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AMHERST BELT LINES |
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HO Modular Railroad |
Copyright © 2003, Amherst Railway Society
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Sudro Brown BrownSudro@cs.com |
Clark Huber chuber@charter.net |
Alan Rice abel.planning@comcast.net |
Just as the song by the Steve Miller Band says, we are rapidly approaching what seemed to be a long way in the future only a few short months ago. Now here it is, time to think about carving the Thanksgiving turkey – only a week away when this is being written – and preparing for the winter holidays. To add to the havoc of the Holiday Season, planning must begin now for the Amherst Railway Society 2004 Big Railroad Hobby Show in February 2004. With it already mid-November, this leaves two and one half months before opening day on February 7, 2004.
Where has the time gone?
Normally by the time we are preparing for the Amherst Railway Society Show we have only attended two "outside" shows – this year we have made it to three!
The Pepperell Siding Model Railroad Club show changed months (September) and venues this year and seemed to be reasonably successful in doing so. The High School in Hollis, New Hampshire was an excellent location for the show, and was fairly easy to get to from all directions. All of the layouts and vendors were in the Gymnasium of the school, but an annex was available immediately adjacent to the gym that could also be used. Next year it is likely that the annex will be used, which can only mean bigger and better things for this show.
The newcomer this year was the Great American Train Show (GATS) in West Springfield in October. For their first appearance at this location, they seemed to do fairly well. The show was held in half the Better Living Center, although all the vendors and layouts combined probably only occupied a third of the BLC. Attendance on Saturday and Sunday was brisk, although no counts were provided to the participants. There were some new faces in the crowd as well as those who are well known. John Bock's Still River module made its return after having the main lines reset to 2" track centers. The Belt Lines did all it could to promote the February show, with Sudro making a killing with his sales pitch – he may just have a new calling in his leisure time!
The Bedford Boomer's show in Bedford, New Hampshire was as fantastic as ever. We mustered a decent layout, mostly from club modules, but the welcome additions of Still River, Proctorsville, Hampshire, Beryl and Westernport made for a fine display. Mary-Lynn Belforti, Jan Munsey and Kim Rice put together a fine dinner of chicken and chili for after setup on Saturday. We spent Saturday night operating on John Clemons' superb Rockland, Machias and Presque Isle Railroad. John uses Digitrax to control the layout, which was an experience for just about all of us. We got ourselves in to a few pickles while operating, but nothing that the crew couldn't figure out how to resolve.
We'd like to thank John Clemons for hosting the group at Bedford. Thanks also go to Steve and Mary-Lynn Belforti, John and Dana Bock, Sudro Brown, Sudro Brown II, Art Caferelli, Clark Huber, Dave and Tommy Kmetz, Abbot Lahti, Tom Lowry, Gary and Jan Munsey, Alan, Kim, William, Kaylee and Madison Rice, Stan Slowik, and Wes Warner for their efforts in making these shows a success.
By now we should all know the drill on this one – right? For anyone who has just joined us, or is reading about this show for the first time, let's go through some of the normal red tape.
The Amherst Railway Society, Inc., of which the Amherst Railway Society HO Scale Modular Layout (a.k.a. the Amherst Belt Lines) is a Special Interest Group (S.I.G.), produces what is probably the largest two-day railroad hobby show in the Northeast, if not the country. During this show, the Amherst Belt Lines produces its largest layout of the show season. We won't say that the layout is a record breaker, because it probably isn't, but we have produced layouts with over 15 scale miles of mainline running for this show. The show will be held from 9:00AM to 5:00PMon February 7 and 8, 2004 at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds in three buildings. Details of the show are available on the Amherst Railway Society's web page (www.amherstrail.org) so we won't repeat them here. Setup of the buildings will begin on Thursday, February 5 around noontime. Our goal this year is to have all of the modules in the building and on their feet by close of business on Thursday so that they can all be connected and leveled on Friday. This can only run smoothly with your help whether you have a module in the layout or not.
If you have a module (or modules) you would like to display in the Amherst Belt Lines layout, please contact Alan by not later than December 10, 2003. It is important that you notify Alan by this date, as we would like to have the layout plan finalized by the first of the year. A preliminary plan is in the works even now, but your input is needed to make it final. If you have previously notified him that you plan to participate with a module, please confirm your plans to attend with him by email, voicemail, telephone call, FAX or letter before December 10, 2003. If you know of someone who would like to participate with (or without) a module this year, or did last year and may not be on the mailing list, please let him or her know about this deadline so that they may participate in the show. If you have a NEW module (one that's never been in an ABEL layout), or a module that has had significant changes to track configuration, you must send Alan a track plan and the industry or siding information for that module. If you have a NEW module or have made significant electrical changes to your module(s), let Alan know so that we can make arrangements to inspect the module before the show. Unless one of the module coordinators or their designate waives the inspection, a NEW module will not be in this year's layout without the inspection. We will not repair modules at the show this year. If repairs are required, the owner will have until close of setup Thursday night to make these repairs or the module will be removed from the layout. We will install wiring harnesses that are supplied by the club if your module requires one. Please let us know before the show if you need a harness. Remember, we will not assume your module is coming to the show. If you want Alan to include your module in the layout, you MUST contact him by December 10, 2003!!
Our policy regarding module delivery is that all modules must be in the Better Living Center and on their feet on Thursday, February 5 by 11:00PM. If you are unable to get your modules to the show by this deadline, let Alan know when you sign up your module for the layout. Exceptions will be made to this rule only for exceptional circumstances. We have a large number of people involved in the setup of the layout on Friday and waiting for a module or module set to arrive is not good use of our time. Good planning can minimize the effects, but we must know ahead of time that a module or set will be late. If you have not arranged for the late arrival of your module the space will not be available when you arrive on Friday morning!
The Amherst Railway Society Show Committee has asked that anyone associated with the layout have an exhibitor badge provided by the Amherst Railway Society, Inc., and has asked that we provide a list of names to have on file at the show office. We did fairly well in honoring this request last year, but could do better. If you and/or your guests or family are planning to participate at the show with the Belt Lines, whether you will bring a module or not, you will need to provide Alan with this information by Friday, January 9, 2004. Parking passes for parking on the Fairgrounds property on Saturday and Sunday will be available at the layout on Friday on a first come / first served basis. Since the quantity of passes is limited, before asking for a pass please consider if you can make alternative arrangements for parking during the show.
Assuming we have a layout planned by the first of the year, we would like to have a pre-show meeting with all module owners and as many other operators as possible in mid-January. We will cover some of the above information, plus some additional items such as operating rules, special instructions, DCC regulation and much more. We will probably have pizza or some sort of munchies available. We will forward the details as they become available.
The Worcester Model Railroader's show will be held at the Auburn Elks Club in Auburn, Massachusetts. This is a one-day show that literally is only one day for the Belt Lines. Setup will start at around 7:00AM on Sunday morning and the doors open at 10:00AM. We have generally gotten trains running by the time the doors open, but it is always a challenge. If you are up for the challenge, please feel free to lend a hand. If you want to bring a module, space is limited so let Alan know right away!
That is all for this edition of the Modular Mumblings. Remember that the deadline for the February show is earlier this year…December 10!
Have a Happy "HO"liday Season!
Modular Railroading is FUN!
Sudro, Clark and Alan
Amherst Railway Society, Inc.
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