If you’re a model railroad enthusiast – or even if you’re not – your one chance to check out a massive expo is coming right up.
The Concord Model Railroad Show is the Capital Area’s big-time summer showcase of all things model trains. If you’re looking to buy some stuff to add to your home layout or just want to check out some other setups, this is the place for you.
The show, which is Sunday at Everett Arena from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., has been put on by the Concord Model Railroad Club for the past 30 years – this will be the 31st year, said Richard Fifield, the club’s show chairman.
This club was featured in a March edition of the Insider, and it’s just a group of guys who love building model railroad layouts and running trains on them. They’re the ones behind the show at Everett Arena, and most of them will be there to tell people anything they want to know about the club, the show or model railroad stuff in general.
Once you’re in there, you’ll encounter an absolute smorgasbord of model railroad memorabilia and paraphernalia.
“I have 80-some dealers coming in selling various items,” Fifield said. “Train cars, tracks, set pieces – everything you can imagine will be for sale.”
There will also be layouts set up mostly for display. “We’re gonna have eight operating layouts, the biggest one being our club’s, which is gonna take up 36 by 71 feet,” Fifield said. “This is by far the biggest.”
Chances are that most of you don’t have enough space at home to set up a model railroad that’s 71 feet long in one direction, so you should take advantage of this opportunity to come down and check one out. Even if you don’t have the physical capabilities of making a layout that huge, you can get some ideas to apply to your own setup on a smaller scale.
Operating layouts – big and small – will be running the whole time, so you can get all kinds of ideas to apply to your own set. There is also going to be a special raffle.
“The Dinner Train up in Lincoln is giving two free passes for their dinner train,” Fifield said. It will be raffled off about 3 p.m.
Admission is $5 for adults, free for children under 12 with an adult, and $12 per family max.
