Urbana, IL FREE! Train Show, Sat. & Sun. March 18-19

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Just a friendly reminder for anyone in the Central Illinois area…

The annual Lincoln Square Train Show will be this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, March 18-19, 2006. While it’s not the grandest show you’ve ever seen, it represents the widespread and varied appreciation for railroads and interurbans, railfanning and modeling, in our community – and it is free! Everyone is invited!

Hours are:
Saturday 10am – 6pm
Sunday 11am – 5pm

Now well into its third decade, the Lincoln Square Train Show hosts a number of modular layouts, a variety of vendors, and tables for showing and swapping any train-related item.

The Illinois Terminal Division (ITD) of the Midwest Region of the NMRA, newly renamed and revived from the long-quiescent Southern Illinois Division, will host a table there. Drop by and talk with us. Our goal is to help grow the hobby by networking people and organizations together to better enjoy what we all like – trains. We are now meeting every month and would like to hear from all NMRA members and any prospective member about what the NMRA should be for you. We welcome your participation!
(‘[:D]’)

Our division’s area is a hotbed for prototype and modeling activity. Champaign County is home of hobby giant, Horizon Hobby, and the ITD’s locale is criss-crossed by such legendary and present day railroads as the Illinois Central/CN, Wabash/NW/NS, Illinois Terminal, C&EI/MP/UP, P&EI/NYC/CR, MILW, Vandalia Line/PRR/PC, and B&O/CSX, as well as numerous short and tourist lines.

I hope to meet you at the show! But if you can’t make it and are wondering what the ITD is up to, please drop me a PM.
Mike Lehman
Assistant Superintendent, ITD
Urbana, IL

2

Just a friendly bump.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL

3

While sitting at the ITD booth today, a number of people dropped by to say hi and inquire about the NMRA. Included were both NMRA members and the general public. I ran into a number of old acquaintances of mine at the booth and walking around the show, so it was good to see everyone. We’ll be back on Sunday with more free NMRA and World’s Greatest Hobby literature.

BTW, the ITD next meeting will be Tuesday April 11, 2006 at 6:30pm at the Urbana-Champaign Indpendent Media Center, 202 S. Broadway in Urbana. Actually, this building sits at the north entrance to Lincoln Square where the train show is this weekend, so it’s easy to find. To attend the meeting, use the Elm St. entrance (north side of the building, down five steps from the sidewalk). Go through the stairwell to the door into the basement and the meeting room will be straight in front of you.

We typically share a bite to eat and then take care of business. We may show a video that someone wants to share or have another other clinic-type presentation. As the division clinic coordinator, I welcome your ideas.

To contact the ITD, go to our website:
http://www.illinoisterminaldivision.org/

Please RSVP us if you’d like share in the food, so we have plenty to share. We’re thinking pizza, but there is other great food available in and near downtown Urbana.
Regards,
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL

4

It is a real shame that this was on the same weekend as the trainshow in Collinsville, Il otherwise I would have made the trip up. I wonder how many others in the Springfield area had to make the choice?

5

Scheduling a show is always a dicey proposition. This year, the show here was up against the first weekend of spring break at the University of Illinois. This is a case of good news/bad news. I’m a grad student who is usully snowed with work on the weekend. The good news is it is the only weekend during the semester when I could actually devote the time to sit at the booth both days. The bad news is that it cut into attendance, as well as cut the Illini RR Club out, since those involved are out of town.

The show on Saturday also went up against the Illini playing in the NCAA tournament. Well, that didn’t turn out well.
;>)

For folks located in between Urbana and Collinsville, I can see the pull of wanting to do both. But realistically, it’s a two hour+ drive from here to Collinsville, so I’d imagine that this was a choice for only a few people. But ours is a two-day show, so if you’re willing to drive, you could do both over the course of the weekend. Maybe next year?
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL

6

I go to this show every year, the past couple of years were a real let down. But this year it was back to normal, with more dealers and the guy with the live steam had his set up going. Got some killer deals to on both days. There seem to be allot more of the younger crowd in this year to, Enjoyed meeting some old freinds and saying high to my freind from Effingham, who is a big G scale dealer. He gave me a few good deals on some HO items he had.