San Antonio model train collectors mark 50th annual Lone Star meet

A packed church hall, tables of vintage rolling stock and a sprawling, hyper-realistic layout made a strong case for why the Lone Star meet has lasted 50 years. At the 50th annual Train Collectors Association Lone Star Division Train Show, collectors in San Antonio spent Saturday morning hunting rare engines, vintage boxcars and a little railroad nostalgia.

The meet was held May 16 at Parkhills Baptist Church, 17747 San Pedro Ave. in San Antonio. Members got in from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. for $5, then the show opened to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Public admission was listed at $9 for adults and $12 for families. The show also offered free parking, door prizes every hour and a $2 discount for mentioning the website. Model trains of all gauges were on the sales tables.

What made the anniversary show matter was not just the merchandise. The opening display set the tone with intricate scenery that gave the meet the feel of both a swap meet and a layout showcase. That mix is the point of a Train Collectors Association gathering: it is where buying, operating and simply looking all happen in the same room. For collectors, the value is in seeing condition up close, comparing notes with other hobbyists and finding pieces that do not stay available long online.

The Lone Star Division’s membership is drawn from Texas and Louisiana, and many of its members are long-time TCA members with deep roots in the hobby. That generational continuity is part of what keeps a half-century-old meet relevant. A show like this still gives collectors something a screen cannot: a chance to handle a locomotive, inspect a boxcar, and talk through a find with somebody who knows the roster, the paint scheme and the era.

The larger organization behind the event has the same old-school credibility. The Train Collectors Association says it was founded in Yardley, Pennsylvania, in 1954, when 68 collectors became founding charter members in the barn of rail historian Ed Alexander. TCA describes itself as one of the largest and most prestigious collecting societies in the world, and the Lone Star Division is using that base to keep its own Texas footprint active. It is set to host the 2026 TCA National Convention in Grapevine from June 22 to 27, another sign that the region remains a serious stop on the toy-train calendar. Fifty years in, the San Antonio meet still survives on the same formula that built it: rare stock, operating layouts and the kind of face-to-face train talk that online buying never quite replaces.