# NGRC



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I want to assemble a list of all the National Garden Railway Conventions, their location, the name of the host and pictures and information of the convention cars plus any general information about each convention, like attendance or very special events.

If any one can contribute information about the convention, especially the early years and maybe even pictures of the early year convention cars for the database, it would be greatly appreciated.

The list of conventions and location I have so far is below - I'm a bit surprised that there isn't at least one web site maintained by NGRC that at least lists all of the locations so far, but I couldn't find anything.

Thanks for any help,

Knut

1st Annual NGRC 1985 Denver, Colorado
2nd Annual NGRC 1986
3rd Annual NGRC 1987
4th Annual NGRC 1988
5th Annual NGRC 1989
6th Annual NGRC 1990
7th Annual NGRC 1991
8th Annual NGRC 1992 Reston, Virginia
9th Annual NGRC 1993
10th Annual NGRC 1994
11th Annual NGRC 1995 Cincinnati, Ohio
12th Annual NGRC 1996 Orlando, Florida
13th Annual NGRC 1997 
14th Annual NGRC 1998 Santa Clara, California
15th Annual NGRC 1999 Chicago, Illinois
16th Annual NGRC 2000 San Diego, California
17th Annual NGRC 2001 Seattle, Washington
18th Annual NGRC 2002 Cincinnati, Ohio
19th Annual NGRC 2003 Sacramento, California
20th Annual NGRC 2004 Denver, Colorado
21st Annual NGRC 2005 Chicago, Illinois
22nd Annual NGRC 2006 Santa Clara, California
23rd Annual NGRC 2007 Las Vegas, Nevada
24th Annual NGRC 2008 Phoenix, Arizona
25th Annual NGRC 2009 Denver Colorado
26th Annual NGRC 2010 Seattle, Washington
27th Annual NGRC 2011 Kansas City, Kansas
28th Annual NGRC 2012 St. Charles, Illinois
29th Annual NGRC 2013 Cincinnati, Ohio
30th Annual NGRC 2014 Tampa, Florida
31st Annual NGRC 2015 Denver, Colorado
32nd Annual NGRC 2016 Bay Area, California


----------



## Robby D (Oct 15, 2009)

The 28th show was in St Charles, Missouri


----------



## Robby D (Oct 15, 2009)

My bad! I was thinking the Narrow Gauge convention.


----------



## blattan (Jan 4, 2008)

Although the 28th NGRC will be held at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, IL (just like in 2005), I suggest changing the location to Chicago. 

Bert Lattan


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

85 through 88 - Denver, CO 
89 - San Francisco, CA 
90 - San Diego, CA (?) 
91 - Cincinnati, OH 

93 - Northern CA (Bay Area, Sacremento) 
94 - Denver, CO 


97 - Alexandria, VA (Washington DC) 

Later, 

K


----------



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Thanks everyone, I updated the list

Now to find pictures of the convention cars for the early years.....

---------------



1st Annual NGRC 1985 Denver, Colorado
2nd Annual NGRC 1986 Denver, Colorado
3rd Annual NGRC 1987 Denver, Colorado
4th Annual NGRC 1988 Denver, Colorado
5th Annual NGRC 1989 San Francisco, California
6th Annual NGRC 1990 San Diego, California
7th Annual NGRC 1991 Cincinnati, Ohio
8th Annual NGRC 1992 Washington, DC (Reston, Virginia)
9th Annual NGRC 1993 Sacramento, California
10th Annual NGRC 1994 Denver, Colorado
11th Annual NGRC 1995 Cincinnati, Ohio
12th Annual NGRC 1996 Orlando, Florida
13th Annual NGRC 1997 Washington, DC (Alexandria, VA)
14th Annual NGRC 1998 Santa Clara, California
15th Annual NGRC 1999 Chicago, Illinois
16th Annual NGRC 2000 San Diego, California
17th Annual NGRC 2001 Seattle, Washington
18th Annual NGRC 2002 Cincinnati, Ohio
19th Annual NGRC 2003 Sacramento, California
20th Annual NGRC 2004 Denver, Colorado
21st Annual NGRC 2005 Chicago (St. Charles), Illinois
22nd Annual NGRC 2006 Santa Clara, California
23rd Annual NGRC 2007 Las Vegas, Nevada
24th Annual NGRC 2008 Phoenix, Arizona
25th Annual NGRC 2009 Denver Colorado
26th Annual NGRC 2010 Seattle, Washington
27th Annual NGRC 2011 Kansas City, Kansas
28th Annual NGRC 2012 Chicago (St. Charles), Illinois
29th Annual NGRC 2013 Cincinnati, Ohio
30th Annual NGRC 2014 Tampa, Florida
31st Annual NGRC 2015 Denver, Colorado
32nd Annual NGRC 2016 Bay Area, California


