The Chester & Beckett RR

I'm going to start my runthrough the layouts here with the last one, which I shot video of.
The Chester & Beckett is an Fn3 (I think....) logging layout.

There will be photos forthcoming. Show is ending, it's teardown time and time to get me to an airplane.

Thanks for the Chester & Beckett RR ...

that granite quarry scene is a real classic. It was shown here on MTH a few years back, but this seems to have a bit new additions. I like the underground mining scene built in at the end where "Rip van Winkle" sat in the shed.

Layouts - Winterfair 2016 N-Trak

There were several multi-group N-Trak modular layouts at the RHS this year, and I have no idea how they were created - I saw indications that at least two layouts had modules from the Brooklyn N-Trak club, for example....

So here are some photos from the first one I happened to start snapping:

I had no idea that Newark was that close to Disneyland...

More N Trak

There was, as I think I've alluded to, a lot of N Trak. Not surprising, it being the oldest (I think) modular standard and all.

This module had a distinctly Bavarian feel, down to the white on blue flag of Freistatt Bayern used as it's skirt. I liked it, as you'll see.

And off we go around the corner...

I can't help but wonder if the below is a subtle dig at N Trak or someone who specified the size of the module, but not it's orientation....

I thought this was a nice way to scenic a module that is too often a boring flat expanse... although, looking at it, I think we may have left the land of N Trak... Not exactly sure how though. 

More N Trak

Okay, based on the next batch of photos I edited, I'm still in N-Trak world.

BTW, Reagan National has free wifi. That's nice.

You don't see many snowscapes in model railroading. This setup had several modules worth, including a river with drifting ice...

From there we go to what I believe is a marble quarry -

And we go back to a little Bavaria - or at least an alpine village -

Okay, this next series of modules caught me by surprise. As campgrounds go this one looked reasonably nice, although maybe a bit noisy from all the railroad tracks .

Then I a glanced to the next module, and started backing up. Way up. I was very glad I had my 10mm-18mm wide-angle lens on my camera  -

Click on the above photo for a larger (much larger) version. Note: I may need to edit the link to make it work.

Here we find the history of this rather remarkable area -

The circus has come to town -

The last corner of the layout, at least that I photographed.

Amherst Belt Railway

Now we move onto an HO scale modular pike:

More of the Amherst Belt Railway

A very sizeable setup indeed -

Snow! (and that leads to wrecks...)

As far as I can tell, there is not actually a white blob in the lake as seen below. It was just the right angle to catch my flash...

And that's all from the Amherst Belt.... and another airline flight beckons....

Thanks for the enthusiastic review!

Thank you for your enthusiastic review of our layout!  It was great meeting you at the show, and always happy to show that Ntrak is a LOT more than simple table-top modelling!

Geof Smith

President, Northeast Ntrak

Extended Orchard Module

Hi Jeff,

No statement as far as the extended length module.  It is within the standard.  6" are allowed if they are desired by the module builder and will not interfere with the layout otherwise.  Originally it was built with Faller vehicles that crossed the track and went down the road on the front to a turn around where the farm house is now.

I have gotten enamored with the extension for another reason.  Kids will always put their fingers on the edge of the module if you do not have a lexan blocking window.  This gives a harmless place for the fingers to go and allows me to not have the objectionable (to me) lexan window.

Regards,

Ken Harstine

Holyoke, MA

Jeff, more great work on the

Jeff, more great work on the show coverage. The folks at MRH made a wise call adding you to the mix you provide great photos and excellent coverage of the event. Thanks for all your hard work and the time you spend behind the scenes to upload all this and get it ready for us to view. I would just offer this as a suggestion. I am not worried about some other venue "scooping" the coverage. If this coverage was able to be expanded or covered more in depth with some things it would be worth waiting for even for a couple of weeks.

I know it has to be an exhausting session to go to the show run around everywhere and then try and process and post everything on the web. I suspect it might be less taxing if during the show the only thing that needed to be done was get the info and it could wait till after the show to process and share. My point is the work you guys do is worth waiting for some things not so much.

Since this is not rated with stars like the articles I'll give you and !

Great Photos!

Great photos Jeff!  Keep them coming!

A cabbage with sound...

....HMMM what sounds does a cabbage make, A horn........

......Seems a bit of overkill to me.

Loved the photos Jeff

And for what it's worth I didn't have any trouble with the Bridges blow up. Interesting back ground story on it too.

Jack

Hey, did anybody notice the derailed.......

.............tank car in the yard near the entrance to the Big E??

Peter

Yes, It was about a 120 car

Yes, It was about a 120 car train backing into the yard when it derailed. I heard three tankers of LPG derailed onto their sides but the news link below says 5 cars derailed and you can see, not on their side. No one was injured and nothing leaked out of the tank cars.

More info here  http://wwlp.com/2016/01/30/train-derails-in-west-springfield/

When I went home after final show items put away and all things shipped out for venders on Monday 1PM est. there was still a crew working on the rails at the derailment site.

There is a prototype for

There is a prototype for backing long trains into a yard! WooHoo. They should add more weight to their cars and use kadees. thanks for sharing!

Well, this is going to take longer than I thought...

I tried to get more stuff done, but found myself ending up with my face in the keyboard both on the plane and in the airport on the way home.... and at home, life took over for awhile. Hey, I hadn't seen my wife for more than a couple hours in over week.

So, welcome to "The Hub" -

More to come...

The rest of The Hub

Mixed club HO module layout

There were some large modular layouts constructed of multiple clubs combining their efforts. It never ceases to amaze me that people living hundreds of miles apart can bring their modules together and have them work the first time....

I apologize if there were other clubs involved, these were just the signs I noticed. I like large, visible signs, btw...

Now.... I need to rant a bit. I can understand why there needs to be some crowd control barriers in place, and I can understand why you might want to put up some plexiglas to guard against fingers. The barriers actually don't bother me - but high plexiglas walls really make photography difficult, as you will see in the next series of photos. Perhaps 3" plexiglas would be sufficient?

This next module though... can someone explain to me why the modeler then put a row of tall trees along the front edge of the module, rendering it unviewable except from above?

This module was easy to photograph - I took two photos because I wanted to see if it looked significantly different without the train passing through (the train isn't running that fast, my camera was set to slow to get as much light as I could).

Definitely an under-construction module. Good use of placeholder structures.

I can shoot through the plexiglas, but I don't like the reflections.

I don't know if it's an artifact of the angle or what, but this plexiglas looks very thick to me. I'd been invited to move inside the railings at this point, but I'm not sure I should have, as it resulted in some odd angle shots.

The golf club - complete with a busy putting green:

Unfortunately I didn't get back to photograph this one after it was turned on - I'm sure the lights were spectacular:

So, only 4 steam locos at the show?

That's all I counted as I looked over the photos--and half of those were Thomas and friends.  Oh well...

We're getting there...

The show did seem to be rather diesel biased, but I did catch some steam later. I'm only about halfway through my photos...

Berkshire & Mohawk RR

I think one of the great things about this show is the number of modular layouts it has, in nearly all scales (I'm trying to remember if I saw a Z scale layout, if so, I don't believe I got photos). Some of them came from quite a distance away as well.

Connecticut Trollley Museum

The Connecticut Trolley Museum is celebrating it's 75th year, and brought a layout that was sure to attract and hold the kids attention - perhaps while the members talked with their parents.

The Connecticut Society of Ferroequinologists...

...and Model Railway Engineers reminds us that while it may be tinplate O scale, it's part of the model railroading hobby as well -

I think it's a rule - a model railroad show needs to have at least one example of the Bates Motel on a layout somewhere....