Rivet counting - Literally

Last week on my Facebook page I announced my next 3D modeling project, a HO scale model of the Valley's 500 series cars. These are also known as the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Boonton cars. Commuter cars with a feature of railroading past. Open vestibules but with all steel construction.

These cars were build in 1914-1915 era when the railroads were switching from wooden to all steel construction methods. It was an interesting era where design elements and looks from the past still carried over to the new steel bodies, like the open vestibules. This new type of construction also let to new methods of construction.  For these cars this meant that all of the steel panels were riveted to everything. 

These cars would make a rivet counter go mad!!! There are so many just along the sides of the cars for the body alone, forget about the windows and all of there different panels and sashes. 

Now I don't consider myself a "Rivet counter" when speaking about Model Railroading. I have cut some corners on projects because I am happy with the way it looks or to help me getting frustrated that I don't pull my hair out. 

Before I started on these cars I did not think about how many individual rivets I would need to model and yes the way I build the model I add ever one by hand. There is over 1200 on just one side of the car alone. 

This may take a bit longer than I originally thought. Oh well, the light at the end of the tunnel is that I only need to finish one side before I use copy and paste for the other and that the future 600 cars use the same sides as a base.............................Wish me luck!!!

All it needs is a fresh coat - Working on the Basement Workshop

 

It is not uncommon for model railroaders to call their basements a home away from home. Let’s face it most layouts and workshops are found in a basement. Prior to moving into our new house I would have agreed with this statement. I had a small area at my parent’s house that I set up as a working space. In fact half of my stuff is still there. This is because I have not been able to fully set up my new workshop at the new house. I have shown pictures of my current set up in my home office where I can do some 3D modeling, but I would like to be able to set up a proper workshop down in the basement.  I have not done this yet because of one important issue, Water.  

My house is over 100 years old and I had a bit of an issue of water leaking through the stone/brick walls during heavy rain.  Not large amount that could cause damage, but enough to be annoying and ruin anything sitting in its way.   I didn’t have the funds at the moment to install a pump or hire someone to completely refinish the basement, so I looked into ways I could solve the problem myself. I am an engineer after all. I found that the main source of the problem was the stone stairs in the hatchway from the backyard. I needed to try to seal the steps so water would not get in.

I came across this product; Behr Dry Plus waterproofing paint. It claimed that it would hold up to 12 PSI of ground water with only two coats of paint. Sounded too good to be true but I figured I give it a shot.  

I bought a gallon of it at Home Depot and it was just enough for me to apply 2.5 coats on the stairs and retaining walls In the hatchway. I went a little overkill because I wanted to make sure the product would cover every nook and cranny. So what were the results? After 3 months of on and off rain, not a drop from the stairs!!!

I was impressed and sold on the product, but not the color. Dull Grey was not my first choice but it’s what’s on the shelf in the store. I never thought to look online and see that you can buy different colors in 5 gallon buckets. My plan was to buy a 5 gallon bucket, follow the instruction and paint as much of the walls as I could; starting with walls that have been affected by the water in the past.

What were the results this time? 

I got 3 of 4 walls completed with two coats each. Covers very nice and only took 2 weekends of my time to finish. I chose a light blue color for the walls this time for two reasons. I thought it would help brighten up the basement. (it didn’t really) and because it was a good base for a sky on a model railroad if I ever build a module In the basement.

The last step was the floor. During my investigation and trial and error finding the source of the water; I ruled out that it was seeping up through the floor. So I just wanted to find something to clean up the floor and cover some of the water stains in low points.  I’ll be honest I was not looking for something in particular and didn’t want to spend a lot of money on any fancy colors.

I started to look at my local Home Depot and Lowes for their “oops” paint or normally called mis-tinted paint. This is normally painted that has been rejected or returned due to it not matching the color selected and is heavily marked down.  

At Lowes I found 2 gallons of a dark blue-green color for $9 a gallon. I asked the store associated to shake the paint for me to see the true mixed color. While the paint mixed we talked a bit about what it was for.  He suggested something else that might be more helpful. Behind the counter there was a 5 gallon bucket of off white “oops” paint looking for a home.  It was only $30 for 5 gallons, I couldn’t pass this up.

And this is where I am as of this weekend, waiting for the first half of the basement floor to dry with its second coat of paint.  Did I go overboard a bit, maybe, but will I have a clean, dry workshop in the near future? Yes and to me that is defiantly worth the time and money spent.  But for now I need to get back to work. There is still another half of the floor to paint!!!

