# NGRC2016 Facebook Page is now up



## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

We've made a *Facebook Page for the 32nd Annual Garden Railway Convention* coming up in July of this year. Please everyone take a look and "LIKE" the page if you are on Facebook. Help us spread the word among all of these interested in outdoor garden railroading. We will periodically update the page and use it for releasing new information. You can also get to the Facebook page by clicking on the link at the bottom of the *NGRC 2016* Website.

We've also started to run banner ads on the _Garden Railways Magazine's Website._ What is crazy is that they show up sometimes and not others. Anyone know how the ads work? i first saw the ad on the Forum page and then when I went back it wasn't there.

Russ Miller
NGRC 2016 Chairman


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## Ted Yarbrough (Jan 2, 2008)

Russ,
Thank you for keeping us informed. I shared your Facebook page with the Georgia Garden Railway Society and Nashville Garden Railway Society's Facebook page.


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

Ted Yarbrough said:


> Russ,
> Thank you for keeping us informed. I shared your Facebook page with the Georgia Garden Railway Society and Nashville Garden Railway Society's Facebook page.


Thank you Ted!
We're hoping this will help keep everyone up to date with what's happening with this year's NGRC.
Russ


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

Russ, I'm not certain but the banner ads on GR website probably display a variety of different ads like most do. You probably don't have exclusive display rights to the space. If you refresh the page enough times it will come up again, then you can get some idea of display frequency. The ads may come up on several pages on the site too. 
I don't see them because I have an ad blocker installed.

I hope you don't mind me posting the YouTube video that is on the NGRC FaceBook page here for others to see.






Andrew


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

*We're over 120 likes in a little over 1 week!*



Russell Miller said:


> We've made a *Facebook Page for the 32nd Annual Garden Railway Convention* coming up in July of this year. Please everyone take a look and "LIKE" the page if you are on Facebook. Help us spread the word among all of these interested in outdoor garden railroading. We will periodically update the page and use it for releasing new information. You can also get to the Facebook page by clicking on the link at the bottom of the *NGRC 2016* Website.
> 
> We've also started to run banner ads on the _Garden Railways Magazine's Website._ What is crazy is that they show up sometimes and not others. Anyone know how the ads work? i first saw the ad on the Forum page and then when I went back it wasn't there.
> 
> ...


Thanks everybody for spreading the word. Please "like" us and share us on your Facebook page.
*NGRC 2016*
#ngrc2016


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## Wizard69 (Feb 4, 2016)

A question from a new guy, is this convention held in the same place every year or does it travel about the country? Sadly California is on the other side of the country for me so going in 2016 is out of the question.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Wizard;

The convention travels from year to year. It has been in Ohio a couple of times in the past, and I actually got to attend a convention in Washington, DC in 1997.

Yours,
David Meashey

P.S. I realized quickly that I left a lot of information out of the above. There is a national organization that petitions clubs to host the national convention each year. {I know this because the request was made to our local club, the Big Lick Big Train Operators of Roanoke, VA, in the late 1990s. At that time I was the president - which means I did all the work. Our club was about 12 members, including spouses. This included one eccentric couple who thought they were garden railroaders because they owned one Aristo Craft refrigerated boxcar - no track nor anything else. There was no way our little club could have organized a national convention!} Hosting an endeavor like a national convention requires a pretty large club with lots of willing expertise. I would expect that once a club has hosted a national convention, they need a few years to recover from the task. I am noting this to help explain why the national convention seems to jump erratically around the country - a club has to be willing to roll up their sleeves and pitch in to a herculean task. I also think that the conventions may happen more on the western side of the nation because the hobby is more firmly entrenched there. Now, I'm certainly not an expert, but I hope this will help explain why conventions jump around the way they do.


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

*2016 NGRC in SF Bay Area*

It has been 10 years since the *National Garden Railway Convention* has been held in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was in Florida in 2014 and Colorado in 2015 and will head to Tulsa next year and Atlanta after that. It takes a few years planning and about a $30,000 start up budget to put one of these on. Clubs bid on hosting the convention during the banquet at one of the Nationals. There is not a national committee to oversee the event. It is part of the appeal that the NGRC is held in a different host city each year. The event hops around the country so that different layouts can be featured. Remember, it is not just another train show like ECLSTS is. It is put on by Garden Railroad enthusiasts for Garden Railroad enthusiasts.

