Any News from O Scale West?

I was there on Friday, only.

There was a lot of new in box Engines and cars for sale from "estates".

It seemed like a good turnout for Memorial Holiday weekend show.

I was look for cheap brass engines and projects, and found some.

I only spent $200 total cash and could have spent thousands more.

The clinics were very good and different from past years.

I was able to visit two layouts after show times, that I had not seen before.

In all, It was a very nice show in a nice hotel ballroom with ample free parking.

I attended both Friday and Saturday.  As in the past, the ballroom was filled with items for sale by private sellers.  There were many estate sales.  I saw hundreds of beautiful 2-rail engines and cars from nearly all the manufacturers.  You could probably find anything that you wanted in 2-rail O at the event.  I thought that attendance was pretty light compared to past OSWs that I have attended.  

I was primarily looking for 3-rail trains and found some.  There were no major O gauge dealers.  An S scale dealer may have been present but I am not sure.  Sunset/3rd Rail and Key were present as well as some parts manufacturers. Kohs was not there.  I had a brief talk with Scott Mann of 3rd Rail about his relationship with Lionel and his taking on the ERR business.   As has been reported elsewhere on this forum, 3rd Rail is in the process of hiring staff and getting setup to sell ERR products.  It will be several months before this happens.

I have seen most of the layouts open for tours.  I didn't go to any of the layouts.  Traffic in the Bay Area was really bad last weekend.  I had to park a mile from the hotel on Saturday because the City College of San Jose graduation ceremony was being held in the hall adjacent to the OSW ballroom.  OSW is held directly across the street from the new 49er football stadium.  The hotel, convention center and stadium are always busy.

Four modular groups attended:  1.  the Orange County 2-Rail O Scale modular group; 2.  an S scale group; 3. the Yosemite Valley Short Line On30 group; and  4.  the Golden Gate 3-rail O gauge group.

The hotel bar served a great hamburger at what I thought was a reasonable price for a hotel.  Or to put it another way, I have paid more for much less at other hotels.    

I enjoyed visiting with many of the sellers and friends who at the meet.  Many TCA friends were there.  All in all, it was a very pleasant event.  I am looking forward to OSW next year.  

NH Joe

New Haven Joe posted:

I attended both Friday and Saturday.  As in the past, the ballroom was filled with items for sale by private sellers.  There were many estate sales.  I saw hundreds of beautiful 2-rail engines and cars from nearly all the manufacturers.  You could probably find anything that you wanted in 2-rail O at the event.  I thought that attendance was pretty light compared to past OSWs that I have attended.  

I was primarily looking for 3-rail trains and found some.  There were no major O gauge dealers.  An S scale dealer may have been present but I am not sure.  Sunset/3rd Rail and Key were present as well as some parts manufacturers. Kohs was not there.  I had a brief talk with Scott Mann of 3rd Rail about his relationship with Lionel and his taking on the ERR business.   As has been reported elsewhere on this forum, 3rd Rail is in the process of hiring staff and getting setup to sell ERR products.  It will be several months before this happens.

I have seen most of the layouts open for tours.  I didn't go to any of the layouts.  Traffic in the Bay Area was really bad last weekend.  I had to park a mile from the hotel on Saturday because the City College of San Jose graduation ceremony was being held in the hall adjacent to the OSW ballroom.  OSW is held directly across the street from the new 49er football stadium.  The hotel, convention center and stadium are always busy.

Four modular groups attended:  1.  the Orange County 2-Rail O Scale modular group; 2.  an S scale group; 3. the Yosemite Valley Short Line On30 group; and  4.  the Golden Gate 3-rail O gauge group.

The hotel bar served a great hamburger at what I thought was a reasonable price for a hotel.  Or to put it another way, I have paid more for much less at other hotels.    

I enjoyed visiting with many of the sellers and friends who at the meet.  Many TCA friends were there.  All in all, it was a very pleasant event.  I am looking forward to OSW next year.  

NH Joe

 

Thanks for the update!

