The show... and a couple of announcements

My morning at the show actually started with a visit to Leslie Eaton in the "Ask the MMR" booth. She has a 3D printer set up and spent the latter part of yesterday printing out an N scale track-hoe. She'll be reprinting the body part, since we all got thrown out of the convention center before the printer was done with the cab.

Bachmannn has introduced an HO scale End of Train device (colloquially known as a "FRED" (Flashing Rear End Device) -

A little video of them blinking. Sorry about the dark, it's not very bright in the hall and I was afraid I'd wash them out if I turned up the light on the camera -

 

 

 

Kato Hiawatha, Superliner Vista Lounge and CN containers

Okay, my flow got interrupted, but for a good thing, so I'm doing a quick re-think on what I'm doing here.

Let's continue on with Kato's Hiawatha, Superliner Vista Lounge, and CN containers -

Not the greatest video - sorry. I'm going to try for some close-up photos later.

 

 

Atlas Bx-177 and N & HO scale corrugated containers

Fresh off the airplane, it's the Atlas Santa Fe Bx-177 boxcar. This was originally a BLMA project that passed to Atlas when they purchased BLMA -

N scale corrugated container -

HO scale corrugated container -

East Coast Circuits - fully lighted emergency vehicles

East Coast Circuits is producing fully illumnated emergency and utility vehicles using Walthers Scenemaster Fire Trucks in HO scale. They are also modifying O scale police vehicles with full emergency lighting.

They are nearly sold out at the National Train Show, but here is a photo of the Walthers Hazmat vehicle with the lights going -

I have some video of the vehicles as well, but due to my computer apparently having issues switching between using Lightroom teathered capture and reading directly from my SD-Card reader, it's going to have to wait for me to reboot the computer to upload them to YouTube. They really are spectactular - this vehicle sells for $90, a pumper truck is selling for $85. See http://www.eastcoastcircuits.com/ for availablity.

The Tour

Let's head out on a tour of the National Train Show -

We start at the InterMountain Booth -

Around the corner is Kirkland Art -

Followed by Motrak Models -

Their endcap neighbor is Digitrax -

SMARTT Fine Scale Custom Layouts is around the next corner -
 

And ExactRail is across the aisle from them (and directly behind/next to my "photo booth.") -

Zimo, which has some really wild looking DCC equipment is the next company down the aisle -

Turning the corner to the right is JL Innovative Design -

Around the next corner and across the aisle is Fox Valley Models -

Across the aisle is LARC Products, a photo backdrop service -

Just to the left is Athearn -

Next to Athearn is some outfit called Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine, but we'll skip them and go across the aisle to Kato -
 

The big kid on this block is Walthers -

Here is how they are demonstrating their new Walthers Layout Control System -

Roco/Fleishmann of Austria is getting a lot of attention this weekend -

In the next block, Train Installations LLC has a booth -

Unsurprisingly for the area, the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Historical Society has a booth -

The NMRA desk is being kept fully manned and has been pretty busy every time I walk past -

Next door, Bachmann has nearly a full aisle to themselves -

Leslie Eaton is ready to answer your modeling questions at "Ask the MMR" -

Operation Lifesaver has a booth here at the convention -

Lionel Trains has a colorful booth -

Here is MJS Custom Layouts -

Which is back to back with North American Rail Car -
 

On the next aisle we have White River Publishing -
 

Which is next to HobbyTyme Distributors -

Next up is Micro-Train Line -

Around the corner is The Coach Yard -

Which is next to the very busy NJ International/East Coast Circuits booth. The two companies have combined to create a nearly plug-n-play signalling sytem called "The Simple Signal Circuit." I'll be doing a seprate post on it. -

Continuing on we come to Trix/Marklin -

Next to them is Caboose Industries, home of some of the most popular manual turnout throws out there -

Across the aisle is Peco, from Great Britain -

Woodland Scenics has a big display as always -

Across from them is Kadee -

Jumping across the aisle again is Monroe Models -

Zig-zagging down the aisle we find Altoona Model Works -

Next door is Collectibles Insurance -

Finishig that side of the aisle is American Z Line, which has more models in it's dispay case today than they did yesterday -

Looks like some new Z scale GEVOs here -
 

And it sure looks like a Z scale AutoTrain wth Superliner II cars -

Jumping into the yellow part of the show (mostly used for retail vendors), we find Azatrax, who make detection systems and other electronics -

 The next aisle up has a big display by ScaleTrains.com -

And Atlas across the aisle -

On the last manufacturer aisle is SoundTraxx/Blackstone models -

And finishing off the blue side of things is Badger Air Brush -

Layouts: Lego Trains

The layouts here in Orlando span the size and scales from a Z scale circle that is probably less than a foot on a side to a collection of large Lego Trains layouts, and include N, HO, and O as well. One thing I find interesting is that, although one club is named the "Orlando N-Trak Club" and another "FEC N-Track," there are actually no N-Trak layouts here that I've recognized. I think that's a first.

Leading the way is the Lego layout, by the Greater Florida LEGO Users Group:

What's this? The Hogwars Express in front of Cinderella's Castle?

Oh wait - here it is at Hogwarts -

There was no way I was going to see this without getting a photo of it. Now I know I'm in the South. Or at least "South Adjacent" -

These were some really large setups -

It's sure disappointing that

It's sure disappointing that we never get to see the MRH booth!

I think that was mentioned before 

Yeh what happened to the MRH booth???

It's missing it's biggest Star perhaps?

Maybe there is no one there of real importance at the MRH Booth this year? :-P ;->

(and yes I'm only joking, everyone at MRH is a valuable member of the team, and without them, MRH could not happen!  

