George with Wig-Wag-Trains just posted the July Micro-Trains releases that were announced at the convention. So what were the Micro-Trains cars that they usually give out at the convention?
After the first three days of layout tours, I was very tired. I did go to the Rosenberg Railway museum. That was a very nice trip and some very good rail fanning there, too. I must say that I did not pay much attention to the new releases so I am glad that John Sing was there to report all that. I did overhear a discussion with the Walthers representative about quantities and profit margin. (John Sing was present for that one, too.) The representative was using quantities like 2000 to 3000 units to make a profit. That means that the molds will have to be used on other cars with different paint schemes. That quantity is not difficult to achieve for most freight cars, but it is difficult for passenger cars when some roads had unique rolling stock in their passenger trains. For me, that explains why some cars are now approaching 40 US$ each, especially for unique passenger equipment. Great layouts. Gil Freytag's H0 scale layout was overall the best, IMHO. Of course, he has been working on it in the same location for 35 years, so he does have an advantage there. John Sing's pictures are just great. I don't know that I can add to that. One more event: Kim Saign's layout in Austin will have an operating session tonight. I will certainly try to record the event in pictures.
Flash, I've been admiring Kim's work for the last 25 years, take pictures if allowed, or better yet, make sure Sing does... Regards, "I wish I could be there" Otto
The layout is located aboove his garage. It is fully climate controlled. The dormer's both contain a helix. One from staging on the lowest level to the middle level, the other from the middle lavel to the upper level. There is also a connection from the upper level to staging. Rich
Unfortunately, I'm back home in Calif now. However, it did allow me to go to the Bay Area Prototype Modeler's meet on Sat 6/26/10: Hi, all, I was at the Bay Area Prototype Modeler's Meet today in Richmond, CA: Lots of great models there, including this spectacular one, max space efficiency in HO: The train runs in a loop - you just had to see it to appreciate how amazing it looked in action. Info about above layout (quoting espeeboy's excellent description): the show stopper might have been the above by Greg Malinowski. It's an insanely good little crazy detailed/kitbashed/weathered "Bay Freight Division" - a small 36" diameter layout built on a perfectly round 1" thick piece of plywood! Those inside hidden curves and ones leading into the paved diamond crossing are about a 12" radius!!! FYI, Greg notes that his industrial creation and "Mini-Mo module" focal point is a "placebo" factory. Harry and some of the other attendees will probably be posting close-up shots of it but the layout features INSANE detail like a trashed ROW, detailed loading dock/parking lot, hand-painted graffiti, realistic texture on his parking lot pavement and building rooftop, the most realistic concrete K-rails you'll ever see... so much eye candy on such a small layout! Many more great photos and models there, including N scale by Ryan Wilkerson: See all the pictures at: bapm2010 Photo Gallery by ATSF_Arizona at pbase.com OK, I don't mean to take the focus off N Scale Convention in Houston. Let's get back to discussing and sharing about that now.
Well, I had a great time and enjoyed talking to a lot of folks. I did not get a chance to take many photos but appreciate those who did. In the room sales at the hotel, I was able to sell off a lot of a collection of locomotives from the estate of a good friend of mine who passed away last year. Flash let me set out the stuff I was selling in his room with his merchandise so that we could shoot the bull while we waited for customers. Otherwise I was running trains on the NTRAK layout or shopping the swap meet. I was having trouble with the pilot truck on the 4-8-0 steamer that I kit bashed from a Bachmann Consolidation. I added weight to the pilot truck but that did not help. I let the Hans Starmans, the steam guru from the Netherlands, analyze the problem and he figured it out right away. There was not enough play to allow the truck much rocking motion front to back on rough track. I put a "Z" bend in the link that holds the pilot truck to the frame and it fixed the problem. Man, that guy is amazing. He had a PRR Atlantic that he is working on that had tender drive. I saw it pulling a 30+ car coal train.
Russell, Do a thread explaining how you built that Mollie. Even some folks who have modeled HO are taking a fit over it. It would be something I think could benefit other modelers if you dish your secrets...
The next N Scale Collector National Convention will be in Hershey, Pennsylvania next June 22-26. The up coming NTRAK National Convention will be this September in Danville, Virginia.
Each year they try to have it in a different part of the country. Last year was west in Portland, this year central in Texas and next year east in Hershey. The local group there put together a strong proposal and was "awarded" the honor to host. They have trips planned to Stasburg and Steamtown.
John, all that beautiful Santa Fe power is yours?? WOW!!! You need to come over and run it all on Cajon!! We'll declare an "era exception" for you...hey, it worked for "Back to the Future" .... Best, Otto
I guess the biggest news from the convention is the price of decoders has breached the $20.00 level along with MTL's new car with body mount couplers and low ride height and the Kato announcement of the Amfleet cars. Quite frankly I was expecting more but with the mess in China I guess we should be somewhat satisfied. Still waiting for the big PRR steam announcement but that might take a whole longer.
Did I miss something buried in this 100 post thread about MTL's new car? Body mount couplers, low ride height, from MTL?:tb-ooh:
