2018 Spring Train Show Season for Upstate New York

[lvrr325]

This weekend's show is in Rochester at the Dome Center, put on by Greenberg.

Still waiting on Atlas to show up, but my bet is it comes too late to get it to my door to bring along.


For what it's worth, enough vendors have confidence in that Camillus show that it sold right out, I just barely got into it myself. There's a waiting list now. I overheard a couple of the guys putting it on say they might move it to Lakeland to get a larger space for next year, if it succeeds. If you're on the fence on going, it should have a lot of dealers to choose from. And maybe that Atlas will finally show up.

Which, I don't know why it wouldn't succeed, the TCS or another group I think did a one-off show in Solvay maybe 2013 that was a reasonable success. At least I sold well enough for the trouble to go, some of the guys with high end vintage Lionel weren't that happy. The only problem with it was the date, a week after RIT, kind of a fluke that because December started on a weekend that year you had an extra week in there. Usually there's only three Sundays before Christmas and generally guys don't want to try to run a train show that last weekend before the holiday.

[lvrr325]

I was right, it came in and was ready to be picked today; soonest it would be here is Monday. So I'll have it next weekend at Binghamton and Camillus.

[Windseeker1]

I don’t go to many shows but I was going to go to the one at the dome in Rochester this weekend. I see the tickets are $10. Is that a normal entry fee? If so, that’s ridiculous. I won’t be going to this show or any others if that is standard entry fee.

[lvrr325]

I guess don't go to any, anymore then. This isn't a model railroad club open house or a one day little show, it's a national touring outfit that brings in dealers from all over the country, and spends a heck of a lot of money advertising. Plus your $10 on Saturday was good all weekend if you got a hand stamp and didn't wash it off. I think I saw that on Sunday they were charging $9 instead. Heck my lunch on Saturday cost that and I didn't even get a drink with it.

The show was about average for me, Sunday was stronger than I expected and I had more sales overall but they averaged less money per person. They had several cancellations at last minute so I was able to set up on two tables but I sold about the same as previous years. I didn't catch the attendance but they seemed to be happy with it. Rochester Model Railroad club had their open house the afternoons of both days - I'd have posted it here if I'd known - so guys could easily have gone to both. They were charging $5 to get in, FWIW.

This show is also nice because load-out is easy, I was out of there by 4:30.

I did discover something curious, but I'm going to wait until next week to talk about it.

In the meantime, this upcoming weekend has the Binghamton Regional show on Saturday, also the Albany Train Show at the Polish center; and Sunday the new show the CNY NRHS is doing in Camillus. A couple of the guys promoting that were supposed to be at Greenberg but they were among the cancellations, I can only presume perhaps the winter storm on Friday caused them problems.

[umtrr-author]

A couple of notes...

Kind of late to report this but the TCA show at the Edgerton Community Center on February 24 didn't happen. I went over there and when I saw practically no cars in the parking lot at 10 past 10AM I knew something was up. A small notice on the Edgerton Model railroad club website indicated that it was "cancelled for this year only." Not sure what happened there. In 2017 there were a decent amount of vendors. I feel a little bad for the club since that show brings in people to see the Lionel layout.

Meanwhile, on Saturday I went to the "traveling circus" that is the Greenberg Train Show at the Dome Center. I would have been out of there in less than 45 minutes had I not heard from a friend who was coming... I wanted to stay to point out the dealers that seem to think it's perfectly fine to charge unsuspecting people OVER MSRP for currently available stock that can be purchased for way less from the comfort of my own desk without dropping ten bucks for admission. The usual local dealers were there and they largely don't participate in such nonsense... there were good deals to be had as well and I pointed my friend and his young son over to those folks.

[lvrr325]

I noticed that too. That said, one of the big dealers, the guy who does shows like RIT and Syracuse and Hamburg, he'll deal a little on the stuff, he's a nice guy.

I'm almost surprised I don't sell more of what little current stuff I have at events where those guys are. My new stuff is all discounted from MSRP plus the tax is discounted. When it's something he carries too, I purposely go see what the one big Walthers vendor has it priced at and mark it about the same.

What I get instead are guys who think a brand new Accurail kit is like some 40 year old Athearn blue-box kit and they're asking "is it all there?" and want me to discount the price even more. If through some chance they did leave a part out, they'll mail you one free.

The TCA has some issues, I'm waiting until next week to post about it though.

[traingeek8223]

I have been meaning to post these here:

[lvrr325]

That show's a week earlier than usual, but the only competition is in Buffalo so that's no real issue. I paid for a spot and barring any problems intend to be there.

I don't get to go toward Albany that often, of the five or so shows in that market only two aren't opposite other events that I've already been going to. Most of the vendors there are a different circle entirely than you get at shows west of Syracuse.

[lvrr325]

Binghamton was down about 50%-60% from average, I think attendance was down some too, it was busy early but thinned out earlier than usual.

My guess on part of it; I mentioned earlier in this thread not seeing a TCA Elmira show for the first weekend in March scheduled. I found out last week at the Greenberg show, they finally scheduled it for today opposite Binghamton, they had a table with flyers for that and some other shows out. I thought that was a little dirty so I didn't mention it here.

They would have been better staying opposite Greenberg, nearly two hours away, than going against a similar size show just an hour away. The Village Hobby guys had the date for this well in advance, so unless there was some issue with the TCA venue availability I can't see a good reason for this, and I hope they don't plan to do it again next year. If they absolutely can't do it opposite Greenberg, then move it to the same weekend as Batavia, it will have to shuffle around because of Easter but there should be no conflict on that Saturday most years.

The track record isn't so great given they also insist on having that December show in Syracuse on the same day as two other shows, so they get almost nobody for vendors (it's bad when I pass on a show 15 minutes away for one two hours away). I may just not include them when I do the thread for the fall season.


