# SWGRS...a report



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

I spent about 5 hours at the Southwest Garden Railroad Show at the Fairplex today. It was a good little show for a first time event...and I hope it grows. It's a tough time to start a new show and it showed in the number of vendors attending. I've been to train shows in the same building at the Fairplex and there were far fewer vendors today. Attendance was sparse today but I was told that the place was packed and sales were very good on Saturday morning. Once noon arrived Saturday, several vendors said sales dropped like a rock...but that sounds like recession stuff...as does the lower than normal vendor count. My guess is that Saturday afternoon...which was Halloween...mighta had some impact on the number of children coming to the show...and their parents....especially in the afternoon. Also....being that this was in the LA area...and that USC was playing football on Saturday afternoon...also represents competition.


When I walked in, it was to a great sight. Bob Baxter and Don Gage's modular shortline layout was right there spread across the entrance. You had to walk around it to get into the show. What a wonderful way to enter a train show. Folks were crowded all around gawking...and Bob was IN his element. It was great to see Don there too...running his crane. MLS sponsors were there in force. Axel and his wife were right behind Bob & Don's layout in the Train Li booth...with an incredible amount of stuff for sale...especially since he lives on the other side of the country. Behind Train Li was Jonathan and Laura Bliese's Electric Model Works booth....where I left a large deposit. If I wasn't on a tight budget these days....Jonathan had a "newish" Accucraft C16 there in yellow...that I'd sure love to own. PCGRS was there with their extensive building line and their newer turntable (man that is NICE)...and Fine Folk had a large booth area. Rounding out the MLS sponsors (I hope I didn't forget anyone) was Eaglewings with a good sized booth. I've always like the organization of their booth...then again, I think they welded it all up as a kit. The Ross's, friends of mine, had their Rainbow Ridge booth there too. I still like that Precision Board material they make buildings from. Accucraft had a nice sized booth with a good display of their product line. I finally got to see the Forney. WOW was my reaction...especially for an under $700 live steam engine. This one could get on my short list. Several folks remarked that they MISSED having Ozark at the show...there were VERY VERY few parts to be found at this show.


The MLS crowd was good too. Eight of us did go to lunch at the Tenderloin. Greg dropped out of the lunch because he was concerned that with only 4 hours left in the show, he'd not make it all the way around the booths. Now one member (Josh) kinda pointed out that IF Greg took a folding chair and stood on it...he could see the whole show within 50' of where he was located. None-the-less, Greg has now earned the moniker of super-pooper. Meanwhile, Tommy Mejia and his daughter, JJ, Josh (parkdesigner), me, and Greg Stevens and his two grandsons had a great lunch with lots of good discussion. We also had Gary and Carla there...Carla told me she taken over 4G of photos...so expect some photo posting. Chris Walas and John Corridini made an appearance. Bob and Jackie Starr had their steam layout running.


There was talk at the show of WHEN it should happen and there was a question floating around the place as to whether it should go head to head against the Big Train Show...and attempt to draw the Large Scale crowd back to an ALL LS show. This must be rooted in some displeasure with the BTS becoming an all gauge train show. I think this will all be determined by the big dogs....the engine manufacturers and big dealers. It's hard for me to believe they'd fund participation in TWO train shows only 10 miles apart on the same days. In a discussion with the MLS crowd, a consensus developed that an all LS train show in the January time frame would be good as it would put about 6 months between this show and the BTS. There was also some discussion of this show also being held somewhere in the Bay Area at another time of the year. I think that would be something new up there...an all LS train show.


----------



## bottino (Feb 7, 2008)

Mike, I can tell you, I have been to lots of all scale shows, and they generally are very weak in LS. On the other hand, our ECLSTS in York PA is a total delight for Large Scalers. They have a large hall with really huge impressive LS modular layouts. They have a big Live Steam area. In the other hall, it is all vendors. And as I have said before, there is nothing like an all large scale show for large scale people. So from the right coast, I would encourage you all to go for it, but not to compete with another show. In this economy, some of the dealers will not be able to go to both shows. 
Paul


----------



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

I hear ya. We have a BUNCH of all gauge shows...like 4 in three months in the near future...and the little scale guys WAY out populate the LS vendors...and get an amazing amount of stuff in a 10'x10' booth to sell...unlike LS vendors. Even at these bigger all scale shows, we're doing good to see more than three LS vendors present. 