One major part of the NGRC is the backyard layout tours. The extent of the tours offered does not occur at regular train shows. This year it looks like we will have 90 layouts open if you count the pre- and post-convention tours. Another important NGRC feature are the clinics. We will have over 30 speakers giving clinics and presentations covering a wide range of subjects. And yes, there will be a great Large Scale only Train Show featuring vendors and manufacture's reps.

Russ Miller
NGRC 2016 Chairman


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Russ
Convention in Tulsa in 2017 and then Atlanta 2018
Dennis


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

Check out the news on the Facebook page! Heartland Locomotive Works donated some MACKS in Convention Colors to use as prizes...

Russ Miller
#ngrc2016
@ngrc2016


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Sorry Russ I do not do facebook or twitter. Pete


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

pete said:


> Sorry Russ I do not do facebook or twitter. Pete


Pete... I don't either! That's why my 25 year old daughter is running the Facebook page. Is this better...

















You see, Phil Jensen and Becky Coates of Hartland Locomotive Works were going to attend the 2016 NGRC but then some unexpected conflicts came up and now they can't make it. They very generously donated some HLW Macks in our Convention Colors to give out as prizes during the convention. We are very grateful for their donation. We added the NGRC2016 logo to the sides of the locos and debuted them at the Great Train Expo this past weekend at Cal Expo in Sacramento.

Russ Miller
NGRC 2016 Chairman


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Cool looking engine and American made.Pete


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

*Convention Store is being filled!*

We are starting to add 2016 NGRC logo items that will be able to be purchased soon. One of the first items to be added are nice Denim Shirts with the embroidered logo over the pocket. We hope to sell these at $42 each up to XXL. They tell me the cost of the shirt goes up $3 for each X after that all of the way up to 6XL!







​Here is a close up of the nice embroidering done by Dave and his crew at Daylight Sales.







Russ Miller
#ngrc2016
@ngrc2016


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Russ, how about short sleeve shirt, also?


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

Jim Agnew said:


> Russ, how about short sleeve shirt, also?


Jim, I thought of that but they would be the same price as the long sleeve so I figured you could just roll up the sleeves if you need to The beautiful logo has a high thread count so it bumped the price of the items up a few dollars but we think it is worth it.

Anyway... We have a nice "golden poppy" color T-Shirt...









Russ Miller
NGRC 2016 Chairman
#ngrc2016


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

*NGRC2016 Collector Pins have been Ordered*

We just received a photo of the Pre- Production Sample of the NGRC 2016 Collector Pin... Take a look, we think it came out really nice.









We have only ordered 1000 pieces so we will include one with each registration packet and we will be selling any that are left after that...

Russ Miller
NGRC 2016 Chairman
www.ngrc2016.org


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## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

Russ, I'm not on Facebook so couldn't register my desire there -- I hope you do the mugs! I have a kitchen cupboard with a mug from every convention or other train adventure we've been on that offers one. They make great mementos and give me a smile as I remember while sipping my morning coffee. It would be a shame not to include the next NGRC in my cupboard.

(P.S. Today's mug was from the Santa Maria Valley R.R. -- I don't remember what convention that train ride was connected to! Anybody have an idea?)


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

Gary Woolard said:


> Russ, I'm not on Facebook so couldn't register my desire there -- I hope you do the mugs! I have a kitchen cupboard with a mug from every convention or other train adventure we've been on that offers one. They make great mementos and give me a smile as I remember while sipping my morning coffee. It would be a shame not to include the next NGRC in my cupboard.
> 
> (P.S. Today's mug was from the Santa Maria Valley R.R. -- I don't remember what convention that train ride was connected to! Anybody have an idea?)


Gary,
We will be ordering mugs... I just don't know how many. We are trying to put some sort of "Preorder" Store page on the NGRC website so we can get a count. I'll let everyone know when it is up.









Russ Miller
NGRC 2016 Chairman
#ngrc2016


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

*NGRC Store is Open for Business !*

We've got the preorder page up for the NGRC2016 Company Store. If you are registered for the event, log on and the page will pop up. If you are not registered but would like to see the merchandise, you can see the items on this page: *http://www.ngrc2016.org/Merchandise*

I ordered up some women's hats in Apricot. My wife thinks they look great! Not on the store page yet... Have to get one first to take a photo. 

Russ Miller
NGRC 2016 Chairman
#ngrc2016
*NGRC on Facebook*


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