By Noel Widdifield

Author  Bio Another National Garden Railway Convention has ended and the 26th one was enjoyed by many of the people we talked to at the Tacoma Convention Center where the show was held. Come read and see it all.

Another National Garden Railway Convention has ended and the 26th one was enjoyed by many of the people we talked to at the Tacoma Convention Center where the show was held. The convention hotel was very nice and the rates were very good. A large number of attendees stayed at the hotel. The rooms were spacious and nicely decorated. There was only one restaurant in the hotel, but there were several very nice places to eat within walking distance. Also within walking distance were the Art Gallery, Washington State History Museum, the restored Union Station and the Glass Museum. As you entered the Convention Center you found the registration desk and the Convention Shop where many interesting items were for sale for the Convention. The 26th Annual Convention was a long one. It began on Aug 2nd and lasted until Aug 8th, but it was preceded with a pre-convention tour of 50+ Oregon and Southwest Washington State railroads and was followed with an Aug 9th through Aug 11th British Columbia & Spokane post-convention tour of 12+ railroads. In addition there were railroad tours each day of the actual convention. During the convention there were 43 hours of Clinics on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, Aug 4th there was an Ice Cream Social in the convention hall and a grand Opening for the exhibitors. The exhibitors were open in the hall starting on Wednesday, Aug 4th each day for 4-5 hours through Sunday Aug 7th. There were fewer vendors at the show than in previous years and Scott Polk from Aristo Craft was there, but USA Trains and Hartland Locomotive Works were missing completely. The vendors who were there reported average sales and some were disappointed that tours and clinics were offered at the same times that the vendor hall was open, reducing the amount of time that many of the attendees had to shop in the vendor hall. Many of the usual vendors were present and there were even a couple of new vendors. On Friday, there was a tour of the Snoqualmie NWRR Museum and shops, a ride to Snoqualmie Falls on a train and a BBQ for all who took the tour. On Saturday there was a banquet at the Hotel Murano in the evening. And on Sunday there was a cruise leaving for Alaska on Holland America Lines that included a ride from Skagway on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. We talked to many attendees who were leaving to catch the boat for the cruise and they were very excited about the cruise adventure. This year at the Convention we spent many hours in the vendor hall talking with many of the people who attended. There were only a few modular railroads on display, but we photographed and videoed all of them. There was a model contest at the convention and there were many offerings in several categories on display. We located the LSOL.com shipping containers that had been used to try to set a Large Scale train length record and put them on display at the LSOL.com booth. As soon as we find the last six containers we will hold the drawing to give the sets away to the people that entered the contest! Randy Bryie of Pacific Coast Garden Railway Supply had a new Rico Tool and Section Car Shed on display in his booth. PCGRS Web Site There were some trackside signals, crossing signals and a FRED device from South Bend Signal Company, LLC. The ones at the show are done in 1/26 and have 9-volt battery power. They are also available in 1/32 with conventional 9-12 Volt DC power sources. They are very high fidelity models of many of the real signals found on standard gauge railroads from the early 1900's through modern day. These signals compare very favorability to the Shiloh Signals that I have on my railroad and the Shiloh signals are very high quality. The South Bend signals are much better quality and appearance than some of the other signals coming on the market today. SB Signal Website Sunset Valley Railroad had some new 1/32 rolling stock on display in their booth and they are very high quality models. http://www.svrronline.com The booth that Train-Li-USA, LLC had at the show was much more sparse than those they have had at other shows, but they did have one new product on display in addition to several samples of their ProTrack TM. The model of a European rail auto comes in red and yellow. http://www.train-li-usa.com Ozark Miniatures had a very large booth and has developed a new label for their products that is very colorful. They had a pile driver kit at the show that looks pretty interesting. http://www.Ozarkminiatures.com A vender that I hadn't seen before was G Scale Engineering with a line of custom designed scale bridges. Johnny Hanson is the owner and designer of these very nicely designed and well-built bridges. You can see several of his bridges in the vendor photos above. http://www.gscaleengineering.com The Kadee coupler people arrived on Friday because they had misunderstood when the vendor area would be open at the convention, but they quickly set up their booth and Allen and Sam began answering questions and showing their new products. They