Large Scale Central

Would you attend a Train Show if?

General Discussion
#1

I posted this here in the general forum to get feedback from you, We have the opportunity to do a 2 day event in another town a hour closer to NYC, rite off of RT 84 in Middletown NY. Feb 2014

The space is about 50000 square foot and i’m not sure for the 1st few years if we could totally fill it with trains till the word got out about the show. Anyways i was thinking of maybe adding some craft vendors for the wife’s and maybe some toy dealers as well to fill the place up.

Of course I would put them altogether in there own section of the show in the back of the event.

Would this encourage you to bring your wife’s and would you be disappointed if you saw these at a Train/Toy/Crafts Hobby expo. Just looking for a little honest feedback from people.

Thanks Nick

http://kingstontrainshow.com/

#2

Nick,

I think it’s a great idea :slight_smile:

Ralph

#3

The idea is good to fill up the space but what will end up happening is you will get more craft/toy venders then train stuff. This could hurt future shows if your looking to get train people. To me the most disappointing thing is traveling an hour plus to a train show, only to see very little in the way of trains and more of the other stuff.

What weekend in Feb? As long as its not Presidents weekend we can get a live steam track going and prob recruite people for that. Hopefully our club will be able to set something up as well. Contact all the local train clubs that are around the North Jersey southern NY area.

#4

Shawn Viggiano said:

The idea is good to fill up the space but what will end up happening is you will get more craft/toy venders then train stuff.

This is easy enough for Nick to control. He can limit the vendor space for the “other” stuff.

Ralph

#5

Nick,

From personal experience, Greenburgs has operated that way at their Timmonium Md show for years. The craft and doll house vendors in one area(not toy dealers per se) and trains in another half of the hall.

The two don’t interfere with each other, and on occasion I find a piece of scenery in the craft area that I wouldn’t find with the train stuff.

Now if you could also get a small fasteners dealer, and scratch building suppliers to set up stands, even better.

#6

Dave Marconi said:

…Now if you could also get a small fasteners dealer, and scratch building suppliers to set up stands, even better.

This was a big hit at R/C shows I attended in the past. The “hardware” folks sold screws, fasteners, dremel tools, etc. They did a great amount of business. Someone selling Plastruct/Evergreen could do well too.

#7

I think adding Train/Craft/Toys together for a show is a great Idea… It wouldn’t make any difference to my wife as to whether she’d come or not, cause, fortunately, she’s into the trains as much as I am… However, she might try and spend more money on the other stuff…

#8

Hey Nick,

I don’t know much about east coast shows, but our club put on a two day show for several years at our local fair grounds. You will find that most venders will travel farther for a 2 day show then for a 1 day show because it is more lucrative for them.

We had vendors coming from several states away that would not attend the 1 day shows put on by other clubs just 30 miles away in Spokane, Washington.

I don’t know about sharing the show with Crafts & Toys, but I’m sure if you advertised to all the local clubs you could get enough displays to fill the area.

Chuck

#9

Greenberg USED to be marketed as a “Train, Toy, and Dollhouse” show, and the venues i attended were always mobbed… Then came new management. First they ran off the Dollhouse folks, then they refused to take the primarily toy dealer’s applications.

The last one I was a vendor at, in a once BOOMING, vendor waiting list venue, they GAVE me 3 extra tables to help make the hall look “full”. (Yes, it’s gotten better after Klambake got out of running it)

All in all, every extra paying vendor or customer through the gate is worth more $$ to you than the (few) guys who will choose to stay home

Does that help to answer your question from a business standpoint?

#10

Oh, and if your main concern is just “filling” the space, invite your local ride-on live steam club or Model Engineering folks to come put up a display, too.

#11

The N scale club here in STL puts on a fairly decent show once a year with about 15,000 square feet. However, they’re marketing about half towards families with kids (about half the space is layouts). It seems to do really well here as more of a “swap meet” type atmosphere compared to the larger shows. In St. Louis, at least, I don’t really see anything much larger doing all that well–all of the independent hobby shops on the west side of the river seem to be doing poorly or have already closed; I’m not sure if that’s due to generic economic troubles or the hobby here in general.