Hoot, Toot, and Whistle. The story of a unique little Snow Plow.

After finishing my 0901 project I was contacted by one of my Facebook page followers with a suggestion for the next model that would complement 0901.  If you go onto YouTube and look up videos of 0901 in action you will normally see it pulling the Essex Clipper Dinner train or other smaller shuttle trains. However there is one more type of train 0901 is often seen pulling or rather pushing..... the plow extra.

Being in the north east we can sometimes have harsh winters and along with these winters comes snow. Now if its light dusting the snow is "silly soft stuff" and the steam engine can brush it aside. But where we get hit with a classic Nor'Easter and get feet of snow, its time to run the snow plow.
Now this would be considered a normal train in the north east and other areas with heavy snowfall. However like most thing along the Valley, there is something that make the Valleys different from other railroads. In this case its the snow plow itself.

Known officially as the Hoot, Toot & Whistle double blade snow plow, or HT&W plow for short, is a true one of a kind model. Originally designed for narrow gauge by the chief mechanical officer of a unknown logging railroad. It was sold before being completed as is to the Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad who overhauled what was started to create a fully functional snow plow.  At first the plow blades where made completely of wood with only a small strip of metal on the tips of the blade. Seen here in this sketch featured in Model Railroader Magazine.( not to scale)

As you can see from the drawing the has a blade on each end bu there is a true "front" to the plow. In this particular drawing the "front" is to the left; indicated by the direction of what I have been calling its wings. The "wings" extend out to direct snow further away from the track. So if there is a designated front to the plow why design the second blade at the rear? To answer that we need to look at the original right of way for the HT&W.

The HT&W was created in 1892 as a Narrow Gauge line  serving the logging industry around the boarder of MA and VT. It was later converted to Standard Gauge in 1913 after damage due to flooding of the Deerfield River. The line was a point to point with no place to turn equipment around on the north end. This fact was the main reason for the snow plow to be double sided. If the plow was needed it would be pushed by a locomotive to north to the end of the line. The hope being that most if not all of the heavy snow would be shifted away from the track so that the side "wings" would not be needed for the southbound run. At its northern point the locomotive would run around the plow and arrange itself in between the plow and loaded cars. It would them head back south.

Over the years the plow was rebuild and improved. Still made from a wooden base, but the blades were now completely covered in metal sheets. Seen here in the 1960s.

The HT&W struggled on for a few more years past this point but eventually went belly up in 1971. Its at this point the plow moved to its current home in the lower CT Valley. Im not sure how exactly It got there; but I do know that in the 90s it had another repair/rebuild lead by one of the members of the Friend of the Valley Railroad. That about wraps things up for the actual plow. Every winter the plow is preped and positioned in the yard ready to be  collected by 0901 ready to clear the tracks once again.

Now that you all have a brief summery of the plows life we can talk about creating  a HO scale version of it.

Old Friends get a well deserved makeover - Creating HO Scale DOWT Dummies

After the completion and release of my 0901 shell. I was lucky to be able to sell a few of them as well. I used to sell a few odds and ends on Ebay, so I had some shipping supplies pack away. As I was digging through boxes I came across these little guys.

These guys are the remains of a Bachmann HO scale Thomas and Percy. They are missing parts and more importantly their faces. Scary as these might be they are actually some old friends. Cast your mind back a few months to when I restarted this blog I made a series of posts about how I had to stop regularly going to visit my old model railroad club at Masonicare.

These engines where the first Thomas and Percy we got for the club layout.  They ran for a number of years for who knows how many miles. They took a few bumps,  falls and  lots of confusion and delay. Eventually there motors failed and they were taken off the layout. They were the most popular engines on the layout by far and the train guys deemed it necessary to replace the engines.

As they were destined for the scrap yards I elected to take them home instead.  I removed the motors and greased the wheels in order to help make then free rolling. Back then I didn't know what exactly I would do with them. But I knew that they would be become very useful again one day.

And today is that day!!

First a bit of backstory for you all. For many years Thomas has come to visit us here in CT; helping to pull heavy trains on the Valley.  I can remember my Nana and Papa bringing me there for a Day out with Thomas. Originally there it was the live steam Thomas that travels around the US for these events. However in recent years the "dummy" non-powered versions of Thomas has been visiting the Valley. There is a bit of debate about which is better, but personally I prefer the new "dummies" because it is more accurate to the TV series models. In addition, since 2015, Thomas has brought his friend Percy to visit us here as well.

