you have to register for the convention, BUT typically if you are only able to attend on Saturday, you would miss the rooms sales anyway. almost all of the room sale vendors either have stopped selling or moved down to the Swaparama floor by Saturday. If you are only able to come on Saturday, we welcome you to come on Saturday as the layouts are worth the trip, meeting the manufacturers is more than worth the trip, the clinic rooms will be jumping, the bargains at the end of the day are sometimes (but not always, no guarantees) the best all week, and the all week hobby shops will still be open. How ever you can get there, you will have a good time. Its more than a typical swap meet.
Thanks for the clarification! I thought that's how it was in Nashville also. And I concur with the room sales being moved downstairs to the Swap-A-Rama-- saw that in Nashville also.
Do you need to purchase a table if you want to bring a handful of things to sell at the Swap-A-Rama (as a registered convention attendee)? I don't think I saw a registration option for that?I Or do you show up with your stuff and grab a spot?
I appreciate hearing about it from everyone. Hard to get a sense of it from just reading about it on the site.
I can answer that... there's a space on the registration page for a table. Cost is $45 for a Public Show Table. Here's that link... https://www.nationalnscaleconvention.com/natstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=6&cat=5.+Primary+Vendor+Reg+&+Public+Show And here's the link for general registration... https://www.nationalnscaleconvention.com/natstore/shopdisplaycategories.asp?id=1&cat=1.+Registration You can fit a lot of N Scale on one table!
There are often people who have a table who are willing to share, as well. If you only have a few items, then getting someone to give you sa partial table is pretty easy. Here's the one of the type of things you can see at the clinics at the National. Keith Kohlmann presented a full clinic on how to use natural light to photograph models and this was his presentation reel. Some of the things that I most enjoy at the con are the Model Contest, where it is a joy just to see what people can imagine and build, the clinics, where knowledge is passed out freely to all who show up, and the layouts in the hotel where finding someone to let you run a train is common.
Additional question. Once you registered for the event, can you later add additional items/events online? (Before the start of the convention of course.) At this point I'm not sure about the Saturday banquet but don't want to delay registering and missing out on a Swap-A-Rama table.
I'll put in an Unsolicited Endorsement for the Saturday Banquet. If this year follows the previous years, you'll receive the "Banquet Car"... a special run that MTL makes and provides free to only those who attend the banquet. Last year's was a Virginia and Truckee gondola. They tend to be more in the "just for fun" category... but I do think they're fun! The actual food at the Nashville NNSC banquet was pretty good too
