Dear Bill,
The announce attendance for the National Train Show was 21,000.
RE: --you couldn't plug in an extension cord without a union guy---and
they were nowhere to be found!
This is not true and really should not be repeated. The NMRA paid
the union so this would not happen. The only difficulty we had was with
the rugs. If you had more than 3 booths, they union people had to lay
the rugs. It did not cost you anything for this service, but you were
not able to do it yourself. For us we lost about an hour of setup time
on Thursday. I know Diane and Billy had a similar situation where they
laid there own rugs. But other than that, it was not different than any
other NMRA show we have displayed.
As far as mfgs. and dealers not attending it is a shame as it was a
great show. I am sure the cost did enter into it, but it was not that
much more than the show in Cincinnati
Best,
Don
Bill wrote:
> Hi Gang,
>
> Sorry about the error, I should have known better. Tsk! Tsk!
>
> John's review .....
> 2006 National Model Railroad Association Convention-Independence
> Junction, Philadelphia July 2-7
> (short version)
> Well, it was great to have the time to go to the convention, without
> being so rushed this year. I had a great time, and here is the long
> and boring report---I'll try to do a short version first, then flesh
> it out for you railroad types.
>
> The website: If you see anything in this report that you want to see
> more about, check the website at www.ij2006.org (sorry this computer
> won't create a link---you'll have to cut and paste and then go exploring.)
>
> The people: With about 1600 people attending, one of the best parts is
> seeing old friends. And I saw plenty of them. I roomed with Deane
> Mellander. And some of you will recognize some of these other names:
> Bill Wade, Bill Adams, Bob Farquahrson, Bill McGilvary, Clark Kooning,
> Vagel Keller and his lovely wife,
>
> The location: The hotel and convention center are partly new
> buildings, and partly the former Reading Terminal. The huge 13-track
> trainshed and the former terminal building have been preserved. In the
> 1980's the terminal was abandoned and the former Reading trains went
> into a tunnel under market st. to connect the former PRR trains. In
> the basement of the trainshed is a Farmer's market that predates the
> train station. And a very conveniently placed microbrewery!!
>
> Our room: was actually on the 4th floor of the former terminal
> building, facing Market Street. Looked as if it had been a former
> office for someone important.
>
> The bed: To hell with stealing the towels, I want the bed!! It is
> without doubt the most wonderful bed I've ever slept in. Great
> mattresses, a real feather bed, a real down comforter (you can tell
> when you can sleep under it in warm weather), down pillows besides the
> regular ones!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oy! It was marvelous!
>
> The how-to clinics: (144 hour-long session for modelers on most
> anything you can imagine, plus 15 for the non-rail family members).
> This is one of my favorite parts, and I attended the following 17 topics:
> transcontinental passenger trains 46-71
> designing an Appalachian mountain layout in N-gauge
> info on the Penn Central (a railroad people love to hate)
> the Reading RR's Bethlehem branch
> modeling the PRR Middle Division (Harrisburg-Altoona)
> Conrail from an insider's perspective
> Modeling passenger trains
> an intro to layout planning
> how to model an industrial pipe factory
> fitting a train layout into a small bedroom (the guy who gave the
> clinic has a HUGE layout that wouldn't fit in ANYONE's bedroom!!!)
> Phila commuter trains
> Pennsy passenger lines in Phila
> Reading RR passenger lines in Phila.
> the East Broad Top (I went to heckle the presenter on this one!!!)
> the EBT stone yard office in Orbisonia--an old farmhouse. I can't
> believe this guy's model didn't win the grand prize. It is THE most
> fantastic model I have ever seen. The guy carved AND painted the
> stones in the old farmhouse one by one, based on photos.! Reason he
> didn't win?--an old building should have some broken or cracked
> windows in it!!!!!!!!!!!
> Industrial modeling (more than ANYONE ever wanted to know about valve
> factories!)
> building a model exactly like a carpenter would
>
> The silent auction: (picture a huge room full of tables with tons of
> stuff for sale. Each pile of items has a tag on it---you write down
> your registration number and your bid. The catch is that you don't
> know when they are going to close the auction! This year I did REALLY
> well for my 97$ total bids: 2 years worth of magazines, 11 passenger
> cars, 5 freight cars (mostly for Lehigh Valley). Some will be resold
> eventually, and some of the cars were real finds!!!
>
> Layout Tours: (these are bus tours where to go to about 4 people's
> homes to see their train layouts. They are grouped by topic and/or
> area. There are 41 of these tours [like most clinics offered twice
> during the week] to a total of 109 layouts!!. I took 1 tour where we
> visited 4 different layouts.
>
> The trolley tour: There were a total of 17 railroad and 18 "tourist"
> tours. I took the one which toured the subway-surface trolley lines
> left in Philadelphia. We rode 2 different trolleys on 4 different
> lines plus some tracks that don't normally carry passengers, and went
> past 4 different depots. I was really surprised at how smooth the ride
> was on those old tracks/streets. And we went through some very
> interesting and different areas, including the university district
> where I had my heart operations.
>
> The National Train Show: This is supposed to be the highlight of the
> show where
> all the manufacturers unveil their latest innovations/models
> many dealers sell products
> clubs bring their modular layouts to show off.
> We conventioneers get a few private hours on Friday morning, and then
> it's open to the public. Although I did get to see some new things
> that I wasn't aware of, all in all, this was a major disappointment of
> the convention. Rumor is that the city made it so expensive and
> difficult to be an exhibitor/dealer that most people just didn't
> bother. I do know that union rules made the show a lot more
> difficult---you couldn't plug in an extension cord without a union
> guy---and they were nowhere to be found!
>
> So that's about it. Next year is Detroit, but I don't think I have a
> roommate, so may not be going to that one. These things are rather
> expensive.
>
> "S"ee You all next week in Pontiac!
>
> Bill
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
