O GaugeWatch.com

The traffic will definitely keep me away from any show at this venue. York, A much larger show, doesn’t have this problem. It is too bad this would have been my first WGH show and after waiting 1 hour to move about 1.5 miles I turned around and headed back home to northeastern PA. A trip of about 100 miles. An afternoon of my life wasted.

docaab, I was thinking of doing the same but I had my son with me who was excited about the show.

I had the great misfortune of attending The World’s Greatest Hobby Show at the PA Expo Center in Oaks, PA last Saturday morning. I initially thought that there must have been a horrific accident on 422 to back up traffic almost all the way back to the PA Turnpike but I was informed otherwise by some locals chuckling at the roadway jam up. This area of 422 and 202 apparently is notorious for traffic snarls and clueless traffic patterns but the opening of the “new” Expo Center added a whole new dimension to “hitting the wall”. It all seems to stem from the shopping centers, malls and now the Expo Center that draws people from all corners of the world. All roads were leading to the 422 exit where all things wondrous could be found including the Worlds Greatest Hobby.
It took an hour and a half to get within a quarter mile of the WGH Show. I parked in some trucking company’s lot and began walking in frigid temperatures to the entrance. At this point I didn’t mind the cold walk because I was moving faster than the cars.
At the Expo Center’s entrance was a line of people wrapped around the building. There were old people, young people, people with children, children in strollers, children on fathers and fathers on tranquilizers. It was a zoo. The line that formed inside the building looked like a scene from a 50’s zombie movie. People were wandering every which way to buy a ticket. I was weary before getting inside and I could tell that the rest of my adventure was not going to get any better.
Once on the show floor I had to find the rest room. I estimate that the Expo Center had 10,000 people milling around at 11:00 AM hour. If half of them were male, that’s how many guys were trying to pee. The facilities were pathetic.
Once rested, I started to get my bearings for the show. I tried to walk across the isle to look at a layout when I was hit from behind by an over-crowded stroller with kids and stuff falling out of it. The lady gave me a nasty look like I was jay walking. Then, within my next two steps, my foot was run over by stroller pushed by a guy rushing to see Thomas the Train. The stroller was empty but the assumed occupant was screaming something about a train ride while sitting on his father’s shoulders. I immediately looked for a quiet port on this sea of insanity but none was in sight.
I finally got into an isle where the traffic seemed to be moving toward the back of the hall. As I maneuvered through the crowds people (the non-interested women or the animated children) would just stop right behind the hobbyist while he looked at whatever. No one was aware of their surroundings or the bottleneck they were creating in the narrow aisles. Any courtesies extended were not well intended and mostly sarcastic in tone.
I couldn’t get close to the layouts because strollers were blocking the way. Kids were pushing anyone in their way to get somewhere and no one seemed to care, except me.
Now granted, I was a weary puppy by the time I arrived at the Expo Center but when I attend a TCA event or one of the great shows in the Lehigh Valley I find it easy to navigate the crowds and the people are courteous. That WGH event was the exact opposite in every respect.
One thing I do recognize after all is said and done is that there were huge numbers of people with kids being introduced to model railroading. The chief products for sale at the show were train sets and the catalyst for set purchases was the fascinating train’s seen on a multitude of layouts from one end of the hall to another. This has value and importance in perpetuating the hobby for generations to come. If some of the dad’s and their kids develop a fondness for the hobby, then the event had merit.
I am not a fan of the World’s Greatest Hobby Show because it’s not what a veteran train guy comes out to see, but such shows have their place and purpose. Unfortunately, this venue is in the worst imaginable location in the greater Philadelphia area. In the future I will stick to shows I know and note the World’s Greatest Hobby Show on my “no-go list”.

I agree with all the above I arrived at 930 with the show opening at 10 and the parking lot was already completely full. The line was around the building so I waited in my warm car until 1030 and felt the line should be moving and the wait not as long WRONG! The line was still around the building. When I did get in I found the building packed with people and extremely hard to move around and enjoy the dealers let alone appreciate the running layouts. I stayed until 130 and left very disappointed in the whole experience. I to have attended the shows in Edison and found the facility much nice and customer friendly, with plenty of room for both dealers and displays. My biggest regret is that I could have gone to a great train show in Summerset NJ on the same day which I understand was really nice, but this was the WGH show and boy did I make a mistake. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to any show held in Oaks after what I experienced and the traffic jam I observed on my way back to the turnpike. Three lanes of traffic at a stand still all the way form the expo center to the turnpike. NEVER AGAIN.