Trainfest 2017...Recap

Trainfest 2017 is currently going on in Milwaukee, WI (Nov 11-12) and yesterday my son and I took the drive around the lake towards Milwaukee.  I have not attended Trainfest since probably I was a teenager so it happened to be perfect timing that it was coming up just as I was getting back into model railroading.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed they were directing us towards the ‘Milwaukee Mile’ (Indy Car race track) and they had us pull onto track and drive through one of the turns and had us park on pit row.  Being a fan of Indy and NASCAR, I thought that this was really cool.

My youngest son on the Start/Finish Line

There was a short line to get into the venue and luckily I had purchased my tickets online and got to skip most of the line.  We then proceeded into the exhibition area.  Coming into Trainfest, I knew what to expect, plenty of model railroad layouts, and manfacturers showcasing their products.  What I was hoping for was a little bit more for vendors.  I know it is not the typical train show swap meet, but a few more vendors would have been nice.  I was looking for a specific size track piece to complete my layout and had no such luck.

As we entered the expo area we proceeded to check out all the club layouts first.  Seeing that how I am currently building a N Scale layout, my emphasis was mainly looking at the N Scale layouts.  But I did also check out HO and the Lionel layouts.  As you can see in my previous post Photo Dump, majority of those photos are N Scale (to be able to give me some inspiration for when it is time to do the scenery for our layout).

Once we finished looking at all the layouts, we then proceeded towards the manufacturer and vendor area.  All the major manaufacturers were on hand which was nice and there were plenty that I have never heard of before.  There were quite a few vendors selling their own terrain.  I just wish I was at that stage on my layout where I was ready for building and such, I am sure I would have made a lot more purchases.

I did pick up 2 coffee mugs from one vendor and a license plate frame the Chicago & North Western Historical Society (I am actually thinking about becoming a member with them).

As we were making our way up and down the aisles looking at all the different rolling stock, a vendor booth caught my attention.  In one of the glass cabinets the word “Disney” caught my attention.  See my family is a big with “Disney” (it all came from my wife) and the last 10 years living in Arizona, we made a trip to Disneyland every year.  So when I saw “Disney” I had to see what it was.  As I approached, I noticed they were Holiday cars, that is another plus for me, after Disney, the next thing my wife loves is Christmas.  So if could find a Disney Holiday car, my wife would not yell at me with that purchase.  The artist for the cars is Lowell Smith and his website is www.lowellsmith.net and the cars are all limited edition.  Unfortunatley all he had left was 2011 and 2013 so I at least elected to purchase those, and 2017 should be releasing soon.

Lowell also showed me a new line of Disney cars that he is making and the first 2 cars were just released with 6 more in the future.  He is calling it “Walt’s World of Color”, it is his view of what Walt Disney’s private train would like it.  I decided to jump on these 2 cars also and a brochure for the next 2 that are coming very shortly.  I did not want to miss out like I did with the Holiday cars.  Lowell did mention he does plan to also release an engine for the World of Color cars, so that would also be really nice.

That was really it for me in the purchasing department.  I know next year at Trainfest 2018 I should have a better idea of what products I really want/need.