As you may already know from my previous post I have been working on creating models of unique engines and rolling stock; mainly the ones found on the Valley. But what does this have to do with those old models you may ask?  Well I decided I would try to make HO scale replicas of the Day out with Thomas (DOWT) "Dummies" that come to the Valley each year.

One would say this is not needed as Bachmann make fully working models of the engines, but they are not correct to the Dummies, nor their TV show versions ether.  First lets look at Thomas; the factory bachmann model has the overall shape correct but there are things like the cab windows, the face and overall height that are incorrect for the dummies.  If you look at this photo:

 You can see the Thomas Dummy coupled to 3025. Notice that Thomas is significantly shorter, this is due to the dummys wheels. The overall body shape is correct but the wheels are a bit small making the dummy shorter than a one of the Valley's coach cars. Compare that to this photo of the Bachmann Thomas next to a Athern heavyweight car.

Both Thomas and Percy are the same height or taller than the coach car.  This is an issue I will have creating these models. Because I want to use as much as the factory parts possible, mainly the wheel sets. 

So I decided that I will try to fix these two issues at once using 3D printed parts. I started by creating a slightly shorter shell for Thomas, correcting the window issues found in the factory model.
I also starting to think ahead for "super details opportunities". Like creating a hole in the bottom of the smoke box to install a smoke machine as well as room for possible future DCC sound, while still leaving room to have the cab be open and not blocked off by black plastic like the factory model has.

Its just a start, but I thought it would be a fun project to revive some old models from the past and give them a new working life.

Re-visiting my first scratch-building project - HO Scale WDW

I may have mentioned this before but have always loved Disney. The movies, the parks, but especially the trains. Walt Disney himself had a fascination with train even building a live steam railroad in his backyard. So mixing my love for trains and Disney was very easy to do.  Case and point:

12 year old me in the Cab of WDWRR #1 " Walter E. Disney"

So during my time at college I started to build HO scale replicas of the 4 engines that you can find at Walt Disney World in Florida.  I took a bit of modelers licence because the real versions are 3 ft narrow guage but converting them down to HO scale was simpler and was what I modeled. To put it short the end result was 4 kitbashed and scratch- built engines made from tyco/mantua 4-6-0 models. They were very crude but at the time I was happy about it.   However looking back at them now, they are a bit hard to look at.  The paint is bad and there are obvious areas where I rushed to meet a deadline that never existed in the first place.  But why bring this up?

After modeling so much of the Valley's equipment I wanted to do something different to give me a bit of mental block from the same projects.  Digging in a box at home I found these old WDWRR engines and thought how can I fix these?

So I started with something simple that can be used on all 4 engines with little modifications, the cab. This was created based on online photos, scale measurements, and some reference photos I took of the engines when i was last at the parks and after about a week of working on it in between work and other projects here is the result.

So far so good I think. The goal would be to created full 3D models, in HO scale, that I can print out at home using my Photon S resin printer for each of the engines. I am currently thinking of re-using the tyco motors and wheel sets but that may change.

"The Gon" is shaping up - Progress on L&NE 728

Its been a bit since my last update.  There was some delay in modeling time and a brief break from the computer, spending all week on a cpu for work can be a bit draining and I took a few weeks to work on a quick side project for Chris's Valley Line layout.

But I am back working on the Gon. Which is actually complete for now!!!!

Well what I am calling Version 1 is complete anyways.

Version 1 (V1) is going to be modeled as if the car was still in service on the L&NE as a low side gondola and/or part of the L&NE's wreak train. In fact I was able to find out recently, with a bit of digging and a some help from another online group, that the Gon down at the Valley was used as a crane boom car with in the L&NE wreak train. Here is a picture of it at work.

L&NE/VRR 728 Gon on the right. Photo from the book "Lehigh and New England" by Ed Crist.

 But why make this Version one? If the Valley has the same type of car shouldn't this be called complete?

Well, yes the car is still at the Valley and yes, its still on display painted for the L&NE. BUT before it was "stuffed and mounted" into the display freight train. It was the VRR first open car and there were a bit of modifications done to aid allowing guests to ride in the car.

There was a chunk of the north end cut out of the car to allow a folding trap door to be placed over the couplers allowing staff and passengers to walk onto the Gon. This trap door is still present today seen here:

Photo by Tim Darrnel

The car had bench seating similar to the VRR "Riverview" does today and a metal handrail extended around the top of the car to provide a bit more safety. Here photo of the is a Gon during a Railfan trip back in 1986:

Here is L&NE 728 mixed in with some of the RMNE Stock on the Valley.
Photo by Carl Weber

So as you can see there are some more items that need to be added in order to make this match the Gon during its revenue service era. But not to worry I have already started to make some progress on that. Here is a snip of what it looks like right now:

And this is where I will leave it today but until next time see ya real soon!!

