Da Mooses drove over an hour to attend a new train show and swap meet in Elma, WA this morning. Unfortunately, it was not worth the time and cost. The swap meet room was sparse, none of the usual vendors were in attendance, nearly everything was Horrible Oversized and Orribly oversized (Moose was looking for n-scale items), and they charged $10/pp when all the adverts. indicated it was $5/pp. On a lighter note, the three modular layouts in an adjacent room were interesting to see. The Mt Rainier N-Scale modular group had a nice set of modules, and running steam! (... and a disease'el). Moose really liked the corner and end modules (see photos). Something about the seemingly tight radius that still managed to look nice to this moose's eye was intriguing and the corner module's three mainlines under a diverging pair of mainlines above were a nice touch! Moose was especially happy to see some really nice modules on the Moose Creek narrow gauge setup, including push buttons for sounds & lights for wee munchkins (and adult meese) to push. Yeah! Whoa! Moose almost forgot the third module layout at the Elma train show -- hadn't seen this group's modules before, at least not these... A nice PRR T-1 slowly rounds the bend into a Twilight Zone-ish yet-to-be-scenic'd section: The aliens WILL lose this fight with the farmer:
Have not seen the MRNS layout in many long years now. Those times when I did, it was always top notch.
Thanks for the report, Mr. Moose! I would have gone to Elma if I was in the neighborhood. My schedule looks compatible with the return of the Lewis County show in early April. Feels a little like closure. The last show I attended was Monroe 2020. Lewis County was my next destination back then, but we all know what happened to "plans" in 2020. Maybe I can pick up where I left off. Stay safe,
@Mark St Clair You're welcome, good sir! The Monroe shows are da Moose's favorite, so for it to have been canceled two years in a row is hard for this moose... Moose'll have to look into the Lewis County show. How does it compare to the Monroe shows?
Hopefully someone else can chime in here. I was planning to go to Lewis County for the first time in 2020. Monroe is the best show I have been to. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Lewis County show is usually pretty good, but nowhere near the size of the Monroe show. I've been there a few times, one year half the place was flooded and they were constantly pushing water out of the building! So humid in there. I usually go there for a bit, then check out the rail action in Centralia/Chehalis the rest of the day.
I hope you do come to the Lewis County Show this year, 2-3 April 2022. As of last week we only have around 24 tables left for sellers. Although we did have to raise the price for sellers from $20 per table to $25 per table, the entry fee is guaranteed to still be just $5.00. The fairgrounds raised our rental fee by a very large amount and our last show lost money on table rentals. Numerous new sellers this time. The LEGO Trains group is back with a very large setup. No more flooding in the building during heavy rains. The fairgrounds installed new drainage to prevent a re-occurrence. David
