Giant scale show

I loved it. I drove a round trip of 400 miles to attend, having missed it last year. It was as cold and windy as ever and no one seemed to mind at all. The layout of the show is confusing if you are trying to find someone specific. In the better living center booth 51 could be completely across the hall from booth 50 due to a very linear approach to numbering. That could wear out an old guy out when there's very little in the way of seating just to sit.. I could not find the MRH booth and I was very close to it as it turned out in the Mallory building which is weirdly split and  again having strange signage. The folks at the NMRA booth were unable to help since the blowup of the booth assignments turned out to be blurry. So, after multiple attempts, I gave up. Later on, where I could read the handout under a light, , there the booth was but it was easier on paper than in person.

I love the 1/87th vehicle modelers display. 

Still the show was spectacular. I found all the tools and more that I wanted. I had a great time talking to the folks at Northeast Scale Lumber, got bolsters and clerestory roofing and trundled home with the goods. Thank you all the folks at Amherst who put together a great venue once again.

Sounds almost like

Amherst is huge

The Amherst show is huge ... it's several acres in size and if you walk past every booth at a casual pace it can take over an hour to walk past everything.

And on top of that, it was wall-to-wall people many times through both days. If you ever wanted proof that there's still many people interested in model trains, this show is it ...

Video from Free-mo

I have attended the show for the past 5 years, and this year I actually participated, bringing my Free-mo module up to join in to the New England Free-mo layout. I compiled a video of the Free-mo layout, which includes iCar footage:

http://bit.ly/MqLTBc

It was right next to the O scale narrow gauge layout just featured in TrainMasters TV, in the Mallory building.

As usual the show is a lot of fun, and participating like this made it even better. Less time to walk the floor, but I probbaly saw more people than usual as they came by the layout.

Mike McNamara

Delran, NJ

No audio?

Hard to watch a train video w/o sound ...

First time for me..

I went with a fellow virtual modeler and my brother. My buddy and I went to specifically talk to some folks at the Boston and Maine Historical Society and my brother tagged along, well he was the designated driver for the day because he has a car that's better on gas than mine.

We wandered around seeing the tons, and tons of stuff. I haven't seen that much, nor have I been to a trainshow like this since the big Boston NMRA 50 Anniversary show back in the 1980s. My buddy got some books, my brother got some tools, and I ended up with severe Dystonia attacks in my feet. There were so few places to sit, and where they were it was too cold since they were next to the door.

We did meet with Carl Byron, author of the book A Pinprick of Light. My buddy and I are working on a collaborative project for the local heritage museum out there in North Adams, and Carl and the BMRRHS has some great information on the Hoosac Tunnel, North Adams Yard and the vicinity.

We did make it to the Mallory building and I walked a lot there too as I tried to keep up with the others. I'm sorry I missed the booth and I hope to make it again next year weather permitting of course.

John

Amherst

I usually find the "Show" reports and pictures of crowds of people milling about, are boring and non informative. The pictures of v arious scenes in this report earn a "good" raating.

Amherst

I booked a nearby motel room in advance so that I could attend both days. Even though I brought both video and still cameras,(yes my still camera had video capabilities) I left them in the car. I wanted to experience the exhibits instead of photographing them.Besids my hands were full of bags of stuff I had bought during the day without encumbering myself with camera equipment. I saw many modular exhibits, attended many seminars, and viewed many product demonstrations, Some of which I bought. The LEGO trains exhibit was not as large as last years exhibit; but, I got to speak to some of the members and found out That there was no interest in the Rhode Island area. Pity! Maybe I should try to start a R.I. Lego Trains Group. Would that come under the NMRA?

All in all A great weekend experience.

Re: no sound

Although the loco pushing the camera had sound, the crowd noise and nearby people talking at different spots really distracted the viewing experience in my opinion. Oh well, guess you can't please everybody!

Mike McNamara

Delran, NJ

Nicely done cab ride ...

... - especially liked the captioning and track diagrams. Only distraction was the wobbling side-to-side (did not notice in first section, but was obvious from second section to end). I can fully understand the desire to mute the audio - I also find the ambient sound to be objectionable. Maybe a redux with the sound from the loco ported over to the "movie maker" for post-processing dubbing?

Thanks for sharing.