Model Railroading > National Train Show in Kansas City

Just left the National Train Show in Kansas City and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement...few national manufacturers, few quality vendors and uninspiring layouts. 41 minutes from time I arrived until I walked out the door....most likely my last train show I will attend in Kansas City...any one else have any thoughts?

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Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/18 12:03 by livesteamer.

Same here Marty.  I think we are just getting old and don't get turned on by "modern railroad engines and cars".  Last show I went to I was gone in 20 minutes.

I expected to see more "paper", hardware, etc. The Amherst Show in Springfield, MA is truly incredible

Posted from Android

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/18 12:44 by livesteamer.

livesteamer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I expected to see more "paper", hardware, etc.
> The Amherst Show in Springfield, MA is truly
> incredible
>
> Posted from Android

I've been to two "National Train Shows" and neither one had much, if any, "paper".
They have the stuff like the layouts and such to keep their intended audience, young families, entertained.

I think the National Train Show has become a niche market. You can't deny KC is a railroad town but the show itself does cater to a certain crowd. EVERY show anymore has a niche crowd. The trouble may be that people have to go to certain shows to find that specific show that caters to their needs. There was a LOT of people on Friday when the show opened but I was only there for a couple of hours myself. I personally get a lot more out of a protoype builder show than the National show. It was still a good time. 

I went to the National Train Show last year in Orlando and is was ok. It had four nice layouts and one good dealer from ND. Other then that it was mostly displays from the modeling company's. It was not forth the step price to get in.

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I am blessed to live only 90 minutes from the Springfield show......been going for decades....never disappointed....on the contrary, the NMRA is looking out for the future of the hobby by catering to families, though.  While experienced modelers may not have been happy...perhaps the families likely had a better time?  If so then they are helping all of us.....

Bob 

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> livesteamer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I expected to see more "paper", hardware, etc.
> > The Amherst Show in Springfield, MA is truly
> > incredible
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> I've been to two "National Train Shows" and
> neither one had much, if any, "paper".
> They have the stuff like the layouts and such to
> keep their intended audience, young families,
> entertained.

I thought it was among some of the best layouts I've seen at a Kansas City show and there was a lot of talent to be seen.  My friends and I had a great time visiting with vendors, other modelers, and even bought a few things.  

I plan on going back tomorrow as I had my son with me today and he didn't want to spend the time at the show. I did manage to pick up a Genesis ATSF GP7u Tsunami 2 from Spring Creek for 251.00 including tax. I manly went to speak with Fred Hill of The Coach Yard and talk to Walthers as well.
Cheers
Charlie
MP 52.8 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

I thought the show was comparable to others. Major vendors were represented and they were friendly and knowledgable.  Although it didn't seem as crowded with visitors as past shows, the amount of lay-outs was very good and vendor's supplies were ample.  It seems the compaints listed above were from people who model older eras and are more used to variety.  Sorry dads, things are hanging in the hobby.  Get over it!

Having attended several and helped vendors at a few, the NMRA National Train Show is primarily to get to talk to the manufacturers (there are not many chances to do that) and to see the displays...   The vendor spots are so expensive that it is a surprise to find bargains (20 years ago there were more bargains at them than in recent years, but there are still a few sellers like Spring Creek that are reasonable and nice to see) and such that the vendors are not going to break even selling parts or cheap items.   If you had to spend $1,000+ for a very small vendor space at a National Train Show would you be selling $2 items or trying to sell $200+ locos?

Sadly I would have to agree and say that this show was not nearly as good as I had hoped. I went to this show 20 or so years ago when it was in KC and it was GREAT. So great that I went to the show the next year in Minnesota which was really good also. Both were some of the biggest shows I had ever seen. The only other NMRA national show I went to was in Seattle about 15 years ago and it was pretty good too but I went as a vendor so it was a different experience.

