Elkhart Model Railroad Club's 21st Annual Show Draws Crowds to Nappanee

The Claywood Event Center's 14,000 square feet were full by mid-morning on Saturday, March 21, when the Elkhart Model Railroad Club staged its 21st Annual Nappanee Train Show, the event it claims as the largest model train show in Northern Indiana. Doors opened at 10 a.m. EDT and ran to 3 p.m., with adult admission at $5 and children 12 and under entering free with a paid adult.

More than 150 vendor tables lined the floor, offering new and used model trains across all scales alongside railroad collectibles, memorabilia, scenery supplies, and tools. The sheer variety draws buyers ranging from serious collectors chasing specific road names and eras to casual browsers who leave with something they didn't know they needed.

Two visiting club layouts anchored the operating display section. The Battle Creek Model Railroad Club brought its layout south from Michigan, and the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society ran a second display that pulled in steady foot traffic throughout the day. Five-year-old Hugo Andes watched intently as locomotives worked through the Kalamazoo layout's scenery. At the Battle Creek display, Kevin Jones of Warsaw stood alongside his grandson Liam as trains moved through the layout's run.

Steve Storey, treasurer of the Elkhart Model Railroad Club, was also on the floor watching alongside visitors at the Battle Creek exhibit. He put last year's attendance at between 700 and 750, and credits consistent vendor networking and the club's marketing efforts for that draw. The vendors themselves, Storey noted, have become almost like friends over the show's two-decade history, a dynamic that keeps familiar faces returning year after year to buy, sell, and trade. Fellow club member Randall Robbins noted that the show's peak paid attendance on record came in 2023.

Storey's own path back to the hobby traces to his late twenties, when flipping through a model railroad magazine rekindled an interest that had gone dormant in his teens. He now runs his layout as though it were a real operating railroad, and has taken up ballasting, the precise act of placing small stones along the track to give the roadbed a realistic profile.

The show came one year after the Elkhart Model Railroad Club's 75th Anniversary celebrations, giving the 21st annual edition added momentum. The club, which has served Northern Indiana and Southwestern Michigan since 1950, capped its anniversary year by naming Nick Mangona and Rick Cawley as co-Members of the Year, recognizing Mangona's 3D printing contributions and Cawley's hands-on work across layout projects.

For those planning ahead: show coordinator Ken Prager can be reached at (574) 300-5151, and the full event calendar lives at emrrc.com. The Claywood Event Center is wheelchair accessible with free parking and refreshments on site. Families can take full advantage of the free kids admission, and buyers chasing vintage pieces or harder-to-find collectibles should plan to arrive at doors-open rather than midday when the best tables have already been picked over. Layout photographers will want to claim a position at the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo displays early, before the crowds settle in around both.