Today I had the opportunity to take in the St. Paul edition of the World's Greatest Hobby show and I came home impressed. Not just by the vendors and manufacturer's represented, but also by the number of people in attendance, and the operating layouts on display. First up, an old favorite:
Steve and Chris giving well deserved accolades to the Holmes family for their "7 day model railroad" depicting Wingett's Recycling, where old rail cars go to begin the process of being turned into new rail cars once again.
This layout never fails to captivate me. Ian always has some kind of eclectic little locomotive or car mover running and he's a pretty good brakeman from what I hear. Not much of a throttle puller though, that is left to his better half.
At the other end of the layout spectrum, size-wise, was an enormous collection of HO modules put together by the MN FreeMo group. Although the lighting wasn't great for photography, I managed to get a few shots of small sections of the layout. Here Eric and Chris mug for the camera with a curve on the layout in front of them.
And maybe John needs to be reminded that "Model Railroading is Fun!". Take it from me, not always.
I apoligize for not remembering who the modeler was that contributed this spectacular operating lift bridge to the layout. I watched a train cross the bridge, then saw it raise and lower by remote control. Wow.
And last, a couple of shots of one of the industries on the pike. There was just so much railroad, and so many trains. Great job free-moers (if such a word exists).
After all the socializing and the layout viewing was completed, the time came to see what a guy could leave with. In my case, that turned out to be more than I could afford. After the show I picked up Mrs. L4T from the Rosedale Mall and informed her that I had personally started a stimulus plan for Digitrax. I've thrown in my lot with DCC, having become the proud owner of a Zephyr Xtra system, a couple of decoders, a UT4 throttle and throttle plate. I've got a whole new adventure ahead of me. The train show was great, thanks to everyone who exhibited a layout and it was great to see a bunch of people I know and meet some new ones.
Thanks for the embarrassingly positive comments...
ReplyDeleteA.J Murphy was responsible for the working bascule bridge module.
As for DCC I definitely don't have the guts to part with that sort of money.
Very cool, well done guys. My grandfather used to build cities like this with people and trees and I used to remember it was so real that it was like a life like world. Kudos, this type of setup takes endless hours to get to what you want it to look like!
ReplyDeleterc boats