2016-2017 Upstate New York Train Show Season

It's about that time again, folks.

Some changes:

The CNY NRHS's show moves back to the Center of Progress building, resulting in it being nearly sold out already due to the smaller amount of space. No more stinky, rough floored cow barn. Hopefully the food vendor situation is also improved; while the food wasn't bad, the vendor was never really set up to handle crowds that size.

Some rumblings whether the Legion will sell the building housing the Syracuse Model Railroad Club, or simply have them move within the building.

Greenberg Shows has a signed contract to return to the Dome Center for their 2017 show, still on their normal first weekend of April. Presumably this will put Batavia the week prior; with Easter on the 16th the Alco T&HS show likely will be on the 9th.

Dates in blue are tentative, meaning I was unable to find a link to confirm it and the date listed may be my educated guess. Some are simply too early to have a date locked down, and I'll update again towards the end of the year. There likely will be a number of TCA shows I don't have dates for yet, either.

I believe this is the only list of shows that is this complete, it's taken from muitiple sources of event listings. I've excluded downstate NYC/Long Island, but I do include one PA show that's a relatively short drive for southern tier residents.


2016 Fall:

September

9/10-9/11 - Clayton - Thousand Islands Model Train Show, Cerow Recreation Park Arena.
9/10-9/11 - Buffalo - Buffalo Central Terminal Train Show
9/17-9/18 - Palmyra - TCA Upstate NY Chapter Show, Wayne County Fairgrounds
9/18 - Shortsville - LVRRHS Station Museum Open House
9/24-9/25 - Massena - Train,Toy and Collectible Expo, Massena Arena

October

10/2 - Allegany - TTCS Autumn In Allegany Train Show, Carter Event Center
10/22 - Port Jervis - Tri-States Railway Preservation Society Train Show
10/23 - Depew - TTCS Buffalo Falling Leaves Train Show, Polish Falcons - (date's been changed on this)
10/29 - Horseheads - TCA Toy Train Show, Elks Lodge #2297
10/30 - Kingston - Kingston Model Train & Hobby Show, Murphy Midtown Center
10/30 - Scranton, PA - 68th Scranton Model Train Show, Lackawanna Station Hotel

Note the big TCA York, PA show is on the 20-22nd.

November -

11/5-11/6 - Syracuse - CNY NRHS 42nd Model Train Fair, NYS Fairgrounds Center Of Progress Building
11/12-11/13 - Fulton - Oswego Valley Model Railroad Club annual show, Fulton War Memorial
11/12 - Binghamton - Binghamton Regional Train Show, American Legion 177 Robinson St.
11/12 - Jamestown - TCA Toy Train Show, Jamestown Savings Bank Arena
11/13 - Batavia - Great Batavia Train Show, Clarion Hotel
11/13 - Poughkeepsie - Hyde Park Station 45th Annual Train & Hobby Show
11/19 - Albany - Albany Train Show, Polish Community Center
11/19-11/20 - Hamburg - WNYRHS 35th Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show, Erie County Fairgrounds
11/27 - Rochester - TTCS Rochester Thanksgiving Toy Train Meet, Eagles Club

For whatever reason there hasn't been a flyer posted for Binghamton yet, but I presume they intend to have it, since I paid for my table at the spring show.

December -

12/4 - Albany - Great Train Extravaganza, Empire Expo Center
12/4 - N. Tonowanda - TTCS Trains In The Tonwandas show, Knights Of Columbus
12/10-12/11 - Rochester - RIT Tiger Tracks Train Show, Gordon Field House

2017 Spring:

January -

1/15 - Utica - TTCS 35th annual Utica show, Union Station

Note the big Springfield, MA show is Jan 28-29.

February -

2/? - Depew NY - TTCS Buffalo Snowball Train Show, Polish Falcons (show is planned, date not set yet)
2/12 - Fishkill - Fishkill Model Train & Hobby Show, Fishkill Recreation Center
2/18-2/19 - Hamburg - WNYRHS Winter Train & Toy Show, Erie County Fairgrounds
2/26 - Syracuse (Eastwood) - Syracuse Model Railroad Club annual show

In 2016 TCA held a show in Rochester the day before Eastwood.

