# Great LS train Day



## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

was had last wednesday. My pal Broos and I put on a [small] large-scale train show for the youngsters at the elementary school up on the nearby base - RAF A*******. Don't let the name fool you - it's home to 3000+ US servicemen and women and their families, just like our twin villages here, about two miles away.We set up a double loop in the library, using the library tables that are just the right height for operation and watching - one with MTS and the other with straight DC. The usual set-up measures about 30 by 15 feet - plenty big enough to make a good impression, and with curves big enough to take the largest locos we run there - AccuCraft's K27 or Aristo-Craft Dash 9s. No live-steam - this is striclty a sparkie event.In the end around 300 youngsters spent time with us, operating the trains under supervision, and having a great time. Their humans were enthralled - many had never seen stuff this big before, and a few wanted to know how to get started in LS without needing a bail-out or mortgage, and Broos and I were happy to point them in the right direction. Although ten years younger than me, he is making a slow recovery from a near-fatal stroke back in 2002, and found that big trains were a whole lot easier to manage than his H0 stuff. Between us we have about forty locomotives and around 150 cars - all types and styles - in 29th, 24th, 22nd and 16mm scales - something for everybody to see and relate to. One youngster there from VA told me that his grandpa was one of the operators on the Cass Mower and told me, correctly, all about the Shay. That was great to hear.Sadly, we were unable to take any photographs, as photography inside the building by non-staff members like us is prohibited in law here in yUK, especially where children are involved, so you'll have to take my word that we all had a great time.The other downside was having to carry all our [lots of] stuff over a hundred yards from the car park to the school library - a fact of life with the current terrorist threat hanging over us - NO civilian vehicles can park inside that distance or alongside the buildings on a military base.
The upside was a visit to the local Crispy-Creem!!!
Best to alltacwww.ovgrs.orgSupporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Terry
Thanks to you both for the fine effort to make LS train hobby a successful event for all those potential hobbyists. By the description, it was a lot of work but worth every special moment each had at the event.


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Mornin' Charles & Ryan - yup, it's well worth all the aches and pains, even though we had done the same thing at a local village summer carnival last saturday in the old school hall. To say that we were inundated would be an understatement - we were worked ragged fomr 11:30 to just gone 4 . We really needed four people - two to run and two to talk about it all. Our club H0/00/n layouts next door were almost as busy. Makes you very happy to see that in this day and age of toys that use the thumbs to operate - nintendo and so on - are set aside so that people can run the REAL DEAL!!

The sight of half a dozen grown-ups gawping at a triple-headed log train hauled by a Shay, Climax and Heisler - all with Phoenix sound roaring away - is not to be forgotten. Of course, over here in UK these locos, for most folks, look like something from built by Red Green with the help of Rube Goldberg. One old boy, who told me that he was a retired engineer, looked at the Heisler and said to me - 'THAT is elegant AND efficient - I bet it was the best design of the bunch'. The shade of Charlie Heisler looking over my shoulder must have chuckled.

We are waiting to see if any of the authorised photographers let us have any pix - as I said, here in UK we are not allowed to take pix in case there are children in them unless we have undergone a CBC - criminal background check. Or had written permission from the parents...sigh...................what a world we live in, eh?

tac
www.ovgrs.org
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund


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