W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
WW&F Railway Museum Discussion => Work and Events => Topic started by: Stewart "Start" Rhine on January 04, 2012, 12:35:55 PM
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The Big E Show, officially known as the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show will be held at the Eastern States Exposition Center in Springfield, Mass on Saturday January 28th and Sunday 29th. The show is held in 6 buildings and draws about 25,000 people. As usual, the WW&F Railway Museum will have 2 tables for display and sale of gift shop items. John Robertson is in charge of the tables. Set up will be Friday, the 27th. Please contact John if you plan to attend and can help set up or work the table for a few hours.
The show is always a good time to see old friends and meet new ones. The best place to be is "narrow gauge corner" in the Young Building where the WW&F and SR&RL have tables. The same area also has Don Sanger's HOn2 layout and Dave Newtons large scale two foot operation. Right across from our group is the Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec so narrow gauge is a popular topic. A good way to find us - look for the Heroes & Legends Cafe, the museum's tables will once again be right by the corner of the cafe.
A good bit of the show is geared to model railroad builders with hundreds of vendors but there are railroadiana dealers and tables from other museum/tourist operations such as the Conway Scenic RR.
Hope to see you there.
Stewart
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Well, that location is appropriate - there are a lot of "Heroes and Legends" at the WW&F!
See you there.
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I am currently out of work and will be through the train show weekend. If the folks who are coming to set up the WWF display need any help, I will be available to assist.
Duncan
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The weather is still cooperating so it looks like we will be able to make the drive to western MA this weekend. I can probably help out at the table on Sunday. See you then.
Skip
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Thanks for the offers to help. Cindy, Joe, Dawn and I will be there on Friday between 2 and 3 to start setting up. We will have a batch of stuff to unload. John and Bob C. will be in a bit later with more store items and will need help as well. Duncan, Skip and anyone else who will be there, please talk to John Robertson regarding when you can work the tables. If things are like the last few years you will have a great time visiting with two-foot fans and have some of Jane Robertson's wonderful brownies.
See you this weekend,
Stewart
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Almost worth the drive just for those brownies.
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Stewart,
I have it on very good authority that there will be some homemade chocolate chip cookies too.
I will contact John to see if he needs any help on the tables. The train show always brings a good crowd and usually a lot of 2 footer fans. Since the long range forecast is for good weather and temps around 40°, there should be a banner crowd this weekend.
Duncan
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If the eats are anything like previous years, I will gain a couple of pounds again this year. :P
-John
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Well, sadly I probably won't make it this year. I'll have to look for you all in the Spring.
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Most of the volunteers arrived Friday afternoon to set up the museum's two tables. More members came Saturday and Sunday to help. The work force included; Ellis Walker, Duncan M., Joe Fox, Dawn Buck, Cindy Rhine, Zack Wyllie, Dwight Winkley, John and Jane Robertson, Bob C. and John McNamara. Saturday sales were good (no numbers yet). By mid-morning we noticed two un-claimed tables at the other corner of our cluster. An inquiry with Amherst Railway Society officials gave us use of the tables so we decided to expand. The next morning we opened the WW&F store "annex". One of the tables was set up with a bunch of donated model locomotives and cars that we didn't have room for on our main table. The other table was taken by the SR&RL group. The annex table worked well, bringing in close to $500 extra. The best thing about the show was the chance to see friends from all over who traveled to Springfield. It was like Old Home Week in front of the WW&F table. Saturday's attendance set a record with nearly 13,000 people coming to the show. Sunday was a bit slower but not by much with the Sunday gate bringing the total to over 22,000. With the 3,400 vendors included the total was over 25,000 people at the show. As usual there were some beautiful layouts and interesting things like large scale live steam locomotives on display. New this year was childrens entertainment in the Better Living Center building on Saturday and a Blue Grass band concert on Sunday.
Stewart
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You forgot to include yourself as part of the work force Stewart. Sounds like it was a great time.
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You forgot to include yourself as part of the work force Stewart. Sounds like it was a great time.
Mike, That's because I didn't do anything :D On the other hand, Joe is quite good at working the table. He could give up railroadin' and go into sales!
Forgot to mention - Marcel and his cousin Ray showed up Friday. They helped unload stuff and set up the tables. One of the highlights of the show was having Jerry DeVos visit the WW&F and SR&RL tables. He is a great source of two-foot information, talking about the research he did on his many books. Good times.
Stewart
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It was nice to see "my other railroad family" at the show. Joe did have the "kid in the candy store" look! Mike, someday you'll have to experience it.
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That's what I'm told Bill. Someday.
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Bill,
The cookies and brownies helped Joe and the rest of us with our smiles. Special thanks to Jane and everyone who brought goodies for the show crew. We almost had enough to set up a baked goods table.
Stewart
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BTW - The best hat I saw at the show had the phrase "Real Radios and Real Locomotives have tubes" ... not bad!
Stewart