I attended the 2017 NMRA Convention that was held in Orlando, FL from July 31 to August 6. There weren't many O gauge trains at the convention so I am posting this topic on the HONZ forum. This was the fifth NMRA convention that I have attended and it was one of the best. I took over 2,000 photos and it has been difficult to select just a few to give you a taste of attending a NMRA convention.
I spent most of my convention time touring local layouts. Here are photos from the layout tours and the National Convention. You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Bob Krebs' HO gauge Crooked Creek Railroad garage layout is set in the 1890s. It is filled with craftsman buildings that Bob both scratch built or built from kits. His layout is built in modules. It is designed for operations with mutually supporting industries. This is a photo of Bob. He is 90 years young.
This is the sign at the layout's entrance.
Whereas there are many Master Model Railroaders, Bob is the only person that I have met with a Model Trains Doctorate.
This is a typical town scene.
Cattle are moved from the farm (not shown) to the slaughter house. The slaughter house has a complete interior.
The meat is shipped to the city and the hides go to the leather company.
The leather is shipped to the boot factory.
Bob's wife is an outstanding quilter. Quilting is one of the activities for non-rail fans at the convention.
The awards.
The quilt.
Closeup of the quilt:
Bob and his wife wave goodbye to the tour group.
The Citrus Valley Model Railroad club has two beautiful layouts - one is HO and the other is N. First up is the HO layout. This is the club's entrance. The club is in the Citrus Florida Fair grounds.
About the HO layout:
The scenery is spectacular:
This club uses a unique train elevator for both staging and to move trains between levels instead of a helix.
The club's N scale layout is also outstanding.
John Giammasi's wonderful HO Moosup Valley RR layout is set in New England.
Here is a photo of John.
This is one of my favorite scenes. Note the NH gondola.
The NMRA conventions always have some non-rail tours. I have been interested in and followed the space program since President Kennedy announced the USA was going to the moon. I was thrilled to tour the Kennedy Space Center.
Our tour was special. It was lead by Leslie Eaton who is a Master Model Railroader (MMR). Leslie worked for the Johnson Space Center's public relations department in Houston for 20 years. She arranged for the NMRA group to see some things that are not on the normal tour.
Here is Leslie, MMR, addressing our tour group.
This is the second stage of the Apollo Rocket that launched men to the moon.
There is a simulated moon landing.
My home town newspaper from July 20, 1969 was on display. I remember where I was watching the landing on a black and white TV. Do you remember where you were?
The shuttle Atlantis is on display. The photos speak for themselves.
There is so much more to see at the Kennedy Space Center. I urge forum members to see this if you are in the area.
Now back to trains. The Orlando N Trak Club is in a large building. Sometimes I wish that clubs with this much space would build in O gauge.
Here are photos of this spectacular layout.
About half of the layout is unfinished. This photo gives you a sense of the size of this layout.
Here are photos of just some of the finished scenery. Remember is N scale.
The Orlando Society of Model Railroaders wonderful HO layout is located in the back of an office park.
This is part of the staging yard. I have never seen so many ore cars. The shelf above the ore cars holds almost as many cabooses.
There are some beautiful scenes and buildings.
The operating trolley system was very impressive.
The Central Florida Railroaders Modelers Club has a terrific HO layout.
I love nautical scenes.
The Martin County Model Railroaders club boasts several layouts including the first O gauge 3-rail layout.
This is the 3-rail layout. The blurred engine is an Atlas GP-60.
The club started with a conventional DC HO layout that did not meet modern standards. They ripped out the old HO layout and are rebuilding a layout that will be wired for DCC command control.
The club has two G gauge displays.
This is the N scale layout.
The Treasure Coast Model Railroad club had many fantastic scenes. The layout is HO.
I have seen a few dams on a model railroads but none this massive. It is located at the end of a peninsula and is 3 to 4 feet tall.
This is the river or lake at the top of the dam.
I really liked this thunder storm that had both lighting and sound.
This building had an interior escalator.
This is the interior of the diesel shop. A diesel engine is being hoisted out a F unit.
Al Sohl's, MMR, On30 Western Bay layout is a masterpiece. It is set in the Colorado mountains. The railroad hauls ore and other products from the mountains to an exchange with standard gauge trains in Denver. Here is a photo of Al and his wife. They were wonderful hosts to our tour group.
Al is MMR #305.
The Western Bay RR is set in June 1939. Everything on the layout is from 1939 or before.
The viewer really feels like they are in the rockies.
This is Denver. Some of the scenery is still under construction. Narrow gauge is in the foreground and standard in the background.
This stamp mill has a working interior.
Ken Farnham's HO Florida East Coast Railroad is unique for several reasons. First, it one of the few railroads that models modern Florida railroads. The railroad is set in the 1970s. Second, it is located in two separate buildings with a train tunnel connecting them. Third, it is fully signaled with a prototype signal system controlled by a CTC panel. The CTC panel controls the signals and the mainline switches. The local switches are controlled with local panels. Ken designed and built both the CTC panel and the signal system.
Here is a photo of Ken with the CTC panel that he built. The CTC panel, engine service area and the staging yard are in one building. The main layout is in the other building.
