# NGRC 2011 Tours



## Bret W Tesson (Jan 6, 2008)

Unfortunately, I can't take off all week to attend the convention and will only be able to get to KC that Friday. I would really like see the various tour layouts in both KC that Friday and also in St. Louis the weekend before. I also plan to attend the show on Saturday. Unfortunately, I'm told I need to registar to get a book that has the tour information and registration will cost at least $75. Does anyone have a list of the layouts being shown during the convention (both STL and KC)? Thanks


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## gscaleisfun (Jan 14, 2008)

Hi Bret, 

The National Garden Railroad Convention, like many other conventions is attended by those registering that they will be attending. This registration covers a great deal of costs that are incurred to put on an event of this magnitude. The ten dollar fee we are charging for the early mailing only covers the expense of mailing. The tour guide itself is costing more than $10 for each book to be printed. Besides just the garden tours, there are clinics, a social, banquet and a BBQ during the convention's duration. We need to turn in the number of people attending for almost all events to make sure we have space and accommidations for all. By registering for the convention, we are able to give the people on tour some idea of how many people will be going through their yards. People on tour want to show off their railroads but they are also aware there is a lot of expense to get the railroad up and running and looking good. They are also aware there will be some damage to their yards due to the number of people touring their railroad. Some of the registration money goes to the people on tour to reimburse them for some of the damage and expense. Those without a nametag, will not be allowed in the yards, clinics, or the Exhibition Hall. This is a standard national garden railroad convention policy. 

The tour book is part of the registration packets each attendee receives. There is also a "goodie bag" of items that have been sent by local businesses, vendors, and manufacturers. Access to the clinics is also part of registration. What you are wanting would not be fair at all to those that have paid for the registration or to anyone ever doing a convention. There is also a security issue regarding having the addresses of everyone on tour months prior to the convention. These people have a right to privacy and do not desire unwanted visitors prior to the tour. 

Regarding the St Louis, Wichita, and Ozark GRS tours. I will ask them if their tour guides are available to anyone. Each club can make their own policy on that. In regards to the convention. The tour book will be available about 30 days prior to the convention and will be mailed out if you ordered the early mailing and have registered for the convention. The exhibition hall will be open to the public on Saturday and you are welcome to come. Admission to the exhibition hall will be 10.00 / adult for that day. 

To my knowledge no one has a list of the people on tour for the convention. If you receive a list, I would not assume it is correct. 

David Roberts


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## neals645 (Apr 7, 2008)

Bret, 

Having attended two NGRCs, I can tell you the $75 registration is a terrific value. You will see outstanding layouts at their very best, and you will have a chance to network with large scalers from all over the country (and beyond). Everyone involved works tremendously hard, and no one is getting rich on your $75 - far from it! By all means do spend the extra for a mailed program - being able to plan out exactly what you want to see ahead of time is key, especially if you have only a couple days to attend.

Neal


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Bret W Tesson on 12 Apr 2011 01:09 PM 
.... I would really like see the various tour layouts in both KC that Friday and also in St. Louis the weekend before. ...

OK...I've asked this question before...and it's not been answered. Having heard the "rumors" of layout tours in St. Louis, I've asked if it would be possible FOR THE CONVENTION PLANNERS to state where each day's layout tours are going to be....AREA...like NW Kansas City...St. Louis...etc. There is NO information about that on the NGRC site. 

Now...for those of us considering flying into this NGRC...it might be NICE to know where to fly into. So...if there is a layout tour in St. Louis the weekend BEFORE the convention starts, it might be NICE to put that on your web site...so we might fly there...instead of a place 300 plus miles away. 

We all understand that the area this convention covers is a bit larger than the areas we've seen covered in past years. How about giving us some help?


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike,
I can only speak for the Wichita Area Garden Railway Society which will have their layouts open to conventioneers on the Sunday before the convention starts. At the owner's discretion, we will also have various layouts open on Monday as well. The place where we are coordinating the open layout tour is in central Wichita at Garden Railway Gizmos, 1425 N. Broadway, a large scale store owned by one of our members (that also doubles as her residence) complete with a garden railroad out back. We will have open house brochures available there. 
As to what layouts are going to be available, we are getting final confirmations this week so we can send David the website information. A preliminary count shows between 8 and 12 layouts that will be open on Sunday. I hope that helps for anybody coming from the south or west.


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## gscaleisfun (Jan 14, 2008)

At this point, there are around 27 railroads on tour in the Kansas City area. Almost all of them are in southern Kansas City, either on the Missouri or the Kansas side. There are 2 -3 in western Kansas City Ks and Leavenworth, Ks areas. There are 2 on the east side of town around the Independence, Mo area. Some more people are finishing up their layouts to be on tour but are not listed yet. There never seems to be enough time to get everything done if you are trying to build a railroad for a deadline. I expect several not to be ready. thus they aren't listed yet. 

The Kansas City Airport ( MCI) is in the NW corner of the region. It's about an hour from the convention. We are arranging shuttle service to the hotels from the Airport and Union Station. I will post that information real soon. 

The others groups have chosen to have their tours the weekend prior to the convention. No one wanted to rush home and leave the convention early to have their gardens on tour. Right now there are 3 areas that will be on the pre-convention tours. St Louis tours are basically along I -64 from about 40 miles east of St Louis to about 40 miles west of St Louis. There are seven railroads on tour open both Saturday and Sunday. The next area is in Southwest Missouri in the Springfield and Joplin areas. There are also seven on tour and all are open for the weekend and all but one will be open on Monday also.The 3rd area is in eastern Kansas including the Salina and Wichita areas. I haven't recieved much information back from that group yet. They normally have about 7 layouts on tour also. There has been some talk about Des Moines, IA area layouts being on tour. But, nothing has been set up at this time. 


St Louis is about 260 miles from the convention. Its about 200 miles from St Louis to Springfield and Just under 200 from Springfield to the convention. Likewise, Wichita and Salina are around 180-200 miles from the convention. 

I hope this helps some. 

David


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Yep...it does. I gotta do some map and hotel work now. This is looking like an 8 day trip to get most of it in...but at least I got the general whereabouts now...and I thought the driving to all the BAGRS layouts a few year ago was a lot. Iowa??????


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

OGRS 
Ozark Garden Railway Society has nine members layout open. Our layouts are open to all the public because we do a annual club layouts openhouse and we are incorporating both of these together. We are scattered in Arkansas and southern Missouri. 
2 in Mountain Home Arkansas, which is 2 hours south and east of Springfield, they are open Sat and Sunday, they are open to all the public, one of these is a very large inside O gauge modern day railroad, this layout has been featured in the o gauge magazine. The maps to the indoor layout will be passed out at the other garden rr layout. 
Three layouts in Springfield, one is a double car Garage full, 2 layouts open SAT, Sun and Mon, One layout is open Sat and Monday. 
2 layouts open in Mt Vernon 30 minutes west of Springfield on Interstate 44. 
20 minutes SW of Mt Vernon at Monett is a worthy travel to this layout. 
One layout in Bella Vista Arkansas, anybody coming from the south up highway 71 straight north to KC, this layout is about 3 miles west of 71, Then either northeast to Monett then NE to 
Mt Vernon, if time would allow it east to Springfield then northwest to KC. 
We know the distance we are apart it will be difficult to see all of ours, but we are open. I will have a detailed map for email if anybody is interested. 
Dennis OGRs President


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