For almost 40 years, the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA, has been the highlight of the annual model railroad season in New England. Today, it can rightly be considered one of the largest model railroad shows in the country attracting 20,000+ attendees and 450+ vendors and exhibitors.
This blog, which is not affiliated with the Railroad Hobby Show, Amherst Railway Society, or the Eastern States Exposition, is dedicated to preserving the show's history and sharing the history of railroading at the Eastern States Exposition.
Blog Content - Railroad Hobby Show History
The blog generally has two categories of content - information about the history of the show and posts about model railroad layout projects celebrating the show. Please visit the following links to various categories of posts related to the history of the Railroad Hobby Show here on the blog:
- Railroad Hobby Show History
- Highlights of the history of the show
- Railroad Hobby Show Recaps
- Year-by-year recaps of the show
- Exhibitor Thursday
- Highlights of vendor and exhibitors at the show
- Show Memorabilia
- Highlights of show memorabilia like show cars
- Show Media
- Highlights of show related media
- Show Venues
- Highlights of the show venues through the years
Blog Content - Tribute to Springfield Model Railroad Layouts
For the
last 20+ years, I've been fortunate to have exhibited model railroad modules and layouts at the Amherst
Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show each January in West Springfield, MA. Starting in 2014, several module projects
and layouts have been completed featuring scenes from the Railroad Hobby
Show and the Eastern States Exposition. Follow the links below to learn more about each project:
- Young Building HO Scale Module (2014)
- Tribute to Springfield HO Scale Module (2015)
- Tribute to Springfield O Scale Layout (2016 - 2019, 2022)
- Layout Update Monday - Layout Construction
- Showtime: Year-by-Year Show Scrapbook
- Highlights of from each year I have attended the show
- Module Monday
- Highlights of Modules Displayed at the Show
- Wordless Wednesday
- Random photos related to blog content
- MPRR - 30th Anniversary
- Highlights of the history of the Mohegan Pequot Model Railroad club in the lead up to the 30th anniversary of exhibiting at the show in 2017.
Contribute to the Tribute to Springfield Archive
In order to preserve the history of the show and complete a digital "museum," I am actively in search of
any historical artifacts (physical or digital) from the history of the Railroad Hobby Show and other railroad related displays at the Eastern States Exposition
in West Springfield, MA. This includes show flyers, show floor plans,
Trainmania!
promotional videos, photos of the
layouts and vendors, show awards, or other stories from the show. If you have any of these items which you would be willing to
share with me, I'd like to hear from you. Send me message on the Facebook page
to let me know what you have and we'll discuss the best way to connect.
All Aboard - Follow Along
Updates about the project can be found here on the Tribute to Springfield blog or on the Facebook page. Thanks for stopping by!
