Showtime: 2025 The Big E

The Young Building Diorama on display at the " A Walk Through History" museum.

Today I had a chance to go see a piece of my former Tribute to Springfield layout which is currently on display at the "Eastern States Exposition: A Walk through History" museum during this year's The Big E.

Back in May at the 2025 Northeast Large Scale Show, the Amherst Railway Society gifted the Young Building diorama to the Eastern States Exposition. The society had a plexiglass case constructed to fit over the diorama and the folks at the ESE created a sign explaining the backstory to the layout. The media team from the ESE also wrote a nice story about the layout on their website here.

Gifting the diorama to the Eastern States Exposition at the Northeast Large Scale Show. Left to right: Gene Cassidy, CEO Eastern States Exposition, John Sacerdote, Show Director Railroad Hobby Show, and me.

For those who are attending The Big E this year, September 12 - 28, 2025, the "A Walk Through History" museum is typically open from 10 am to 9 pm each day and is located in the Hampden County Building on the northwest portion of the grounds near Storrowton Village and the Avenue of States.

This is an amazing ending to a project which started 10 years ago. It has been a fun adventure - the project has been a great way to learn more about the history of the Railroad Hobby Show and the Eastern States Exposition as well as a way to open up opportunities to meet and talk with a lot of people who have been a part of these events through the years. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of the adventure.

Showtime: The Big E 2023

The Tribute to Springfield Young Building module setup at The Big E.

After many years of enjoyment, I have decided it was time to retire the Tribute to Springfield layout. After talking with the Railroad Hobby Show Show Director John Sacerdote and Amherst Railway Society President Joe Biagioni, they mentioned the society would be interested  preserving a portion of the layout. We decided to save the Young Building module and I completed some work to rebuild the section as a stand alone diorama display.

We agreed to transfer the display at an appropriate venue - the Eastern State Exposition during the 2023 The Big E. The Amherst Railway Society has a booth in the Better Living Center to promote the society and the Railroad Hobby Show and this year, the Tribute to Springfield layout will part of the display for the seventeen days of the fair.

I spent a few weeks in August cleaning up the benchwork, moving details to the Young Building module, and rehabbing the scenery. The rest of the layout joined the big layout in the sky. I met up with folks from the Amherst Railway Society the day before the fair opened on September 14 to setup the module one last time.

I'm very appreciative the Amherst Railway Society was interested in keeping a part of the layout and will be making space for it in their clubhouse. It has been a fun eight years learning about the history of the rail spur and the Railroad Hobby Show as well as building and sharing the layout. I plan to keep researching the history around the show and venue - who knows - maybe I'll revisit this layout theme when I celebrate my 50th anniversary of attending the Railroad Hobby Show in 2039!

In the meantime, I hope to bring a new layout to the show next January which is currently under construction. Hope to see you there!

Completed updates to the Young Building module in the workshop.

 

Showtime: Northeast Large Scale Train Show

The Tribute to Springfield layout on display during the 2023 Northeast Large Scale Show.

What is better than one annual trip to the Eastern States Exposition for a train show? Well how about two!

 The Amherst Railway Society has launched a second spring train show called the Northeast Large Scale Show which was held in the Young Building over the weekend of April 28 and 29, 2023. The focus of the show was meant to be geared towards G scale garden railroads but included some of the larger scales like O scale and live steam. There were enough layouts and vendors at the show to fill the building. Attendance was much lower than the main event in January but this was expected for a more focused event held in the spring.

The Tribute to Springfield layout made the second trek of the year up to West Springfield, MA, to participate in the inaugural version of the show. The layout ran well over the two days of the show.

It was fun to experience "Springfield" lite with nice weather, the ability to walk around during show hours, and easy parking. Hopefully this will be the start of a new tradition.

Showtime: 2022 Railroad Hobby Show Preview

The Tribute to Springfield layout setup at the 2019 show at section 74 in the Young Building.

Only two weeks until the doors open for the triumphant return of the annual Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show! We are all excited about meeting up again at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA, for a weekend of railroading. I am planning bring the Tribute to Springfield layout out of retirement and displaying it at the show once again to celebrate the shows return. The layout is anticipated to be setup at section 74 in the Young Building (same place as 2019) with A Modular Railroad Club.

As usual, I'm very excited about the show and hope to see you there. At the time of this post, the Amherst Railway Society is recommending visitors wear masks to the event. As information, below are some links to official show sites if you need up to the minute information about the show.

• Railroad Hobby Show Official Website
• List of Exhibitors
• Show Map
• Amherst Railway Society Facebook Page

If you are coming to the show, make sure to stop by and say hi. See you January 29th-30th, 2022 at the Railroad Hobby Show!

Showtime: 2021 Railroad Hobby Show

The 2021 Virtual Railroad Hobby Show streaming on YouTube

After a wild ride through the pandemic in 2020, the Railroad Hobby Show was changed from an in person extravaganza at the Eastern States Exposition to an online virtual event. Held over the weekend of January 30 - 31, 2021, the Amherst Railway Society - in partnership with Virtual Railfan - streamed 15 hours of programming on YouTube featuring all varieties of exhibitors from the show.

The show director - John Sacerdote - was the host for the event providing introductions and commentary in between various scheduled segments. Some of these segments included live look ins at the Virtual Railfan cameras around North America, pre-taped presentations, and live interviews. ScaleTrains.com was the keystone sponsor for the event and featured live announcements of new models on Saturday and their acquisition of MTH's HO and S-scale product lines on Sunday.  A number of the other sponsors also presented talking about their latest products over the course of the two days.

As of this writing, the announced plan was to divide the live stream down into segments and it was going to be posted on YouTube for anyone to watch later if they missed the event live.

While I didn't get to directly participate in the event, my current club - A Modular Railroad Club - received a shout out from John on Saturday afternoon during the live stream which was much appreciated by our members. Also, Railroad Model Craftsman posted a photo of the O scale Tribute to Springfield layout as part of their article about the virtual show (click here).

Overall, it was a great two days and a well done production by all involved. There are rumors of more "virtual" shows on a quarterly basis over the next year until, hopefully, we can all return again to West Springfield, MA, in 2022.

Speaking of 2022, the dates for the show are January 29 - 30, 2022. Mark your calendars and make your hotel reservations now. Hope to see you there!

Showtime: 2019 Railroad Hobby Show Preview

The Tribute to Springfield layout setup at the 2018 show at section 85 in the Young Building.

Less than one month until the doors open on the 51st Annual Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show! I plan to display the Tribute to Springfield layout once again at the show. The layout is anticipated to be setup at section 74 in the Young Building (a few sections to the west of where it was last year) with my new club - A Modular Railroad Club. Not too much has changed since last year - just a few details updated here and there. I did add a back and forth shuttle unit so trains could be operated continuously when I decided I'd had enough of switching and wanted a break.

As usual, I'm very excited about the show and hope to see you there.  See you January 26th-27th, 2019 at the Railroad Hobby Show!

Wordless Wednesday: Lining Up