OK, a week late, but here are the final few pictures from the show.  First up is a couple modules from the Thunder Creek Model Railway club of Moose Jaw, SK.  I'm sure Blue is familiar with this one.

A shot of their sign, along with an industrial area below on the module.

Another shot of the above industrial area, just taking in more of it, along with a through train.

Here is their intermodal yard module.  I quite liked this scene.

This is a shot of kind of a town scene with lots of tracks and some industry.  I meant to ask more about this and some other modules, but they were kept busy and my son was anxious to move along.

Finally, this is a small N scale layout that I can't remember who it belonged to.  Nice little double loop railroad to run two trains in opposite directions, but obviously just for show.  Not going to operate on this baby.  I don't know if some of those bright greens are because of my crappy photography or if they were really that starkly bright.

Well, that's the tour as far as I got.  Hope you enjoyed looking at some pictures of trains.  Next year, maybe I'll participate and get you some photos of that. 

Thanks for the photo tour Dave.  Nice to see the fellows from the Thunder Creek Club were at the show.  You bet I recognize that layout!  I'll be at the Thunder Creek show in March, I hope I can get away from the booth to take some pictures.

Thanks for sharing!

Dave,

Thanks for posting the photos.

That town scene especially caught my eye.  They've got a very authentic placement of structures there.  The station and yard office both have parking (how many times do we forget that the crews have to drive to work, and park their cars).  The industrial across the back side of the yard is right where you'd expect, based on observations of prototype practice.  I wouldn't mind seeing some more of the club's work (Blue, is your camera tuned up?). 

I wouldn't mind seeing some more of the club's work (Blue, is your camera tuned up?). 

Don

I'll have it fully charged and ready for the show, in hopes of having some time away from the booth to take pictures!

I talked to a couple guys yesterday and apparently the Edmonton Module group alternates years, One year to Calgary next to Saskatoon. So if thats true they will be back next year.

It has always been the mandate of the Prairie Rail Workshop to show all levels of model railroading to the general public as a result some layouts are very simple while others are worthy of magazine coverage. This is to show the public that they don't have to be an expert modeller with a bottomless pocket book to enojy the hobby and people enjoy their trains at all levels of development.

Unfortunately lighting in the museum is something that is beynd the clubs control and I know  they have struggled with this since moving the show to the museum. One advantage is that lighting effects show up better, but yes, some displays are hard to see, particularily the smaller scales.

Vendors cannot bring their entire stores to the show do to cost of transport, so they try and bring the most popular items or what they think will sell. I have attended years where I haven't purchased anything from them, but don't think this detracts from the show. As for the quality of their merchandise, that is entirely up to them. If the poor quality, high priced items don't sell they may not bring it back. As for getting "deals" Factor in hotel rooms, meals and the cost of travel including packing and unpacking their wares and I figure they lose money on the items they sell. While most do it to support the show, their attendance has never been a huge money maker for them. On the other hand most of the ones I have purchase items from were willing to take few bucks off here and there, they'd rather sell it than pack it, and most of them are willing to deal.

Clubs always travel at personal expense,, and travel is expensive these days, fuel, 3 or 4 nights hotel, time off work, meals etc. so not all clubs will attend the show every year. All the big layouts are 5 or 6 hours travel away and I can understnd why they alternate between shows. It would be nice to see them every year, but I can understand why they aren't. It also adds some excitement to the show and makes it something special when they do show up.

I think the local Saskatoon club puts on a great show to promote the hobby and that's what it is all about. I encourage you to join the club and give them your input to make the show better. As a former member, who's been out of the hobby for a bit, I can say they are a great bunch of guys and always open to new members and people who are willing to help with the show. It takes a LOT of work to put on every year and I'm sure your help and input would be greatly appreciated.

CNsteam

It would appear that I sounded more negative than positive and that's something I don't like to do, so I'll make further comments so it doesn't appear I was slamming the show or the club.  However, I feel obligated to share my thoughts about it honestly and I make no apologies for that.

