Model Railroading > Amherst show

The Amherst show at West Springfield Mass. has been cancelled ! Sorry to hear this was hoping the world would have returned to semi normal by then. --  Ken 

Ken,

Sounds as thought bigger issue is they lost 1/4 of the vendors to this years shows due to cancellations over Covid and other concerns.  They would've only needed the BLC and Young Building to hold the show.  With such a small number of vendors it probably did not make financial/economic sense to do it this year.  An absolute shame for sure, and will be a big loss for me.  Was going to be debuting new freight cars and DVD's at this show!

Tehachapi-TJ Over & Out

Are the days of the big train shows just about over?  In the post-Wuhan Pandemic, will we ever be able to mingle in such huge crowds as the Springfield show used to draw? Or are virtual shows using ZOOM the wave of the future in our hobby as in so many other industries?

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

Marty, you pose a good question. My secondary hobby is Baseball (Nats, thank you). It will be some time before I feel comfortable sitting next to a stranger in the stands for 3 plus hours. I think it will boil down to vaccine efficacy, public trust of immunization and distribution. The one factor that is different from my Baseball example would be the average age of train show attendees, they tend to be the older more vulnerable group.

Our new world, virtual shows, virtual op sessions, railfanning by public railcams, sigh....

Well, ugggh. That show 5% of our annual retail, but truth told, I I'd been expecting this for a few months now. 

Beyond the economics for the show organizers ( I suspect that they still would have needed more than 2 buildings, in order to spread the vendors) , you have to look at the target demographics of the show. 

Hate to put it bluntly, but this  is an event that any public health professional would cringe at. Both the vendors and the attendees tend to be middle age to older men, a high risk group for severe effects if they do come down with the virus. I'm one of those old farts myself. Add in a group of enthusiastic young kids, who are likely to contract the virus, show no symptoms, and then pass it on in a crowded cattle arena with limited air circulation, and you have a really disturbing scenario. Short of having people dance and sing, its hard to imagine a better environment for virus spread  Saturday noon at that show is a shark tank, ( in a good way, normally),  not sociallly distanced at all, and tough to figure how you could accomplish same. 

 I'm still hopeful for next year, or maybe 2023. 
 
Gardiner Cross
Cripplebush Valley Models

 

One problem with getting it under control is a lot of people are saying they would refuse the vacine.  So it will take even longer to get COVID settled down.  I do miss going to train shows but don't really expect any to be held before fall of 2021 at the very earliest, and more probably 2022.

Cheers,
Jim 

Not for lack of trying.  Plans were in place including rapid testing.  Too many hoops to jump through when all was said and done. 

I feel your pain caused by our current European-sourced Flu. But there has always been danger in mass meetings. At the Great America Show 5 years ago, I got Pneumonia from someone who was unwell but came to the show just the same. Three weeks in bed and loss of 14% of my lung power was the result! Maybe if Amherst would change its show to March or even April, the weather will be warmer and healthier than it is in the very dead of Winter. Then I would travel across the USA to attend it. I would fly out with $$$$bulging from my money belt and Amtrak it home with my sleeper filled with model trains. That's what I do every year with "Winterail" in Oregon which may take place next year, fingers crossed, on March 20-21/2021.  



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/20 17:39 by RRBaron.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> One problem with getting it under control is a lot
> of people are saying they would refuse the
> vacine.  So it will take even longer to get COVID
> settled down.  I do miss going to train shows but
> don't really expect any to be held before fall of
> 2021 at the very earliest, and more probably
> 2022.

??? Won't get their shots--eh? I'm happy that I was in the first group of Saulk Polio Pioneers, you betcha!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/20 23:42 by RRBaron.

march_hare Wrote:
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> Well, ugggh. That show [is] 5% of our annual retail,

I feel your pain and raise you 45%! My show sales were 50% of my business. Now, the shows are all gone along with the steam locomotive, the buffalo and Kodachrome 25!  

Rail Baron Hobbies

I'm not so sure I agree by that's just me. I do not like the idea of cowering in fear every time a new "bug" shows up. And before you all jump all over me I am 65, ex-smoker of 40years and have two cardiac stents so I am in the high risk class. But with simple precautions I have continued my life as I did before the new, can I say, Chinese virus. This is not the first and will not be the last. 

Massachusetts public health regulations currently prohibit indoor gatherings of more than fifty people, and require no more than eight people per 1000 SF of space.  While it possible that restriction could be eased by late January, the increasing case numbers make that unlikely, and the show's organizers need to give sufficient notice to attendees and vendors.  Hopefully things will be different in 2022.

Dave

Chad Wrote:
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> I'm not so sure I agree by that's just me. I do
> not like the idea of cowering in fear every time a
> new "bug" shows up. And before you all jump all
> over me I am 65, ex-smoker of 40years and have two
> cardiac stents so I am in the high risk class. But
> with simple precautions I have continued my life
> as I did before the new, can I say, Chinese virus.
> This is not the first and will not be the last. 

Im sure many in the 220,000 americans that passed felt the same way. You take simple precautions, but others don't. No need to be cowering in the basement, just take percautions.
The virus became political. American's rallied around WW II, doing what needed to be done to win the war.
Now some feel their civil liberties are being infringed upon, acting like spoiled childern because they are asked to wear a mask.
Reminds me of the saying, "We have met the enemy, and they are us". Maybe not exact, but you get what I mean.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/20 18:58 by needles_sub.

Chad Wrote:
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I do > not like the idea of cowering in fear every time a
> new "bug" shows up. 

That's obvious since you were a smoker for 40 years. You're fearless no doubt, but for the rest of us, I'm not so sure!