Went to this show this morning. It was not an optimal show for modelers. Just my opinion. (My only comparisons are the four Greenberg's shows at this same facility I've enjoyed in prior years). More auto traffic getting into and out of the facility than I have experienced in prior shows.
Of course, there might be several reasons why the crowds this morning resembled a maximum-capacity Disneyworld during the height of Christmas season:
(1) It was heavily advertised in the local media as a place to bring the whole family; "A show with over 100 trains for the kids to play with". And after all, it's a grey sleeting/rainy/snowy day here in northern Virginia, so what else can you do with the kids (who get in free if they're under 16)? The stroller brigade was out in-force.
(2) The local weather forecasters have been in a frenzy for days, stepping all over each other, predicting the blizzard of 2006 beginning this afternoon and rolling deep into Sunday (the second day of the show). Maybe folks rushed out for the first part of the first day because they don't think they'll get a chance to attend on Sunday.
Some of the major vendors did have booths in the "main" building; these vendor booths seemed absent at the Greenberg's/Great Train Expo at this facility in the fall. The anticipation of the vendor boothes is what drew me to the show. But the crowds were so amazingly large and pressing, it was difficult to get much face time with the vendor representatives or to get close enough to observe the demonstrations (like Woodland Scenics). It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't a show where a modeler could shop/browse/observe/talk.
The second (larger) building was shared (half and half) with a computer show, but the trains' side seemed less crowded when I was there. It looked like most scales were well represented, either with N-Trak modules major layouts or otherwise. It seemed to me N-scale was prominent, especially with a huge Northern Virginia N-Trak display, and there was more Z-scale and narrow-gauge than I remember at other shows. I did feel sorry for many of the exhibitors in this building, though, because it was obvious many, (if not most), of the crowd's parental units (who aren't in to the hobby) had turned loose their young kids to run around freely in this hall, too. Without supervision, it's got to be hard for kids to understand which trains were designated "play" trains and which were high-effort highly-detailed models/modules which were there to be appreciated without touching. I felt for the exhibitors who looked like they were on-edge hoping the next little hand lifting the middle of a moving consist or a detailed structure wouldn't cause a major derailment or erase hours of scenery work. (Eh. What do I know?).
I truly do have an appreciation of what I think World's Greatest Hobby ("WGH") is trying to do. We need to encourage and "wow" little ones so they get as excited about our hobby as we are. And probably one of the best ways of doing that is giving kids hands-on experience with all scales when they're young.
I think next time I might take a pass on the "World's Greatest Hobby on Tour" show and stick to the Great Train Expo shows. Or else wait for the second day of the show. Maybe I'll adjust my expectations for the WGH shows so next time I'll anticipate the crowds and just have more fun myself. Cheers!
...Karl