WGH Chicago/Schaumburg Show

Great pictures. Three of my club members went to the WGH and said it was really nice. They also said if anybody thinks this is a dying hobby needs to go to one of these shows. I didn't go because we have three new club members and it was their first meeting and I have no money right now. Plus I spent the day running trains.

I went on Saturday and had a great time. Bought a Santa Fe Warbonnet Gondala (6-26679) for a steal of a price and visited most of the booths. I was very happy to see that it was jam packed with people of all ages.

Truly the world's greatest hobby!

DennyM posted:

They also said if anybody thinks this is a dying hobby needs to go to one of these shows. 

Very true Denny!! Wall to wall families at these shows every time it comes to town.

What club are you a member of? 

BNSF-Matt posted:

I went on Saturday and had a great time. Bought a Santa Fe Warbonnet Gondala (6-26679) for a steal of a price and visited most of the booths. I was very happy to see that it was jam packed with people of all ages.

Truly the world's greatest hobby!

Gotta love the bargains when you find them!!! 

It was jam packed today as well and we got there at 1:00. People were still coming through the gates when we left at 3pm for a show that closes at 5. Great to see!!!!

I went to the show too.Lots of interesting displays to see.Tons of little kids that seemed to really fascinated with seeing all the trains running at the show.The people that put on this show deserve a lot of credit for introducing the hobby to a new generation.

I was there today also and had a great time checking things out.

Lot of young families out on a frigid day 4 below at my house.

I got a kick out of the giant HO helix 21.5 feet tall!

franktrain

The boy and I ended up going as well - it was packed when we arrived at 12 PM.  My son thoroughly enjoyed himself watching the layouts, playing at the wooden train tables, and running the LC sets Lionel had set up to run at "kid level".  I can't help but think this was a success for the organizers and the hobby in general!

For those of you that also went to Trainfest, how would you compare the two shows?

Art

franktrain posted:

I got a kick out of the giant HO helix 21.5 feet tall!

franktrain

Yes, That was cool to see!! 

Hi Art

In my experience, WGH Shows are like a "mini" Trainfest, and seem to have more dealers and vendors than layouts. At least that's the how the WGH shows we did with IHMD were.   Trainfest is mostly all about layouts and is a much larger show.

Both shows are a great way to get the hobby in front of the public, especially families and children.

Hope all is well.

I thought Trainfest was larger and had more vendors.

Chugman posted:

For those of you that also went to Trainfest, how would you compare the two shows?

 

Art

Art, I would rate Trainfest much higher for the dedicated hobbiest. The Milwaukee show has a lot more exhibitors like Scenic Express, Woodland Scenics, Evan Designs, NJ Industrial and Model Tech Studios, Ross Custom Switches, etc that are selling product   

However, WGH is great for families and those getting into the hobby as well on a more traditional level.  Just not as much depth on the for sale side. That being said, Ross Custom Switches was present as was Z Stuff, Berwyn's Toys and Trains and Grzyboski's. Well worth the $7 advance ticket price  

So if you made me pick only one show it would have to be Trainfest

WGH does an amazing job of promoting the hobby to families  with all of the big manufacturers present with their awesome display booths. You also would be hard pressed to find another show that lets so many kids run trains in a command control environment thanks to Lionel and MTH  

Thanks, guys.

Art

The show was geared towards showcasing what is available in the hobby. So there was not just O but a lot of HO and N gauge and some of the others.

We got there 15 minutes before opening and the parking lot was overflowing. Looking at the crowd coming in we thought there was something else going on as it wasn't the usual DuPage show gang.

There were a lot of layouts there to see. 

As far as buying things there were some opportunities. Grybowski's saved the day for me. I found some nice older items at good prices. 

Grybowski's is always a welcome and pleasant surprise at a local train show.  Any local dealers other than Berwyn Hobby?

Art

Chugman posted:

Grybowski's is always a welcome and pleasant surprise at a local train show.  Any local dealers other than Berwyn Hobby?

Art

 

Always makes me wonder how a vendor from PA can travel all the way to Chicago, yet our Lionel store in Itasca doesn't have a presence?? While we were in the Grzyboski booth I saw several families walking out with sets!

My father-in-law is a retired dairy worker. We found a Bowman Dairy Milk Car (Chicago until 1966) at Grzyboski's, had to have it.   

Art

Denny's Trains & Things was there.  I also saw them listed for being at Indianapolis show a couple weeks back. 

Jeff T posted:

Always makes me wonder how a vendor from PA can travel all the way to Chicago, yet our Lionel store in Itasca doesn't have a presence?? While we were in the Grzyboski booth I saw several families walking out with sets!

Because its hard enough to move brand new stuff at MSRP much lesss 10-15 year old stuff at MSRP.

I'd love to buy locally but those Itasca boys are out of touch. They could be a much bigger player not unlike some of the forum sponsors if they would just discount SOMETHING.

Certainly the inflated prices aren't going to attract any newcomers that might have become interested because of the show.

When your asking more for a dusty TMCC loco, than its newer legacy version with whistle smoke and a lower MSRP......good luck. Then theres always the bonus of the "hobby shop regulars/buddies" that hover around the counter, never buying anything, and hamper a paying customer getting served.

It is odd that shops hundreds of miles away ( say a Mr. Muffin) will bend over backwards, yet the local guy could give a rats @#$

Berwyns is a much nicer store and their prices are fair, I must also compliment Chicagoland Hobbys as I purchased one of the last VL reefers sets from them that was available anywhere and it wasn't at some inflated price.

bigtruckpete posted:

Great show this weekend especially with the weather being what it was. -15 with the wind chill. Still had huge crowds yesterday and today enjoying the trains. All of the manufacturers were there albeit  most with smaller displays or less hardware to display. This was totally fine since this is a get the kids and families involved show not truly aimed at those already addicted!! 

 

MTH did a nice job adding the HO to their layout and it seems with only one control system they were able to showcase all their products of various sizes to all their potential customers of various sizes.

BobbyD posted:

bigtruckpete posted:

Great show this weekend especially with the weather being what it was. -15 with the wind chill. Still had huge crowds yesterday and today enjoying the trains. All of the manufacturers were there albeit  most with smaller displays or less hardware to display. This was totally fine since this is a get the kids and families involved show not truly aimed at those already addicted!! 

 

MTH did a nice job adding the HO to their layout and it seems with only one control system they were able to showcase all their products of various sizes to all their potential customers of various sizes.

Yes they did a great job adding HO. They also did a good job demonstrating the speed limiter function!!! Note the screen shot shows a speed limit of 30smph!!  The kids were more interested in blasting the horn than speed and with full smoke output a lot of fun was being had. 

I attended the WGH show in Long Beach back in 2005 and was impressed by the number of families in attendance. WGH is one of the best "outreach" show I've seen. I just wish they'd hit a venue closer to home.