I've been to both the BTS and the ECLSTS...and the ALL LS venue is the way to go IMHO. I'm tired of going to all scale shows to find three LS vendors at best...and NO specialty stuff...e.g. no parts vendors, no building vendors, etc. I didn't explain that this show ALSO had a good spread of LS layouts besides Bob Baxter's and Don Gage's Door Hollow Shortline. Del Oro was there. I think the folks from Phoenix were there with their layout...least it looked like their layout. Bob Starr had his live steamer layout inside the layout area too...first time I'd seen it inside a building...and it's BIG. About half of the floorspace was vendor space...and half layouts. This place is about as large as the whole hall that is used by ECLSTS...but it certainly wasn't PACKED with narrow aisles and such like the last ECLSTS I was at was. Then again, this is a new show and I hope it grows. I'm still thinking football killed attendance in addition to the recession.


----------



## Greg Stevens (Jan 3, 2008)

I have to agree with Mike all the way. The show was not packed to the gills like the BTS in Ontario and it was extremely nice to be able to actually talk to the exhibitors there. There were some deals to be had, at least to my way of thinking. I was able to pick up 4 Piko buildings, 1:22.5, for a little over a hundred bucks. In my opinion, that was a bargain. 

The restaurant at lunch was really nice. I've lived in the area all of my life and never knew about that place, but you can believe that I will go back. It was too bad that Kris, John and Greg weren't able to make the lunch scene, but a good time was had by all, even the 3 youngsters. 

I fervently hope that this type of show continues. Yes, it would have been better with more vendors and more people, but it was a good show none the less. I had fun and am totally worn out from all of the walking. BTW, the outdoor layout has never looked better. The guys that belong to that group have really done a fine job rehabbing the place. The best part was that we were able to get up close and personal as they were allowing folks to go inside the fence. Something I have only done one other time in 62 years.

Over at the 1:1 loco location, there was much blowing of whistles. They have hooked up the whistles on several of the BIG steam engines to large air compressors, and the kids were having a ball blowing them. Something they have never heard before and needed to hear. Also being able to climb up and actually see the inside of the cab of a large loco was a real treat for all who were there.

I hope they will do this again in the future. As far as I am concerned, the BTS may take a back seat to this show.


----------



## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Grace and I had a great time. It was nice meeting up with MLS members again (even if Greg E. ditched us at lunch







). After hearing about the Piko Qwick buildings from Greg Stevens at lunch, we picked up 4 also. When we got home, Grace and I put them together. It took about as long to unpack them as put them together. I think they need a paint job, but Grace loves the Orange Music Store. 










We did some shopping. Grace picked up more dogs and jewelry. I picked up a quick disconnect for my Grex airbrush and a USA Trains SD-40. Brought it home and let it run on my layout for about a half an hour, then put it on the display shelf until tomorrow.










While we were at the Grex booth, Grace received personal one on one training on using the Grex airbrush. Now she just needs to practice, practice, practice.

Grace also spent time at Rick the Railroads Guy's booth sitting in a comfey lounge chair watching "Emperor of the North". Back at the steam track there was this beautiful Blue train.



















On a sad note, it was the last running of Fantasy Corner. I think it is scheduled for dismantling next weekend.




























I look forward to another LS show there.[/b]


Tommy








Rio Gracie


----------



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Why such small pics Tommy....?


----------



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I hope it is bigger next year. I don't think they shoud butt heads with the BTS. There is room for two showes. I missed Tool Man. I was hoping he would be there. 
I bought a Grex Air brush and two Colorado Buildings. I was going to buy a set of windows. I had lost all the windows for one of my Colorado Model Buildings I bought at TBTS 
He replaced them free of charge. It was great to see Bob and Jackie Star. His Track was indoors for once. I sat outside and watched a lot of stuff go out the doors. Maybe shifting the date a litte where It's not on a holiday will help. I thought it was a good crowd for the first time. 

