St. Charles Train Show

Hi guys,
Next weekend, the Great Train Expo will be at the St. Charles Convention Center, Feb. 6&7. It is supposed to be the biggest St. Charles show yet. We will see. The last one wasn't bad.
Later,
Dan

 

My Saturday afternoon visit February 6 was very enjoyable. There was lots to see. At least one vendor had the SL-SF Walthers H-10-44 in both o&w and b&y. The o&w was in stock in at least two road numbers.

Like DanHyde, I ended up supporting the booksellers. The Terminal Railroad Historical and Technical Society had stacks of back issues that attracted me. It was fun to meet the fellow who packed and shipped my copy of their Texas Special magazine. Another vendor had a nice gift for my Dad, though Griffin's Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad - Capital Cities Route book is probably off-topic.

 

Not a bad show. I walked around a few times and bought one $3 Texas & Pacific N scale caboose. I had my mind set on finding some Frisco N scale first generation diesels but came up empty handed. On my first trip around I saw a vendor with Joe Collias's book FRISCO POWER and told myself if all else fails I'll buy the book. Well I never did find that vendor again.
It's heck getting old!!!

Got home and told my wife I spent a whole 10 bucks (7 dollars to get in).
She just smilled said Happy Valentines Day.

Mike.P

 

I went to the show Sunday morning. It's best to get there early Saturday to get the best pickings, but I attended a wedding and reception that day. I picked up a 3 pack of the Wathers Frisco ballast hoppers for $40 and a 1950 Dodge Yellow cab. The lettering and checkerboard pattern on it are quite intricate.

SEK hobbies had a couple of sealed copies of the Frisco Museum edition of Frisco Power. The guy that sells dining car china and silverware as well as books usually has a used copy, but wants a lot of money for it. If you get there early enough you might spot Joe Collias himself, and get him to sign it for you.

Rich

 

I didn't get to go to St. Charles Train Show due to the snowy weather. I live 120 miles SW of St. Charles and had 6" of snow on Friday. I didn't feel like braving the weather to go to a train show. Don't regret it considering all the slide offs on I-44 we had down here. I wish they would have those shows in the spring when the weather is decent.

 

I got there around 12:30 on Saturday. It wasn't bad, but I was looking more for scenery and structures than rolling stock and locomotives. I thought the one in Collinsville Il. last November was just a little better. Did anyone else see that old AHM GP7 painted Frisco O/W and numbered 900 something for $15.00. I almost bought it just for a project, but decided against it. Did AHM make one like this, say 30 to 35 years ago?

There's another show coming up in March at Queeny Park in St. Louis. Don't know the exact date, but I'll try to find out.

 

AHM did import a geep in orange and white Frisco colors in the '70's or '80's, but it was a GP18, not a GP7. It also would have been more plausable if it had been numbered in the GP7 series (500-549,555-632) rather than for an SD45.

Both the Collinsville show, which takes place every Thanksgiving weekend and the St. Charles show are sponsored by "The Great Train Expo", which travels from city to city throughout the year. The Queeny Park show happens every year in March and is sponsored by the Boeing Employees Railroad Club. I keep missing it because it's not well advertised, but the last time I went, Joe Collias had a table selling photographic prints as well as Eric Brooman, who had written several articles for Model Railroader about his Utah Pacific. His philosophy was to update his layout to keep it contemporary with what real railroads were doing. He was selling old Utah Pacific diesels that had been retired and maybe had some collectable value.

Rich