# National Narrow Gauge Convention 2013 is this week



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

National Narrow Gauge Convention 2013, Pasadena, Ca. my home town.

If your going please be sure to stop by the Pizza, always good to put a face to a name. 


Don't be offended if we've me before but I still read your nametag, I recognize faces very well but when it comes to names I have a mind like Steel Colander.









http://www.33rdnngc.com/

BTW for anyone out of town new to Pasadena area drop me a PM, I can clue you into where the best restaurants are, the convention organizers have already done a good job on the "what to do" list. 

SEE YA!


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Also don't forget that we will have the _Tortoise and Lizard Bash_ on display on Friday and Saturday as part of the convention. If you come on Friday, Vic and Sue Thies _Too Much Fun Railroad_ will also be open, and if you come on Saturday, Dave Sheegog's Disney-themed, _Castle Peak & Thunder_ will be running. Both are located fairly close to us with Thies to the southeast and Sheegog to the north.

Thanks


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Todd...hot enough for ya? About a 100 up here earlier. Must make getting ready for the tours really fun.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Must be close to 90 and humid down here. Sure makes getting ready fun. I usually put the stuff out the day before and don't water that afternoon or evening and the day of exhibition, but the garden won't like that this time.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Things went well and we were very well received!

We had maybe a couple dozen in attendance yesterday and maybe twice that today including some neighbors.

"Best Layout of the show" and "Took almost 2-1/2 hours to get here with the holiday traffic..., but well worth every minute," were just two of the comments received.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Great to hear Todd it went well, at least you didn't get pummeled with rain like east of us.

3 days of 6am to past midnight activity running this goofy layout is over, Wheew!

The Pizza went over very well, surprisingly a few of the most interested folks were the other hotel guests and the hotel staff members. I brought different trains each day day and evening shifts, it was most busy when the clinics got out and all the participants got out. I got to show alot of folks a how shall we say, _slightly _different take on narrow gauge trains. I also got to show the folks from Bachmann what can be done bashing Lil Haulers, and the biggest thing for me I got to meet a gentleman named Lane Stewart from Colorado, most folks here won't know that name but back in the 90's and early 2000's he had published a pair of layouts in the Gazette and a series of how-to articles that were so exciting to me that it pulled back into model railroading with a decidedly major interest in what today we call Micro-layouts, so for me I got to thank him personally, BTW I got to meet him when he came up to comment how much he liked the Pizza









All was not roses though, driving home Friday night, my fan-belt broke and I barely made it home, the next morning I drove it to the shop arriving with some steam coming out and not the good Accucraft kind of steam. Then I had to drive to an in-laws to get a SUV to go pick up the layout, we managed to get there about the time the show was breaking up, the upshot was that I was saving all my Mack bashes for Saturday morning, my zaniest stuff but due to the car problem the layout went unmanned and non-running on the last day of the show, nothing went missing everyone was very good about that stuff, especially considering my layout was NOT in a locked room but right in the main hallway from the parking area. So now its all now home safely, but the car wont get looked at till Tuesday 
RATS!.









Lessons I learned and some very good suggestions made by fellow conventioneers: 

1. I really REALLY need a backup vehicle like a minivan or a small pickup truck. 

2. I really REALLY need a track cleaning car specific for the curves on this layout (in progress as I speak) as I had to clean the track every couple hours or the gunk buildup was bad. 

3. The layout could use some building lighting, this is something I have been considering for a while now, and rammed home the first night there when my layouts placement set it in between the down lights in virtually complete shadow, it got moved it the second night so it was under one of the lights. Interior building lighting my not work but exterior lights could be readily done. 

4. Several folks suggested it needed sound, most suggested some kind of alternating sound for the village, I have been considered looping the bar fight sounds from The Great Race but not quite sure how to fit it onto the layout, we'll see. 

5. Mr. Stewart made some very cool suggestions about animating parts of the rear of the layout for when kids get too close to it, I'll have to give that some serious thought this winter, but one quick idea I had will be hopefully added before the SWGRS. 

6. Lastly I have to do something about the transit problem, not the car part, but getting from the car to the display area, what I need is to fabricate a leg base modeled on an ambulance gurney, with collapsible legs that will allow me to set up the entire layout onto the gurney, roll it into the back of my car, lift the legs up and then push the whole enchilada in, get there, and reverse that, pull it out, the legs drop down and then I just roll the whole dam thing already set up to the display area. We'll see.

