WNYRHS 30th Annual Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show 11/19-20

Lower Lakes M.H.S. has a table at the show & we are selling the Buffalo Harbor book, along with lots of r.r. Related 8x10's.

Nice show, lots of bargains, same problem as other shows this fall, sales were slow, they said attendance was up but I guess they counted kids this year where they didn't before. It was busy at times but it was never so bad you couldn't get where you wanted to go - and a lot of good deals got packed up and went home Sunday night.

This show is becoming more and more like a general Flea Market. I don't mind the industrial (non rail) historical societies, but the percentage of rail related vendors/exhibitors seems to dwindle each show. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't mix everyone up together. Put the non-rail related vendors in their own section.

I thought it was a good show. Please remember better to have a show than none at all. My club the western new york garden railway soc. had our layout set up and adults and children alike loved it. Attendance was also great for such a nice day on saturday. This show is not only a model train show but also to help promote and help finance the WNY HISTORICAL RAILROAD SOC. ongoing projects and museums. I grew up modeling ho and n layouts but I also played with legos, match box and stars wars toys. The show brought back great memories of my childhood beyond train modeling. So the bottom line is you get what you take out of it. Alittle for everyone !!!!!

The purpose of the fairgrounds shows is to raise much-needed cash for the WNYRHS so it is entirely appropriate for them to do whatever it takes to draw the maximum number of people to the event. Sure, a pure train show would be great, but the net receipts after expenses would be only a fraction of the net as the show is now organized. Plus, there simply are not enough dealers/vendors of railroad-related products and memorabilia in the Buffalo area to fill much more than half of the building in Hamburg. Vendors who lug home a lot of stuff probably do not price their offerings competitively or they just don't have anything for sale that anyone else wants. In either case this is not the fault of the show promoter. It is the job of the show promoter to bring people into the building. The WNYRHS is doing a very decent job of drawing a good crowd into the building. I think they deserve a lot of credit for accomplishing that goal. H.T. Guillaume

You have to mix things up to get people to walk all the way around, if the second building was just toys and not as many people went back there because of it, those people would complain. Even then, I don't think that building saw the traffic the front room did - and not for lack of effort on the WNYRHS's part, they announced fairly regularly there were more dealers back there, but they really need like a great, big, nearly aisle-blocking obvious sign to put up that just says "More Dealers - Second Building - This Way" with an arrow. Like made by cutting a 4x8 piece of plywood in half, big.

I can't really complain, the group was very generous to let me in last minute and while I can't say it was an excellent show, I did make money and come home with a few new things I didn't have before. And got rid of some real turkeys I didn't expect to sell, too. I just wonder what I might have done say if I'd gone last year, when people were actually buying stuff, to be able to compare to.

I have taken a table at both of the WNYRHS shows every year and have done so ever since the show was founded. I think the first show was in 1981. I know it was at the Marriott in Amherst. Then it moved to the Buffalo Convention Center and eventually to the Hamburg Fairgrounds. I did very well at both shows last year. I also did well this past weekend. But I would advise anyone thinking about taking a table to bring plenty of lower-priced merchandise. Realistically, there are not a lot of deep pockets left in Western New York or in most of the state north of Westchester County. I am sure some high-end merchandise does sell but I have always done best when I had plenty of "bargains" on my table. HTG

The high end stuff will sell when it's realistically priced and not crazy priced to be packed up & taken home. Some of those venders have no clue that there's a recession on, that people are scared & really watching what they spend. I see items for sale that are way out of whack with what they're worth in the real world. It's as if they got their prices off the Internet or something. Forget E-Bay, for me those are fantasy land prices. I make offers on things and I hear all the time how they can't sell it for that because they could get more on line. Just because something you saw on line is listed high, it doesn't mean that they will get a bidder. It's a train show for crying' out loud! It's like a flea market or rummage sale, forget about full retail mark up, it won't sell in this town in these times, people here want a bargain or they won't buy.

Railroaded wrote:The high end stuff will sell when it's realistically priced and not crazy priced to be packed up & taken home. Some of those venders have no clue that there's a recession on, that people are scared & really watching what they spend. I see items for sale that are way out of whack with what they're worth in the real world. It's as if they got their prices off the Internet or something. Forget E-Bay, for me those are fantasy land prices. I make offers on things and I hear all the time how they can't sell it for that because they could get more on line. Just because something you saw on line is listed high, it doesn't mean that they will get a bidder. It's a train show for crying' out loud! It's like a flea market or rummage sale, forget about full retail mark up, it won't sell in this town in these times, people here want a bargain or they won't buy.

Well, no, a train show is not a flea market or rummage sale. You have to have a tax number and be a business in the eyes of the state to sell at most shows. A good percentage of show vendors have a legitimate brick and mortar business, or are buying brand new inventory from hobby wholesalers to sell to you. Sure, you get a few guys selling old collections or dumping stuff, but that tends to be the exception rather than the rule.

The flea market is over on Walden Ave. a mile east of the mall - and guess what? I went there Sunday morning to find almost everything that would interest me, not only overpriced, but the vendors unwilling to deal enough for me to buy. And I can be cheap, but some of these things were double, triple market price, and I wasn't trying to buy them to resell.

Now I packed up stuff that was bargain priced, after a while I said to heck with it I'll go ahead and take it to the next show. I mean I am there to make some money, I'm not a charity for people who don't want to pay the going price on things, and if I can sell it online for $X every time, I'm sure not going to take less when someone is too dumb to understand they're already getting a deal because they don't have to pay shipping and the tax is included in the price too. If you can go find a guy who's just dumping stuff and get a deal, so much the better for you. But if I pay $Y for it, I can't sell it for less than $X, I have gas, tables, food, maybe a hotel to pay for, and I have to do that out of the profit on the things I sell.

With your attitude, I may as well stay home and list the stuff on eBay and not even give you the chance to look at it. Recessions are irrelevant, this stuff won't spoil, if it gets that bad I can just pack it all away and not go to any shows until things get better. There's no sense going and setting up and losing money. Of course, if no one comes, there won't be any shows, or you'll be complaining that what is at the shows is junk you don't want, but I can't say I'll feel bad for you if that's the way it works out.