had samples of their new #1 scale couplers that will join the line of G scale couplers that have been designed for better operation and are more prototypical in appearance. The Kadee guys had an interesting banner along the front of their booth showing the development of Kadees over the years and the development of other couplers during that same period of time. The couplers shown were all HO but it was interesting to see photos of all of the changes in coupler design in that timespan. An innovation that is making its way into the coupler world is remote control for couplers and the Kadee people had their version at the show. The couplers are pretty much the same as the conventional Kadees with only a small modification for a mechanical link to the electronic device that makes the coupler open. The electronics are small and fit easily under a car or tender. They seem to work pretty well as Sam demonstrated them using a hand held device that will also be able to do other things such as remotely control switches. http://www.kadee.com Shady Glen Models had several of their new building kits for sale and they are very nice looking models of old western buildings. They offer DVD's with instructions on how to build the kits into fine looking models. Sorry: this link is no longer available from source. - http://www.gscalewoodenkits.com Loco Boose Hobbies had some very nice track signs at the Convention. http://www.locoboose.com Accucraft had several of their new reefers that included both AML 1/29 and AMS 1/32 versions. The paint, lettering and detail are very well done and they are supposed to be "on the water" and will be available through retailers very "soon". Accucraft also had a sample of their latest model of a billboard reefer and we were able to get some pretty good shots of it for our readers. http://www.accucraft.com Bachmann had a very large display of all of their Large Scale products and included were some new items in the Thomas line. They had a snowplow that will be able to be attached to any of the engines in that line and they also had some new freight cars to add to the ones available in the Thomas sets. http://www.bachmanntrains.com Split Jaw Products, Inc. was showing a new line of locomotive carriers that combine their line of rerailers with the ability to carry a loco. These products are well made and come in three varieties. They are available as 6" wide carrier with brass rails, 8" wide with brass rails and both without brass rails. They come as a basic carrier, arched railing carrier and arched tunnel carrier. http://www.railclamp.com Finally, there was a new vendor called Tomboy Tools that had many Large Scale model railroading tools all in pink. There were two very nice women in the booth and they were enthusiastically promoting the tools for women to work on the Garden Railroads. The tools and accessories were of good quality and all were fashioned in pink. http://www.tomboytools.com After I finished taking pictures of all of the new items that were on display at the show, I passed by the St. Aubins booth and found the Large Scale brain trust busy planning the next event of the day. As we finished our last day at the show we stopped by two of the booths that contained several Large Scalers who are planning the next two National Garden Railway Conventions. There were representatives from Kansas City, Missouri for the 2011 Convention and from Chicago, Illinois for the 2012 Convention. Both groups are busy working on their upcoming conventions. As Sunday wound down, many of the Large Scalers prepared for their final night in the hotels or packed their cars for the trip home. Many others prepared for the cruise or for the upcoming three days of more layout tours. Another Garden Railway Convention has come to a close, but for most of the attendees it is only the beginning. For they will begin to use some of the products that they purchased at the show and will carry with them some fond memories of another Convention where they were able to renew old friendships and make new ones in this wonderful hobby that we all share, National Show Thanks for the Great Coverage, I was ON BOARD several times a day looking for the latest info and viewing all the pictures. My Complements to all the Homes and RR that were opened to everyone. Some very great layouts. Gives People many Ideas. Please keep up the great work Jim James Cerqui - 08/12/2010 - 06:15 National Show Noel: Great coverage and photos. Thanks Jim Jim O'Connor - 08/12/2010 - 11:06 Coverage What were they thinking??? The vendors are the heart of any convention and you address their needs first. Having competing events take place during vendor time was a mistake. The cost to vendors to attend is usually too high and if you remove their sale potential, the next convention will suffer with fewer vendors. I liked the Kadee display and remote control couplers plus the signals from South Bend Signal Co. A LOT of models in the contest, especially non-train entries. Must have been hard to choose? Nice work Noel Rick Henderson - 08/12/2010 - 13:03 Convention Report Noel, Very comprehensive coverage. You did a good job of covering all aspects. Excellent set of pictures that cover the "flavor" of the show. JD Miller - 08/14/2010 - 05:37 Top of Page