Its obviously a tremendous amount of work that goes into putting on a show.  I don't know how many visitors see this show every year, but I'm sure a fair number go through it.  With the smaller population of our city and province, there simply isn't a large pool of willing modellers to do a really big show.  Still, there were a lot of displays, and in spite of some of them not being of a higher modelling quality, those people made the effort to bring out their stuff and display it to the public in whatever form to support the show and the hobby they love.  Kudos to them.  I did not make that effort this year and I have no excuse for that.  I plan to do it next year to support the show and the hobby.

The Prairie Rail Workshop spends a lot of time getting out to malls and putting on this show to promote the hobby - all done at their own expense and time.  The Saskatoon Railway Modellers (who have the BiG layout and the display layout at the museum) are the only other visible group in the city, but PRW are much more visible for non-museum visitors around Saskatoon.  I don't know how much SRM helps out, but they are always at the show talking to people.  Shows like this help promote the hobby and I'm grateful that they put in this effort to make it happen. 

And I do understand the travel problems with clubs and the expense and time it takes for them to go to different shows, and the slumping economy doesn't help that, though we're still pretty solid in Saskatchewan.  My disappointment with the displays was not with the show organizers or the club as much as it could be more if others, like me, made the effort to put something in the show.  The same layouts year after year do make the show stale, but they are at the mercy of those who will participate.  My biggest disappointment this year was that the switching layout that was set up last year wasn't there this year and that was my son's favourite part.  And if it was his favourite part, I'm betting many other kids that came last year were disappointed as well.  But this is as much my fault as others like me who haven't made the effort to change things up.  This is why I'm striving to put a switching layout in next year - both to support the show and provide more interactive entertainment for the kids.  They love to look, but most of them really want to play, and the switching layout gives them the opportunity to do so.

As to the vendors, I do have to say that at least one of them I've seen every year I've gone and I know they had many of the exact same things as last year for the same inflated prices and most of it was junk.  Regardless, I was quite surprised to see Trains & Such from Calgary there, as that is a long way to go.  Having shopped at Trains & Such in the past, it was great to talk to the guys there and if it wasn't for some personal circumstances, I likely would have come back and bought something from them later in the day.  And Hobby World was there, and should have been being the local hobby shop and they had their best train guy there to talk trains with. 

My issue is more in how I was brought up in business.  When we took our business to trade shows, my dad always made sure we had "hooks" to get people in.  To get the most attention, you need to have something - generally a few great deals or a free draw - to get people in and hope that they buy other stuff while they are there, or at least provide the opportunity to draw them in to "sell" them your business - your personal service, attention to detail, etc.  Trade shows (and hobby shows) aren't about making money at the time, they are about showcasing your business and bringing in new customers for the long haul.  Honestly, they had a couple things I strongly considered buying, but if they would have had that one sale item that was a deal, I'd probably have bought it, plus the loco at MSRP.  I do also understand that the hobby shop business isn't exactly a cash cow to begin with.  But I digress. 

The lighting in the museum was mentioned more as an excuse for my poor photography skills than anything, but the venue also makes up for that with many of the "bonus" displays there for us to go through.  My son still loves to go through boomtown and get on the big steam engine at the back, regardless of the dim light.

As for joining the PRW, well, hmm.  I have been to several of their shows, had some great conversations with their guys and they seem like a good bunch of guys.  On three different occasions, though, I mentioned my interest in perhaps becoming a member, and all three times the subject was changed and I seemed to get the impression that perhaps there wasn't an interest in new members.  The last time I brought this up was at this show.  I made the comment that I thought I should join their club because being a lone wolf isn't always fun.  My comment wasn't even acknowledged, he just started talking about something else, so I moved on.  I don't think they are deliberately snubbing me, I just think they aren't sure how to "sell" their club membership to people or don't want to be too pushy to get new members and end up missing out on potential members.

Anyway, that's my long-winded response.  Thank you for pointing out my negativity and bringing a different perspective.  Its good to have all sides of the story in any discussion.