By Mike Evans

Author  Bio Most of those attending the 2007 National Garden Railway Convention seemed to have flown in and the pins in the lobby map showed a wide distribution of people from all over the country.

Most of those attending the 2007 National Garden Railway Convention seemed to have flown in and the pins in the lobby map showed a wide distribution of people from all over the country. The layout tours were scheduled in the mornings with up to 6 available each day.

Editor:Look for Mike's pictures posted in just a few days

This worked out well and got us back to the convention center before the highest heat of the day. Temperatures in the afternoons were up to 106 degrees. Several busses were in use and the only problem was a bit of crowding at the layouts when a bus arrived.

Two had great surprises: a full array of food and refreshments including ham sandwiches, snacks and desserts at one, and then, a Las Vegas Showgirl at another, hired by the couple displaying their backyard layout. She was a hit, posing with everyone for pictures. A real human art form!

The layouts ranged from modest to elaborate. Clearly the harsh, hot desert climate poses some challenges. Buildings and scenic details don?t do well if left outside. Track expands greatly and is a challenge to keep in running order. Shade is at a premium for spectators and operators alike. Nevertheless, all the exhibitors had spruced up their layouts for the tours and several featured impressive scratch-built buildings, superior landscaping, interesting vignettes, and water features.

The clinics generally ran in the afternoons which left people free to roam ?the Strip? at night. Room sizes for the clinics were great, and the Riviera hotel staff brought in lots of extra chairs so everyone could find a seat. And they had iced water in big Igloo containers everywhere, as well as a hospitality room with iced tea, coffee, chips, snacks and cookies. The presenters were well prepared and most used laptops connected to projectors with their topics. There were not as many clinics as at some conventions in the past, but certainly an adequate amount of more than just beginner topics.

On Friday afternoon, a discussion forum was conducted with representatives from Aristo-Craft, Bachmann, and Accucraft. The big topic of course, was the rapidly escalating price of brass track due to the copper shortage. Lewis Polk of Aristo-Craft indicated that he thought the future would bring a return to aluminum track (he passed around a sample of 332 aluminum track) and more battery on board operations.

Bachmann promised to continue seeking high quality at affordable pricing for its locomotives and rolling stock and announced a K-27 to be introduced soon. Accucraft described its commitment to both electric and live steam models faithful to fine scale prototype details as well as venturing into the production of diesels. Scale and gauge came under discussion and there seems to be a growing trend towards 1:20.3 models.

The coupler dilemma continues but all manufacturers indicated at least some agreement on standard coupler pockets for the future. Each manufacturer believes in their own coupler system, especially Accucraft. All agreed that Kadee conversion was possible with their rolling stock. There are still frustrations with DCC for G gauge, sound systems, and other remote control ?after market? applications.

All indicated that the price of manufacturing in China is going up rapidly, not just due to copper prices but also due to rising wages, government and market controls and shortages in other materials. They are also struggling to penetrate the mass market for their products and are looking for ways to further expose the hobby to a larger segment of the population, especially retiring boomers as well as younger future modelers. They cannot afford large-scale advertising in major media and depend a lot on Kalmbach publications and club displays to get the word out.

The vendor show was somewhat more limited than I have experienced in past conventions, although all the major manufacturers were there. There was no ?public? day and thus perusing the displays could be done more leisurely. With so many fly-in attendees, it would have been nice to have had a UPS shipping booth on site.

Luggage and security screening limitations make it harder to carry home something as large as a new locomotive and an armload of rolling stock. But it did look like some either hit a big jackpot or came prepared to make large purchases. A minor annoyance was some of the smaller vendors who were unable to process credit cards.

Still, the convention price was right, the layouts were very well presented, and the clinics that I attended very informative. The uncrowded vendor area permitted time to talk with company representatives and the forum gave us a glimpse of the future. I had fun!

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