Remember a few years back when they had a show at the Fairplex in January? Then they moved it to the QM and it died. This is like that show reborn. 

The people at the Fairplex Layout were Great. I went through it 5 or 7 times. They were a great bunch to talk to. I got a lot of ideas from they Layout. It was nice to sit there and watch the trains run. I was talking to one guy who was a vistor. He siad he was at the Fair for 8 hours. He spent 7 at the layout because that is what his son wanted to do. The other hour was getting lunch. 

Of course everyone complained abou the food Prices. I had a Giant Polish Saugae and two bottles of water and spent 15 bucks. 

The hotel was nice. I missed out on the show bargin. I had a two room suite for 129 a night. Show price was 99 bucks. They Charged 10 bucks a day for internet The food at the hotel was great. The breakfast bufet was 15 bucks which I thought was high.....Steak and Eggs was around 12 bucks which is average. I had NY stake and dessert it was 51 including tip. Most of the things on the menue were 10 and 12 bucks 

I talked to one visitor at the FP layout and got him interested in MLS. Then Talked to some Snow Birds who were there from Phoenix and who live in Ottawa ILL the other part of the year. I got them interested in MLS. 

I was watching these people walk out of the Show with what looked like Wooden Drawers. It was a frame with a handel and had a wooden bottom. Looked like a Kitchen Drawer. 
I found out it was a Jig for making Trestle Bents. Mike of Mikes wooden Buildings was sellling them. Now Mike is a guy we see at Marty's every year. Mike is from around Kansas City. It was great to talk to him. He sure was sorry he missed Marty's this year. 

I thought the show was good and had a great time. I do hope maybe next year it will be better. Maybe you should all E mail our favorite vendors and ask them to concider going to this show. 

JJ


----------



## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ,
I have one of those jigs and they really work well! Michael's other products are also well worth considering! 
Here's the link: http://www.trainbuildings.com


----------



## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Why such small pics Tommy....?

Because I didn,t know what I was doing







How about these.









































































Tommy








Rio Gracie


----------



## bottino (Feb 7, 2008)

Tommy,
Are those Piko buildings, just fronts, or is there a whole building. They are kinda neat.
Paul


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice shots, but too big Tommy. Max allowable width is 800 pixels (plus your images are over 1/2mb each).


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I finally made it there sometime after 1pm, so it was winding down a bit by then, had a nice chat with Bob and Sandra Baxter and Tommy said Hi to Don but missed most of the others who had left by then. It was a nice show, not as big as the BTS but if it grows that will hopefully change, I liked it being a bit closer to home for me. As I'm still downsizing I didnt planning to buy anything, but I did pick up a couple of tin signs for the garage wall, a nice Durango & Silverton sign and a Roaring Camp & Big Trees sign. They will be hung on the wall behind the layout. I ended up leaving about 3:30. 

I think if it was held _next_ weekend attendance would be better, because like mentioned Saturday being Halloween was a definite no-go for myself and I'm sure alot of others. If it was the weekend following I think alot more people would be free to attend, but I was told that the promoter was happy with the attendance. I look forward to next year, no pics, got 1/2 way there and realized my camera wasnt in the car. Drat!


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Whooo Wooo! 
Today's mail brought a postcard; $1.00 off the SWGRS show! 
If I had only known..... kinda late to make plans for it tho'..... lol 

Why it was sent so late I have no clue and thought the promoter should have saved the cost for a better show next time. Would make more sense to get it a couple of weeks * before * the show instead of the day after. 

John


----------



## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for fixing my pictures. Here is one more of the Fantasy Corner (It's a little dark). 











Paul, they are complete buildings. 










Tommy








Rio Gracie


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Pooper here: 

Had a great time, wish the show was open later, got there when it opened, left 15 minutes after it closed (got free pizza too). 

Had time to speak to several vendors, Fred at AML, who has a lot of great ideas for new locos, Jonathan (bought a nice Berlyn rail truck), looked at the cool air tools are Grex (?) got to see Robby from RLD, left a few $$ there, and talked DCC and some new stuff with Axel at Train-Li. 

I really needed all that time! 

Hope it's bigger next year, but will come again even if same size. Great location too with the Fairplex RR 50 feet away. 