Covid Cabin Fever and finding created ways to use this time to help a fellow modeler

One of the best thing about this hobby is meeting others within it. I have mentioned before in posts here about my real start with model trains and the "old guys" from the Masonic Train room that helped me learn most of what I know.  Its people like this that are willing to share their Technics and skills that help pass this hobby on to others and help grow the greatest hobby in the world. Being able to create these models is a way that I can pass along the skills I have learned and to share there results with others in the community.

A few years ago I came across another blog and web site called "The Valley Local".  This is a very dedicated detailed blog covering the layout progress of Chris Adams. I have mentioned him before and is one of my inspirations for creating this blog. I was very honored to be able to visit Chris' layout, on my birthday of all days, and was even able to be apart of his operating session. It is a beautiful model of the CT Valley Railroad in the 50's and has become one of my favorite layout because of it being so close to home. But why am I bringing all this up again?

During the craziness going on in the world due to Covid-19 I am currently working from home. I am very grateful for being able to do this and I am using this opportunity to help others while I am home during lunch and what would be my normal communing time.  While I am working in my office I have by Dremel 3D20 making ear guards that I am donating to local medical and essential employees. More information here on my Facebook post.

I have also been doing a lot more 3D modeling as a result of being inside more as well. This is where Chris's layout comes in. I reached out to him to see if there was anything i might be able to create and 3D print for his layout. As I put it, something to fight off the cabin fever of this pandemic and Chris was quick to respond!!

 It turns out there is a specific grade crossing sign that he was looking for that were all along the Valley during his era. Through his own research and bit of my own, no manufacture make this particular grade crossing sign.

Zoomed in picture of the sign in question. "Max Miller Collection" 

This was right up my ally and a challenge that I love to tackle. Something "rare" or so specific that no one has heard of or made before.

After discussing it with Chris a bit further I started by scaling the photo to get some basic dimensions and guesses on size. I used the photo the two photos below to scale something I knew the dimension of. In this case the telephone pole and the width of the rails.

Great photo of Then and Now "John Wallace Collection"

Grade crossing in Middletown, CT. "Max Miller Collection"

This dimensions where used to create a drawing on paper first.  This is purely for my own sanity and helps me jot down any other notes or important information regarding to the project.

My hand written madness

This drawing also shows by first attempt at how I thought the sign was connected to the post. Only so much you can guess at when you are zooming into a photo. But another, clearer photo made me rethink how it was mounted to the wooden post.

Using these measurements I created my first pass at the sign 1:1 scale in the CPU. I do this for two reasons: 1.) Using 1:1 dimensions is easier as I don't need to convert anything & 2.) the Final model can, theoretically, be scaled down to fit any scale. Here is the current, final product!!

Front view

Back View

Now in no way is this complete and is basically a first draft of the model.  What I really need is a clear photo of the sign or even better the actual dimensions of the sign. But where am I going to find something like that?!?!?!   Thankfully Chris was way ahead of me and found someone that might just have what we are looking for. 

More to come, but until then, see ya real soon!!

Recreating the old favorite, The "Gon"

While things are still chugging on the 0901 project, which is currently in printing trials. Find out more about it on my Facebook Discussion Page. I needed to find a way to fill the time while I waited 10 hours for one test print. I thought about writing more articles for the VRR history project that I have been working on, but I have been writing all day for work.

I wanted to do something more fun something more to do with modeling trains. Well a breakthrough in this history project provided a bit of inspiration to bring some love back to a old VRR favorite.

If you have visited the VRR in the past few years you will have to pass by our freight train display on track 8. The FVRR tank engine, #2, is currently at the front but the car I'm referring too is just behind it. This wooden side gondola is a EX-Lehigh and New England Railroad veterain that was once apart of the VRR's daily coach train. Believe it or not it was the VRR's first open car!!

I never got the chance to ride in it while it was on the train but I have heard many happy stories of people that did. Part of me always wanted to get a model of this car but because of it being, like most things here, an oddball there wasn't many on the market. 

I was on the fence about building one from scratch but I had no measurement and access to the car as I am staying home because of the Virus.

I was lucky to find a Facebook group about the L&NERR and they were able to help me find the copies of the cars diagrams.  I will not post them here for copyright reasons but believe me the model is being drawn now to the drawings standards.