Unless I missed it, are any of the DCC manufacturers (ie Digitrax and NCE) there?  I saw Soundtraxx, but no ESU?!

And more up close photos of the Lego Layouts would be nice! How these modelers get the level of detail using lego's always amazes me!

Ken L.

They all went . . .

Thanks for the great post,

Thanks for the great post, Athearn seems to have a much smaller booth than last years though. Also mind entering me in the walthers trainset raffle

Good work Jeff

Jeff,

appreciate all the pics.  Hope to go to the show sometime in the near future, in the mean time it's cool to see all the photos you post.  

MRH Booth

Um, didn't you see it here: https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/2017-national-train-show-day-1-12207466 ?

ECHOES - the East Coast HO Exhibitors Society

Well, Day 2 of the National Train Show is finished, and I'm finished with dinner, so it's time to get uploading again.

Here we have an HO modular layout by "ECHOES - the East Coast HO Exhibitors Society." Nice layout. I walked around it with my camera on video - last time I'll do that. I've just figured out that I probably lost half the video somehow, and it was more than a little shaky in any case. I'll back tomorrow for photos.

Here is one photo I did take:

The remainder (I think the first part was wiped when my camera suddently rebooted) of the video -

Keen Railways

This appears to be a mostly private entry. They had a 7 1/2" gauge locomotive as their sign, and a 7 1/2" gauge tank car decorated as a Life Savers roll as an attention getter. Seemed effective too -

This was kinda funny - Mom is off to the left, trying to get the kids to look at her and smile. The girl is paying attention, but the boy is completely absorbed in the trains -

Here be a lesson to the clubs - do you want to get the next generation of model railroaders (and the one beyond that)? Put the layout down where the 4-5 year olds can see it. They'll glue themselves to it - and hold their parents attention there too.  A couple of the busiest layouts I saw were positioned at eye level for a 3' tall kid.  -

@JeffShultz

Nope, missed that photo. It wasn't there originally and I hadn't been back until now looking at the top of the thread ...

MidweZt HaulerZ

Okay guys - one bit of criticism up front - get a real sign, okay?

Nice little Z scale layout... with a bit of something extra. -

Look closely - about halfway along that train with the three yellow cars near the end, you can see a bit of pink...
 

It's Porky Z Pig, apparently... doing just under supersonic scale speeds. It did bring a smile to the face.

Z scale, like N, does make for some potentially very long trains in a relatively small area.

FEC N-Trak

One of the two N-Trak clubs that aren't N-Trak at the NTS, the FEC N-Trak has a good sized loop-to-loop layout It also took second place in the Group category of the Module Contest -

Open air engine servicing -

Orange tree grove -

Quarry operation -

Not open air engine servicing facility -

With nice inspection pits -

Daytona Beach Golf Club -

Slow day at the auto terminal -

Another shot of the Titusville auto terminal -

I think this is a cement facility of some sort, but it seems to be missing some parts, or at least doesn't have as many of them as I would expect. Perhaps it's a transload for rock and sand. I doubt that Florida has many granite gravel pits... -

Quite an industrial park -

Here is looking at the industrial park, now known to be "Dania" from the other direction -

Something Bay Passing (my fault, I didn't get the words in focus) Not sure that first kid wanted to be in a photo -

Rinker plant (must be a big outfit, the ECHOES layout had one too) -

I think I've seen this road bridge in episodes of CSI:MIAMI, to which my wife is lightly addicted (I only watch to comment on the number of unneccessary bikinis per episode). The rail bridge in front is labeled "Jupiter Drawbridge." -

I thought I'd come to the end of the tracks, with a balloon reverse track... but I was mistaken -

Here past the balloon was a nice little terminal scene -

And so ends our visit to the visually pleasing FEC (non) N-Trak layout.

Orlando Society of Model Railroaders

This sign, which wasn't their largest, describes what the visitor is about to look at. A nice touch. -

Atlanta Interlocking Model Railroaders

Interesting name for a club - I wonder if it was formed from the merger of two or more clubs?

It's nice to see teenagers, or nearly so, as part of the layout crew -

I think I need to go back and take some more photos of this layout, and perhaps the Orlando Society of Model Railroaders as well.

The Orlando (non) N-Trak club

The other (non) N-Trak club at the National Train Show, the Orlando N-Trak club has a portable modular layout that is stored in some really strong looking rolling racks, a permanent N scale layout which they run operations on, and a double-deck HO scale layout in the same room as the N scale layout. Truly an eclectic bunch. I got to operate on their N scale layout last Monday - it was fun.

Arcing bridges like this much be a signature of Florida. The gentlman behind the scene, Matthew, was the dispatcher last Monday -

Based on the signs around the layout, they're current conducting amembership drive -

This layout featured the 2nd Place module in the Module Contest -

Oh, and to go with that 2nd Place module award, the Orlando N-Trak club took 3rd place in the Group category -

Oh - and they also had the 1st Place module as well -

And now for a photograph of our sponsors....

I took note that a couple hobby shops that I see on our Sponsoring Advertisers list were at the NTS this weekend:

Southern Digital -

And Yankee Dabbler -

First Coast Model Railroad Society

I do believe we're going to see some On30 today -
 

Yes.... it's a Sharknado -

"Old Florida," a module on this layout, won the Judges Award -

I thought these birds were lovely, and weren't going to show on the above photo -

I heard something about a rhino masquerading as a cow in this scene...

I just realized that I had a few more photos of this prize-winning module -

Oh the Huge Manatee!

Best of Show - Module Contest

Paul Newtson (Thanks for the correction!) built the CSX Ridgecrest Module, and it took Best of Show in the Module Contest. It was also on display in the Celebration Room, but I don't know if it won anything there. I believe Paul was conducting operations on it during the show today -