Well we’re about unpacked and getting back to normal, so I thought I ought to report on the highlights of our trip NOB last week. To give a short summary of the trip, we headed up to San Antonio last Wednesday, making a couple of stops along the way. We were in San Antonio from Friday until we headed out on Tuesday. Did the usual required visit to the Alamo (which I had seen several times, but which was new for junior), and spent quite a bit of time along the Riverwalk. Daughter and son-in-law drove over from Houston on Saturday afternoon and we had dinner with them, plus breakfast on Sunday. Then the whole group headed over to the Alamo yet again. Turns out that S-I-L, although a native Texan, had never visited the Alamo, and in Texas that’s almost a hanging offense. Saturday we went to the San Antonio Model Railroad Association train show. Nice show, several good modular setups, including a SAMRA N Track setup, the N scale N Track setup from the Northwest Crossing club out of Houston, and an HO modular setup from Corpus Christi (among others). Lots of vendors, but I walked out with empty hands. At the show I was able to meet up with Flash Blackman. Besides giving me a tour of the show, he took us out to the SAMRA club building (large, specifically designed/built to house their club layout), and we also went to see his home layout. As you guys probably already know, he has a very nice, and very big, N scale setup. I took a few shots, but you can see better stuff of his layout on his RailImages album. Flash was getting ready to host an open house as part of the SAMRA show, and yet was gracious enough to take time give us the cook’s tour. Here’s a shot of me, Flash, and my wife Fran, taken at the show: At the show I also met up with another modeler I know from the Model railroader forums. It’s enjoyable to finally get to meet people you’ve only known virtually through the forums. Trent manages a train shop in San Antonio. Went to see it on Monday, and it is a Texas-sized train shop. Lots of O scale stuff, decent amount of HO, but sorely undersized N scale selection. On Tuesday morning, just before leaving town, I talked the troops into walking over to the San Antonio Amtrak station. Turns out there was a train due in shortly, so we hung around. The Amtrak station is a small, new (7 years old) building next to the old Southern Pacific depot. That old depot has now been renovated and turned in to a bar, as part of a redevelopment plan for several building in the neighborhood. They did a great job of renovating the interior, and supposedly it’s pretty much as it was in its heyday. Here’s a shot: Outside the station is an old (1917) ALCO built 2-8-2 that used to run on the T&NO route of SP. Here I am blocking the detail of the loco (hey, the sun was on the wrong side, couldn’t get a decent shot of the loco.) This thing is huge compared to the little narrow gauge 2-8-0 that we run down here in Cuautla. Finally, the Amtrak train pulled in, dropped San Antonio bound passengers and picked up the new passengers. First time I had ever seen these Superliner two level passenger cars, or one of these weird looking passenger diseasels. In my excitement I forgot to determine which train it was, but I believe it was the eastbound Sunset Limited, although maybe a few hours late. But here it is, sitting almost in front of the Alamodome. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable trip, no significant problems, and I even got in a little railfanning and model railroading! Nice to be back home again. Regards Ed
Ed, Great post, yes the pics of Flash's layout dont do it justice. One day I hope to visit the layout in person and run some MoPac on it. Looks as though you had an enjoyable time. By the way the safety vest Flash is wearing is the property of RailCorp here in Sydney australia, I may well have to fly over and retrive RailCorps property.
Nice report, Ed. Nice to be able to put faces with folks I talk to online! I take it you didn't make it to H-town this time as your relatives came to you... Nice shot of that station er...bar. hehehe. The Amtrak shot ain't bad either. Just about every time I've ridden on an Amtrak train it's been late. So it's not surprising that one was late too. Gotta give freight priority, I reckon. Wish I could have gotten over there for the show. Not in the cards.
Nice, thanks for sharing all the info and photos of good people. Um, "is almost a hanging offence" I guess they let up on that since I lived in Houston. I he swore it _was_ a hanging offence and it applied to children as well.
