2021 Winter-Spring Train Show List

This is mostly extrapolated from previous years; shows rarely move weekends save for those that have to shuffle for Easter. Right now I don't have anything confirmed past January. You'll have to check back for updates or check directly with the host organizations if no update is posted here.

One clue to if a show will be cancelled will be the state's color coding for regions. I would expect a show in any area with a yellow, orange or red zone will be cancelled unless someone can find a way to engineer it as a retail sales event and not a gathering. To me it makes no sense - if the mall can be open, if the flea market can be open, you can have a train show. Maybe you don't have huge display layouts going, but certainly people can sell trains. But I'm not in charge, so.

I would also add it looks like smaller shows have a better chance of happening, just because they draw fewer people, a 500-1000 person event will slip past the radar easier than a 4000-6000 person event. Those fall shows that did happen had very small attendance, I don't think either one saw 300.

So here's how we're going to do this.

Known to be cancelled - RED
Known to be postponed - ORANGE
Nothing known, not confirmed - BLUE (yellow is unreadable on the default background color)
Known to be happening - GREEN

Jan

Sunday 1/17– Utica – TTCS Utica Train Show, Union Station POSTPONED date unknown
(Cancelled – Springfield, MA – Amherst Model RR Club huge show)
Sunday 1/24 – Buffalo – Trainorama, Pvt. Leonard Post, Walden Ave.

Amherst club has advertised they are cancelled entirely. Utica per Facebook update on their page. Train-O-Rama had some issues with a venue for their fall show, I would expect between that and Covid status of Erie County it will be safe to assume it didn't happen.

Feb

Sunday 2/7 – Buffalo (Depew) – TTCS Buffalo Snowball Train Show, Polish Falcons
Weekend 2/13-2/14 – Buffalo (Hamburg) – WNYRHS Winter Train & Toy Show, Erie Cty Fairgrounds
Sunday 2/21 – Syracuse (Eastwood) - Syracuse Model RR Club show
Weekend 2/27-2/28 - Rochester - Greenberg's Train Show, Location TBA (Dome?)
Saturday 2/28 – Rochester – Edgerton Model Railroad Show, Edgerton Community Center

Based on what I hear from SMRC there won't be a show due to Covid and also due to they're set to lose their space as the building is being sold finally.
The Greenberg details come from a tentative list they had posted in October. They took it down and had nothing posted last I looked.

March

Sunday 3/7 - Scranton, PA - Scranton Train Show, Lackawanna Station Hotel
Sunday 3/7 – Syracuse (Camillus) – NHRS Spring Ahead Train Show, Camillus Fire Dept.
Saturday 3/13 - Albany - Albany Train Show, Polish Community Center
Sunday 3/14 – Rochester – TTCS Rochester Shamrock Train Show, Radisson Hotel Rochester Airport
Saturday 3/20 – Binghamton – Greater Binghamton Regional Train Show
Sunday 3/21 - Kingston - Kingston Model Train and Railroad Hobby Show, Murphy Midtown Center

I'm going to presume the WASPS show that has been held various weekends in March and April won't happen given it's held at a senior center.

Of this group Binghamton stands most likely to be held, they were one of the few to successfully hold a fall show.

The Albany show might move up a week, I think in 2020 it was a week later because the calendar had five Saturdays in March.

April

Sunday 4/11 – Batavia – GSME Great Batavia Train Show, Genesee Community College
Sunday 4/11 – Amsterdam – Alco T&HS Rails Along The Mohawk Show , Riverfront Center
Sunday 4/18– Buffalo (N. Tonowanda) – TTCS Spring Into Summer show, Knights Of Columbus
Weekend 4/24-4/25 – Lockport - TTCS/NOME Train Show, Keenan Center

Batavia is confirmed locked in for April 11. Amsterdam was looking at the same day, but it wasn't set in stone yet.

May

Weekend 5/1-5/2 - Fulton (Volney) - Oswego Valley Railroad Assoc. Spring Show, Volney VFD

This show will almost certainly happen but they are unsure of their date yet. It had been expected they'd be opposite a show if they held it the third weekend of April, so they were looking at moving out into May. In 2020, the show was planned for April but actually took place in June.



June

Saturday 6/12 – Schoharie – Schoharie Valley RR Museum train show

My guess is they'll be able to hold this show if they want to; 2020 was postponed into September but did take place, however I don't know if it was successful or not.

Of course it's all also subject to how some other things shake out in the coming weeks. We're all pretty much going to have to wait and see what happens. If you have direct info on a show, shoot a PM or post here. The only real rules are the show must be in New York state outside of the New York City metro area, or adjacent to it such that it draws dealers and customers from New York. If you're not sure or have not heard directly, I would suggest sending a PM and I will look into it to try to confirm it.

Just a couple updates; as of Dec 21 per Facebook the WNYRHS has again given up on a show in Buffalo, no attempt at alternate venues or other considerations have been made.

