2026 Springfield Show

     It was a busy and bone-chillingly freezing Saturday at the 2026 Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show (Springfield).  I was waiting in line for tickets before 9:00 AM with windchills in the negative numbers.  Sunday was bringing a winter storm to West Springfield.  The forecast was for over a foot of snow, so attendance was high on the day I went.  However, some of the vendors decided that needed to skip this year's show.   

I visited all the manufactures that have rolling stock on my layout.  Rapido announced three new locomotives at the show.  None of them will be on my layout, but I was able to look at many of the latest samples of thinks I've preordered.  

Bachmann has a sample of their Siemens VIA Rail sets, this one in the Lumi paint scheme that was announced at last year's show.  I was told these should be shipping to stores in May.  I had hoped Bachmann would be announcing the Siemens passenger sets for the new Ontario Northland Northlander train sets, but it didn't happen.  ...maybe next year.

Iowa Scale Engineering has been talking about releasing a defect detector for a while now.  I had my fingers crossed that this show would be its debut, but all that I saw at their booth was a coming soon sign.  I'll keep waiting.  Iowa Scale Engineering has a great reputation for their electronics, so I look forward to the defect detector's release in the future.

Custom Model Railroads released a new high rise the week before the show.  CMR is where most of my tall building kits come from.  It's a little wider than most of the building on my layout.  I emailed Jeff at CMR the day before the show to get dimensions for the kit to see if I could find a spot for it on the layout, but I wanted to see it in person before making a decision to buy it.

I left the show with plenty of new items.  I picked up two new pieces of rolling stock.  A baggage car to be used for my VIA Rail train from Montreal to Shawinigan or for The Canadian.  I also got an Otter Valley gondola to go along with the MacRail cover I got at last year's Springfield show.

I got a few packs of 40' containers from a local dealer selling these Athearn sets at a pretty good price.  I'm trying to focus on well cars and shipping containers for international shipping models since most everything I have for my 53' well cars are 53' domestic containers.

Logic Rail Technologies was back for the second year.  I picked up the Grade Crossing Pro 2 Expander I needed for crossing detection in my Oshawa rail yard.  I also picked up a second fusee to put on the tracks.  Kadee is a staple in the Better Living Center, and I got the replacement couplers I'll need for when my Lumi train set arrived later this year.

Scenic Express had the ultra-fine ballast I needed and picked it up as well as a few Xuron tools at B&B Hobby Supply.

ScaleSigns was not at the show this year.  Spring Creek carries some ScaleSigns stock, and I was able to get some signposts.  I needed a few Canadian crossbucks and track signs, so I'll order these directly from the ScaleSigns site.  Under Construction Replicas was new this year.  The make scale construction site objects.  I really liked the orange fencing and got a couple sets for my high-rise construction project.  I also got rolls of cable and some lane dividers.  East Coast Circuits was one of my first starts of the day.  I had hoped to get another Walthers fire trucks, but they were out.  I did get a police patrol truck for the layout.  

The last stop of my spending spree was back at Custom Model Railroads.  I decided to pull the trigger and get the new Continental Building.  As well as the add-on 3-stories, and the lighting kits.   It was the 10% discount that encouraged me to get it now. 

I took some time to also check out some of the layouts along the way.  Sometimes, with all the people, it's hard to slowdown to enjoy the numerous layouts.  Here's a few pictures I got from just a sampling of layouts at the show.

The storm did a number to the attendance on Sunday.  Many of the vendors tried to beat the storm and leave on Saturday night.  The Virtual Railfan cameras showed large portions of the buildings empty.  I don't know how much attendance was affected by the weather, but I'm glad Saturday had clear skies and I was able to get to the show.  The 2027 Railroad Hobby Show will take place on January 30 & 31.  Fingers crossed for better weather.

New England Model Train Expo 2025

     I went to the New England Model Train Expo for the first time back in December.  I saw that East Coast Circuits was going to be there and I needed to feed my addiction.  

Their booth provided a bounty and ended up taking most of the money I brought with me.  I ended up getting a Canada Post delivery van (my second), a pumper truck, and a stick arrow.  

As I've mentioned before, sometime a train show and be a bust, and other times you find something you've been looking for for a long time.  I found orange passenger step boxes; they were a great find and somewhat hard to come by for a good price.  I also left with a few Rix Products doors and windows to add to my scratch building box.

The delivery truck and fire truck were installed pretty quickly the following day.

The Amherst Railroad Hobby Show (Springfield) is this coming weekend.  I have plenty of vendors to visit including East Coast Circuits.  I'm looking forward to it!

On the Layout: Track Construction

 I've had an ongoing problem with the western-most turnout heading into Toronto Union Station.  The whole space is where I have seen the most derailments since the layout was built.

I replaced two turnouts, the one on the mainline and a turnout heading into the service track of the Toronto Maintenance Centre.  I took out two Walthers turnout and put in Peco turnout and Peco track connecting the turnouts.  With smaller turnouts, I have also been able to change the geometry of the tracks leading into the two turnouts.  This has helped my passenger cars move through the space without incident.

I also changed the scenery along the right of way.  No derailments so far, knock on benchwork!

Fleet Friday: LRC Demonstrator Car

     I acquired this rare find online a couple months ago.  The Bombardier LRC Demonstrator Car was part of a run of Rapido LRC cars a number of years ago.  I didn't get the car at the time because I bought many, if not all, of the VIA Rail LRC cars.  It's a pretty non-descript car, all gray with an orange end, but I really like it.  I thought it would be a great piece to display at the Toronto Rail Museum.  The LRC cars are my favorite passenger cars.  I remember seeing them in service in Montreal when I was a kid (along with the LRC locomotives) and it was the car I rode in the first time a took a train in Canada.  It's a great addition to the layout and looks good here at the museum.

 

   

All the Best in 2026!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

On the Layout: Tracking My Tracks

     Another quick project I crossed off my work order list was to add some numbered track signs to my crossing signals.  

I had a few sets of ScaleSigns waiting to get used for the project.  I like these signs because they have the metallic backing.  

I added some very thin styrene rods to make the sign stand out on the post of the crossing signal.  I used a Sharpie to styrene the metallic color.  

In just a few minutes, the project was done.  

I also added some 2 Trains signs (a unique sign to Canada).  Although these were just printed from home, the signposts are from ScaleSigns.