I sure didn't see much of a report on the N Scale Convention. I sw a few new releases under the predictions thread. No photos. How did it go? How many people attended. What were the best parts of the convention? Any killer layouts? Who scored big?
I was there Wednesday - Sunday and was part of the Peninsula Ntrak layout in the layout room of the hotel. I did get a few photos of the layouts. I've got a few from our layout on my Japanese Prototype blog Tokyo in N Scale. I've got some more of some of the other layouts that I will post in a separate reply. They had between 450 and 500 registered at the convention. Besides the layout room, there was a big room for dealers, manufacturers, and individual sales tables and it was packed on the Friday and Saturday public show. Then there was the live auction on Thursday night, and room sales. TexNrail and another vendor (name ???) had their own rooms for the whole time of the convention. There were some decent deals and folks were buying. It's been a long time since I've seen that much N scale for sale in one place. Being tied up with the layout and being more or less a local (SF Bay area) I did not go on any of the tours / excursions. For me one of the best parts of these conventions is visiting with so many other N scale modelers. I met quite a few for the first time that I had known for a long time on the internet and was able to catch up with so many others that I had met at other conventions. Last one I was at was San Diego in 2005. I plan to make an extra effort to get to more in the future.
OK guys, here's a few more photos from the layouts at the convention. Hope I am doing this right, it seem quite a bit different than before. Now if I could only figure how to set up my avatar again. Sorry there's not much running in this photos either. I took the photos early when not much was running.
OK guys, here's a few more photos from the layouts at the convention. Hope I am doing this right, it seem quite a bit different than before. Now if I could only figure how to set up my avatar again. Bendtrak1TB by nscalestation posted Jul 1, 2015 at 11:23 PM Bendtrak3TB by nscalestation posted Jul 1, 2015 at 11:24 PM FreemoN1TB by nscalestation posted Jul 1, 2015 at 11:25 PM FreemoN2TB by nscalestation posted Jul 1, 2015 at 11:26 PM PNtrak3TB by nscalestation posted Jul 1, 2015 at 11:28 PM PNtrak2TB by nscalestation posted Jul 1, 2015 at 11:27 PM Sorry there's not much running in this photos either. I took the photos early when not much was running.
Here are a few photos I took early also of some scenes I liked, no trains running though. SLO Model Railroad Association SLO Model Railroad Association Penninsula Ntrack Silicon Valley FreeMon
Those are MKT Alcos in the early red and yellow scheme. That was on a Fremo N module depicting Lockhart, Texas.
My son scored BIG! At one of the vendors he was looking through the locomotives and found a mint Kato 2-8-2 Mikato in Western Pacific and bought it for $40. He was really excited to get it home and put all the detail parts on it. We run DCC so I looked that up too. Two nights later, we had installed all those tiny detail parts...decoder installation will be saved for another day. I was there with 4 FreeMo-N modules...I ran one train all weekend but both my sons enjoyed running pretty much the entire time. I met many N scalers who I only knew online so it was nice to chat in person. I believe I was talking to someone the entire two days that the layout was running! I'll try to upload some photos shortly. -Ryan Wilkerson Sacramento FreeMo-N
Nice to see how many are actively putting it all together. I remember N-Trak setups. They were always a great time. Running trains just for ourselves. Gabbing away.
Ryan - at least you got pictures! I was so busy talking with folks, I never took any photos. Bad me. (That is my balding head on the left, as we try to get my San Felipe module aligned nicely with the new tunnel module)
Spent Thursday night getting the Sac Valley NTrak layout set up and running...missed the auction. Got home and found that the ag water had stopped working. Spent the rest of the convention trying to fix the pump and water the animals. Missed the whole dang thing!!! Not the best weekend for me...
Thanks to all of you guys for being there and letting me run with you all and Ryans Fine young lads! You all did GREAT! Mike
Hello everyone, Robin and I arrived in Sacramento on Saturday the 20th and left Saturday the 27th before the banquet (sadly). It was announced that the convention had 462 registered. The hotel was nice and the California RR museum is worth the trip along with walking the Old Sacramento part of town. The dinner train was nice and it was the only trip we went on. I understand there were some great home layouts and Railtown tour was nice but HOT. The welcome Reception was fantastic and loaded with humor and fun! There were, I would guess, about a total of 40 or so entries in the contest room and some beautiful work but I did not get any pictures in there. The concept of ROOM SALES before the Swap-A-Rama was a new concept to us but was great fun roaming the halls of the Hotel on a daily basis looking at trains for sale. Most of the folks moved on to the Swap-A-Rama (sale) room when it opened on Thursday. Lots and Lots of N Scale for sale! Some great deals as well. Saw many manufactures there like Kato, Intermountain, Trainworx, FVM, Arnold, Micro-Trains, Wheels of Time, North American Rail Car Corp., N Scale Arch., RSLaser, Digitrax, N Scale Kits, Atlas, Bluford Shops and I am sure others I forgot to mention but some major one were not there. The Auction was well attended with lots of items and was a real hoot! May items sold and some went for large dollars! There were some bargains had there as well. I have no idea how well the pubic attended the show but it looked like a pretty good turnout. There were four layouts in the lower ballroom that included the Peninsula NTRAK, Silicone Valley FreemoN, San Luis Obisbo Model Railroad Club, and another group that had no name sign but a nice layout. There were many clinics but the only one I attended was by my friend Karl Andraschko on the comparison on NTRAK FreemoN and other modular techniques and was very interesting on the different concepts. The event was well organized and a very fun time meeting and chatting with ALL N SCALE folks and good time was had by all. In Fact a couple in the Peninsula group got married in the layout! PS great modelers as well as a great couple! I am linking to a folder with all the pictures I took. http://s42.photobucket.com/user/mfifer/slideshow/N Scale Collector 2015 Convention?sort=3 Mike & Robin Fifer
Thanks BC , I just can not stress how great all the folks there were. We were able to have a meal with many of them. Mike
