For anyone in the NE Ohio area, this coming weekend (March 18th-19th) is Railfest 2006, at Lakeland Community College, from 10 AM - 4 PM. It’s put on by one of the local NMRA divisions (No. 5) here in the Cleveland area. I went to the one last year and thought it was terrific show. There’s definitely something for everyone there.
Here’s a link with more info, if you’re interested:
I’ll be going Saturday morning. Anyone else want to meet up there at a particular time, just to say hi or go out to lunch? I’m game. (If you see a tall ugly guy, wearing a red fleece jacket and a black New York Central T-shirt underneath, that’s me.) Hope to run into a few of you there.
I don’t have anything that I’m looking for specifically so I’m just going to wander around, look, and get ideas. I managed to wander around last year for 2-3 hours and not buy a thing. I will bring a few bucks with me - just in case I see something worth getting. [:)]
Not sure if I’ll make it this weekend (year) but have been there a number of times in the past and enjoyed each visit. Was the first place I could find GO Transit livery on the Bombardier cars although a bit more widespread now.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn. (just outside of Cleveland) I wish I still lived up there.
There’s a lot of great LHS’s and train shows up that way. Let us know how the show is guys!
I was REALLY tempted, but it was just a little too far and I’m in a transition with my business and cash-poor. I thought it might be a good time to meet.
I thought the same thing and sorta figured that it might be just a little long of a haul for you to come all this way. It would have been fun to meet up. Maybe next year…[:)]
Well, I just got home after spending about 4-1/2 hours at the Railfest train show today. It was a good show and there was a lot to see. I ended up buying a couple of universal throttle pockets for my layout and a DVD, New York Central, Indiana Division 1956 - Vol. 1 by Herron Rail Video. I’m looking forward to viewing it this evening.
Many of the vendors from last year were there again this year - and in the same spot. There were a number of modules and historic societies represented, and various clinics given. I also got to see PCM’s new Reading 4-8-4 T1. (NICE looking locomotive, Randy! [tup]) If I had stayed for another 45 minutes, the entertainment value would have come to $1/hr. Where else can you do that? [^]
One nice bonus is that I also got to meet up with Jeff (jbinkley60), Dean (dean_1230), and Dean’s son, Tony. (Good to meet all of you guys! [:)] ) Dean lives just north and east of me but Jeff drove all the way up from the north side of Columbus to come to the train show.
I’ll definitely go back again next year.
Tom
Dean - Whenever you get closer to going with DCC, drop me a line. I remember from our chat yesterday at the show that you are steering toward Digitrax. (It does have some great pluses.) Not wanting to either confuse or persuade you in any particular direction but to help confirm which system would be the best fit for you, you (and Tony) are more than welcome to stop over to try out my Power Cab, if you’d like.
I wish I had had more systems to try out firsthand before making my decision. As we both agreed upon, Joe Fugate’s helpful DCC thread has been one of the best and more practical resources on the topic on this forum - AND, I failed to mention to you, was very instrumental in my decision making process in going with NCE.
Anyway, Dean, the invitation is always open for you if you are ever interested. I’d still speak to you if you go Digitrax. [:)]
Tom, it was great to meet you. Thanks again for making me aware of this show. I’ll come back next year. I found a Broadway Limited #398 I have been looking for and at a great price. Nobody on the Internet has had them. They are hard to find. The guy who sold it to me has a shop in Zanesville, a much closer drive … Anyway, nice to put a face with a name.
Same here. Hey, I’m delighted you were able to find something you wanted - especially after that long of a drive from the Columbus area. [:)] What locomotive did you end up getting?
Jeff, please do drop me a line on the dates of the shows you mentioned to me that come to southern OH. I might be interested in making one of them sometime. Glad you made it home safe and sound.