Its that time of year again! That time of year that the United NW model RR club hosts our annual train show/swap meet. This year again it will be at the Fairgrounds in Monroe, Wa on Feb 2nd-3rd. However, due to some changes at the fairgrounds we will be in a different location than before. Please see the attached link at the bottom for further details. We will have layouts of all scales from Z all the way to G. Swap tables again are sold out! This is the biggest train show/swap meet in the Puget Sound area and is always a great time to be had by all ages. See you at the show! Ryan http://www.unwclub.org/unwshow.html
Here are some more details about the show this weekend in Monroe. There will be 26 operating layouts, 100 vendors totaling 350 swap tables, presentations by noted railway historians Noel Holley, Martin Burwash and Robert Zenk, and various how-to clinics for model railroaders and plenty of door prizes. Evergreen State Fair Grounds 14405 179th Avenue SE, Monroe WA 98272 In the new Evergreen Event Center, Pavilion, and 4-H Building FREE PARKING! Saturday February 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] 9:00am to 5:00pm Sunday February 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] 9:00am to 4:00pm Admission Fees [Valid for BOTH DAYS]: Adults (18+): $8.00 Juniors (10-18): $6.00 Seniors (65+): $6.00 Kids (9 & Under): FREE w/paid adult 100% of Admissions benefit Snohomish County 4-H foundation! Hope to see you there!
This might be a total wild goose chase, but is there anyone going from the Vancouver BC, area? I'm still trying desperately to find some way to get down to the show.
I am sure someone on here will be coming from BC. There are several people I know that come to the show from BC, I just dont have any contact with them other than at the show.
The show went well overall. We had some logistical issues with being in 3 seperate buildings this year, but all in all it went well. I ended up getting there on Friday night and did security with my son and some other club members. It was fun as it was a bs session for us and my soon got to run trains all night. The crowd on Saturday was just over 2,000 paying customers that came through the door. This number does not include kids under 10 that were free. This was an increase from the 2012 show but I am not certain as to how much. I ended up meeting up with steam donkey at the show and we talked for a bit. Her asked me if I was going to make it to Camp 18 next month. Unfortunately as much as I would love to go, I just don't see that happening with everything on my plate right now. As I have more information on final numbers of the show I will update you all on this. Here are some pictures of my son having fun running trains.
I saw cwwrman there, as he just mentioned. I took my kids and we spent two nights in Monroe for this. I have uploaded some photos to my RailImages and I have a few more to go, but here are some highlights. My On30 railtruck in action on the PNW-On30 layout... The 4-H project, which was T-Trak for both N and HO scales. This terrible snapshot does not do it full justice. It was hard to not get someone's backpack in the photo. I hope to get a decent digital camera this year instead of constantly borrowing this cruddy one... Northern Pacific pulling past the Army scene on the Mt Rainier N Scalers layout, where our own x600 was hanging out. Hi, Greg! A greenish photo of cwwrman's sawmill scene on the UNW layout... I tagged all my UNW show photos with the keyword "UNW" (no quotes) so you should be able to find them. I have some more to upload today.
I am not second guessing at all the 400 mile round trip this show represented. I had a great time, and I find myself very much welcomed by the Mt. Rainier N Scalers, and the UNW folks, and the guy from the Snohomish County 4-H club that had organized this thing was very welcoming. I had a great time.
Here are some more photos. I know I didn't take tons of photos, but that's largely because with being part of one of the exhibiting layouts and parenting I just didn't get to slinging the camera much more than opportunistically while walking about the show. The second day begins, and the railtruck engine turns over in the engine house, getting ready to move out... Ten minutes before this photo was taken, my daughter Noor here was really mad at me for not letting her play her hand-held game thingy. I hold to a rule that the world must be experienced and/or something must be accomplished before settling into playing some video games, and I hold to it. She flatly refused an offer to run a train, but then I asked her if she'd like to run the "silver railtruck" and I guess it doesn't count as a train in her mind. I blasted the horn using the throttle button and she nodded enthusiastically... "Model railroading is AWESOME!!" declares my daughter Lucy. Okay then... I acted as brakeman and conductor for both of them. The layout that we PNW-On30 guys set up was a point to point layout, with some operational opportunities. They worked on some edu-mah-cation here... Other highlights. I attended Noel Holley's clinic on the Milwaukee Electrics. I would have attended more clinics had the schedule been freer for me to do so. Adam
Looks like the rail truck project is coming along well. I sure recognize that ordinance depot scene. Somehow, photos I grabbed of it years ago did not come out. Oh well. I keep hoping to get over that way some day again. Been missing that show for 15 years now. Ack. If only Amtrak stopped in Monroe!
I have further plans for the railtruck. I am thinking racks full of ladders and shovels and chains and so on, and maybe a small water tank for fire suppression. It Los weds weathering. Thanks for the compliment. One of our members posted a video on YouTube of the setup as we had or this time... [video=youtube_share;eXm7kgX1hX8]http://youtu.be/eXm7kgX1hX8[/video] He also found two more videos of layouts at the show made by others... [video=youtube_share;8C-U8NrmD0Q]http://youtu.be/8C-U8NrmD0Q[/video] [video=youtube_share;sE9VGLwC-Po]http://youtu.be/sE9VGLwC-Po[/video]
I saw those videos yesterday too Adam, you beat me to the punch to post them. One thing I did notice about the videos though was that the UNW legacy, t-trak, and the layout that was in the pavillion were NOT in either of these videos. This leads me to ask a BIG question. Were the people informed when they walked through the door that the show was in 3 seperate buildings this year?
The first one here was taken by PNW On30 club member Rich and he was just highlighting our layout. The others are by unknown people (to me). Keith Lyons was making announcements periodically remaining people that there were two other buildings. I don't know how much people were told at the front. In my opinion, the signage could have been bigger and clearer. I was in the big building and had one failed attempt to get to the pavilion, for example. I know they need to do ticket control but the system they had was confusing.
Having known Keith and many of the crew during the past about 35 years, I can say that they were most likely doing everything humanly possible to have things running smooth as glass.
Oh, yes. Keith was working very hard at it. I only mean it as constructive suggestions that improved signage indicating from the big hall how to get to the other halls may be in order. Keith busted buns. I think this may be what happened. The signage probably looked clear when setting up but once all the layouts and vendor tables were in it was difficult to see. I am confident that they'll figure out a way around it in the future. I thought by having the UNW club in one of the buildings and the 4dPNR club in the other it would help draw more people in, but I had more than one spectator ask me if what was in that main building was it.
Unfortunately, this year they were forced to change to the three building use. The past building was being held for other things.
You know Ken, between myself, Peter, and Keith, I am sure that one of us could find a way to get you from Everett to Monroe. That is if you decide to take the train over some year for the show.
With the fairgrounds building the new showplex, which is where the majority of the layouts were, the arena, which is where the show had been held in the past is no longer available to us anymore. It is to be used specifically for a horse arena now.