More progress to come but here us a preview!!

New place to talk Trains and other project details!!!

Hello everyone!!

I have some exciting news!!  I have created a new Facebook group to allow followers to have discussions on the projects that I am working on!! I hope to see you all there were we can discuss and share Ideas for models and for other future projects.

The first post over there is about the 0901's first test print.

Simply click the new FACEBOOK tab on the blogs home page!!

P.S. I am working from home now and the cats have getting in the way of both my 9-5 and my modeling projects at night lol.

Progress on HO Scale 0901

 Trying to avoid the crazyness going on with the world this past weekend I started to work on my model of 0901 again.  Made some progress. Split the model into two printable parts, created the headlight and whistles of different types, and started working on the handrails.

Short and sweet but good progress.  Photos will be updated here later.  Stay safe everyone and wash your hands

Taking the Workshop in the Road -- Cheshire High School Spring Show 2020

There is nothing like Train Show Season.  While there are no set dates or times that limit exactly when train shows take place in my are we normally see them start around the fall (September/October) and end in the spring. They can very in size from large multi room and even buildings (ie: the Big E Train Show) to a single room in a hotel banquet area.  Regardless of the size of the show I normally am there ether as a visitor or assisting some friends sell items and carry boxes. Very rarely would you find me selling anything of my own. However this year that is going to change!!!

This coming weekend is the annual Spring Model Train Show located at Cheshire High School in Cheshire CT. This is one of the larger small town shows in our area filling the schools gym, both their cafeterias and parts of the hallways. This is always a packed show with Vendors, Layout groups, Local Hobby Stores, and tourist Railroads.  The Cheshire show has become a special show for me for a few reasons. Its only about 10 min drive away from home, it is a great place to catch up with some friends in the hobby and it is where I got to meet a amazing family that sets up a large kids area for free.  They set up a large toy train set for kids to play with and drive trains around, with supervision of their parents of course. But its one of the few places where kids can get their hands on the trains and hopefully is the thing that gets them into the hobby and help it grow.

Here is Justin's set up from the Winter Show

 I have become their "Mr. Fix-it" and help maintain the trains and track. ( They can sometimes take a beating over one day of work!!) But it started a wonderful friendship with that family and I am very grateful that I happen to bump into them at the show.

But I'm getting a little off topic. The main reason why I am excited for this Spring's show is that for the first time ever!!!  Artist794's Workshop is going on the road!!!

 Over the last few weeks I have been 3D printing examples of some of the models I have created in a range of scales (N,HO,S,O,G) in order to promote what I have been doing and hopefully sell a few items to fund some more future projects.  Here are examples of what I am planning on bringing to the show:

Both of my printers hard at work for the past few days

G scale R,A,W posts compared to S scale R,A,W posts and Mile markers

HO and N scale mile markers and W,A,R posts drying in my UV chamber.
The solar powered turntable helps make sure they get a even exposure to the LEDs

If you have ever wanted to see a 3D printer in action your in luck as I am planing on bringing one of my printers as well to print a few more parts throughout the day!  If you are planning on attending the show and want to stop by and say hi! I'll be in the cafeteria on the right near the kids area along with a few of my Model Railroad friends. (they have many toy train and real railroad items for sale as well check them out!!) Hope to see you there and make sure you stop by Justin's Kid City area as well.

Until Sunday, See you real soon!!!

VRR 0901- Building an HO scale Spaceship!!

So I have a confession to make......I cant find my HO scale 3025 right now.........It is lost in a box that I haven't unpacked yet or its back at my parents home......


BUT NEVER FEAR!!!!!  I have another project to work on while I try to locate that box. I have mentioned before that I am partial to steam engines when it comes to models and real life trains. However I do have a soft spot for a few diesels, especially those that I have worked with and on. 

Down at the Valley they have a small collection of General Electric 80 Ton Locomotives, including the star of this project and as far as we know prototype to the class, Engine 0901.

While it has the same overall size and power it definitely dose not share the same shape as her younger sisters. 

0901 on the right

She has a shorter and squared off hood design and makes different noises as she rumbles down the track. One engineer compared it to a spaceship as it chugged up and down the line. But spaceship or not she is a Valley Engine and make it a contender for HO scale modeling in my book. There is only one little,  tiny, itty-bitty problem about that........no company ( to my knowledge) has made an HO scale 80 Tonner......