From my perspective, the show was well organized and well run, aside from my car debacle a great event









More on what I saw at the show later


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

A few things of note (from my perspective) 

LS was there but not in presence, Jonathan Bleise's Electric Modelworks both was the largest big scale presence and I noticed stuff was moving from their shelves as the show went on. Bachmann had a nice display booth, but I was told someone stole a decoder chip from one of the locos on display (really, a chip?) but they had mostly their On30 stuff, had a good discussion with the guys there, Bud really liked the Lil Hauler bashes I brought, (maybe next batch will get full siderods?) and I did my best sales pitch to convince them to upscale some of the On30 stuff to LS (the Porter and railbus are obvious to me), well see. There were lots of electronics booths and lots of book sellers, I HAVE to get Benchmarks book on WW1 railroads now. Perhaps the craziest thing was a booth selling Nn3 equipment, thats N scale on Z track! The model contest had some very very excellent stuff in it, a On30 diorama that had a Mariachi band whose band members arms and instruments moved to the music, very well done but I voted for the Mexican village diorama (the actual modeling was better) my Best of Show was a small 2 axle On3 Pacific Electric MOW trolley that was just beyond the fringe detail wise. Sadly because of my car debacle I never found out the winners of the contest, guess I'll have to wait for the report in Uncle Bobs Gazette. 

By far the biggest layout was the On30 moduler set up, 5 On30 groups got together and set up a layout that rivaled anything the Del Oro guys have ever done. There was also a nice HOn3 layout, a cool display HOn3 diorama showing a log loading scene from the Westside Lumber RR. The biggest surprise I came across was a lot of venders with HOn30, including new stuff from BCH based on the old AHM minitrains line, they were highly impressive and i might just have to give HOn30 another whirl. I dumped my HOn30 stuff years ago to frustration with the lousy N drives available then, this stuff looks excellent. Speaking of HOn30, I brought my littlest 9"x10' pizza, set it up next to the big pizza and managed to upstage my own layout! People would walk up to the big pizza and invariably say " oh thats coo...OOOOH LOOK AT THAT!" as soon as they saw the mini-pizza. Funny stuff! 

Sorry guys I only have a couple really lousy pics from my cell phone. I was planning to take lots of pics of everything Saturday AM but the car debacle nixed that, Carla Woolard took alot of pics so hopefully they will get posted here soon enough. 

Now for the part no one cares about.. SWAG! 
I swore I wasn't going to buy anything, really I did, then walking into the vendor room I saw a lady selling a small lot of NIB Bachmann On30 stuff for ridiculous prices, I spotted a Porter for $50, I asked "that's not $150 and I'm misreading it", nope, $50! They were helping the family of a deceased club member to sell off stuff. I grabbed that and then saw a 3 car pack of the wood dump cars for $35, I said to myself I would come back after the midday break when I could get to my bank and grab them as well, but they were gone when I came back, RATS! 

I came damn really near close to pulling the plastic buying a HOn30 critter from BCH, they really have some very impressive stuff coming to market. As I was perusing the premises I came across a British Tri-ang Stephenson Rocket and period coach in HO that I just couldn't resist, I had been talking to the vendors at this stall throughout the show, and on Friday night as they were leaving his daughter came over and said her dad said I could have these, and she hands me 4 very old Tyco HO brass track cast into plastic roadwork trolley track sections that snap together to make a 12" square circle with an area in the middle for buildings, I thought Wow! She said they had it for years and years but no one ever showed a whiff of interest in it but when they saw my HOn30 pizza they thought I could use it, boy! could I ! I already have major plans for it this winter, thanks to Vida and her dad at Old Armchair Amateur. Keep an eye out I'll post stuff on this 

Thats it for now


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Some of the people told me that several of the layouts, especially those in people's garages, were not operating due to the extreme heat. My new S-4 got too hot to touch the motor blocks and now smells like burned electronics/varnish, and may be trundling a bit slower now. But that didn't stop us!


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Todd I sure can believe that. It was awful up here too. 

BTW I forgot to mention the very BEST thing I saw this week. Without a doubt it was the new 7/8" scale locomotives from Accucraft ... 

The 'EMMA' is very impressive but the 'FAIRYMEAD' is magnificent! A beautiful model and an impressive presence. Its just grand looking.


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

I was able to walk around on Friday morning. VERY detailed displays and layouts. An amazing number of books and pictures for sale, wish I would of bought some.
Here is a picture of Vic's MINI PIZZA layout.










I did pick up a new charger from Jonathan and Laura at Electric Steam ModelWorks and I agree with Vic, the EMMA and FAIRYMEAD at the Accucraft booth were both outstanding.

Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Out of the blue I received this letter today. This is why we do open houses.


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