240 miles separates where I am at and the Twin Cities. Almost the same amount separates my home base and Winnipeg. For 70 less miles and reduce my drive time by 1.5 hours, I can get to St. Cloud, the Granite City.
Once again I spent some time at the
Granite City Train Show a few weeks ago. This train show has been going on for a while- maybe like 10 years- and it has been my go to show for buying model trains and railroad related items. Last spring they moved the show from the Armory to the River's Edge Convention Center in downtown St. Cloud. The convention center allowed much more space and a lot more parking. This spring the show was just a bit sparse. I noted quite a few vendors were not present. I overheard amongst the chatter that the Newport Club was having one of their sales the same day down in Woodbury. I have written
about that one and attended last year. Woodbury is a large draw and Twin Cities based vendors may find it more attractive than lugging their wares up to St. Cloud. In the past, another popular show near the Twin Cities, Randolph Railroad Days, has conflicted with the Granite City spring date and made it a smaller show.
Don't get me wrong, Granite City
is a great show. The spring show dates just get all jammed up especially when scheduling around Easter. To my knowledge Granite City is the probably the largest train show in out state Minnesota. So it would be nice if a show is not scheduled down in the Twin Cities on the same date.
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| Colorful Texas Pacific and Western Box Car |
Nonetheless, it was a good time. I am holding off on adding rolling stock to my collection, but there was a diverse variety of Lionel old stock and K-Line. There was a set of K-line Great Northern Empire Builder passenger cars at an awesome price that I passed on since I added some Great Northern Williams made items to my collection. Instead I brought home some scenic items: light tower, lighted billboard, and trestles. Some dealers are even trying to sell the Menard's cars. Not sure how that is going over. Standard gauge made some appearances. Typical amount of railroad antiques and books. I picked up a clutch of used books and a Burlington Northern switchman's light. A good amount of lay outs on hand including the
Granite City O-gaugers bid 3 rail modular and
Great River Valley System T-trak modular.
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| Large Gauge and Standard Gauge on hand |
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| Menards mixed well with Lionel and K-line |
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