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I'm 99% positive on the San Diego one. I remember going to it, I'm almost positive that's when the DC group first pitched hosting the convention in 92. (I did the preview in 91 at Cincinnati.) The next time it was in San Diego was in 2000, and I know I didn't go that year. 

Later, 

K


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I was there... as I remember... 

Greg


----------



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Yes, San Diego it is. I updated the list above.

I finally found this on line: 

http://www.largescaleonline.com/cgi-bin/clubs/show.cgi?id=sandieg


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Surprising its never been in the LA area, San Diego isnt exactly around the corner.


----------



## s-4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Haha well none of those places are around the corner if you live in New Hampshire!


----------



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

If I recall I thought there was one here in Atlanta around 1999 or so. Could it have been a diferent convention. I know they had tours. 









Here is a car from the Reston VA show 








And here is the one for 2008 from AZ. Later RJD


----------



## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

The 2003 Convention was in Sacramento, CA. It was hosted by the Sacramento Valley Garden Railway Society. It was very hot!! 

The convention car was came two ways, a modern and a traditional tank car. The spotting difference was the railing around the dome -- traditional; no railing -- modern. I think they had the same reporting marks. Let me check. Mine is a modern; it's built by USA trains. We also had some Hartland ore cars with gold loads in them. They had our gold miner logo. 

The 2010 convention was held in Tacoma, WA, although the Convention Car box says Seattle. It came in two colors: blue for the general public, or yellow for the vendors (I think, maybe reverse). I've got the yellow one. It was made by AML.


----------



## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

There has never been a convention in Los Angeles, or in Texas, or New York. I've been involved in a couple of conventions, and an "unofficial advisor" to others. I'm not sure why that is, but there are a number of issues to resolve before hosting a convention. And since there IS no National Garden Railway Committee, there is no list of best practices or things to avoid, or ways to go about putting one together.

As an attendee and planner of these events, these are the things that need to be in place to do some kind of convention.

1. A club willing to do ALL the work. This means a club of sufficient size that the 80/20 rule doesn't mean that ten people are doing all the work. If you don't have the numbers, figure out what you can do, and try to farm out the rest: Rely on a Trade Show guy, or a Convention planner to do what you can't.
2. Affordable convention site and hotels. Spending a week in a foreign city is a big ticket item for a lot of people. Make it worth going there.
3. Cooperative manufacturers and suppliers for the vendor hall. A bad vendor hall or an empty one will doom the project from the beginning.
4. Adequate lead time for covnvention cars, hats, shirts, etc. If that stuff shows up a week late, you will never be able to do it again!
5. Cooperative convention halls. That means no onerous fees, rules, taxes, etc. If they're not good enough, the vendors will stay away (see note 3).
6. Support from national model railroad media -- tv, print, intenet. No backstabbing, no fighting.
7. Interesting variety of home layouts. To me, that's what makes Conventions different from each other. 
8. Things for the non-garden railroader to do. Not a lot, but something like a list of museums, art galleries, baseball stadiums, etc.
9. An open mind. Maybe Texas in July is bad (actually, it IS bad). But couldn't a Texas convention occur in April or October? Yes, school is out during the summer, but have you looked at Garden RRers lately? Most don't have kids or grandkids to keep them home during the school year. And maybe lots of garden railroaders could be coaxed out of Minnesota and Wisconsin to come to Texas in the Spring or Fall.

Most folks like a "social" of some time. Don't line up the conventioneers, take their $10 and hand them an "It's It"! Spend the bucks to get a hall, some tables to sit at, chairs to sit on, and ice cream or fruit and chocolate and make it an EVENT.

Most folks like the "BBQ" but if your area has some other regional specialty, go for it!