Anyhow, the new show in Camillus is Sunday, be nice to see a good turnout if just to raise some money for the chapter, they were asked by the Fair to paint more of the equipment there and spent some money doing it, so this is to cover those costs. I finally got that new Atlas stuff I talked about, too, I'll have it there.

[nydepot]

Went to Camillus. Parking was tight. $10 in the door for basically a small room.

Train shows need to start thinking like concerts. Not the outrageous ticket prices part but they need to scale their prices. I don't pay the same ticket prices to see something at the Armory, Water St, or the Bug Jar (Rochester places) as I would at the Blue Cross Arena, the Carrier Dome, or Fleet.

So why am I paying the same to get into a huge show at the Fairgrounds as I am for a tiny room in a firehall?

[lvrr325]

Show was a fundraiser for the CNY Chapter NRHS to recoup the costs spent painting the trains on display at the NYS Fairgrounds. Thought I mentioned that before, but the money goes to a good cause. A first run movie is $12, maybe this was a small show but you could certainly spend more than two hours there. They also did more advertising than is typical for a show like this.

I'm happy with it, I had a very good day, turned over a bunch of inventory, and the expense was minimal. I think the attendance was in the same range as Eastwood, just under 400. More than makes up for yesterday.

Also, to follow up some on Saturday, I heard secondhand that that TCA Elmira show was terrible, one of the vendors at Camillus was there yesterday, was unhappy enough he was saying he won't go back to it.

[nydepot]

Two hours? I went and bought one car. It took 10-15 minutes to walk around and go back to the table I saw the car at. Mostly large scale and some Thomas/toys. I model in HO.

[lvrr325]

Two hours? I went and bought one car. It took 10-15 minutes to walk around and go back to the table I saw the car at. Mostly large scale and some Thomas/toys. I model in HO.

Are you sure you were at the same show I was at?

Eight vendors had HO; three with new/current items, two of which also had used; three more with used and vintage only, plus two selling (one really dumping) from their personal collections. Two dealers had current or recent Lionel and other O scale, one with vintage Lionel and Flyer, one exclusively Flyer, one vendor with framed art prints, the CNY Chapter Store, the Oswego Valley club with a display and a sales table with mostly HO and some G, Operation Lifesaver, and a couple of other vendors with more miscellaneous things, the guy who does the repro signs was there with those and some trains and die cast cars. They sold about 40 tables. I don't recall anyone with Thomas at all, just one Chuggington set. If you wanted N you might have been disappointed, not a big selection there but at least four vendors had some. The chapter had an O gauge layout set up and a speeder on display on a truck outside. I could even be leaving some things out.

In 10-15 minutes you could hardly be really looking at the amount of product there, I was there all day and I still found some real bargains in the late afternoon, in fact one piece I paid $15 for I just checked and it would sell easily on eBay for around $120.

And most people come and chat with friends or dealers and enjoy themselves for a while, too. Heck I hooked up a regular I see at the shows with someone who might buy a boat from him.

[nydepot]

Same show. I was there with a friend. Took 15 minutes to park, waiting for someone else to leave with a line of 4 cars behind mine waiting their turn for someone to leave. Guy selling HO Athearn from his trunk too.

Walked in, paid and got stamped. Walked to one end, skipping large scale, bought a donut, looked at the high dynamic range photos for a bit, skipped more large scale, saw your HO for sale heading to the other end. Stopped at a nice table with items divided up by roadname and saw a car I liked but didn't need. Continued past the toys and swung back around through the middle and back to see if the car was still there. It was and bought it.

Left and my friend said something about how much I spent today. I paid for him to get in. About $50. He said "$50?" I said, yeah the entry was $10 each. He said "We paid $20 to walk around that?"

To each his own. Glad you enjoyed it and selling there. Saw your Atlas GP38-2s you've been waiting for.

Two hours? I went and bought one car. It took 10-15 minutes to walk around and go back to the table I saw the car at. Mostly large scale and some Thomas/toys. I model in HO.

Are you sure you were at the same show I was at?

Eight vendors had HO; three with new/current items, two of which also had used; three more with used and vintage only, plus two selling (one really dumping) from their personal collections. Two dealers had current or recent Lionel and other O scale, one with vintage Lionel and Flyer, one exclusively Flyer, one vendor with framed art prints, the CNY Chapter Store, the Oswego Valley club with a display and a sales table with mostly HO and some G, Operation Lifesaver, and a couple of other vendors with more miscellaneous things, the guy who does the repro signs was there with those and some trains and die cast cars. They sold about 40 tables. I don't recall anyone with Thomas at all, just one Chuggington set. If you wanted N you might have been disappointed, not a big selection there but at least four vendors had some. The chapter had an O gauge layout set up and a speeder on display on a truck outside. I could even be leaving some things out.

In 10-15 minutes you could hardly be really looking at the amount of product there, I was there all day and I still found some real bargains in the late afternoon, in fact one piece I paid $15 for I just checked and it would sell easily on eBay for around $120.

And most people come and chat with friends or dealers and enjoy themselves for a while, too. Heck I hooked up a regular I see at the shows with someone who might buy a boat from him.

[Matt Langworthy]

It's a matter of perspective. A vendor will notice all the tables and the wide variety of products, while a customer tends to focus on his/her interests. In my case, I went to the Greenburg show in Rochester earlier this month to get a couple of new books. I did spend some time photographing a couple of layouts after purchasing the books (because it's always chase day!) and chatting with a local shortline engineer, then left the show for good after about 45 minutes. I don't have a layout, so those products for sale aren't of major interest to me. Hopefully, all of the vendors did well but I also hope they can understand the majority of the patrons have limited budgets and/or time.