What to do, what to do.....well I did what most would due in this day and age, I googled it!! and actually found a article someone wrote about modeling a U.S. ARMY 80 ton GE locomotive. If I find the link to the article ( may have been taken down) I will post it at the end of this post. But the main point is that they used a Bachmann 70 tonner body and motor as a base. I measured 0901's length in real life and scaled it down to HO scale and they are right only off by about 2 inches or so. Close enough in my books!!

So I have wheels and a motor but I am going to need to create the body somehow.. I can try building it out of plastic card or something similar but I want there to be some details. If only there was some why i could draw it in my cpu and print it out in 3D?!?!??

Oh wait!!! I think I have just such an printer I got for Christmas. So using some nice photos I found on Lee's Facbook Page. (If you like the VRR you should really check this out!!) and measurements off the actual 0901 I started.

The start of my Madness: 2 CPUs, calculator, engineering paper,
pencils, and the HO scale 70 Tonner.

Boo, our new little kitty, decided he was going to help me as well....
By getting in my way.

And after a few hours of work here is what I have so far: 

Not much but its a start.  Now enough talk and back to modeling. But until then; See ya real Soon!!!

2020 Amherst Railroad Hobby Show Report

While it might not have been my first visit to what i lovingly call the Big "E" train show, But this is the first time I am documenting some of the things that I saw and of course the few Items I returned with.

First things first and like I mentioned in me post the night before the show. My goal this year wasn't to find a particular Engine or Car but rather information and leads. This year in celebration of the Valley Railroads 50th anniversary in a few years I started t history project about the Valley; In particular the Valley's Engines and Rolling stock.  There  are over 20 passenger  cars and a handful of freight equipment all along the valley line. All in various levels of restoration or, for lack of a better term, rust.  I started finding information about one the passenger cars we use as a bunk car for one of the members and it kind of snowballed into every-car and engine we have small or large. Anyways the final product isn't 100% yet and its mainly in the planning/research stages and i'm sure I will post more about this as the hunt continues.

When I was looking through the list of vendors at the Big "E" show this year I noticed there were a decent amount of historical societies there. I planned on visiting each just to introduce myself and my project and hoping to get a contact number or email I can follow up with details. I actually had a great success in this and have already started to reach to a few organizations so lets keep those fingers crossed we can find some information.

As for the rest of the show it was its normal fun and excitement.  This year I noticed that it was so packed that it was hard to push past some of the crowds. This show seams to get bigger and bigger each year. So let get to the point here is a slideshow of photos from the event!!

First  up is the Bachmann Trains booth:

Bachmann's Model of Disney Imagineer/Animators, Personal Grizzly Flats Railroad.
I would love this model but its not in the budget right now.

Multi- Level Layouts showing most of the scale Bachmann produce.

This is their Display of Bachmann's Thomas and Friends Line.
This holds a special part in my heart for these model but I personally
am not a fan of this layout. To me it looks a bit too Cheep and nasty for my liking.
It doesn't match/nor does it remind me of any scene from the TV show or Books.

Hon3 Model of Rusty the little Diesel engine.
My younger brother really wanted me to get this model.

Showing the different face molds for the Diesel Model.
I have the one on the right and would like the one on the right.
(hopefully one with both buffers)

Here is the full wall of T&F Product.
Believe it or not I don't have all of these yet. :-) 

Here are some more Highlights from the day:

MTH's booth that was too crowded to get near.

Examples of T-Track modular club

More of the T-Track. This might be fun to build one day.

I was very surprised to see Hattons at the Show.

This was their first over seas train show and with
a very impressive range of models.

And layout.  I cant deny have a soft spot for British Trains.

Northlandz ( under new management) had a large display and
might need to be visited one of these days.

This was a O gauge layout for sale.
I didn't ask for a price this was way to big for my house.

Live Steamers clubs shows off some of their very impressive rolling stock

And Engines... This has been a show favorite. Every year there is
another section built and on display.

Here are some of their engines!!

And Finally a small layout from the CogRailway. with a working rack track!!

And Finally here is my Show haul:

A Book on Maine's OOB Trolleys ( a Family Vacation Spot), a Ertl T&F Trevor the traction engine for my brother, 2 New HO Scale T&F Rolling stock to add to the collection, a Micro Mark HO scale truck turner ( more on that in the future!!)  and Finally Bachman's HOn3 Rusty and Blue passenger coach.  Whats not shown is a special box used for holding HO scale engines and cars. I got it to hold the VRR Trains I am building.  

Overall a great day and I cant wait until next year. But until then See ya real Soon!!