Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

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PRR5406
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Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by PRR5406 »

This was my first Cabin Fever and possibly my only one until there is better live steam railroading representation. The "Gauge 1" guys had a great little layout which ran constantly with a nice representation of locomotives. As far as vendors were concerned, I'm going to say I saw perhaps six booths. Model hit and miss motors were in abundance. In that same arena there were dealers of parts, new and used, tooling, as well as the R/C boats. The auction was quite nice, but online, so unless you had money to toss at the offerings, it was very difficult to score a "win". I did get a good buy on a small lathe in the consignment area. The dirt pile for R/C tractors, excavators, and trucks, was absolutely choked with participants and visitors in the bleachers. Word was being passed that the only room with trains was going to be incorporated into an expanded dirt pile next year.

Where were the live steam railroaders, vendors, and displays? A ground display, or a rail fair, like the 1938 World's Fair wold have been a wonderful addition, and no doubt would have entertained thousands of visitors.

In spite of the difficulties surmounted in pulling this exhibition off, my grade would be a "C+". The fault may lay with we live steamers; perhaps it should be shared between we hobbyists and the C-F organizers. As is said, this was my first attendance.
(Preparing to be blistered)

Other opinions?
Beautiful PRR E6s at speed in Gauge 1.
Beautiful PRR E6s at speed in Gauge 1.
"Always stopping my train, and risking my ankles, with American made, New Balance sneakers."
Steam Engine Dan
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by Steam Engine Dan »

PRR5406 wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:57 am This was my first Cabin Fever and possibly my only one until there is better live steam railroading representation. The "Gauge 1" guys had a great little layout which ran constantly with a nice representation of locomotives. As far as vendors were concerned, I'm going to say I saw perhaps six booths. Model hit and miss motors were in abundance. In that same arena there were dealers of parts, new and used, tooling, as well as the R/C boats. The auction was quite nice, but online, so unless you had money to toss at the offerings, it was very difficult to score a "win". I did get a good buy on a small lathe in the consignment area. The dirt pile for R/C tractors, excavators, and trucks, was absolutely choked with participants and visitors in the bleachers. Word was being passed that the only room with trains was going to be incorporated into an expanded dirt pile next year.

Where were the live steam railroaders, vendors, and displays? A ground display, or a rail fair, like the 1938 World's Fair wold have been a wonderful addition, and no doubt would have entertained thousands of visitors.

In spite of the difficulties surmounted in pulling this exhibition off, my grade would be a "C+". The fault may lay with we live steamers; perhaps it should be shared between we hobbyists and the C-F organizers. As is said, this was my first attendance.
(Preparing to be blistered)

Other opinions?E6s 460 at speed.JPG
i think the problem at least as far as live steam vendors is for all the work that goes into setting up a live steam display. you are lucky if you attract anyone young or old to your display to get them interested in the hobby. a few of us at NJLS used to do tons of shows back in 90's and early 2000's with setting up at the greenberg train show in edison nj. for all the work we put into bringing equipment and flyers with info about our club and what we do. we were lucky if at all to attract and gain maybe one or two new members to out club. i mean yes people would stop by and go ohh look at the big choo choo, ohh thats so cute. but thats all it was to them was just a wow and aww factor. and then another problem we found was who from our club was gonna set up the tables and displays and man them. it's alot of work. so after 20 or so years off and on, we finally gave up on them. we did do one display at cabin fever in 03 i think it was and same thing people were amazed but never joined. so for all that work with no positive feedback i think is what detracts clubs from vending at these shows now. at least from what i have experienced and seen with my own eyes. our last show was at the mother seton train show in NJ 4 or 5 years ago. and same thing, we brought equipment and flyers. we had a 3 to 4 man crew man the tables to answer questions. but gained nothing out of it. so after the mother seton show. we finally stopped. plus you have to remember that cabin fever is NOT specially geared to just trains. their bread and butter is really stationary engines, hit n miss engines, machine shop stuff, etc etc. yes they might have some trains here and there, but that is not their bread n butter.

so what it comes down to is, clubs and members don't want to do the work of loading up and setting up for these shows. and for all the work for those that do set up at these shows, they do not get the kind of feedback that they hope for of attracting new members. plus i think when people see what we do i think they are intimidated by the size of our trains. plus you throw in the cost of them to someone and they think oh well i can't afford a big live steam locomotive and riding car. thats too much money. where would i run it, where would i store it, how am i gonna transport it, can i get my son or daughter interested in it. people do get intimidated by our size trains.

plus like you mentioned, the RC dirtpile pits. with that being the new exciting hobby for people. why should someone waste thousands dollars a locomotive and riding car, when they can just buy a cheap RC vehicle and putt around with that from the convenience of their lawn chair. they don't have to fuel it, water it, lubricate it. they can just charge it up or swap out the batteries and go. so now you have another kind of hobby competing for people's attention. RC dirtpile vehicles are just another instant gratification as with live steamers going from steam engines to diesel and electric engines. the whole instant gratification process. everyone is getting older and lazier.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by Bill Shields »

Totally agree with all said above by both. Have not been to show for maybe 15 years when the RC craze started.

All the more reason for smaller steamers that can fit in a standard car that can be owned without mortgaging everything.

But then you would still need to find people with the correct mindset and talents to make it happen.

As for having a track and transporting people in a crowd like that, potentially indoors because of the weather?

Only in Germany would they do that (Sinsheim).

The crowds at the gauge 1 track are not limited to this show. Come to our local club at any given meet and the Gauge 1 track has a substantial and growing group.
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rrnut-2
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by rrnut-2 »

The other issue is cost. Rarely do we break even on the cost of setting up for the show, hotel rooms, and meals. The other factor for us is the weather. No fun pulling a trailer in snow.