The TTCS shows both Utica and the Buffalo Snowball show as "on hold" but given the latter is promoted by some of the same people as the WNYRHS show I would expect they'll give up there too. Utica is promoted by other club members and has had no updates since Nov. 20. They do note the Utica Union Station is a state-owned facility, so unless they move it (big empty JC Penney just a few miles away, hint hint) they'll remain at the mercy of people who really don't care what happens.

TTCS Calendar now shows Utica and the Buffalo Snowball show cancelled entirely. Remainder of shows listed as pending and the Rochester shows note pending new location.

I wouldn't hold my breath but it is convenient like magic suddenly things are changing with regard to the pandemic. Do your own research or PM if you want some details.

Greenberg's show also won't be happening; they have entirely shut down and furloughed the staff. They expect to start again in the summer of 2021 with Greenberg, Great Train & Toy and Great Midwest shows and the Worlds Greatest Hobby on Tour not until 2022. Sounds like they pretty well ran out of money, so your guess is as good as mine if they're able to come back at all.

Showing as cancelled:

CNY NRHS "Spring Ahead" show March 7th
Albany Train Show (Polish Home) which should have been showing as March 14th

Kingston Train show website is still showing for March 2020, so they've given up to the point they haven't updated that in nearly a year.

Update - DATE CHANGE -


The Binghamton Regional Train show will be Saturday April 17th, for this year only. Beginning in the fall this show will have a consistent set of dates for five years, the second Saturday in November and March. Location remains the same.

DATE CHANGE #2:

The TTCS Spring Into Summer show in N. Tonowanda currently shows March 28th as a date on the TTCS schedule page. It also shows as "PENDING" so clearly not set in stone. Makes sense to me to move rather than having it a week before Lockport though.

The TTCS Shamrock show in Rochester still shows as pending with no date or location.

Probably a toss-up what show will end up being first, N. Tonawanda, Amsterdam or Binghamton. Batavia is technically in a small sports arena so I am thinking it's likely to be cancelled. Amsterdam the location is probably okay but getting enough volunteers to run it may be an issue. N. Tonawanda has a good chance, it will probably come down to what the venue decides. Binghamton already had their November show with no issues. Still plenty of time for things to change, though.

Update - NEW DATE -

The Oswego Valley club has chosen May 1-2 as the date for their show in Volney, just east of Fulton.

This show will take place, they've done a couple already.

I keep checking the websites for Batavia and Amsterdam and no updates yet. If there aren't any soon I would probably presume they'll be cancelled.

One of the Timonium, MD shows has found a way to hold an event, April 10-11. They had to go to a new location, a hotel 4 miles up the road, and they're doing it in sessions, I presume for crowd control and capacity limits. What it looks like is your ticket is good for only half the day, they shut it down at noon for half an hour and start over again. I guess if you get there at 11 you may as well wait for the second session on the day to get in there.

I figured I'd throw it out here if any promoters are seeing this as another option to try to meet the ever-changing standards issued by the state.

The Genesee Society of Model Engineers Batavia Train Show has been rescheduled for October 17th 2021 at Genesee Community College.

Does that mean they intend to have a show in October and again in November?

No one mentioned two shows. This will be the regular fall show. If the world returns to normal there will be s Spring show and on into the future.

The regular fall show is normally the second Sunday in November.

I have no updates to report - TTCS page remains unchanged, unclear if the show scheduled for today was held.

No word from the Alco group on the Amsterdam show, but given it would be in two weeks I would presume they're unable to hold it as scheduled.

At this point I would presume like in the fall Binghamton and Fulton will be it, although Lockport is certainly still possible.

Some summer events are also already cancelled, despite being outdoor, summer events quite some ways off.

I begin to think I should move to Florida or Texas.

Confirmed today Amsterdam is postponed with a new date not chosen yet.

And finally per TTCS page they did cancel the March 28th show and have thrown in the towel on Lockport.

Places here are selling tickets for concerts already (for July) so it surprises me that Lockport can't happen, I did that show once and I don't think there was ever more than 150 people in the building at any one time. But what I am seeing is these guys just look at the rules and say "well we can't do it" and that's that.

I'm not sure I'm going to return as a vendor to some of these events. Going to sit down with my book and figure out and decide if it's worth the hassle to spend the time and expense to set up versus just going out and being a customer instead. Based on what I have seen from the few shows that have happened they will go one of two ways - reduced crowds even with no restrictions because people are still afraid of the thing, resulting in reduced sales at events that were already weak, or the first few events may be mobbed with people and the sales will be great, then it will taper off.

Batavia actually being a month early in the fall will help determine how things will go, if I go and it's awful then I'll know to pass on some of the further out and lower profit shows.

It made sense to go and set up when I sold enough to come out ahead doing it, but if it's a net loss then rather than pay for tables and maybe a hotel on top of the fuel, just paying for admission at the door looks more attractive.

What's the location of the Binghamton show this weekend?