: H S A L F s W E MRH N
Sacramento
Train Show Report Reader Feedback (click here)
by Richard Bale
M
odel Railroad Hobbyist attended X2011W – the 2011 NMRA National Convention in Sacramento, California last month. Part of the convention is the National Train Show – three days of manufacturers, vendors, and train-a-holics checking out the latest and greatest stuff. MRH shot Click ‘n Spins of many new items and video interviewed some interesting folks (right-hand column). An enjoyable part of wandering the aisles of the National Train Show is observing people as they discover new and exciting items. Here are a few things I saw that seemed especially interesting.
Railscale Miniatures’ beautiful display of Delwin’s Boat & Net Storage, an amazing HO scale kit created by master craftsman Dario Le Donne. My favorite structure at the show.
Page 79 • Issue 11-08 • Aug 2011
2011 National Train Show Interviews
Rapido’s Canadian passenger train had an extremely realistic looking stainless steel finish. Each car has a unique and highly detailed underframe, too.
Several people I spoke with thought the decorating on BLMA’s 63’ Trinity reefer was some of the best they had ever seen. Craig Martyn was pleased!
Athearn’s forthcoming Southern Pacific class C-50 caboose in several sub-classes with lots of details appropriate to each version. This may be the best plastic caboose ever produced. Better than brass at half the price. Truly beautiful and meeting the Genesis standard.
Bowser’s PCC car being demonstrated by trolley-guru George Huckaby. It was equipped with an engineering sample of a SoundTraxx decoder providing gong, pneumatic door operation, compressor, motor-generator start up, and brake lights coming on when the car slows to a stop. Might be available late this year.
Kids going nuts at the operating children’s layouts – notably the Lego display. I was surprised to see steam-era freight car historian Richard Hendrickson quietly huddling with David Lehlbach, owner of contemporary car-maker Tangent. Later, when I kidded David about the potential “clash of eras” he said a surprising number of customers have been asking for older equipment. This will bear watching. The vast selection of signals in the NJ International booth. The hordes at the Fast Tracks booth keenly watching Tim Warris fabricating turnouts quickly and easily.
• Sacramento Train Show Report, page 1
(click thumbnail to view)
Atlas
Interview
Scenic Express Interview
SoundTraxx Interview
The Stanton Cab at the North West Short Line booth. The well-engineered compact Stanton motorized power truck leaves room in body shells for other goodies like a 3-hour battery, RF-receiver, and DCC decoder. Track power is unnecessary, but if present, will charge the battery.
BLMA
interview
ExactRail
Interview
Elizabeth Allen’s mostly scratch built Southern Pacific SDP45 on display in Cannon’s booth. A perfect replication of the prototype in both physical details and patina!
Kendall Collins Interview
Walthers
And there’s more – check the Click ‘n Spins on the following pages!
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Interview
Contents
Index