WNYRHS 37th Annual GREATER BUFFALO TRAIN AND TOY SHOW 2018

37th Annual WNYRHS Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show
Review November 17th & 18th, 2018
by Art Toale - Trainshow Chairman

On Saturday and Sunday November 17th and18th the Society held its semiannual Train and Toy Show. I am happy to report that the show was successful and well attended.

There is a lot of work and preparation that goes into putting the Train and Toy Show together, and I am fortunate to have a dedicated and competent crew to work with me. I would like to thank Mike Grabecki for put-ting together the floor plan. (Not an easy task). Especially with my phone calls such as "We need to put in two more tables against the wall, near a restroom or near the food service." We average 350 - 400 tables and 115 vendors. It can get a little crazy. Thanks to Caryl Youngers for taking care of the Thomas the Tank Engine play area and setting up the speaker and demonstration facilities. Bob Snyder handled the registration of dealers. He is the first to find out if a dealer has a problem, not easy. Thank you, Bob. Tom Stackhouse coordinated the speakers and scheduled them for the show. Thank you, Tom. Don and Barb Owens worked the admission doors along with George Specht. They took tickets and stamped hands for re-admission. They also answered a lot of questions (I'm sure repeatedly) and all this with warm and a welcoming smile.

The Thursday before the show is set-up day. Thanks to Bob Kleinmann, Paul Vester, Keith Michael, Ted Patricola, Charlie Lamonte, Caryl Youngers, Howard Newberry, Marty Visciano and Davi Frey for setting up the tables and moving them to the position I need them to be in. Paul and Ted have the extra duty of making sure the traffic aisles meet the fire code and all the rows are straight and even. (Not as easy as it sounds). A large part of the success of the show depends on advertising. Joe Kocsis and Scott Hawbaker take care of for me. Thank you, Joe and Scott. So as you can see, there are a lot of people involved. Special thanks to Don Boyd for teaching me how to delegate. On Sunday night the set-up crew plus George Specht and Al Olmstead break down the show.

The Williamsville Depot had a very successful "Basket Raffle" and "Paint a Square" fund drive for their newly aquired boxcar. A new electrical service has been run to both the boxcar and our Lehigh Valley Caboose to allow both to be used year around. Proceeds will also go toward many new updates at the Depot and we again thank all those who contributed to this effort.

The "Gowanda and Buffalo Model Railroad Club" again sponsored the "Thomas & Friends" free kids play area which was loaded with future "engineers" all day. The "Joy of Trains" folks from Orchard Park, had a kid friendly layout to introduce children to trains.

I look forward to our next show and hope to see a big crowd there as well. If I missed recognizing anybody's help I will apologize now. Thank you, Art

DEALERS

The WNYRHS is proud to host a show that has dealers which offer something for everyone in the family. Over 80% of our dealers offer prototype or model railroad products for the serious railfan. Other dealers have products that appeal to women and children that may not have railroad interests but love toys, dolls, crafts or food. Below are some of the many different products the dealers had to offer.

Thanks again to all our dealers and friends who came to the show. And a hearty Thank You to all our Society Members who volunteered their time to help set up and take down tables, take tickets, man tables and answer questions. We couldn't have done it without all of you! We hope you enjoyed yourself and that we will see you for our wonderful "28th WNYRHS Winter Train & Toy Show" February 16th and 17th, 2019! Sincerely, Art

For More Information to Train Show at - wnytrainshow@hotmail.com
Or call (716) 821-9360 and leave a message.