When I went to OSW I flew in and took the bus to the trolley and then took the trolley everywhere.  Super convenient.

Can't wait to do it again.

Please post pictures of meet for those of us living on the East Coast!

Thanks

nyccollector1 posted:

Please post pictures of meet for those of us living on the East Coast!

Thanks

I didn't take any photos during the 2018 OSW.  NH Joe

I was there Friday morning and the attendance was light;  however, there were several tables of engines and passenger cars from the  Gibson estate including Key, PSC and a lot of Sunset.  Most  had been upgraded and the prices were more than reasonable.  Picked up a Santa Fe mountain on a great deal (or so I thought).  Fewer dealers than in the past but as mentioned, several estate sales.  Key, Rich Yoder and 3rd Rail were there (if I understood Scott correctly, the E6 is late summer).

Allan

I grabbed a few quick overall shots.

Shawn Branstetter had a very nice looking diorama...

Shawn watching Jay Criswell unpack a just-completed P:48 conversion of a Key Alco RS2...

Beautiful scratch built brass IGN Eagle dome car from Bill Basden...

And (sorry, only an end shot) of Bill Yancey's scratch built Insulbrick Soo Line depot...with completely scratch built window frames...

It looks like a show I would have liked. Thanks for the posts. Someday....

Well it has been reported that the owner of the Mopac Dome car, was absolutely insulted with the results in the Model contest results. That car was 95% brass scratch built with and cast resin interiors and comes out with a 3 rd place ribbon , a book binder was provided to show the work  involved with 85 photo's, not to mention it took 18 months to complete. the  Other winners were PSC imports badly painted and some interiors.

He will never inter any more contest in the future, and is justified in his comments on this forum.

Bob

And that's what happens with a strictly popular vote contest. That was one reason we changed that in Chicago when we took over the contest. I am not saying everyone is happy with the NMRA style judging but it dose give builders a big leg up on someone who enters a car they bought, had painted and toss into a contest.

Bob Harris posted:

Well it has been reported that the owner of the Mopac Dome car, was absolutely insulted with the results in the Model contest results. That car was 95% brass scratch built with and cast resin interiors and comes out with a 3 rd place ribbon , a book binder was provided to show the work  involved with 85 photo's, not to mention it took 18 months to complete. the  Other winners were PSC imports badly painted and some interiors.

He will never inter any more contest in the future, and is justified in his comments on this forum.

Bob

As mentioned above, it wasn't a model contest.  It was a popular vote contest.  The MoPac car was very impressive and most likely would have won in a contest judged by professional judges.  However, it had tough competition from models of SP cars in the heart of SP territory being judged by mostly SP fans and modelers.  I suggest that the builder enter his car in a contest where the judges would be professional and objective.  NH Joe

Other than the judges not being fair, sounds like a great event. I wish I knew about this, I'll definitely have to go next year.

GenesisFan99 posted:

Other than the judges not being fair,

Judges? Per the explanation posted above, the "judges" were actually the people attending the show/swap, i.e. the public. Thus there were really no formal judges. No different than a "Peoples Choice" automobile show.

sounds like a great event. I wish I knew about this, I'll definitely have to go next year.

Hot Water posted:

GenesisFan99 posted:

Other than the judges not being fair,

Judges? Per the explanation posted above, the "judges" were actually the people attending the show/swap, i.e. the public. Thus there were really no formal judges. No different than a "Peoples Choice" automobile show.

sounds like a great event. I wish I knew about this, I'll definitely have to go next year.

 

not know about this?????????????????????? this is the 28th year it has been held in the Bay area at the great Hyatt hotel. 4000 sq ft show room and layouts.

Bob Harris posted:

Hot Water posted:

GenesisFan99 posted:

Other than the judges not being fair,

Judges? Per the explanation posted above, the "judges" were actually the people attending the show/swap, i.e. the public. Thus there were really no formal judges. No different than a "Peoples Choice" automobile show.

sounds like a great event. I wish I knew about this, I'll definitely have to go next year.

