Tampa Train Show Analysis

Annually, so much money gets put in for a trip to a show to be able to see the selection of trains and pretty much most importantly the GFLUG layout.

This trip was a two-day trip, one afternoon to Orlando, and one full day in Tampa, Lakeland, and a final stop in Downtown Disney before flying down the Turnpike (TPK) home.

Sometimes I feel that I would have rather had the show than the five to six trains I saw due to delay, oh scratch that, I would have seen those anyway.

What happened on our expedition west to Tampa was that at three points on I-4's mainline, the only three points we maintained access to, the evils of traffic jams took over.

I understand the mess in Tampa proper for the March Madness game. But it was Saturday and the freaking back woods of Haines City and Lakeland had traffic, too... WORSE than Tampa's.

Intolerance for the mess and simply knowing that it would continue elsewhere (looks like I was right with LKLD) made us do the US92 route, which with the exposure to railroading and the catch of Q453, a Waycross to Miami train, would take us two additional hours.

Already bummed by the jams, we were quite frustrated and tired when at the show. At Plant City (bisected by Baker Street -- 92 westbd) we thought of giving up but I went for the show, not to sit like a cow the whole day and railfan.

However, the show was bitterly disappointing. A waste of admission, though the only good thing was the GFLUG layout. Booths were airy and spaced out, and they didn't have as much vendor turnout as they would up north. Surprising for the retirement state, nonetheless. Due to the reduced time commitment of 1 hour from 4, I didn't even bring my LEGO trains for running, I wanted to see Amtrak P092, the Silver Star, and my investment in that was worthwhile with the #835 trailing, a rare P40DC.

Though, it was nice to check out the downtown Tampa display. Also, I decided to take a nice look around the H.B. Plant RR Historical Society's HO diorama, it's grown for sure.

Hobby displays had brittle deals and often sold things at near-full retail. Honestly, maybe Plant City's show is simply much better than this, the only tradeoff the LEGO layout's downtown sector.

However our faith returned with the third-saturday Old Car Show in PC and the usual food offerings and even more so, the camaraderie with people like Aaron Van Amburg, Matt Bryant, Joshua Kintner, Jason Beck, and kinda-surprisingly, Danny Harmon. DH probably did some PC fanning just because; I know his buddies John Buckley and others returned on P092 so I guess he came out. You'd be surprised, he didn't film a thing. He did the old fashioned, true railfanning, simply watching trains. It'd be funny to factor in how Matthew and I showed our catches of two P092s very ambitiously. Such a fellowship kind of makes the trip worthwhile, but he said, the general consensus was below satisfactory.

I don't think I will be doing a Tampa show trip for a while, though the rail turnout was pretty good for my YouTube channel, only half the purpose with 11 trains videorecorded strictly on the trip, a 12th was Tri-Rail, but the recording was harsh and quick, so I said "To hell with it". Maybe my LEGO interests will be much better oriented too next year, with some Phosphate trains to delve in to the P.C. display. Who knows, I could even do the due-laden registration and be a formal member. I forgot to say, I was building the Tampa Bypass canal. :)