So whats new at the convention ?

[up1950s]

Anybody know of anything ground shaking from the convention ?

[POVC]

Nothing much yet so far...expect some announcements and news after teh Swap-O-Rama tomorrow.

Layout is still a work in progress,  Some local running, but thee Red Line isn't operational yet.

Tim Nixon

[up1950s]

Thanks Tim , if you hear of anything please share it with us shut ins .

[atsf_arizona]

I've posted my Thursday photos from the 2008 NSC and National N Scale Convention.

For me, the day was action-packed full from morning to night.  Meeting great people.  Having my mind expanded every minute.   Bob Knight's (TrainCat) clinic on building brass kits blew up my mind (that's good) on what is possible.  Great contest entries.   NTrak layout is being built, 700 modules worth.  Room Sales superb for visiting and socializing.  Visited with Charles Hopkins and saw his latest custom loco painting.   The pictures above represent sample of all of these and more:

http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/national_n_scale_convention_2008_thur_june_26&page=all

And I have also uploaded these to Paul Down's collective web site of photos
of this convention, again, that URL where you can see photos from *many* attendees.
This is great because my photos only represent one small cross section of all
that is happening.  See that web site at:

http://gallery.mac.com/pauljdowns#100126

Enjoy!

[jmlaboda]

Did anyone see the new N.J. International Over-the-road crossing signals?  Got the email about them today and the shots look fairly good.  Sure to make some modern modelers happy (I know that I would be if it were six-months ago or so instead of now).


[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[mmyers]

Nothing much yet so far...expect some announcements and news after teh Swap-O-Rama tomorrow.

Layout is still a work in progress,  Some local running, but thee Red Line isn't operational yet.

Tim Nixon

Red line went operational (again) at 4:00 Saturday. Our own Eric Payne was first runner to make the complete trip around. 3 1/2 hours with no traffic in the way.

Come on 5:00.

Martin

[atsf_arizona]

Posted Saturday pictures at:

n_scale_convention_2008_saturday Photo Gallery by atsf_arizona at pbase.com

As far as announcements, in the above pictures, you'll see that:

- Athearn is displaying pre-prod models of their N scale FP45 and F45
- PCM showed real pre-prod models of their PA1, so apparently project is moving forward
- Walthers / Lifelike had pre-production sample of Y3 2-8-8-2 running, sounds pretty good to me!

I'm sure there are many others, but these are a few that caught my eye.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Thats awssome.... you could have listed all three anouncments years ago. I guess the ecconomic down turn has played out in the hobby too.

[FrankCampagna]

- PCM showed real pre-prod models of their PA1, so apparently project is moving forward

That should surprise a lot of people.

Frank

[Ryan87]

- PCM showed real pre-prod models of their PA1, so apparently project is moving forward

That should surprise a lot of people.
Frank

did they have a Mission Accomplished banner

[Bob Bufkin]

PA's I got.  Wonder is they are using Alco sounds in it?  I still want some steam from them!!

[Mark5]

- PCM showed real pre-prod models of their PA1, so apparently project is moving forward

Rumour is that they are custom painted Lifelike models ...

[Ryan87]

- PCM showed real pre-prod models of their PA1, so apparently project is moving forward

Rumour is that they are custom painted Lifelike models ...

they are new models, apparently the E8, Pa's and another yet to be announced diesel are ready for production but PCM wont release them (the whole pre-order thing)

[3rdrail]

Some good news, some bad news... Cornered Lee English of Bowser and he absolutely refuses to make N scale steam. Claims he would have to start from scratch and build new tooling for every part. Too great an expense for the risk. Athearn had the F45's and FP45's there and they are heavy - should pull paint off the wall. MTL will do heavyweight passenger cars, but they will only be available in sets - they just lost any possibility of selling me some there. DeLuxe Innovations will have 8 ft. doors for the 1944 boxcar in both Youngstown & Superior and 6 ft Superior doors as well. There have been design issues with the spine cars but they were resolved so look for some by year's end.  Had a nice chat with Lee Riley of Bachmann, who astonished me by talking production and tooling costs. He finally found a motor for the N Decapod and Ten-Wheeler, but the price is $40 per motor and the production rate is ten times too slow. Those two models are finally officially dead.  Jim Conway was there, but no one from InterMountain.

I'll start a separate topic about production costs and modeler input when I get home. Oh, I could have killed Athearn and McHenry! At the breakfast this morning they announced that convention attendees could get a free pair of McHenry couplers by stopping by the booth. He wasn't giving any away Saturday,dammit, and I had to hit the road!!

Now the funny part. As you probably know, Wick Brandon started the N Scale Collector with the help of Micro-Trains and Eric Smith is an active participant and sponsor. NSC puts out a slick magazine 6 times annually and the editor was swamped at his real job and quit. Guess who now edits the mag about collecting MTL cars?? None other than Paul Graf of Atlas! Now ain't that rich??

[wm3798]

Talk about the wolf in the hen house!  Secretly Paul is lobbying MT to keep producing Popsicle cars and pizza cutters so that Atlas can supersede them as the"Cadillac of N scale"...

Lee