Model train show conducting itself well in South Franklin
Model train enthusiasts had no reason to rail against the volume of offerings available Saturday in South Franklin Township.
Mike Kresich, left, of Fallowfield Township, examines items being sold by John Morrison, a vendor from Pittsburgh.
Mike and Heidi Hamilton of Washington check out the wares Saturday at the Train & Toy Show in South Franklin Township.
Surrounded by model trains, tracks and virtually everything associated with them – and a generous number of hobbyists – David Chipps had no reason to rail.
“It’s gone every well,” he said Saturday during the annual Train & Toy Show at South Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Department.
Chipps, the promoter, has organized the event every year since 2000, and staged it at the VFD’s social hall for the past six. It is a popular show that may have peaked Saturday, as about 350 people tracked into the large hall to see what vendors were selling. That crowd estimate matched the December 2015 total, and there was still 90 minutes to go.
This was an early crowd as well – Chipps said about 130 arrived by 9:30 a.m., a half-hour after doors opened. They closed at 3 p.m.
“We get a lot of families, a lot of grandfathers,” said Chipps, who charges $5 to anyone over age 12.
Younger patrons are admitted free.
Other toys were available Saturday, but trains, trains everywhere was the dominant theme, as 129 tables were filled with them. Vendors, 42 of them, conducted business, selling engines, cars, cabooses, crossings, tracks and associated pieces.
“We have a wide variety of trains,” he said. “We have American Flyer, MTH, Lionel. We have N scale to G scale,”
“Our dealers come from four states – Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland. About 75 percent of them return each year.”
Mike and Heidi Hamilton of Washington were first-time attendees Saturday. They’ve been to shows elsewhere, with grandchildren. Mike is a collector, more so than his wife, although Heidi, donning a Steelers jacket, has a Steelers-edition train.
“We’re looking to buy,” she said with a smile.
For Mike, the hobby is something of an extension of his careers. “I worked with railroads, now I’m a contractor for railroads.”
Nearby, another Mike – Kresich of Fallowfield Township – was checking out the model railroad wares of numerous dealers. He was interested in a number of pieces John Morrison was selling, and spoke at length with the vendor from Pittsburgh. Neither was new to an event like this.
Chipps certainly isn’t. He is a longtime hobbyist himself, so avid that he ran a hobby shop in downtown Washington in the 1980s and ’90s. He later operated an antiques store in Washington Crown Center. His brother, Larry, owns Chipps Locksmith Service in Washington.
Now, David L. Chipps Jr. is in charge of the Train & Toy Show, which he started 16 years ago at Calvary Baptist Church in North Franklin Township. He said a number of people are responsible for the show’s longevity and apparent increasing popularity, especially his good friend, John Thompson of Washington.
The show has become a tradition at South Franklin VFD, one that will continue Dec. 2, 2017. Chipps has that lined up already.
He plans to stay on track with this event.