I’ll second what Brian said already: I had a great time and it was nice to meet some folks. After some vehicular combat with Ma Nature (driving home this morning was fun!) here’s the pic:
From Left to Right:
kschmidt (Keith), Noah Hoffrichter (Noah), CNW 6000 (Dan aka me), B. Erdmann (Brent), WCfan (Jeremiah?), blhanel (Brian), and dknelson (Dave). Just for the record I’m not that short…I was half-kneeling so the two behind me could be seen!
I’d recommend going as it was a fun time.
I never left the house today (Sunday) due to the incredibly icy conditions. Glad I went Saturday! Thanks for coming guys and for the group shot.
I must be getting old. I didn’t buy any cars or locomotives.
Dave Nelson
It was indeed a pretty good show this year (well, except for today’s whether). Saturday was a heck of a lot of fun, met lots of nice people, and for my club, our layout ran fantasticly. This is one of the first shows we’ve had where nothing major has really gone wrong with the layout, just minor equipment problems. Saturday was absolutely packed for show attendees. I heard Saturday’s attendance was around 9000 people, 2000 more from last year. At some points around our layout we had people packed two or three deep…
Sunday though was another story. It took us about an hour and a half to make the usual hour trip to Madison because of the rain and snow mix that was falling. The attendance at the show was tiny. Most of the time the majority of the people walking around were just other exhibitors and vendors. They did have a few people in the morning and around noon, but after 2:00pm the visitors pretty much all went away as the weather got worse. I would guess the weather forcast contributed to the large amount of people Saturday, as they all came then instead of Sunday. They ended up closing the show an hour early at 4pm, though we started tearing the scenery and stuff off the layout by 3:30. The early closing was much welcome for those of us who had to drive a long ways back. We made it home, but we never drove over 45 or so most of the way.
It did make today kind of fun though, as it became more like a operating session with the occasional person stopping by to watch. We just had fun running trains and sitting around and talking most of the day. Also picked up a few deals at the show. I came away with three new freight cars and a new passenger car (for half price!).
It was good getting a chance to meet a bunch of you guys too! I hope to see a lot of you again next year!
Noah
Does anyone know what happened at the Mad City Model Railroad show today, Sunday?
Church services were cancelled, St James Parish postponed the Pork and Saurkraut Dinner until next weekend, East and West Towne Mall were closed, Madison Metro bus service was cancelled for the day, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz asked everyone to stay home, Senator Clinton postponed her campaign appearance until Monday. The only thing that apparently didn’t get cancelled was the Mad City Model Railroad show. Did people get home with their layouts OK?
Here’s a link to the video I took of your club’s 160 car train Noah.
I hope everyone made it home safe – sounds like Noah did at least.
Next up for the really big Wisconsin shows: Titletown in Green Bay!
Dave Nelson
When’s that one?
The Titletown Train Show is a real nice train show, smaller than Madison or trainfest but with lots of vendors, dealers, some manufacturers, prototype stuff, and display layouts. It is April 26-27. Here is their website http://www.ttsgbllc.com/
Locally here in Milwaukee there is a nice (it’s free!) but small train show called Traintime at MSOE. Mostly display layouts, demonstrations, and other displays, some selling mostly of a swap meet variety. The on-site food (hotdogs, chips, soda) is pretty basic but inexpensive making this a good option for families.
March 1 and 2: http://some.groups.msoe.edu/TrainTime/index.shtml
Then on Sunday March 30 is the annual train show in Cedarburg WI, which is more of a swap meet with some display layouts.
http://trains.com/trc/community/events/event-info.asp?eventid=11423
Dave Nelson
Boy what a Rogues Gallery in that photo. But Saturday was a good time. After the show went over the Fat Jacks and had some BBQ. Good Stuff.
The crowds Saturday were HUGE !! Tough to move around until later in the day. I would agree that the forecast probably had most people showing up on Saturday due the “white death” being forecast. Glad to hear they shutdown early to let exhibitors tear down early and get an early start. Sounds like all got home safely.
They cancelled our local NMRA Division Meet due to icy conditions in the morning. My home layout was supposed to be open after for tours. Oh well now I have more time to work on things.
It was great to meet everyone there and catch up with those met before. Till the next time.
Keith
For what ever reason they felt the need to stay open, probably because they’d paid the Energy Center for the day and wanted to try and get something out of it. When we originally asked in the morning hoping they were planning to close at 1 or 2:00 or something, the reply was that they were planning to stay open until 5:00. I think when they saw how the attendence (what little there was) dropped off after 2:00, they decided to close at 4:00. It was welcome news for those of us that had a ways to drive. I talked to quite a few vendors and exhibitors who lived even further away that were just planning to stay over night in town and not risk it.
Noah
In spite of which I understand you had layout tour visitors anyway! Go figure [(-D]
Dave Nelson