Saturday, October 22 was an amazing autumn day. Too nice to spend indoors. But, what if I were to tell you it was the date of the first train-show I'd attended in over two years?
WHY...
...did I have to decide between raking and partaking? In fact, when this whole pandemic thing started, the very first thing cancelled back on March 14, 2020 was the 31st CRHA Kingston Division Rail-O-Rama. It was great to get back to attending a train show, albeit voluntarily masked. I wouldn't normally publish a whole post on attending a train show. Usually I'd include a photo or two in the Running Extra section. But it felt good to be back in the saddle again!
Who says model railroading has to be an expensive hobby? In this post, I'll show you what I found and tell you how much I paid.
WHERE...
...did the show take place? The newer of Kingston's train shows, the Associated Railroaders of Kingston Rail Fair Kingston had been held in 2018 and 2019. Organized by Rail Fair Chairperson Paul Hunter and our volunteer cadre, the venue is Royal Canadian Legion Branch 560's hall on Montreal Street, steps from CN's former Outer Station. For the second year, I volunteered for a one-hour ARK front-door security volunteer timeslot prior to opening.
WHO...
...was there? I met with attendees in the lineup from Toronto, Montreal, Brockville, Ottawa and more. I had a nice chat with Chef Ron of private car Pacific fame! Also in attendance, I recognized fellow Associated Railroaders of Kingston fellow volunteers and club members Andy C, Andy T, Bob, Dave C, Dave T, Greg, Kurt, Marc and Sharon, Michael, Raul, Tom, and Sam. Most of my fellow ARKers I'd only seen via Zoom during the pandemic. Attendance was excellent on a beautiful day, and it would take many minutes for the queue to make it past Kayleigh and Malcolm at the entrance table.
Bytown's arrival was highly anticipated. Arriving just-in-time in their 1958 Pontiac CN hi-rail station wagon, they parked right in front of the venue. As I waited to have the doors open, I predicted everybody would have a picture taken with this orange beauty. Nice fall lighting? Of course I had to slip out to take a photo!
After helping with the opening rush, it was nice to head in to see the layouts and find some goodies. I didn't plan to take a bunch of photos. Most of the time, I had my hands full, after all! One of my very first stops was at the Bytown Railway Society booth. Paul was vacationing somewhere, but Norm, Les and Den* had things well in hand. They asked me to get a photo (below) showing Les with a firm hand on the cashbox! (*Not to be confused with the three guys who invented car air conditioners: Norm, Hi and Max!)
WHAT...
...did I buy? There are various strategies one can employ when taking in a train show. There's the methodician, the scan-and-snipe, and the tire-kicker. The first does the loop, the second scans before returning to buy their favourite items, and the third is just there to visit and check out the layouts. As a scan-and-sniper, I believe I have more than enough of everything already. I don't need more locomotives, cars or gizmos. But I like to read, and hey, who doesn't like a bargain? Here are photos of my 'haul'.
Not sure who makes ONT 90456, Erie 20017 or the WM hopper. Dick's Auto Body Shop is a neat vintage Bachmann kit with good bones. Henry Ford's First Factory is from Walthers, with free dust! Four trailers (three from Cox) and signs from the Picton club. I have a price point in mind for most items, and these were all under it. Score! Matchbox flatbed for a buck and small shop for three.
I made a sustained stop at ARK member Bob's table. He was selling craftsman structures he enjoys building. Maybe that's like putting your children up for sale? Then he said he had vehicles. He'd carefully packed them in plastic, gingerly bringing them out of boxes and setting them out on the table. I was like a canny casino croupier. An affronted adjacent railfan asked whether I was buying them all. In turn, I encouraged him to jump in and get his financial feet wet! He may have been a tire-kicker! LifeLike, CMW and Brekina vehicles and Walthers 567's were from Bob. The fire stations and Promotex warehouse were from fellow ARKer Michael. His interest had waned for finishing the kits, but mine was just beginning - kandidates for Kingston kitbashing!
Bytown, Michael and Sam were sources for scintillating supplements of the magazine variety! A total of 66 magazines and one timetable are now in my winter reading box. It's a repurposed LCBO liquor box with the end cut out of it, how with 9 inches or print material fermenting inside!
All of the above for $144!
WHEN...
...did I leave? About 1120, when my two reusable shopping bags were full!
Running extra...
The first quasi-revenue run of VIA's new Siemens trainset departed Montreal for Montreal on October 18. The youtube video shows a few interior views as well as some of the fields and fall colours! I'm not sure if these were VIA employees or not, but I didn't see or hear any toddlers or old people in the video, so I think so.
From the National Post Chris Selley posted an interesting opinion piece on VIA's woes and challenges, triggered by the buffer car issue. I did my best to give Chris a rail enthusiast's side of the story! There has been so little good information available, that the 'railfan blogosphere' has filled the gap!
My buffer car post continues to reverberate and some have rebuffed various information and motivation concerning it. Three nice things about blogging: it''s easily-revised if necessary, those reading it are generally nice, and when they're not, the third thing nice thing is that it's "mine". I have no moderator, no administrator, and no editorial board. And the good news is, I'm still adding consists and information - now into the post's third week of life!
Speaking of which: Sources familiar say examples of the following car types are being sent by VIA to a contract shop (CAD and Rail GD come to mind) for structural integrity testing. Be On The Lookout for: one baggage, one coach, one diner, one sleeper, an RDC, and possibly a Park car coming in from Vancouver! There has still been no formal announcement about these suspect sample cars being sent for testing. Wouldn't it be a great opportunity to show some progress in addressing the structural issues? Apparently there is almost complete secrecy limited to the highest levels of VIA.
2 comments:
It sounds like a fun time. I like your idea for stocking up on old rail magazines for winter reading. I know of a hobby shop near me that has old magazines. Maybe it's time I do a little bit of hoarding before winter. I think you did well to get everything you did for less than $150. A scintillating series of steals!
Hi Michael,
Yes, my most costly single find was $15. And only because I didn't have my reading glasses on and thought the yellow sticker said $5!
I definitely enjoy reading through the magazines, but not keeping them all. I studiously clip-and-file! I should add that most are within the last 1-3 years. Only because I've already seen most of the ones that are older than that. It was indeed a fast-moving festival of fall finds!
Thanks for your comment,
Eric
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