Sure has been quiet on the fora about this show.
It used to be the “Cats Meow”.
John, there were a number of folks that attended the Southwest Garden RR Show at the Fairplex this year and many visited both shows.
As most folks are aware, the BTS is now an all scale show rather than exclusively Large Scale and unlike previous years, there was no live steam track at the BTS. The SWGRS had a dual track Live Steam track setup in the exhibition hall. Many of the attenders brought their Live Steam consists to run.
The Fairplex hosted an MLS Members Run on the layout on Saturday from 8:30 in the morning until 8 that night. About 15 members brought trains to run. Most of the trains were battery/R/C controlled and ran flawlessly all day. 4 participants had track powered consists which ran superbly as well. The Fairplex layout is all DC track powered, is immaculately maintained and the Fairplex Railroad Staff and Volunteers did a fabulous job the entire day.
The evening concluded with a Pizza party and conversation while trains continued to run.
The BTS was well attended but the number of Large Scale vendors was down. The space taken up by the layouts was larger than the vendor area. Layouts were all scales and gauges from Z to G. The Z gauge module is an absolute wonder. One of the locomotives running was a customized UP Challenger running under full DCC and sound control. It was all brass and had a price tag of over $1500 before DCC/Sound conversion.
Many were concerned that both shows going head to head on the same weekend was not the best situation. However, as stated above, many attended both shows.
There will be a fall Large Scale show held at the Fairplex during the first weekend in November 2010. Saturday and Sunday the 6th and 7th.
I went to both shows on Saturday. The only good thing about the whole weekend was the MLS gathering at the Fairplex. hat was a really great evening.
Stan,
Was that scheduling by the Fairplex group a direct conflict with BTS to see what would happen, or coincidental?
I heard that when BTS moved from the Queen Mary, things started to go downhill.
I used to look forward to the news and pics from the BTS.
Hopefully the fall show will be better. I heard from one of the vendors at Fairplex that the show scheduling “difficulties” were because one of the promoters got stubborn. I don’t think that will happen again.
John… I certainly don’t know all the details or all the motivation, but I think the SWGRS was held to be a “Large Scale” show while the BTS has gone to all scales.
When the BTS moved to Ontario from the QM, it wasn’t the same nostalgic show. The Ontario Convention Center is a much bigger and better facility, but things “changed”. Different rules, different management, etc. So things changed. Last year the show went all scales and some people were very unhappy with that. Hence, the SWGRS came into light.
Like Doug said, I don’t think they will ever be on the same weekend again. 
Just my opinion.