Trains, Planes, and Rental Car - Travel Vlog to Amherst 2024!

It was my first trip to the Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, MA.
This is the largest model train show in North America, and hosted by the Amherst Railway Society. The only facility in the area largest enough to hold such a massive event is the Eastern States Expo Center in central Massachusetts.
This video is edited into the style of a travel vlog, chronicling the trip there, the show, some of the side trips, and the trip home.
We left southern Illinois in the early morning hours of Friday January 26th, 2024, for the 2 1/2 hour drive to St. Louis Lambert International Airport, then a 2 hour flight on Southwest to Boston Logan Airport. We got a rental car, then drove to the hotel near Springfield, with a short railfan stop in Worcester. Saturday was a day spent wandering around the complex checking out all the cool layouts and speaking with the manufacturers. Later that night we went to dinner with our friends who were at the show as well. Sunday, we spent most of the day walking around the show, before heading back to Boston. It was an early morning Monday, as we had tickets to ride Acela down to New York City for the day. Our train left at 6am and wouldn't return until after 10pm. That gave us about 9 hours to spend exploring the big Apple. We managed to briefly visit Times Square, Central Park, the Ghostbuster's headquarters, the 9/11 Memorial, Battery Park, DUMBO, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, and return to Penn Station. On our final day of Tuesday the 30th, we had a few more hours before the rental car needed to be back to the airport. So we drove down to Plymouth Rock, Scituate, Castle Island, and the Old North Church before flying back to St. Louis.
Tips for those taking similar trips:
The Amherst show is BIG! Have good walking shoes, and a pen and paper to note where you see certain items. Make a list of the booths and layouts you definitely want to see, and go to them first. Then spend the rest of the time seeing the rest of the show.
Eat a big breakfast, and bring a snack and bottle of water to save on eating at the show; it's expensive! Also, if you think you might buy larger or heavier items, get to the show early so you can have a closer parking spot. Then you won't have to carry it too far.
Riding Amtrak out of Boston? There are homeless people living in the station. And they will pester you for money while you're in the main hall waiting for your train to board. I felt a bit uncomfortable. And parking downtown is very expensive. A better option would have been to park at the Route 128 station south of Boston. All trains stop here, including Acela. Parking is much cheaper, and the area is safer.
New York was great! Lots of famous sights to see. The subway was easy enough to figure out. But if you travel in a big group, the cost per person adds up quick.
Thanks for riding along this trip with us! I hope you enjoyed it, and it inspires you to visit Amherst sometime!
Comments, leave them down below.
Life of Riley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...

[@user-lh6fu9hd9n]

I enjoyed it !

[@alitathomas2711]

I did enjoy your trip. Our landline is in Olney phone book under Gary and me
L
Alita

[@alitathomas2711]

I found some old train cars locally I think you might want to check out. So I don't want to give location out in open. Call us or James knows about it. Leta