Springfield 2025

     I, along with the other 27,534 attendees, flocked to the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts for this year's Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show.  I just call the show Springfield.  This year's show, like all the others, did not disappoint.  I walked away from the show with most of my items crossed off my shopping list, excitement for upcoming releases from manufactures, and plenty of inspiration.

    The highlight of my purchases was a Canada Post truck from East Coast Circuits (EEC).  EEC installs lights of other manufacturers' model vehicles.  One of the vehicles that caught my interest was work they did on Walther's new USPS delivery truck.  The install includes flashing hazard lights, brake lights, headlights, and strobe lights on the back.  My intention was to stop by to see if they would be able to do the same thing with a Canada Post delivery truck.  They only have the USPS trucks on their website, but to my surprise, they were selling the Canada Post trucks at the show with all the lights installed and ready to go.

    I picked up a few different pieces of rolling stock.  The box car is my first piece of rolling stock from Aroura Miniatures.  I first saw it at last year's show and liked it, so I picked one up.  The Rapido hopper is for a new industry I'm adding to the layout.  My only regret is not picking up the two others just like it that Lombard Hobbies was selling for half-off.

    I ended up with a decoder and new tools like the easy hold handle for painting, I got the handle at Micro-Mark.  The sprue cutter was from B&B Hobby Supplies.  I needed to replace mine after the tip broke off of it.

    Tichy Train Group was absent from the show last year.  I ended up picking up several security bars for the bottom row of windows for one of the buildings on the layout.  I also got a few sets of walkways because I seem to need them at random times but always need to wait for them to be in stock and mailed to me.  I also purchased a couple 3D printed items from Yelton Models. 

MACRail was back this year, I pick up a few items I needed or was interested in trying out.  I really like their derails and needed a few more.  I was happy to see they were in stock and picked them up at the show.  I also got a cover for my NSC 6000 gondola.  A few hours late, after forgetting I had picked up the cover at MACRail, I picked up a garbage scrap load for the same car when I visited Otter Valley Railroad.  Oops.

    One of my "must-sees" this year was Scale Signs.  New to the show, they produce some nice and real-looking traffic signs.  The signs are to scale and offer a realistic metallic backing.  They also have some prototypical signposts.   I'm in need to a few bilingual English/French stop signs.  The owner told me to email him with a picture of the sign and he'll make them and add them to the stock.  Sounds like a plan.

I found these ballast cars on a table for sale.  I spent years searching for this set.  Now that Rapido has released their CN ballast car model, I no longer need them.

    I also visited several manufactures.  Rapido Trains was very busy, like always, and displayed several of their projects.

    Jeff from Prairie Shadows was at the show again.  I really like the rolling stock he is producing, and he announced a new run of modern box cars.  These are CN cars with the updated logo and patch outs, but you can see the faded old, larger logo.  It's a nice touch.

    Bachmann provided samples of VIA's Venture fleet cab car, which is arriving this spring.  They also announced their next run of the Venture consist, this time in the Lumi paint scheme.  This paint scheme is a one-off VIA Rail Canada painted on the sets as a tribute to the TurboTrain that wore a somewhat similar scheme. 

    Berrett Hill, maker of the Touch Toggle, was back at the show, they now have a Powered Tortoise Adapter that caught my attention.  Most of my turnouts on the layout are controlled by Touch Toggles.  If you've never heard of the company, you should check them out.

One of my last stops was at Custom Model Railroads.  They have created most of my high-rise buildings.  Although I've run out of space for new buildings within my city, I can still look....

Besides spending too much, I used my time there to check out many layouts and some great work from some amazing modelers.  The pictures below are from Lawrence Kemp and his work.  I'm a huge fan of his St. Lawrence and Atlantic locomotives.

        Springfield is a great show because of the ability to see some much and talk to so many in such a short period of time.  27,535 people was a record for the show.  It really looks like this hobby is just growing by leaps and bounds and this is the show that proves it.  Next year's show is January 24 and 25, 2026.  Fingers crossed the weather is just as nice as it was this year, and a new record will be made.