March -


3/? - Albany - Albany Train Show, Polish Community Center
3/5 - Scranton - Scranton Model Train Show, Lackawanna Station Hotel
3/11 - Binghamton - Binghamton Regional Train Show, American Legion
3/19 - Rochester - TTCS Rochester Shamrock Train Show, Eagle Club
3/26 - Batavia - GSME Great Batavia Train Show, Clarion Hotel

In 2016 there was a TCA show in Horseheads the day before Scranton; a TCA show in Buffalo the second weekend (following another train and toy show the week previous at the same venue); a Toy and Train show in Albany also on the first weekend, and the Albany Train show was held the third weekend.

April -

4/1-4/2 - Rochester - Greenberg Train Show, Dome Center
4/2 - N Tonowanda - TTCS Spring Into Summer show, Kights Of Columbus
4/9 - Amsterdam - Alco T&HS Rals Along The Mohawk show, Riverfront Center
4/9-4/10 - Webster - W.A.S.P.S. Model Train Show & Sale
4/22-4/23 - Lockport - TTCS/NOME Lockport Train & Toy Show, Keenan Arena


May -

Likely to be an event for National Train day in Jamestown, NY.

Anyone attending either of the shows this weekend?

It would be interesting to hear how they are.

Clayton show informally reports about 1300 through the door. Traffic was moderate. I have no idea how any of the vendors did.

Scranton is this Sunday if anyone's interested. I decided to pass for a batch of reasons.


Also, Binghamton I can add to the confirmed category.

I forgot to bump this for the big Model Train Fair in Syracuse, although I'm sure everyone was aware already.

Pretty good Saturday, will see what comes Sunday.

Time flies lvrr325! The Batavia train show is next Sunday at the now Quality Inn. (The only thing that changed is the sign on the roof no longer says Clarion) Hours are 9:30 to 3:30 and adult admission is still only $5.00. Further details are at http://www.gsme.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Ahh, so it's moved down a notch in the Choice Hotels quality branding tiers.

No, really, that's what they do, it's cheaper to rebrand as a lesser brand (or sell the place) than remodel and upgrade. When it becomes a Rodeway Inn, look out.


Anyhow, Binghamton will be next Saturday, Fulton all weekend, Batavia as noted on Sunday. Allentown also has a large show that weekend.

Syracuse was good for me but Sunday was a very dead day for everyone. Busy early, but not too many buyers. They announced an attendance "about the same as last year" but never gave a number.

On the other hand I bought an engine for myself for $70 that recently sold on eBay for $174, so I can't really complain.

lvrr325 wrote:I forgot to bump this for the big Model Train Fair in Syracuse, although I'm sure everyone was aware already.

Pretty good Saturday, will see what comes Sunday.

I went on Saturday, looked like a great show with good attendance. I picked up some bargain books for the library collection. Great to see old friends from CNY Chapter NRHS.

-otto-

Attendance was down a little at Binghamton and a little more at Batavia. But both have their ups and downs, Binghamton competes a little with Allentown for attendance, and the weather was pretty decent for November both days. Consequently the crowd dropped off in the afternoon.

I did swing by a mall on my way home Sunday and it wasn't particularly busy either, so maybe people are holding on to their wallets until the new guy actually gets inaugurated, too. (let's not go any further with that please)

Both have their March dates set, too, March 11 for Binghamton and March 26th for Batavia. I'll tabulate all the spring dates for a post when I have them.


Next weekend is the WNYRHS Fall Train & Toy show in Hamburg. Not sure what to expect there, I even have one in my books where I did better on Sunday than Saturday and that's up there with 500 year floods for things that happen often. I saved a little Lionel and Marx to put out there, too, maybe that will move for me.

Hamburg crowd seemed to be down, particularly Sunday, although WNY shows opposite Bills games that always seems to kill the crowd off early. I'm sure someone from the club will post the actual figures.

I noted Walden Galleria on the way home also had far fewer cars around it than what's been normal for this weekend. Maybe 1/3 less.

