Hi Gil -- I just got back from the Scranton convention (we took a week to sight wee Pennsylvania). I will forward this to the groups as well.
Have fun! Bill Winans ---------------------------------------- Fellow S gaugers, Some of you may already know all of the following details. Others of you may have heard about the event, but not know the date, time and place. And a few of you may be receiving this news for the first time. In brief, the largest train show in North America is returning to Oregon in exactly two years --- August 28-30, 2015 --- and the region’s S gaugers will have an opportunity to put their best foot forward with an operating layout at The National Train Show (accompanying the NMRA national convention), held in Portland. And to discuss who wants to be involved, and what our display might include, I have arranged for a meeting open to all S gaugers this month in conjunction with the West End model railroad swap meet, Saturday, August 24, at Valley Catholic High School in Beaverton. For more than 20 years the Northwest S Scalers’ layout with code .100 scale track has represented 1/64 scale at the larger train shows. But S gaugers operating equipment with hi-rail or tinplate wheels have not been able to use this track, and the scale club has never attracted more than four to six members at any time. Two of the long-time members have had health issues in the past year and their status for 2015 is uncertain. The bottom line is that the existing club needs more manpower to set up and staff an operating layout at public shows, and to attract such manpower, more S gaugers need to be able to run their trains on the layout. On August 24 it is not necessary to make any commitments nor final decisions, but everyone who attends will be allowed to voice their opinions. The current scale layout is not going to have any track relaid with larger rail, so we probably are looking at building one or two new layouts from the ground up. I say “one or two” because some American Flyer collectors may want original Gilbert track and lots of flat surfaces on which to display the many AF operating accessories and classic Plasticville buildings. Other hi-railers and scale modelers may want state-of-the-art scenery and structures with rail height the only concession to oversize flanges. Perhaps one option might be back-to-back “Then” and “Now” layouts with only a view block separating the two. “Then” would feature the trains, track and accessories just as A.C. Gilbert imagined them in the 1950’s. “Now” would feature broad curves, a staging yard, car card operation and way freight switching as well as intermodal trains and Amtrak – phases of the hobby that seem to originate from HO scale, as well as being what younger viewers see on today’s railroads. Regardless of what we do, we will not be the only S gauge display at the 2015 NTS. Alan Bennett and Don Curtis will again have the Capitol Holidays layout from Salem on display, and the Rocky Mountain Hi-Railers from Southern Idaho will bring their expanded Lookout Junction layout that can operate at least three trains at a time. The West End swap meet runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is $5.00. A table and chairs will be set up for our use. Last year the meet died out after a couple of hours, and we are welcome to start the meeting anytime around 12:15-12:30. Valley Catholic High School is located at 4275 SW 148th Avenue, Beaverton, on the north side of Farmington Road. For a map, go to http://www.mapquest.com and input the above address. From Beaverton, go West on Farmington Road, turn Right on SW 148th Ave. I will be a vender at this show, with two tables, three-quarters filled with S gauge trains and one-quarter with a token sample of N, HO and O scales. This letter is being sent by email to all Oregon and SW Washington S gaugers for whom I have addresses, and to selected S gaugers by postal mail. The current online NASG membership directory is the primary source of names and addresses, although participants in the August 24 meeting or future club activities need not be NASG (nor TCA nor TTOS nor NMRA) members. Gil Hulin Eugene OR [email protected]