The layouts at this show were still pretty good but to me it was the amount of good dealers that was the big difference. Spring Creek is truly becoming a "national" dealer and that is cool because if you've ever been to the town they operate out of, it may be smaller then the convention center in which this show was held. Dave and Deb and their team are truly a gift to this hobby. In an age where there are a few major players on the internet that rule the train market place they seem to be flourishing which is great.

In the end I think it is the fact that the major shops online have changed the game not only in your local hobby shop world but at a big show such as this. 20 years ago I went to this show trying to find something that I couldn't get locally and then I'd look for good deals. There were still some good deals to be found in KC this year but there just didn't seem to be the variety I remember from the past. Their were still some really good layouts, but its just not the same. I definitely only needed one day to get through this show.

I will also say that on Friday the crowds seemed sparse at best. I'm guessing over the weekend they picked up with the younger kids coming to see the trains but as of Friday I'm sure those running the show were less then pleased by the attendance. That was a major difference from the past shows I had attended.

You must have visited a different show than I was at.  All the major national model railroad manufacturers were present and nearly all had new product launches at the show.  I am amazed at the quality of new models and the ingenuity that manufacturers and smaller vendors are using.  

More  than half of the show floor- which took us a full day to make our way through- was devoted to operating high quality model train layouts.  This included everything from large LEGO layouts all the way through the usual HO and N layouts to some neat Z scale displays.  

This is is not a swap meet.  If the OP thought they were coming up to be able to buy someone’s dusty basement collection for a few cents on the dollar, I can understand their feelings.  But, this is the National Train Show- not a local swap meet.  Wait for the annual Turkey Creek show for that!  I did purchase some rolling stock, detail parts and craftsman structure kits from vendors and was happy with the prices I paid.  

Overall, I have been very impressed with the NMRA Convention, Layout Tours, Operation Sessions and Prototype Tours offered in KC this eeek.  I think the committee did a great job and the convention had a good turnout.  I foresee KC getting the nod to host again from NMRA in coming years.

People go to the show looking for bargains and then post how LHS are closing and what a tragedy this is.

Since I started this discussion, it is important to note that I am comparing all shows against the Amherst Model Railroad Club's annual winter show in Springfield, MA at the Big "E"....now that is a show that can take at least 2 full days to visit

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Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

Marty, perhaps you should compare it to the Summer or Fall shows at Amherst... (crickets...) 

I will agree that the NMRA show is not the size it used to be (Columbus, Valley Forge, Atlanta, St Paul nearly two decades ago were all much larger).  But still, saying you were in and out in 40 minutes has to be exaggerating when some of the online video summaries I have seen of the KC show (summaries that didn't show everything, skipped several manufacturers, and only offered brief glimses at some of the nice layouts) are over 45 minutes in length...
...
BTW, what "national manufacturers" were not at KC?

The NMRA National Train Show vendor/manufacturer spaces are much more expensive than Big E shows or any other shows (with stricter rules too), and it is not a train show that a ton of vendors brings the same junque to every year hoping to make sales to the people who only have that one show a year...  The NMRA show - which is geared toward modelers and not railfans - is also not a railroadiana show where "paper"/timetables/china/hardware are sold - and never has been...  (I've heard best shows for that are in Gaithersburg, MD and Atlanta once a year in addition to Big E)

Rapido (yes, I know, Canadian), I do not recall seeing MRC or Athearn....maybe in my 41 minutes I missed them

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Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/18 13:19 by livesteamer.

Athearn, Kato, Walthers, Broadway Limited, MTH, ScaleTrains, Tangent, Intermountain, Atlas, Bachmann, Lionel... and many others... were all there at the National Train Show in KC.  And there's online videos to see what they had...
Here's one by jlwii2000 on Youtube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LxzNkzbeGg .   Note: Atlas had not yet set fully set up when he did that, and so he went back later and did an Atlas summary on his FB page

Rapido wasn't there and as Jason explained in another thread here on TO that was due to relative expense with a trip to the National Train show being more than Big E and Trainfest combined.  (He makes some other good points in his comments there)