My guess is that L.A., New York, Chicago are really too expensive for hotels, convention space, etc. even if you've got the people willing to do the work. I suspect we'll see more places like Tacoma, Kansas City, San Jose, Denver, Cincinatti stepping up because they are affordable. But I'd think that Dallas-Ft. Worth or Houston might not be too expensive, if they've got garden railroad clubs to volunteer.


----------



## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

The BAGRS hosted the 1989 Convention but as near as I can tell there wasn't a convention car.
Here is a photo of the 1993 Convention Car; LGB Caboose 4071GR.









The BAGRS also hosted the 1998 NGRC. The convention car was a LGB Coach, 30808.









The 2006 Convention featured the famous San Francisco Cable Car produced by Accucraft.









The BAGRS also rewarded their hard working members with a Blue "Poppy" reefer built by USA Trains.









I have also have one of the Convention cars from the 2003 NGRC. Its a Hartland Ore Car...

Russ Miller


----------



## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

1989 was hosted by the Bay Area Garden Railway Society and the Convention Hotel was in Concord, Ca and not in San Francisco. Here is a scan of the program cover...









The 1993 convention would better be described as a Northern California Event as it was hosted by 3 clubs; the Sacramento Valley (SVGRS), the Redwood Empire (REGRS) and BAGRS.
Russ Miller


----------



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

This is an interesting car - have never seen that before that I can remember.
Does it actually have a USA Trains product number or is it one of the many special runs that Charles Ro made where a product ID was never assigned?

Knut


----------



## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

Nothing on the box... at all. These come up every once in a while at swap meets and train shows.


----------



## rpc7271 (Jan 2, 2008)

WRONG! The 24th convention in 2008 was in Chandler Az. not Phoenix Az.


----------



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

If you noticed the pic I posted of the show car for the AZ show it said Chandler AZ. Later RJD


----------



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By rpc7271 on 09 Jul 2012 02:30 PM 
WRONG! The 24th convention in 2008 was in Chandler Az. not Phoenix Az. 
Yes....

A number of these National Garden Railrozad Conventions seem to be referred to, at least on some sites, by the closest large city, not the town where the convention hotel was actually located.

I have expanded the original list into an Excel spreadsheet a few days ago, on July 5th, and added a number of other bits of information as I came across it that I thought might be of interest.

Still a lot of holes. but if anyone is interested they can download it here and let me know of any additions (or corrections)

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/krs/NGRC Matrix 2.xls

Where applicable, the actual town where the convention hotel was situated is added in brackets after the main city - maybe that should be the other way around.

For the time being I'm just collecting information; I'll decide later how best to present it.

Knut


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

A number of these National Garden Railrozad Conventions seem to be referred to, at least on some sites, by the closest large city, not the town where the convention hotel was actually located. 
I tend to refer to convention locations in terms of the garden railway society that's hosting it. The physical location of the convention hotel is but a small part of the convention. The tours cover the entire metropolitan area for the region, which is almost always expressed in terms of the largest city. For instance, the 1992 convention was held at a hotel in Reston, VA, but was always referred to as the Washington DC convention when we were promoting it. Denver's much the same way. There have been three hotels used to host the convention, only one of them is technically within the physical boundaries of the city/county of Denver. But "Greenwood Village" and "Adams County" just don't have the same ring to them. 

Later, 

K


----------



## Santafe 2343 (Jan 2, 2008)

Is there a list somewhere of the Tour Layouts Time, days, Addresss ?[/b]


----------



## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's a starter http://www.2012ngrc.com/7.html Haven't seen specifics except for the coverage in the GR mag.


----------



## blattan (Jan 4, 2008)

Detailed information about layout tours will be included in the material that you receive when you pick up your name badge and other registration materials. 

Bert Lattan


----------



## Bucksco (Jan 4, 2008)

Bachmann will be there. Come see the new C-19.


----------



## bstuvland (Aug 31, 2012)

The 17th (2001) was held in Bellevue, WA and the 26th was held in Tacoma, WA. I would List Seattle, then in (.....) I would list the actual city. I remember in one of the San Deigo conventions they did not have a car, but sold a decal, promoted as you can stick it on a car, engine, or building of your choice.


----------

