Jeff's at the NMRA - the National Train Show Day 2 & 3

 Okay, can I plead sleep deprivation? I haven't been to bed prior to midnight this week (which will change tonight) and I've been up at or before 7am every day (which won't).

 I'm reorganizing the photos I've already uploaded into subject/manufacturer directories, and I'm very annoyed that even with a fresh set of batteries installed this morning, I managed to run them out in my camera by noon. That's two hours of solid photography, btw. So I'm also uploading all that. Even a little video of Point & Shoot resolution.

 So... Saturday we went back in and videotaped Atlas O, BLMA, Rapido, CVP/EasyDCC, Free-Mo, TCS... and probably at least one or two others. Somewhere in the middle of that Joe had to take off for his last Siskiyou Line Popourri (sp?) Clinic and so I took over the camera while Les Halmos (our Advertising Accounts Manager) took over the interviewing. I know he got the Free-Mo and CVP interviews, and I think he did at least one more as well. Then we went off to videotape the layouts... with 19 minutes of tape left. It ran out quickly. 

 Heading back over to the Marriott we got more tapes from Joe & Patty (who were packed to leave and checked out by this time) and grabbed a quick lunch. I've had more Pizza Hut this week (it's the cheapest thing around the Marriott) than in the last two or three years. Back to the show... our focus was on the layouts, and we did get quite a bit of footage, but annoyingly enough this time the battery, which I'm pretty sure told me it had 90 minutes of charge when we started this tape, died only 20-30 minutes in. Shutting the camera down, waiting a few minutes and starting it up again did gain me a few more minutes - in short bursts.

 So it was time to pack it in and give the equipment back to Joe - whereupon I went back to the train show intent on spending some more money. I succeeded. I found what I believe was the last Micro-Trains GP35 (in Rock Island, fwiw) in Z scale available at the show. The guy at the register knocked off $30 from the retail on the box... and around $150 later (incl. tax) I owned a Z Scale locomotive. Fortunately for my continued survival, Tony's Train's had sold out of all the Z Scale circuit board replacement decoders. I've got a Tech II 2800 - it'll run just fine on DC.

 I spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around the show, talking to people and taking the occasional photograph.

 As the show ended I headed on over to Downtown Disney, still mildly amazed that I was in Anaheim and I had gone to neither the Disneyland Resort (Disneyland + California Adventure) nor Knott's Berry Farm. While I still didn't go into either of the parks, I did cruise a couple shops in Downtown Disney (Christmas present shopping for Laura has now been accomplished) and had dinner at the House of Blues. I ate at the bar since I was told that either I could go in there and get served first come first serve... or I could wait for 40 minutes for a table. You know, watching a bartender make all those drinks, even when all you've got in front of you is a constantly refilled Pepsi (thanks, Sandy!), is downright fascinating.

 From there I continued my wander through Downtown Disney, trying to baby my feet some - I've got ankle problems and all the standing and walking I've been doing this week haven't helped. As I hit the Lego Store I tried calling my sister, mother to my three nephews. Answering machine. Tried my brother-in-law. Voicemail. Tried my mother. Answering Machine. Tried my home phone. Answering machine. Huh. Tried my wife's cell phone... ah, an answer. She's still up at her mom's celebrating her mom's birthday. Never did find out where anyone else was... and nobody's getting Legos for Christmas this year, either.

 Saw the fireworks from the plaza between D-land and Cal-Ad, and then went back to the hotel, read a bunch of e-mail, and went to bed.

 That brings us to today, where, quite honestly, I only figured on taking some photos of the Funaro & Camerlengo PRR X26C boxcar, and then some layout photos, and then moving hotels. Didn't quite work out that way.... As soon as I got to the Train Show, Les and I wandered up to the Rapido Trains booth (being Canadian, Les has some patriotic attachment to Rapido) whereupon I decided to photograph everything in sight. Photos here. And then there was this N Scale Kits guy next door.... then I made it to Funaro & Camerlengo. From there it was a short hop to the Timberline Scenery folks (links go to my photos today, not the manufacturers), and then I spotted that Con-Cor had not yet started running the M10000 and the Aerotrain trains. So, more photos.

 Okay, maybe now I can get a look at more of the layouts... wait, what is this? GPS for ModelRailroads? It's an interesting system that uses ultrasonic transmitters on the locomotives (or whatever you want to track, I suppose) and receivers up to 15 feet in the air - behind a valance, for instance. It can use JMRI/Panel Pro to report locations and control signals and other things appropriately. Interesting stuff, and it's small enough they were using it with N Scale. This might be a solution for those without Digitrax but who want transponding. Next door to them was a booth usually occupied by... well, graffiti artists, for lack of a better term. If you can appreciate some of the more colorful graffiti out there and you run modern, GTF has some stuff that may be right up your pocketbook.

 No, no layouts for me yet (beginning to understand why my batteries collapsed so quickly?). The next booth in line was one I would normally ignore, but since Model Railroad Hobbyist is multi-scale, I thought I'd take a couple photos of them - Des Plaines Hobbies, an S-Scale manufacturer.

 From there it was across the walkway to Kato USA, where I relayed the complaint that they hadn't released anything new... I meant new at the show, but the person at the stand didn't understand that and lead me through how the late model SD40-2's were all new tooling, the Superliners were new - some of the ones on display appeared to be manufacturing or engineering samples, as well as the Maxi-IV's, which apparently just got off the ship last week.

From there it was a short jaunt to the Kadee booth, where Sam Clarke is always fun to talk with. I didn't really think we had a lot to talk about, until I spotted what first looked like a car without roofwalks sitting on their demonstration loop of track. So I asked about it, thinking that maybe this was an upcoming model. In reality I think it was just a PS1 missing it's roofwalk, but Sam allowed how it was being used for an experiment - they are testing out two-part bolster trucks, using some sort of plastic/metal blend. Quite heavy, actually - right where you want weight, too. This is nothing like the three-part Intermountain trucks, but instead they break, swivel and twist around the bolster pin. It will be the #560, and despite the poster I photographed it appears to actually be a 100-ton truck. Haven't actually seen much discussion on this yet.

A quick sweep by the Traincat (man, what he can do in brass!) booth and I'm on my way to Digitrax, where I'd been asked to look at the prototype for the 402D duplex wireless throttle and see if it had an off switch. The prototype did not (it's mostly a hacked 400R), and the person manning the booth was unable to tell me if production models would or would not. I also photographed the UR92, which is the other end of Digitrax's 2.4Ghz duplex radio solution.

From there I wandered past the ESU/Loksound booth and got a photo of their new ECos portable controller (yes, it looks like a Bachmann Dynamis - ESU makes the case for both, but the guts are different), and on to the Caboose Hobbies booth to see their K-36 in both On30 or On3.

And that was it for the manufacturers. Now I was off to see the layouts. I started using video a lot, and apparently that chews up batteries, because just as the eruption of the volcano back on the Z-Bend modular layout was starting to taper off my camera went dead.

And with that... I left the 2008 National Train Show and National Model Railroad Convention. I had a wonderful time - and I hope to be able to attend more Conventions and Shows in future years.

Just try not to run away when you see me coming over with a microphone, okay?