We all wish they'd end an hour earlier both days, too, especially after it ended up taking me 16 hours or so to get home the 160 miles or so, between snow conditions that wouldn't let me do more than about 20 mph because almost no roads were plowed, and having the idler pulley on my van lock up and throw the belt around Phelps and had to sit and wait for a ride to a parts store when one opened. Without that it still would have been like an extra four hours because of the weather alone. I haven't been to sleep yet. Crazy.

I have a few new dates to post - there's three shows on Dec. 4th, in Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany each, and a Broadway Market train show the weekend after RIT. But I will get to that tomorrow, the next day, after I have slept.

lvrr325 wrote: it ended up taking me 16 hours or so to get home the 160 miles or so, between snow conditions that wouldn't let me do more than about 20 mph because almost no roads were plowed, and having the idler pulley on my van lock up and throw the belt around Phelps and had to sit and wait for a ride to a parts store when one opened.

That sure bites!

Hi All!

The Train Show at the Hamburg Fairgrounds Events Center was another great success for the Society. We had over 400 tables filled with model trains, collectibles, toys, and much more. We had five operating layouts, a kids play area and displays by many regional historical societies. Attendance was a little below average with just over 3,400 visitors to the show as I think the weather forecasters scared some people away with their snow predictions. However it was a still a financial success for the WESTERN NEW YORK RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. The basket raffle for the "Francis J. McGrath" Parlor Car Restoration Project raised over $1,100. Thanks to all those who came and supported the Train Show and we hope to see you in February.

Lots of photo's on our public Train Show Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/wnyrhstrainshow

Sincerely, Scott H.

IIRC some past shows attendance has been around 5,000, including counting children.

I started a new log book this year and never finished copying over past details into it, so I can't compare direct on the fall show until I dig that back out.


The additional dates for December:

12/4 - Syracuse - TCA Toy Train Show, Legion Post 787, Cicero NY (off Rt. 31 west of I-81)

12/17-12/18 - Buffalo - Train Show, Broadway Market. Free admission.


2/17 TTCS show for Depew is confirmed for the 5th, flyer in hand; Winter WNYRHS show also confirmed for 2/19-2/19. I can also confirm the Keenan Center (Lockport) TTCS/NOME show for April 29-30. And flyers are already out for next September's Massena show, but I think most of us are a long ways from thinking about that. I've never been, just mostly because it's three hours and a motel stay for a show I can't see me selling more than an average Eastwood show at.

After RIT I will make a new post for the 2017 dates

Well, this weekend, Sunday, you have plenty of options for a train show.

In Buffalo, you have the TTCS Trains In The Tonowandas show at the Knights of Columbus;

In Syracuse you have the TTOS Toy Train Show at Legion Post 787 in Cicero;

And finally in Albany you have the Great Train Extravanganza, at the Empire Expo "Egg" Center.

This where I will be, although I feel a little silly going so far after seeing the advertising the TTOS people have done - radio commercials and on the front page of the Neighbors section of the newspaper - and instead of staying in town for it I'm driving two hours east. Be interesting to hear a report if anyone goes to the TTOS show - what kind of attendance it sees, how many vendors it gets. GTE has been down the last couple years, although I still see their signs posted as far west as Fultonville.


The problem with three shows the same day is there's only so many vendors to go around, GTE typically sees 3000-5000 people in one day and the sales are usually as good or better than a two day show, which is why I've been going there. Some of the other vendors come from further away than I am and some of the people I've seen attending have also driven further just to come walk around. It's too bad TTOS can't move their show back a week, or up two weeks to after RIT, and pick up some of us who go to all the big shows. Even moving it to the week before Utica in January would help them get more dealers. It's tough to find a date that doesn't conflict with someone, but no one seems to do anything the weekend before Christmas.

GTE saw 3400 people, sales were very good.

There is a show next weekend in Glenns Falls as well as the RIT show, I'll post the details when I bring in the flyers. I think now i have most of the spring dates locked down and can post the second half schedule (Jan-April) sometime this week.