It has been a great day here in Medford OR at the Z scale convention. Great plant tour at Micro Trains in Talent OR. Nothing was out of bounds we got to see it all and if was great. Show room had layouts from Bayz Boys, Robert Ray, and the Medford gang. Several small dioramas and mini layouts. One really great one on slab of tree trunk with lots of laser cut buildings. Nice job Karen. The we went the to railroad part for a BQ super and to ride the large scale ride on trains. Loren look grand driving his brothers SD40-2 in UP colours with all right sound effects and horns etc. There were six or seven engines pulling trains around the 1 mile of track. Then back to the show hall for run trains for 2 hours to end the day and to purchase from the vendors that were there. AZL had their decorated sepcimens for the GP35 and RDC 1 & 2 and they said there would be and RDC 3 version as well. Of course the Challengers were there along with the UP caboose models. The rumour that I reported on earlier on the Japanese Z list about some on going talks between Platz of Japan and MTL regarding track and maybe other things was confirmed. When I asked the question in the tour, Eric said now we have to kill you Garth. Eric would not comment further on the topic. The question was is it true you are working with Platz of Japan regarding a new power track with plug in connection for track power. There were some interesting sights to behold on Joe's desk. Cheerz Garth
Greetings from Medford. The convention was an excellent time with a lot of great people and I am glad that I made the cross country trip to attend. I will not get into much detail here because I am tired, but there were a few exciting announcements made by AZL today. I will leave it to them to discuss the details, but the following items were announced today: Injection Molded SP C-30-5 Bay Window Caboose June 2010. RTTX 89' flat car with containers- Winter 2010 Heavyweight Pullman 12-1 Sleeper- Winter 2010 Heavyweight paired Window Coach-Winter 2010 Thrall 3267 mill Gondola-Winter 2010 USRA Heavy Mikado - Injection Molded- Spring 2011 USRA Light Mikado- Injection Molded- Spring 2011 Big Boy 4-8-8-4- Brass- Summer 2011 Many welocome additions to Z. Dan S.
Wow!!! That time there will be at last prototype steamers available with an affordable price! I think one of these Mikes (the heaviest one I guess) will find its place on my layout as a vintage/railfan train hauler!:w20z6q: Dom
Dan, Can't wait to hear all the good news. Try to get some sleep. It's a long way back to Penna. Wish we could have been there with you. Hope you put some garlic on the Barbie! Best, Cornell Red forever!:tb-biggrin:
The convention was a great success, especially if you measure it by the camaraderie of so many Z scalers under one roof. The modules and layouts were well done, worn out vendors in presence, and a great banquet to top it all off. We had a good time and already miss our new/old friends who have left us to go home. I had no time to take any photos or document activities so anyone who can provide this we would be most grateful (thank you Bill Mock and Matt Petach!!!). Thanks to all who took the time and money to show up and to those who contributed gifts... Karin Snyder
Tanks all fellow zscalers for a great time at the convetion. Cool to meet up with many off the people you only have met online. Stil in the US fight nok in Truckee CA waiting for trains to go by se you later ........ Torsja.com
The Norwegians Although I had to miss all of the excitement of the Z Scale Convention I was the lucky recipient of some spill over. On Friday last, Lajos called and asked me over to visit his Z model production facility. (It is a converted breakfast nook in his new condo) Svein-Martin Holt and Torsja came and visited all afternoon. What a treat. I refer all new Z scale modelers to visit Svein-Martin’s and Torsja’s web pages all the time. Welcome to Svein-Martin Holt's homepage and TORSJA's home off the Svein-Martin has been featured on Z-Scale Yahoo Groups Cover page way back in 2001. When you visit Svein-Martin’s web page be sure to click on his “Sugaro River” module. It is one of the best Z scale models of South Western N/A mainline modeling that you would see anywhere. I refer all new Z scale modelers to Torsja’s page as one of the finest examples of Early Western North American Z scale modeling. Why would you have to go to Norway to see the best Z scale models of early Western railroading? The answer is: There is practically no commercial Z scale early Western US models available. The Z scale steam models of early N/A steam are slightly oversize. More like Nn3 scale. Marklin’s Casey Jones is a model of an Illinois Central steam engine, a Midwestern railroad. Early steam but hardly Western. Maybe it is nit picking but for those who are familiar with steam locomotives it is fairly obvious. For those of you who do not recognize the difference, LEARN. Due to the lack of commercial models Torsja simply scratch builds his own. As Lajos is fond of saying: “What a guy”. Well I say “What a couple of guys”. To have been able to spend almost 8 hours with these two remarkable Z scale modelers almost made up for my missing the convention. After leaving Lajo’s home, they roared off in their maroon Ford Mustang Convertible to visit the Tehachapi Loop and then on to San Jose and some time with Jeff. If the ?????? Volcano isn’t spewing ashes, they hope to board a plane for Norway on Tuesday. Have a pleasant trip you guys. Bill
Cool Bill! I saw these guys leaving the Medford Ramada in that very same car. They had the top down and were wondering how long they could keep the top down. From what I am seeing on the news, the ash is back and holding up flights again. Darn, they may have to stay around a little longer!
A good time in the US is ending..... Yes, we are wondering aboy the ashes. But there may bee another propblem also. British Airways har announced the possibility of crew strike, so we are doublecrossing our fingers that we will leave from San Francisco on tuesday at 18.55 as planned. We are now close to San Jose and will meet with Jeff this afternoon, this last evening of a very nice trip. We have had very good weather all the time, but now it's raining in the SF area. We were at Tehachapi for 7 hours in sunshine. A little slow the first hours, but in the afternoon there were much traffic. We have seen a lot and are very satisfied with the trip. I will be creating av page with pictures and videos when I am home. I have a lot of footage:tb-biggrin: I have some pictures on my facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=175095&id=571086916&l=a686150115 Bill, it was a pleasure to finally meet you in person. We had a lot of contact some years ago, before my few years of absence from model railroading. But i will say as one famous European, well known by CA-folks: "I'll be back". Hopefully I am back in modelling again. It was a very good inspiration to meet you an Lajos, and all the other people on the convention. Thank you also Bill for all the good words about me and Torsja. We had a very nice time with you and Lajos and his familiy. A good meal and many hours of talking and looking at Lajos exciting stuff. We drive away at midnight for 2 hour ride before we stoppet at a hotel to have some hours of sleep before we went to a beautifull day in Tehachapi Loop.
