2019 Fall Train Show Listing

Well, it's that time of year again. As before, I'll highlight the non-confirmed dates in blue.

November is a little odd this year, with five Saturdays, which has several shows a week later than they typically are. That also puts five Sundays in December. I was able to confirm just about all of these already, only one group hasn't updated their website yet, everything else is either from a club or show website or an event calendar, save Fulton I scrolled back through their facebook posts to find a post with this year's date. TTCS doesn't have dates for three events, I posted a best guess based on the week it's been held in the past.

The Glens Falls group's show moved a whole month back to November, remains to be seen if that's permanent.

I included one TCA date; no data on anything between then and Jan. 2020 (they had been doing a show in Cicero opposite GTE and the TTCS show in N. Tonowanda).


September -

9/7-9/8 - Clayton - Thousand Islands Model Train Show, Cerow Recreation Park Arena.
9/7-9/8 - Buffalo - Buffalo Central Terminal Train Show
9/15 - Buffalo (Orchard Park) - TCA Upstate NY Chapter Train Show, Legion Post 3740
9/21-9/22 - Massena - Train, Toy and Collectible Expo, Massena Arena


October -

10/13? - Buffalo (Depew) - TTCS Buffalo Falling Leaves Train Show, Polish Falcons (date TBD)
10/21? - Olean - TTCS Autumn In The Southern Tier Train Show, Olean Intermediate-Middle School (date TBD)
10/26 - Port Jervis - Tri-States Railway Preservation Society Annual Show, Port Jervis High School
10/27 - Kingston - Kingston Model Train & Hobby Show, Murphy Midtown Center (website not updated, this show did not happen in 2018)
10/27 - Scranton, PA - Scranton Model Train Show, Lackawanna Station Hotel

As before that Port Jervis show, the website has not changed "the 4th Saturday in October" with no date noted.

November -

11/2-11/3 - Syracuse - CNY NRHS Great New York State Model Train Fair, NYS Fairgrounds Center of Progress
11/9-11/10 - Fulton - Oswego Valley Model Railroad Club annual show, Fulton War Memorial
11/10 - Batavia - Great Batavia Train Show, Genesee Community College
11/10 - Poughkeepsie - Hyde Park Station Annual Train & Hobby Show, Mid Hudson Civic Center
11/16 - Binghamton - Binghamton Regional Train Show
11/16 - S. Glens Falls - Upstate Railroad Modelers Train Show, Chase Sports Complex (note date change)
11/23 - Albany - Albany Train Show, Polish Community Center
11/23-11/24 - Hamburg - WNYRHS Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show, Erie County Fairgrounds
11/24 - Rochester - TTCS Rochester Thanksgiving Train Show, Radisson Hotel Rochester Airport
11/30 - Norwich - Bull Thistle Model Railroad Society Annual Train Show, Broad Street Methodist Church

By the way, if you copy this for your own site be sure to give some credit where you got it from.

December -

12/1 - Albany - Great Train Extravaganza, Empire Expo Center
12/1? - N. Tonowanda - TTCS Trains In The Tonwandas show, Knights Of Columbus (date TBD)
12/14-12/15 - Rochester - 12th Annual RIT Tiger Tracks Train Show, Gordon Field House

Wow, the Albany Polish CC show is the week before the Albany GTE? That seems crazy.

Yeah, it's odd because of the way the weekends work out, but GTE has always been first Sunday in December no matter what. Technically the Polish Home show along with the Hamburg and Binghamton shows are a week later than usual - but yet they're not, there's an extra weekend before Thanksgiving that's usually after.

GTE did this once before, some other regular events in the plaza held off a week and GTE was all that was going on and the attendance dipped a ton, when there's a lot going on they got as many as 5000 through the doors, now average is around 3200. A couple years there I sold more there in one day than any other event I did, I remember never being able to leave my table all day. The last time it was Dec. 1 I also got in some trouble with a trooper, forgot to renew my registration and it ran out at midnight. He made me go park on the street - even though there was a state van in that garage that hadn't moved in about three years at that point, and was still in the same space the next year. (I had someone renew the reg online during the day and problem solved).


