Having never been to one of these shows before, I was curious if items are available for purchase or only being displayed/promoted? Deer hunting shows I have experienced. The online photo gallery from WGH does not seem to show much inventory or displayed merchandise.
Bring lots of money, because you will find all kinds of things to buy.
World's Greatest Hobby Show? You mean the one in Central Hall, London UK? Been happening since the early 1960s.
That's what happens when you claim "World's Greatest" :-)
Cheers
Roger T.
Wish I could be visiting the UK, but, no, the one coming to Planet Houston this weekend.
With the demise of brick-and-mortar hobby stores, the only real shopping experience seems to be the large train shows. I go to the GMTS, three times per year, in Timonium (Baltimore), MD... coming up this weekend BTW.
I "shop til I drop" at these shows. It's the only place I know of where one can still see, touch, taste and smell train products before purchasing. Hard-to-find tools are easily found as well.
I'm a curmudgeon when it comes to online shopping... It's a last resort for me.
Regards,
Jonathan
I don't like on line shopping either. If I have to, I find the item on the web site and then call them to actually order from a human being. Some internet emporiums appear to deliberately make phone orders difficult. To @@$@&!:! with them.
My friends have a LHS of sorts. While they are a true dealer for several vendors and for one of the giant mail order places, they don't have an actual shop, they only do train shows, and take limited local orders from regular customers like me. I only buy from them unless it is some discontinued thing I simply must have. Even though I get a substantial discount, I do pay more, but you know what? My money stays in town in the local economy, which needs it.
Hats off for Trainman203.
Chuck
Between phone and on line, I'll take on line anytime. With on line, I have written proof. People can tell you anything on the phone and, if it goes sour, you have no proof of what they said unless you record your conversations. Then you get into legal issues.
I'm hard of hearing anyway. Usually, the only time I wear my hearing aids is while watching TV at night. I can hear normal talk but I have issues with phone conversations and the hearing aids can be a hassle there.
Hats off for Terry, too!
(I'd be a good politician)
Chuck
I am a huge fan of online, although I despise Amazon and use it regularly, but am a human. Having used online providers for all of my purchased H0 items, including track, cars, and locomotives (my father and mother gave me S American Flyer sets that are quite old and not yet running), I am about to try talking to another human at a train show. Wonder what the people will have to say?
I'm a big fan of keeping my money local, supporting my friends instead of sending my money away to people I don't know who could care less about me and my community. I also really like having a face to face knowledgeable model railroader selling me stuff.
If someone won't talk to me directly, as per the Big A, they won't get my paltry shekels. Those few cents won't rattle much in the Big Online Cashbox but they make all the difference in my town.
It's good you have the luxury of buying locally and talking to other model railroaders face to face. I wish I had that down here. Even if there were local hobby shops down here, I doubt that they would be able to fulfill my old time On30 needs.
I do understand that, Terry, and wonder how anyone can start new in this pastime without a local LHS. Train shows partly fill the need for a couple of days in some ways . But while some vendors, like my friends, are paragons of knowledge and forthrightness, some are morons or worse, snakes.
That's an interesting way to put it describing the variety of vendors. I'm happy for Youtube so I can least watch others' layouts and projects. I'm happy I have the forum here to interact with others about model railroading especially now that I've gone to On30. I'm on a couple of others but I like this one the best.
This thread has gotten a bit off topic so I will say this:
I like the WGH when it comes to Edison NJ about every two years. The manufacturers show off there latest wares and I get to see touch feel them and ask questions.
Then I can shop the vendors for the best deals. It's a bit classier than the average Greenberg Show Morr trains less toys Wife hates it so I go alone.
Since neither of us have been to any train shows before, my wife has agreed to go with me. I am pretty sure for the future it will be just me, although she actually seems interested in going at least this once.
There is no local hobby store for model railroading where I live, so the WGH show in Houston will be interesting.
Take only enough cash you're willing to spend or you could end up broke for the rest of the week. ;D
Good advice. If I bought all I wanted to, I might also have to confess to what I have bought already but now need to complete by buying more..... Harvey interrupted my past plans, so beginning to regroup and get some ideas at the show.
If nothing else, buy more track. And turnouts. Even if they're all busted up, there's at least something you can use. And you can never have too much track. Because eventually, something will happen to that one special piece, and you're going to need a replacement.
Which, coincidentally, is why I'll be buying a lot of track this weekend in Timonium, MD. I'm moving from Life-Like Power Loc to Bachmann EZ Trak and other brands of snap-track. While (I believe) the Power Loc has a slightly superior electrical connectivity, it's becoming harder and harder to find second-hand. Whereas every other table at train shows has a box of track, and about every third box of that will be HO.