Here are some pictures I took of the show. I was part of the T-Trak contingency. I went with a few members of my club. Not my usual 300+ pictures as I concentrated on the new stuff. OK, I was shopping too. Some great bargains to be had! I also participated in Winterfest and yours truly came in First Place for prototype photography and Second Place for model photography. Thanks to N-Scale Architect who donated the gift certificate for First Place and Fox Valley Model for the freight car for Second Place. It was a pleasantly exhaustive weekend and I can't wait to do it again. https://mikewongphotography.zenfolio.com/p389497178
Can anyone identify what the heck is that thing in picture #16? The rails are cut so maybe someone conjured up some type of dump mechanism for unloading hoppers?
The rails are likely cut because the "thing" appears to be made from the center section of a Kato truss bridge with the ends cut off.
Looks like a homemade coal dump. You can see part off it in the next picture...which is some kind of coal operation. Heck...if the thing actually works...pretty creative idea. Although...it looks like the gondola doesnt end up back on the rails when it goes back down...
The thing in picture #16 is a coal dump. Parts of it are 3D printed and there is a switch on the front of the module for children to operate it.
Wonderful photo presentation of the USA's best model rail weekend. My brother and I had a wonderful time time there back in 2004. I picked up two lovely pieces from Neal's N-Gauging Trains when he was still located in Hampton, NH. Gotta go north next year in spite of my memories of growing up in New England winter weather...YUK. Forgive me, I'm not in my teens and twenties any more. LOL
The space in a fourth building has been added since you last attended, so there's even more walking to be done than before. Far from all of the show-goers are youngsters, with more than a few getting around with the aid of wheelchairs, scooters, canes or walkers. Weather was relativity mild and precipitation-free this year, although there was some heavy rain after the show ended for the day on Saturday.
The show occupies 4 buildings totaling 10.2 acres. The attendance was 15,500+ for the weekend. Not bad but either last year or the year before it was near 20,000!
That was a nice view !! Thanks for taking the time to upload ! Those must be portable layouts right ? I've always wondered how they moved them around.
Yes, they are T-TRAK modules, designed to be used on 6 or 8 foot banquet tables. Same tables at most train shows. This allows easier access to audiences, especially kids. www.ttrak.org
Gotcha. They must be pretty light weight then. Assuming there isn’t a ton of plaster or scenery on it haha. Kids love trains if they’re exposed to them. I just watched a video about where modeling came from. I can’t believe the first train sets they had were about a foot high!! I can’t remember the names of the sets but it was a big deal to have one, supposedly the 3rd most favorite hobby.. my question ! What are the other two ? It would be cool to be able to expose the hobby more especially with social media and the internet. I’ve considered starting own Instagram page. Anyone ever hear of Ron’s Trains n things ? He does a lot of how to videos and is really knowledgable about N scale
I think the last picture is the greatest. The boy is doing his best Michael Jordan, while working on the railing the loco.lol Great pics overall. Wyatt