It's a little early to be checking out 2020 dates yet but I do have confirmed there is no Greenberg in Rochester for March 2020 due to issues with the venue converting to Ticketmaster. If doing that ups the ticket price to the public (potential $3-$4 per ticket) Greenberg feels it will hurt attendance too much to continue to hold the show; they could not confirm through The Dome if that would happen or not. So they didn't book the show.

Honestly not sure why they can't still add the date at any time between now and then, it's an open week for them, but the official word is they hope to be back in 2021.

I suppose nothing stops someone else from booking and promoting a show there March 7-8.

No sooner than I do this then I see on Facebook a post from the Western NY Model Railroad Engineers with their fall schedule posted and it has some of the dates missing above, plus I always manage to forget the fall Train-O-Rama somehow. Too many shows in Buffalo.

So per their info here's the missing links:

10/6 - Olean - TTCS Autumn In The Southern Tier Train Show, Olean Intermediate-Middle School
10/13 - Buffalo (Depew) - TTCS Buffalo Falling Leaves Train Show, Polish Falcons
10/27 - Buffalo (Cheektowaga) - TTOS Train-o-rama, Pvt. Leonard Post


12/1 - Buffalo (N. Tonowanda) - TTCS Trains In The Tonwandas show, Knights Of Columbus
12/12-12/22 - Buffalo - Broadway Market Train Show (always miss posting this one, too)

I will note they have the Batavia show as the 17th on their listing but the GSME website and flyer say the 10th. May drop an email to confirm.

Olean show is today. Good luck.

^Thanks!

Wonder if cancelling last year cost them their date.

It's too far for me to go to at a four hour drive so I've never been.

Well, the season really starts in earnest now with six shows in seven weeks for me, starting at Syracuse next weekend.

I wanted to bump this though because WNYRHS goofed up. By moving their show out a week it's now the same weekend as a Bills home game. My guess is by 2:00 PM it will be a ghost town in there - and the hotels have all jacked up their rates so it hits the vendors who stay over harder in the wallet.

Syracuse so far has been about the same as last year, which isn't bad given the floods to the east likely kept some people away and it was competing with an SU football game.

I'm starting to put together the spring dates as lots of people have flyers out. Probably will be able to post something through at least early March in a couple weeks.

The Batavia Show is next weekend. Details are at www.gsme.org

Sunday ended up the slowest I've ever had there. A couple others I talked to felt it was down some. I didn't hear what the attendance ended up being, that looked about normal.

Still amazes me the people who can't grasp one vendor from another one there. Guy next to me is totally different, different table covers, different price tags, different display setup and still people want to take my stuff to him to buy. Sometimes even when I was standing right there looking at them. I could probably spend the money to put the DBA name on a sign and get matching shirts and it would make no difference.

This coming weekend has shows all over, Fulton both days, Batavia on Sunday and also Poughkeepsie. I don't know what to expect at all at Batavia, the last one I sold literally nothing at, save just barely enough to pay for the table. I have a lot of stuff no one else has and I make sure I have the best prices on what others do have, but it doesn't seem to matter.

lvrr325 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 9:12 am
Still amazes me the people who can't grasp one vendor from another one there. Guy next to me is totally different, different table covers, different price tags, different display setup and still people want to take my stuff to him to buy. Sometimes even when I was standing right there looking at them. I could probably spend the money to put the DBA name on a sign and get matching shirts and it would make no difference.

Customers can be such a PITA sometimes.....

Someone mentioned to me Sunday at Syracuse that there were lots of people there, but they weren't carrying anything...

Saturday was going great guns until kickoff of the SU game.

tree68 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:29 pm
Saturday was going great guns until kickoff of the SU game.

Folks would have been better off staying with the train show.