Do you plan on finding what you want at a show?

When I go to a local show I never have anything in mind and buy on impulse.  However when I go to York its always with a shopping list and then some impulse buys as there is always something tempting.

Steve

Well I never count on finding what I want, but I always plan on finding something I decide to buy.

We were just talking about that after this month's DuPage show.  If you go every month and have reasonable expectations you can usually find what you want at a good price.  Even the hard to find items show up from time to time like the recent K-Line 21" El Capitan Hi-levels.

Art

I usually have several items in mind, either parts or trains. and I always hunt thru the junk boxes, so I never know what I might find!

I always have a list, but I'm always open to impulse buying

Impulse buying makes the MOST sense.

I always have a list of things that I would like to buy, and if I see one at a good price, it comes home with me. Then again, sometimes I see something new that immediately gets added to the list, then checked off as I buy it. I guess that would be an impulse buy lol.

Both.

I typically have a list of items I want and haven't been able to find through my normal supply channels. I look closely for these items first, then I usually go back to get some things I found interesting that weren't on my list.

I go with low expectations so I can be ecstatic if I make a "gold strike".  Usually, I

don't find in a show, but on the net, specific things I am looking for...in shows I

find something I didn't know I was looking for...if I am lucky.

That's usually how I do it but I do find myself after getting home saying,

"I FORGOT TO LOOK FOR...!!!"

Jerry

What usually happens to me is I feel better about the prices I have been paying online.  Once in a while I find something but I mainly go to see the layouts and to support the show. We don't have much in the way of hobby shops in this area so this is about the only way for new people to see the hobby in person. 

When I lived in Virginia and went to shows in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland I looked for specific items and often found them. Now that I'm in Arizona it's random - if I find something I want, fine, and if not it's cheap entertainment. There's just a lot more stuff to choose from back East (or at that show on the outskirts of Chicago, etc.). 

I don't always know what I want until I see it at a show!

Aside from a few small repair parts its the fun of looking at what's on offer at the local shows I attend. Almost always wind up with something I sometimes didn't even know existed. Small outlay and a great deal of fun.

Scotie

I attend local shows mainly to buy parts.  It's a bonus if I find junkers, with good parts, i.e. whistle or smoke unit, at a really low price.

I enjoy seeing friends and just perusing the aisles to see what some people bring and see what they think items will bring.

I don't normally go with the intent of finding an item to add to my PRR collection.

I attend shows with no expectations and I'm never disappointed. How ever before I go I always review what I might need and if there's a lot of things then I'll make a list so I make a point of visiting the tables that are most likely to have the items.

I have a good friend who always has a table and I make a point of staying away from it and talking to him while he's taking a break. Otherwise I know I'll be bringing home something really cool at a very good price that I don't need and will eventually end up taking up valuable storage space.

Darn Ernie, almost got me on that under the bed 5 x 3 O27 figure 8 layout  a couple weeks back. the switches alone were worth more than the asking price.

Its been a while since I've had an active want list. When I did, it usually took a lot of shows (including York) to find my wants. There were items that I never did get, but I lost interest in actively hunting them. I guess I'd buy some of them if found at a reasonable price.

I often have a list of items I'm looking for, but it's more of buying something I see that I like or can use if it's there and the price is right.

Looking for something special adds to the fun of a train show. Whether you find it or not is something else. At the last York I attended I found exactly what I was looking for and at a great price. More often, though, it is an impulse buy.

We were just talking about this last evening. I normally have a list of what I am looking for. Some items on this list I typically expect to find by going to a big Meet like York. Some items I know are really hard to find, so my expectation is tempered.

This hold true for the upcoming York. Part of what I am looking for is a 5-pack set of K-Line 21" Surfliner passenger cars in the gloss finish. I will be very pleasantly surprised to find these.

Both....

--Greg

I don't actually plan on finding anything specific, but I can hope, with the help of my want list.  It always goes with me, but is getting shorter.  I generally pick up an impulse buy, however:  There is just too much that I never knew existed.  It's fun!