This is a photo of the CTC panel and dispatchers station. Note the flat screen TVs above the panel that allows the dispatcher to see critical areas of the layout in the other building.
This is the engine staging area. Note there aren't any steam engines here.
Here are the two building connected by the train tunnel. The staging yard is in the left building and the main layout is in the right building.
Here is a closeup of the train tunnel. It does have access to take care of derailments. I was told that derailments are very rare.
The main layout room has a beautiful double deck layout connected by a helix. This is the upper level.
This is the helix that connects the levels.
This is the lower level.
The modern scenery is awesome and really captures the feel of Florida. I loved the clouds.
The FEC ships a lot of sand.
Len Zitnik's HO Tampa Bay Model Railroad Club has an unusual story. Len was collecting trains that eventually filled his house. His wife thought that their house should be used for living space so Len bought another house nearby for his trains. He constructed a train room on the back of his new "train" house and started to build his dream model railroad. Other modelers soon joined him to form the Tampa Bay Model Railroad Club. Len and his fellow club members have built an amazing layout in just about ten years.
This is Len.
The layout is unusual because it uses a large city as a view block at the center of a peninsula. Very few model railroads model large cities.
The layout has a large port.
The trains also travel through rugged mountains.
The layout is built for operations and there is a lot of industry.
The Suncoast Model Railroad Club has large HO and N scale layouts.
The club had a finished HO layout for many years that was built before DCC was available. Following much debate, the old HO layout was torn out and is being rebuilt with modern DCC control and so that members can walk around and control their trains. Here are a couple of views of the HO layout.
The N scale layout is fully functional with DCC control. The scenery is first rate. This layout was built for operations and the club holds frequent operation sessions.
The N scale layout has many wonderful scenes.
This is the first deer / car collision that I have seen on a model railroad. The scene is N scale!
The fire is flickering in the building.
This mine scene is very realistic.
Note the sunken car and scuba diver in the pond. I was unable to eliminate the overhead light reflection.
Jerry Fassnacht's HO Schuylkill Branch of the PRR and Reading Railroads is an outstanding layout. This point to point layout is built for operations. Trains leave from the lower staging yard, enter the main yard where they are classified, and then serve the many industries and end in the upper staging yard. The upper and lower staging yards are located above each other. The upper and lower levels of the layout are connected by a helix. All of the switches are hand thrown and are located with in easy reach of the aisles.
Here is Jerry.
This is the lower staging yard.
This is the upper staging yard.
Trains enter the main classification yard from the lower staging. Here a road engine is added and the train is made up.
The layout is extremely well documented for the convenience of the operators. Note the clear signs.
Crews have many industries to switch.
Card holders are large and well labeled.
The scenery is extremely well done. All of the vehicles are appropriate for the 1950s.
A PRR railroad has to have a coal mine. This one is exceptional.
This is the entrance to the helix that connects the upper and lower levels.
Operators can follow their trains through the helix using this flat screen TV display.
The National Train Show caps the NMRA convention. The show is huge. In Orlando it occupied 160,000 sq. feet. Nearly every national train manufacturer, importer, and publisher had a booth to show and demonstrate their products. There were many, many wonderful modular layouts in all scales from Lego to Z. It would be impossible to cover the entire show in this post so I will concentrate on a few of my favorites.
This was the first national train show that I have attended where Lionel had a booth. I was delighted to see Lionel at the show and I hope that they will continue to attend NMRA National Train Shows. Lionel was demonstrating their Lion Chief and Bluetooth trains.
I was very impressed by Lionel's hybrid steam engine. The engine is beautiful.
This fellow was a great hit with the kids.
MTH has always had a wonderful display at national train shows. The primary focus of MTH at this show was on their HO trains but they did have a selection of O gauge trains. MTH was demonstrating its iPad and cell phone applications.
The NH EF-4 is the engine I would like to have.
Four clubs joined forces to have the only 3-rail layout at the show.
This is a Lionel Big Boy operating on the layout. Note the blue button on the fascia. These buttons were located around the display to allow kids to operate accessories. Club members handed kids Lion Chief and Legacy controllers and allowed them to run trains. Most of the kids ran the trains at full speed. I was amazed that there weren't any derailments.
Lionel demonstrated their hybrid steam engine on the layout. I would purchase the unpainted model if I was going to get this engine.
The First Coast Model Railroad Society's On30 modular layout was the only O scale at the show. My brother, Jeff, is a member of this club. He built several modules and many of the buildings. This was a big modular layout. It occupied 2,000 square feet. The module depicts Florida. It has sand, swamps, alligators, etc. I will do another post about this layout with more photos.
One First Coast Module won the Judges Award. It was built by David and Deb Renfro.
Here are a few photos of David and Debs award winning module.
The First Coast layout also had the most popular module based on show exit polls.
Yes, the Sharknado does spin.
Paul Newtson's HO CSX Ridgecrest switching module was judged "Best in Show". Here are some photos of Paul's award winning module.
This is Paul running his module.
The module was featured in Model Railroad Planning 2013.
Here are some photos.
I hope that this post gives you an idea of the activities at a typical NMRA national convention. I have enjoyed the five conventions that I have attended and I always see and learn something new.
NH Joe