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.