 

not know about this?????????????????????? this is the 28th year it has been held in the Bay area at the great Hyatt hotel. 4000 sq ft show room and layouts.

I've never heard of it until this thread. Never saw a flyer or anything anywhere, I guess my LHS didn't know about it either. I'm only 16 so I haven't been around long enough to appreciate the 28 years this has been held, began long before my time.

 

I've never heard of it until this thread. Never saw a flyer or anything anywhere, I guess my LHS didn't know about it either. I'm only 16 so I haven't been around long enough to appreciate the 28 years this has been held, began long before my time.

Peter,  Welcome to the forum.  At 16 you must be one of the youngest forum members.  It looks as if you are getting a good start with your Amtrak modeling.  O Scale West is not one of the better known trains shows so it is unsurprising that you haven't heard about it before.  It is worth attending if you are interested in O scale equipment.  Perhaps you will be able to visit Bay Area for the show someday.  

Another show that my interest you is the Cal-Stewart show that is held in Southern CA around Thanksgiving each year.  You can Google it for the show dates.  This is primarily a 3-rail O gauge show.  The show has moved around in the LA area during the past few years.  I don't know where it will be held this year.

Again, welcome to the forum.  NH Joe

New Haven Joe posted:

 

I've never heard of it until this thread. Never saw a flyer or anything anywhere, I guess my LHS didn't know about it either. I'm only 16 so I haven't been around long enough to appreciate the 28 years this has been held, began long before my time.

Peter,  Welcome to the forum.  At 16 you must be one of the youngest forum members.  It looks as if you are getting a good start with your Amtrak modeling.  O Scale West is not one of the better known trains shows so it is unsurprising that you haven't heard about it before.  It is worth attending if you are interested in O scale equipment.  Perhaps you will be able to visit Bay Area for the show someday.  

Another show that my interest you is the Cal-Stewart show that is held in Southern CA around Thanksgiving each year.  You can Google it for the show dates.  This is primarily a 3-rail O gauge show.  The show has moved around in the LA area during the past few years.  I don't know where it will be held this year.

Again, welcome to the forum.  NH Joe

Thank you Joe. I researched the Cal Stewart show and I regret missing it last year. Around Thanksgiving a customer had mentioned to me there was a train show the next weekend and I missed it. Spent the day selling my boss' trains instead. 

These shows look like a lot of fun, plenty of cool layouts. I'm sure at the O Scale West show there's plenty of brass to drool over, sounds like my kind of show.

 

These shows look like a lot of fun, plenty of cool layouts. I'm sure at the O Scale West show there's plenty of brass to drool over, sounds like my kind of show.

There are so many fine brass engines and cars at O Scale West that it is overwhelming.  Many sellers have so many brass trains that they don't have enough space to display them all.  One person told me that he had 20 tables.  All of them were piled high with brass engines and cars.  Key had a huge display.  One seller had several tables of Key items for sale.  OSW is the place to be if you are looking for brass.  

Another place to see and buy brass while you are OSW is at 3rd-Rail in San Ramon.  3rd-Rail has a warehouse full of brass O scale trains of all types.  Some is brand new and some is old stock.  You will need to call and arrange a time for your visit because 3rd-Rail isn't usually open for visitors during the OSW show.  Their staff is at OSW instead of being at the office / warehouse.  San Ramon is about 40 miles which equates to about an hour drive from where OSW is held.

NH Joe 

As usual an excellent show.  Lots of brass. Some good deals, some not.  I finally found a Sunset modernized ATSF 2-10-2 and the price was very fair.  Saw almost zero Glacier Park brass.  That stuff is rare!

I thought it was pretty dead.  Statistically better than last year but no Norm Pullen, no Ron Sebastian, no Jimmy Booth, no Beth Marshall but John Smith was in attendance.  

But next year it will be the National so it should be better.

Lord John Smith. Richard you need to throw the SF cars right at his ***. They are the worse things ever built or imported. I have fixed many castings that were glued on not soldered.

you will get you car in due time, that's all I can or care say.