What is the National Train Show?

Check it out yourself on the NMRA's National Train Show website:

Bob Boudreau Canada

Bob,

Thanks, but I had already looked at that. There are lots of displays, but can you buy stuff there -- i.e. Athearn is there showing new products, but can I buy Athearn stuff from them or someone else at the show? Are there independent dealers there selling stuff?

The shows up here that I've been to have been 90 percent shopping and

10 percent clinics and displays. Is that what this is, or is it mostly displays and manufacturers touting new products?

Thanks

Todd

products, but can I buy Athearn stuff from them or someone else at the show? Are there independent dealers there selling stuff?< In general you can empty your wallet if you wish. However Athearn and other large manufactures like them generally just have show and tell booths. You need to buy their products at other tables or at your local shop or mail order.

The manufactorers' booths normally are display only. However there are many other booths for dealers and some manufactorers that are selling. Don't expect to buy from the big boys like Athearn and Kato, etc.

There will be several (many?) layouts on display.

All the clinics will be at the NMRA convention that the National Train Show is held in conjunction with.

Howard R Garner

There is the big NMRA convention, which runs the week of the show, and then usually the last 2 or 3 days are the "National Train Show" you are talking about, which is open to everybody, NMRA member or not.

It is a big vendor show, with hundreds and hundreds of tables from dealers large and small, selling train stuff. So yes, you can buy just about anything you'd want. The major vendor booths, like Athearn or Microtrains, for example, are usually just display booths where they are showing off their new products and answering questions. You'd have to go to other booths to actually BUY these products, but they are there.

There is a very good similar type event held 4 times a year in Timonium, MD, called the Great Scale Model Train Show

It's a 2-day event, with usually about 700-800 tables. It'll take you more than a day to get through it all.

I had gone to about 4 national NMRA conventions years ago, and went to the big train shows at the end of the conventions. They were big shows with lots of stuff for sale. But to be honest, I wouldn't make the trip again if I couldn't drive there in one day (I flew to a few of these). It just wasn't worth it, and the Timonium show, which is within driving distance for me, is just as good if you are just looking for a big barn full of people selling train stuff. If you want clinics, modeling contests, and other NMRA events, then the national convention is the best game in town (or out of town!), however.

--- Max

todd snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote: