I know @Mark St Clair was asking about this on the other thread but I'm only just starting to go over my pictures. I'll do my best to give a sense of the event to those who couldn't make it. It won't be as glamourous as my Japan thread but there should be enough photos to give you a flavor. It may take me a couple of days to get to the end as I will be traveling again soon (no, not to Japan - rats!!!) so that may interrupt the flow a bit. Before I begin with the photos, some initial thoughts. This was my first NSE National Convention. I've always wanted to go to one but they were never close enough to home base and adding in airfare and rental car, it becomes quite costly. With Bethlehem it was less than 2 hours away by car and parking was free at the hotel. Now I can cross off this bucket list item. In summary the event was FANTASTIC! I was there the entire time and I ran out of time for the other events that were simultaneously going on. Being in the same hotel where the convention was held helped a lot but still, I wished there was three of me to cover everything! Without further ado... The location was at the Wind Creek Hotel and Casino. It's a huge hotel complex built on the former sprawling Bethlehem Steel site. You can see on the hotel the outer "cage" on the right that the architects wanted to maintain a steel theme. When we arrived the entire lobby was ready for us N-Scalers! Registration was in a big room where you get your pack of goodies. In it were stickers, a convention pin, NSE magazine and any tickets for events that you added on, like the banquet, etc. All banquet attendees were given a special run banquet car at the end of the banquet as a Thank You. An amusing item was a big 8.5x11 sign with a number. The number is unique to you. Hmm...what's that for? It was for the auction later on in the week. You would bid by raising your card like at any auction. That was an interesting experience! On the opposite side where you pick up your registration material there was a row of past and present NSE items that you can buy. I *think* they were discounted (not sure as I don't buy these) but at least you can see them in person and save on the shipping. They were doing a brisk business! In the back of the registration room was displayed a row of raffle "stuff". Here you can buy raffle tickets ($10 for 13) so you can be "in it to win it" at the banquet. Some of the items were pretty eye opening, some over $1,000. All were donated by various manufacturers and vendors. You can barely see the items on the right edge. I will get more into this later on.
The location is pretty cool in that it's in the former site of Bethlehem Steel. As I mentioned earlier, the place is HUGE. As I pulled into the hotel driveway, I see a former building that is still around. As I went up the 5th floor where my room was, I was treated to views of the complex as I got off the elevator. Here you can see the partial elevated railway passing the building. I suspect in the hey days it kept going pass where the hotel is now. (Excuse the color tint as these were taken through the hotel windows.) And slightly to the right you can see the actual steel mill. Pretty damn impressive I would say!!!! Here is a shot of where everything is in relation to each other. The beams on the left is that "cage" around the right side of the hotel in the earlier picture. This would make a nice T-Trak module. From the street you can appreciate the monstrosity of the mill. There is an elevated walkway that the city built that goes around the mill and is situation up close and adjacent to it. Man, talk about jaw dropping scenery! The size of those pipes!!!! There are many areas where you can get up close even though there are fencing all around. They did a good job in not keeping the fencing too far way. Here is the trestles that are supporting the elevated railways. Slightly to the north of the complex is a railroad yard. I don't know how much of it has changed since when the mill was still active. I would imagine that's how things go in and out of the place. You can see the stack containers now. Trains do run through but since there isn't a crossing nearby you really can't hear it and run to a window. The shot was taken on the 5th floor of the hotel.
I'm really enjoying your trip report @MK. I hope you don't mind if I toss a photo in here that I took at Bethlehem in October 1980 when Bethlehem Steel was still in operation. The mill's there at the upper left. The trains you see are on the former Lehigh Valley mainline, with the yard you remarked on located around the distant curve. The switch in the foreground leads to a bridge which takes trains off the LV, onto the CNJ and into the big yard at nearby Allentown. To the right in the picture is the former LV/RDG Union Station, now refurbished and part of St. Luke's Hospital.
Not at all Hardcoaler! That is a cool photo and I'm trying to match it up with mine for the before and after. Wait! Bethlehem was still in operations back in 1980???!!! That doesn't seem so long ago. Sad how once great American companies like this and others (Sears, Kodak, Singer, Western Electric, Digital Equipment, AT&T, etc.) have succumb to the times.
It was 1995 when steelmaking came to an end there. The mill also had its own railroad, the Philadelphia Bethlehem & New England; I took this picture around the same time as the other in August 1980. Lehigh Valley Rail Management LLC appears to have converted some of the PB&NE's property into a transload site.
Thank you Mike for the excellent group photo of the Iron City N Scale members at the convention. This was a fantastic convention and we look forward to seeing everyone in Altoona. Mike, were you on the train ride Friday night? Here are a couple photos I took of the station and the beautifully restored car I rode in. This car was very ornate and the crew at the Colebrookdale Railroad, has done a wonderful job restoring all these cars. On a side note, we were able to make it up to Nesquehoning, PA Saturday morning to watch the departure of the Reading and Northern 2102 on it's "Iron Horse Rambles" train trip. Note, Mike is a photographer, I'm a picture taker, so don't expect any high quality photos from me
Oh stop Rich, you're too much. I must say it was a good photo. Some of you guys are standing in such a way that it looks like you've done this before. Look at the pointed toes! I did not go on the train ride Friday night. Looks like a fun event from your photos. The overall cost of the convention kept going up as I wanted to add events so I had to make a cut.
The same day when everyone checked in in the afternoon, Micro-Trains was nice enough to host a Reception for everyone in the evening. Some may still be traveling and not arriving until the next day. I've met people from Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and of course all over the US including Orange County, CA. That flight from Australia must have been a doozy for an N-Scale convention!!!!! With free coffee, tea and delicious dessert, who would miss it? I suspect there are more people than shown as, although it is free, this is a RSVP event. Here are some close up shots of the sweets! If you were watching calories, forget about it! The reception was mainly one huge Q&A session for both NSE and MT. They also displayed the raffle prizes at the front to entice you to buy tickets. EVERY prize was mouth watering! The biggest two I think, and I was told drawn at the end, are the locomotive sets. TEN locos from Atlas, FIVE from Scale Trains and TEN more from Scale Trains. Just thinking about the cost of 10 Scale Trains locos is just mind boggling!!!!! After the reception I decided to take a wander around the place. What a great shillouette of the steel mill and the hotel was not too shabby at night too.
Hi Mike, We had the privilege of having Paul Graf and Scott Gothe from Atlas in our car on the train ride. What's really neat is, I found out Scott and I many years ago shopped at the same hobby shop in Dormont, PA, talk about a small world. Was also able to put a plug in for what I hope to see a future release for Atlas. I don't want to say anything as Scott is still working on the final touches, but if he gets the OK, I think it's going to knock the socks off many modelers. Again it was a great time, but also very busy, many people to see and things to look at. And yes I came home with a bag full of goodies. It was great seeing you again Mike and I look forward to seeing you and the gang in Altoona.
The next day, bright and early, we were off to setup the Combined T-Trak layout at the convention. All layouts, other than FreemoN, were in the Foundry main ball room. The vendors were also there too so it provided a good environment where everything is all in one spot. I felt that when the show was opened to the public it was the best of both worlds as they can see things operate and then search the vendors to buy it. Both Bachmann and Kato donated train sets to us and on both days we held a 3pm, must be present, 16 years old and under, raffle for the sets. We had a good turnout for both events and we were able to acknowledge and thank the vendors as they were in the same room The Combined T-Trak was given a 24' x 45' working space and we were able to setup an "E" layout. There were 3 clubs that were responsible for each of the "E" legs; New Jersey, Massachusetts and North Carolina. Team work! The tables and table cloths were provide by hotel. Since we had the entire day to set things up and made sure everything works, we took our time instead of the usual mad rush before a show that is typical. This gave us a lot of time for camaraderie, jokes and good ribbings between people and clubs. A good time was had by all. I was the layout coordinator so I had to make sure all three legs played nice. Surprisingly everything worked quite well and there were no big gotcha's and the entire layout ran for the entire convention.
Hi Mike, Did you get any photos of the Fremo setup? Sadly the location the guys were suppose to use, was denied by either the hotel or fire marshal and they had to move to a room on the other side of the hotel. I wonder how many folks missed the Fremo setup because of it? I follow Da'Bobs N-Scale Mancave on YouTube, so I had to get a picture of his excellent wooden trestle.
That wooden trestle module is great. I loved finding all the bears on it. I don't think they could have made the Freemo room harder to find if they have tried. Had to get escorted there to find it.
It was hard to find the Freemo-N room, and that is a darn shame, as there was some mighty fine modeling there. It was not intentional. In fact, we had on our original floor plan the FreeMo layout along the right hand side (referencing the entrance) of the main showroom. We had submitted our space allocation plan to the hotel 11 months before the event, and refined the plan 6 months before the event. Unfortunately, they did not share the plan with the fire marshall until the day before the show was to open, and apparently the house engineer who had approved the plan, and the county fire fellow had a disagreement on what access to the exit doors meant. FreeMo by design is an open on both sides layout, which the house fellow assumed meant that people could get to the exits in case of an emergency. The county fellow disagreed. saying that he layout blocked the exit route. That gave the organizers two choices- send FreeMo home, or move it to another location. I strongly believe that FreeMo N is some of the most interesting modeling in modular form, so I did not wish to lose it altogether. That made it easy to make the decision to rent the extra space, and keep the display as part of the show. On behalf of the NSE and from me personally, I thank the FreeMo-N participants for being good sports about this, and apologize profusely for having then have to essentially set up twice. This all could have been avoided had the hotel and the fire marshall worked a little more closely together in an earlier time frame. it would have been a no-brainer to arrange the floor differently ahead of time. We do not have the same challenge next year in Kansas City. The hotel is in direct contact with the fire marshall already. We have more space there, and they are more used to conventions and temporary set up there. George
Huge railroad town. My kid was there with friends several months ago and said there were trains everywhere.
