The Omnifarium - Trains

Barrie Train Show - 2009

Category: Trains
Mon, 16 Feb 2009, 19:33

A couple of winters ago, I was feeling rather glum. I get that way sometimes, probably due in part to seasonal affective disorder (or SAD). Grudgingly, I forced myself out of the house, and drove to Barrie for the train show. Within seconds of entering the show, my mood changed dramatically, and my slump was over.

Such is the healing power of model trains. And so I try to attend as many of the local model train shows as I can. To make it easier to keep track of the local shows, I've listed them on my Ontario Shows page. Recently, I added Google Maps links for each upcoming show to make it even easier to find the shows.

Nottawasaga club layout.

So far this year, I've been to the shows in Port Hope and Barrie. The Port Hope show was nice, with excellent signs leading to the show. I saw the first sign as soon as I got off the 401. Although a bit on the small side, there were about ten club layouts: four H0, five N, and one O-27.

But back to the Barrie show. For the second straight year, the show was held at the Bradford Greenhouses Garden Gallery, west of the city. Holding a model train show at a garden center is a wonderful idea. During the winter, garden centers have a lot of unused space, which is exactly what a train show needs. And as an inducement for train show visitors to shop at the garden center, Bradford Greenhouses offered $6 discount coupons for each paid admission to the train show (which perhaps not coincidentally was also $6). Certainly, this was a win-win situation for the Barrie-Allandale Railway Modellers, for Bradford Greenhouses, and for the numerous visitors.

Holding a model railroad show under a greenhouse roof does offer challenges, though. I had to wear my sunglasses while shopping and watching the trains. And taking pictures was a challenge too. Although there was plenty of light, it was also very contrasty lighting with a lot of shadows.

Normally, shopping at the local train shows is not that easy for me since few dealers at the shows sell European trains. But I usually still manage to spend a few dollars. At the Port Hope show, I bought a set of H0-scale people, dressed in 19th Century garb, which will fit in nicely on my layout. And at the Barrie show, I bought the Atlas lumber yard kit, a tube of plastic cement, and another set of people.

Omnifariously yours, Hans

path: /Trains | permanent link to this entry