Regards, Greg


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 02 Nov 2009 03:14 PM 
Pooper here: 

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

Regards, Greg 

Greg!!! Remember what Radar said on Mash about nicknames, use it once and it sticks!

Pooper???

Dang wish I knew you well enough to use it!







lol

John


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for fixing my pictures.I didn't 'cause anything I can do, while it may reduce image display size, does nothing for file size. I don't know about everyone else, but those photos at over 1/2mb each take quite a while to download and display even on broadband. Maybe you could resize them and re-upload them? 

Thx.


----------



## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Tommy

The other thing that Dwight mentioned (i.e. file size) needs to be watched too. Just because you change the displayed size of the image doesn't mean the file size will be reduced. For that you need to set the compression level.

For example in your above posted images...
[*] First reply.
[*]1st image file size - 531399 Bytes[*]2nd image file size - 439585 Bytes[*]3rd image file size - 439585 Bytes[*]4th image file size - 759644 Bytes[*]5th image file size - 832173 Bytes[*]6th image file size - 558637 Bytes[*]7th image file size - 552977 Bytes[*]8th image file size - 683373 Bytes
[/list][*] Second reply
[*]1st image file size - 345189 Bytes[*]2nd image file size - 326015 Bytes [/list][/list] The overall download of these ten images is approximately 5.4MB, where if they were compressed to about 100KB per image that would be reduced to approximately 1MB, which even on a high-speed connection would reduce the download time quite a bit.

(Oops, sorry guys didn't mean to be redundent.







)[/i]


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I know people get confused about all of this. 

I use a free program Irfanview (google it) 

I keep full resolution images in a master directory, then copy the files, and resize them to 800x600 or less... 9 times out of 10 they are significantly smaller and everything is fine. This action resizes the file itself, it does not just remap the display and leave the main file big. 

Works for me. 

Regards, Greg


----------



## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 02 Nov 2009 06:18 PM 
{snip...}[/i] I use a free program Irfanview (google it) {snip...}[/i] Yes sir, that's a good program, has a lot of plug-ins available too.

{snip...}[/i] I keep full resolution images in a master directory, then copy the files, and resize them to 800x600 or less... 9 times out of 10 they are significantly smaller and everything is fine. This action resizes the file itself, it does not just remap the display and leave the main file big. {snip...}[/i] That's because when you save a '.jpg' and set the compression level in the 'Save Quality' slider (i.e. compression level) on the 'JPEG/GIF save options' dialog, the setting is saved and used until it's manually changed. I believe that the default setting when installed is 50%.

Another nice feature is IrfanView has a 'batch' conversion feature to automate sequences you frequently perform on image files.


----------



## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Okay, I downloaded and installed Irfanview. Resized, compressed and replaced the files in my directory using the same names.









Thanks for the help.

Tommy








Rio Gracie


----------



## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Real nice job Tommy, did you notice any faster download when you opened the topic after you changed the image files?


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Tommy. You're alright.... I don't care what everybody says.


----------



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike thanks for the fine report of the show. Maybe next year you'll get pooper to go to lunch with ya.







Later RJD


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Tommy, now you got to teach JJ!!! 

Greg


----------



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 02 Nov 2009 03:14 PM 
Pooper here:............... 


Regards, Greg 
No no no no...you don't get off THAT easy. It's SUPER-pooper....go back and read my first post. No diminishing what has been deemed rightious by the MLS crowd at the SWGRS.


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Could be worse Greg... they could tack "scooper" onto the end.


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yeah, I just don't get no respect!!


----------



## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Dang, Pooper er Greg, you and Rodney could be brothers. 

Randy


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Naaahhh.... he smokes wimpy cigars!


----------



## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Dang Mike!
Now, everytime I see one of Greg's posts I'm singing to myself..."and like a Supuper Poopuper Greg is gonna post it, post it like it iiiiiiiis...." (with apologies to ABBA)!


----------



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 03 Nov 2009 07:22 PM 
Naaahhh.... he smokes wimpy cigars!












Excuse me sir but your turds on fire.


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Excuse me sir but your turds on fire.


----------