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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by my2cents »

Cabin fever is constantly evolving. It is not just a live steam or model railroading show. It is model engineering and model engineering at its best. Model railroading is just a very small part. I feel model railroading is best to left to model railroading shows like Bloomberg or railroadiana shows. Live Steam falls in to the model engineering category. People can say what they want to about the model construction equipment but if you look at them in detail they are quite the piece of craftsmanship. The engineering and machining to go into one of those is impressive. Some of them have full miniature hydraulic system and such. Those are also hand built and not a purchased plastic kit out of a box. The 98% of the gauge one railroaders can not claim that, they basically purchase a expensive toy train, and we get those individuals in the large ride on scales also. Basically it is impressive to see the craftsmanship in all platform whether it is hot air engine, gas engine, boat, construction equipment or Live Steam equipment. Yes, more vendors and exhibitors in all genres would be great and make the show better but it takes them having the ability and resources to attend. It is also nice to see tooling and machine companies there to either buy supplies or to know whats out their for future purchases.
It is nice to have the cabin fever folks put on a show that we ALL can see what others are doing and pulling from their knowledge for our own projects. Now that the NAMES show in Michigan is no longer there is no other show in the US for model engineering.I am a live steamer at heart and will always be, but I can appreciate the workmanship that goes into those models and appreciate their passion whether it is planes, trains or automobiles.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by Bill Shields »

:D
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Rich_Carlstedt
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by Rich_Carlstedt »

I did not make this show (CF) , nor the one last year, but have been going to CF for over the past 25 years so I can't
comment on this one , but did talk to Wayne Gotshall the week before . As you may know, Wayne had a very serious accident recently,
so missed this show, but in previous shows he had " large" 7 1/2" equipment on display in a booth.and also used the opportunity
to sell his American Model Engineering screw/nut supplies
The less we participate, the fewer live Steam vendors will be willing to grow or even be created
Yes, the dirt guys are growing, but so were paper airplanes when i was a kid.
We just hope that the next phase is in our hobby.
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by 6175 »

This was my 3rd year going to the show. This year was the most packed I have seen it yet. It seems like the RC trucks and dirt pile are really taking off. The auction has took a downturn. IMO having it be online only is a drag, but I guess that is where the money is at. It would have been nice to see more live steam vendors but I have to commend the ones that did show up. Seeing the Sprayberry hoppers in person was great and meeting David Bortz from SuperScale was awesome. I think we personally need to step up and show up to the Cabin Fever show with our personal projects if we are going to see more vendors, crowd interest and 7.5 gauge offerings there.

Good luck with the new lathe. Was it the Colchester?
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PRR5406
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by PRR5406 »

No, it is a small German unit, "Edelstaal". It's a place from which to learn basics. There were some amazing tools for sale, but many without power systems.
Thanks to everyone for offering their viewpoint regarding C/F.
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Andypullen
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by Andypullen »

I've been going to CF for at least the last 20 years.

John Hudak and I have gotten tables to display our models over the years. This year we didn't. Neither one of us had anything new to display. We're talking about next year, though.

The hall with the boat pond and all of the hit and miss stuff got very smokey by the end of each day. We'll probably set up in the hall next to the consignment area.
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by JET »

As a new guy (with low funds) looking to build a South Buffalo Railway ALCO S-4 in honor of my Father (& his Father & Uncles) I have been slowly collecting parts, tools, materials etc. for the build for approx. 1.5yrs now (haven't collected a whole lot either) as I can afford them. Please don't beat me up too bad on my opinion here & please take it as constructive criticism the following: There seems to be a serious shortage of Livesteam vendors supplying Diesel locomotive KITS that are reasonably priced. There's hardly ANY diesel locomotive kits period TBH, & these so called kits can hardly even be called a kit without ANY instructions & owning expensive lathes, milling machines, welders, sheet metal brakes, blue prints etc.. It would be awesome for me to buy all the parts etc. I need as I can afford them already machined for the ALCO S-4 kit along with some well written instructions & prints for those of us disabled without paying an arm & a leg. I don't know many people that can afford to buy a pre-built locomotive these days so if you really want to help promote the Livesteam hobby, help by making reasonably priced fully machined kits of locos and cars and more variety of kits similar to Precision Steel Car. Also make the kits a lot more prototypically correct in sizes & details. If I could super detail HO Scale locomotives and cars 30yrs ago I'm sure it SHOULD be much easier to do so on 1/8 scale locomotives and cars for not much more money (You're already cutting the parts, why not just cut them more accurately to prototypical dimensions?).
P.S. I wish Precision Steel Car would bring back their 100ton 3-Bay Open Hopper & their 100ton Steel Coil Car or sell us the prints or laser/plasma cutter program on a thumb drive so we can pay someone to cut them for us. I called and asked about a year ago with no luck (forgot who it was). Just my $0.02...
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PRR5406
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Re: Cabin Fever 2023 - Opinions?

Post by PRR5406 »

Jet, there are a number of smaller Diesels out on the market, but I absolutely hear your call. After I retired, I took an adult education class to learn welding. Using drawings and photos available online, I constructed an ALCO C420 high-hood. My tools were the MIG welder I bought from Tractor Supply and an $18 Harbor Freight angle grinder. Trucks were another thing, and I made patterns in wood and handed them over to Odd Duck Foundry (Pete's a neighbor, across the river). You can ask in this forum about others who will turn wheels for you at a reasonable, usually very reasonable, cost.
You can make it happen for yourself if you simply work the problem. A suggestion would be to construct a caboose or boxcar in wood, sell it and use the money you earn to finance what you want to purchase commercially.
That's how I got into live steam/Diesel railroading. Give it a shot. You can't lose by trying.
"Always stopping my train, and risking my ankles, with American made, New Balance sneakers."
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