Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show
Encyclopedia
The Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show is an annual show, covering Railroads, Railroad Museums, Model Railroading, and railroad related toys, held at the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield, Massachusetts
by the Amherst Railway Society
at the end of January (whenever the Super Bowl is not playing that Sunday due to attendance issues) and attended by nearly 20,000 people. The show currently operates in three large buildings and one small building for a total of four buildings. The Show began its existence at UMASS where it was held in the Student Union building in the 1970s and expanded to the New England Building on the BIG E fair grounds for the 1983 show. However the show quickly outgrew the New England building and moved to the Better Living Center in 1984. From there it expanded to now include the Young Building, Stroh Building and the Mallory Building. The Amherst Railway Society Hobby Show is the biggest show featuring model trains in North America in terms of space size for all four buildings.
West Springfield, Massachusetts
The Town of West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,391 at the 2010 census...
by the Amherst Railway Society
Amherst Railway Society
The Amherst Railway Society is a society of railway enthusiasts in the Amherst, Massachusetts area. The society puts on an annual "Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show" at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds in West Springfield, Massachusetts in late January or February every...
at the end of January (whenever the Super Bowl is not playing that Sunday due to attendance issues) and attended by nearly 20,000 people. The show currently operates in three large buildings and one small building for a total of four buildings. The Show began its existence at UMASS where it was held in the Student Union building in the 1970s and expanded to the New England Building on the BIG E fair grounds for the 1983 show. However the show quickly outgrew the New England building and moved to the Better Living Center in 1984. From there it expanded to now include the Young Building, Stroh Building and the Mallory Building. The Amherst Railway Society Hobby Show is the biggest show featuring model trains in North America in terms of space size for all four buildings.
The Railroad Hobby Show is a fund-raiser for the nonprofit Amherst Railway Society. Since 1991, the society has donated more than $300,000 raised through the show to various railroad museums, historical societies, nonprofit groups and organizations dedicated to preserving railroad history and restoring railroad equipment and structures, as well as scholarships.