The show allowed us to talk with many of our members, attend some of the great seminars and find some real bargains. The discount coupons that we printed out on line, gave us 10% discount with St Aubins where we found a huge selection and some very good buys.

Talking with several people at the show told us that there are still a lot of newcomers to the hobby. They were interested in seeing some of the equipment that they had been looking at on line and many were seen walking out with large purchases.

Many of the long time hobbyists were finding those few special things that they needed to add to their railroads. A great number of them expressed interest in the new Revolution Train Engineer and commented that Dave Bodnar's seminar on the Revolution was very interesting and informative. Most felt that they would probably purchase one when it became available.

The show closed at 6:00 on Friday night and we left for a quiet dinner and an early bedtime.

Saturday morning dawned dark and rainy. After a quick breakfast at the hotel we hurried back to the LSOL.com booth and prepared for another fun day at the show.

The show was well attended on Saturday, but not as many people came out as were there on Friday. There were many people who were drawn by a train show and they were exposed to Large Scale trains with interesting vendors and great layouts to view. There were a lot of families with children. The kids seemed to love everything they saw about trains.

The first thing to draw their attention was the Susquehanna Valley Garden Railway Society. It featured a working sawmill with a saw that appeared to be cutting up large timber sections, a working water mill and a lift bridge with a boat passing under it. Several children could be seen watching the railroad throughout the day. The other railroads drew the kids as well and at times you had trouble getting through the isles between the railroads.

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There were a few things that caught our attention at the show on Saturday. One of those was a question by one of our members about the Aristo Craft wide switches that had some problems with the frogs causing derailing of some engines and cars. We were unaware that Aristo Craft had manufactured new frogs for those switches and were offering them for sale on their website for $1.00 each. A discussion with Lewis and a couple other Aristo employees told us that these new frogs had solved the derailing problem.

During the two days, we had a chance to talk with John Schnider who designs and sells Just Plain Folks figures. John had some interesting new figures at the show and has a few new things up his sleeve for upcoming shows. His booth was crowded throughout both days of the show. He even had some cats for sale. Cats have been hard to come by in Large Scale.

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A new vendor at the show caught our eye. A couple of young people were showing some custom built steel bridges and pier casting molds that appeared to be truly outstanding models. They had several samples at the show and the quality was excellent. We spent some time with them introducing them to some potential customers and admiring their work. Damian Cavasos, of Denver, PA. was the young man who builds the bridges. The website is under construction at: www.mainlinebridges.mybisi.com

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The new live steam 0-6-0 from AMC was on display and the people in the booth indicated that the electric version is due out soon. It is a USRA model and was used by most of the railroads in the steam era. They indicated that the electric version would be out in several roadnames.

The Hartland Locomotive Works booth was filled with all of their products. These are all American made in La Porte, Indiana and provide a nice range of models in 1/24 that are nicely made and affordable.

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There was a vendor at the show from Ontario, Canada selling Canadian Railroad locomotives and cars. They even were offering kisses with each purchase. They were Hershey kisses, but the thought was nice.

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Rich Yoder of RY Models was at the show with production versions of the East Broad Top Mikados #14 and 15 and they were running on one of the modular layouts throughout the show. He had his EBT hoppers there as well and they all looked very nicely done.

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We found a new set of narrow gauge car kits for sale. There were three of these kits that are imported from England in the Electric Model Works booth. There were kits for the D&RGW water car, wedge snowplow and boom car. They are also offering new wooden sides for the Accucraft passenger cars. We purchased the wedge snowplow for a winter project next year.

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Before the show, many of the vendors were worried that the show might not be well attended, but most said that Friday was a very good day for them. A few felt that it was not as good as last year, but still a very good show. Saturday was reported as providing about half the sales as Friday, but the attendance seemed to be pretty good.

The show is always a great place to be. As the doors were closed on the hall on Saturday evening at 6:00, we went out to dinner and to the hotel tired but happy that we had come again to York. To quote someone on the Big-Trains list, "My wife always asks, "Why are you going to the show again? It's the same thing every year!" Those of us who attend train shows of any type know that: it's NEVER the same!"

Show Wrap Up

Noel, A very informative wrap up. You captured the "flavor" of this year's show. As always, this being our eleventh show, we had a great time. Now we wait for the next East Coast Show!

JD Miller - 04/01/2009 - 05:19

Show Coverage

After reading Noel?s expanded and compressive review of the show and seeing all of the photos, it is easy to see that a lot of people put in a lot of time and effort to pull off the show and there seems to have been a LOT for all attendees to see in the two days. It is just unfortunate that we are so spread out in this country and such shows are not within easy reach of more people.

Rick Henderson - 04/01/2009 - 07:17

Spring East Coast Large Scale Train Show

Noel, Another good article about the Great spring ECLSTS of 2009. You got plenty of good pictures and you pointed out all the good deals to be had there. I talked to one vendor and he said that Friday was his all time best one day sales record. I am glad to see the buying and selling going on there in spite of the economic downturn. PS I like the picture of the guy fueling his live steam locomotive.

Glenn Habrial - 04/01/2009 - 17:54

coverage

Great coverage of the show & terrific pictures! I especially liked the coverage for the SVGRS! Being partial as I am. Thanks for showing all this on LSOL. PS, Again, I spent to much money! oh well I can't take it with me.

Pete Null - 04/02/2009 - 06:09

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