I can definitely see something with more of toy/crafts being larger, though. Again, this is 15,000 feet of -only- trains. I recall the craziness of the old Greenberg shows (admittedly, they probably seemed even larger to a 6-8 year old), and this definitely isn’t that–though the contingent of younger kids and parents seems much higher. Might be a target to aim for–it’s probably easier to convince clubs to set up than it is to attract dealers.

I’ll concur with Mik’s statement about larger scale clubs. In addition, the shows here frequently have a table or two from the local railroad museum with a few artifacts and some volunteers doing recruitment.

#12

Let me also add this. Klambake came to the conclusion that “train only” venues were a great idea from their flawed, and very biased, surveys.

They asked folks who subscribed to their (railroad/toy train) rags, folks who stopped at THEIR booths, and guys carrying large/multiple packages (like sets) out of the shows.

Funny that they got the answer they wanted to hear, ain’t it?

Another question is, what quality of “crafts” are you contemplating? Refrigerator magnets and “wood ‘n’ wire whimseys”? or Quilts, carvings, small sculptures, and paintings? Around here they mostly BUY crap and take pictures to copy anything really nice.

#13

It wouldn’t tempt me to bring my wife because I consider train shows ‘my time’. BUT I do think it’s a good idea and would most definitely draw more people. Also, I have to agree with the two day venue. Owning a display, I don’t do 1 day shows. It’s not worth my time to drag everything out for just a day.

#14

My wife likes trains and crafts so I’d have a better chance of bringing her. She gets bored though when I talk for hours on minute details.

The additional distraction of the crafts would help I believe.

Greg

#15

Nick,

would the show be a large scale train show or a general show? Within a few hours of you there are 5 general shows which like the Greenburg show have crafts. For large scalers there is very little or nothing to see. Example the Amherst show. Secondly all have the same vendors. Would an additional show draw enough to see the same vendors? What would be an eye catcher to have people attend yours vs Greenburg. This has been a problem up here in western NY. Same ole Same ole. thus many shows are not renewing.

#16

Nick- One of the largest train shows in Buffalo (74,000 Sq. Ft.) includes crafts and toys but also includes many local museum and preservation groups that are railroad related- Medina Train Museum, Steel Plant Museum of Western New York, Central Terminal Restoration Corp., etc. Perhaps there are some local ‘museum’ groups in your area that might help fill some empty space.

To answer your initial question: I wouldn’t be discouraged to attend a show just because of some craft vendors- they’re easy to just pass by.

-Kevin.

#17

Diesel, you taking about the show at the Hamburg Fairgrounds?

They also included a setup by the Live Steam group, Niagara Frontier LS. In fact I joined NFLS because of their presence at the show. I was with them until the day I left for Pennsylvania, and even now I’ll go back and visit them once in a while… even if the largest LS unit I ever get is an Aristo Mike, lol.

#18

JD- Yep, that’s the one! Real big show. Sometimes theres actually quite a bit of large scale stuff. Speaking of the NFLS- My next door neighbor, Ed was one of the founding members of the club. He used to build all of his ‘ride on sized’ large scale engines and rolling stock in his basement. He installed a lift to get them up and out into the garage. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago. His son Joe is still actively involved with the club. I run into him at the Fairgrounds show every November and February. They like to yank my chain and tell me, “It’s not a train unless you can actually ride on it.” I’ll need a bigger budget for that.

-Kevin.

#19

Andy Clarke said:

I think adding Train/Craft/Toys together for a show is a great Idea… It wouldn’t make any difference to my wife as to whether she’d come or not, cause, fortunately, she’s into the trains as much as I am… However, she might try and spend more money on the other stuff…

Space, have to think of space in van.

#20

Space??? What space???