N Scale Enthusiast National N Scale Convention

[NSEGeorge]

Hey Everybody!

Dick finally recovered from the convention and caught up with the webwork on the NSE site. The Convention photos are all posted now, and ready for you to experience.

Now, we might have gone overboard, as it takes nearly as long to watch all of the videos with photos as it did to attend the convention, but we didn't want to leave any one or any thing out, so sit back, grab some popcorn, and see what its all about.

www.nscaleenthusiast.com

Continuing our continental US rotation, next year is in the West- Salt Lake City- and we go to the middle after that (2019), and then back to the East in 2020. Ntrak has been terrific in providing layouts in Ttrak and Ntrak formats, and we invite any other portable, modular, or shelf layout groups to participate as well.

Hope to see you at the next one-

NSE George

[NSEGeorge]

there was an error in the upload of the layout video that included a fairly long section of time where the train picked a switch and was getting rerailed. Sorry.

that has been corrected, and now the upload is complete!

Enjoy!

NSE George

[Nick Lorusso]

Great coverage George. Hope to be in SLC.

[Jbub]

Continuing our continental US rotation, next year is in the West- Salt Lake City- and we go to the middle after that (2019), and then back to the East in 2020. Ntrak has been terrific in providing layouts in Ttrak and Ntrak formats, and we invite any other portable, modular, or shelf layout groups to participate as well.

George,

The club that I participate in is interested in displaying our layout at the show next summer. Who do we contact to set that up?

Thanks

Jason

[NSEGeorge]

Jason-

Bruce Alcock at Ntrak is coordinating the modular layouts in Salt Lake City, and Dick Ollendorf with Skip Hayes is coordinating the room.

contact dick@nscaleenthusiast.com and copy me george@nscaleenthusiast.com.

[Nato]

                    :|The "Wasatch N Scale" Club http://www.wasatchnscale.org has already been in contact with the Utah Member who is connecting with George and Dick and we will have our modular layout there, space permitting. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[Mike Madonna]

George,

What are the prospects regarding "Home Layout" tours in Salt Lake??

They were sorely missed in Pittsburgh.

Thanks!

[NSEGeorge]

All-

 It was weird in Pittsburgh, we never seemed to connect with more than the ones that we had, and we KNOW they were out there, but even the local hobby shops didn't have any luck getting us access.

In Salt Lake we are working with all available resources to get the best selection that we can, and the prospects appear to be much better than this year, but we can always use more. Any leads given will be pursued. What people sometimes don't understand is that we want to see layouts in all stages of completion as long as they have something interesting to see. We've stopped at places with operating tracks, and it is cool to see the construction details. we have also gone to places that are completed, and it is cool to see them too.

Question- how far are you willing to ride a bus to see a layout? Do you like looking at scales other than N? Those answers set our search radius.

NSE George

[C855B]

... Question- how far are you willing to ride a bus to see a layout? Do you like looking at scales other than N? Those answers set our search radius. ...

Here are my thoughts, from a RR historical society convention a couple of weekends ago - name withheld to protect the guilty :

• Bus-fulls are a difficult lift for nearly all home layouts. Could you deal with 30-40 showing-up on your doorstep at the same time? Didn't think so. Self-paced with maps and carpooling work better.
• It's not distance, it's time. More than a half hour on a bus is not a lot of fun.
• Don't discount the empty/fill/wait time for buses. These eat into the available tour time.
• Some locations can't handle a bus. We had one venue with several scary moments as the driver tried to maneuver in and out of a busy street from a stub-ended parking area where it was not possible to turn around.
• We had one bus that blew a tire en route. Two hours to fix. 50 people lost the opportunity to tour, and had to gobble down lunch on the bus, barely missing not getting lunch at all.
• Bus or self-guided, consider local driving conditions in layout selection. We had one gorgeous layout that was ostensibly only a half-hour away and close to the freeway. It took us 90 minutes to get back to the meeting center due to congestion... on a Saturday.

Scales other than N? Personally, in that case I'd only want to see finished work, or nearly so, as examples of the end game. Not to bait an argument here, but IMO N scalers tend to be more innovative with construction techniques, so works in progress would be more appreciated within the genre.

YMMV, and FWIW, as always.

[Jbub]

Having lived in the area my whole life here are a few thoughts about traveling along the Wasatch Front.

The metro area is about 100 miles from north to south and about 20 miles at the widest. Some areas are maybe a mile wide from lake to mountain. 

There are 4 counties with different population centers. Salt Lake County is the largest population wise and evenly spread out, Utah County (Provo/Orem area) is the next in size about 40 miles from Salt Lake, Weber County (Ogden) is the third in size and furthest north at 30 miles from Salt Lake and Davis county being the smallest population wise being very narrow between the lake and mountains and between Ogden and Salt Lake.

There is only one freeway from north to south over the entire distance and there is a belt route in Salt Lake County that covers mostly the middle of the county.
Even with limited freeway availability traffic is fairly smooth and quick except for rush hour from 4-6:30 on the weekdays. I live 6 miles north of Salt lake and can get to any place along the Wasatch front pretty much withing an hour.

The entire area is grid based roads with a few exceptions, so finding your way around is fairly simple. Most streets are numbered and those with names generally have a number that goes along with it. Salt Lake Country is the easiest being based off of Salt Lake address system. Basically it's 2100 North (UP Yard) down to 15000 South at the county line. All other cities have their own address system outside of Salt Lake county.

I believe the South Town convention center is where the convention is being held and that is almost smack dab in the middle of everything and there is a light rail stop there providing easy access to it from almost anywhere is Salt Lake.

There is also a commuter rail system that goes from Provo to Ogden. The Ogden station is where the Utah Rail Museum is and houses a 4-8-4, Centennial and Big Blow turbine (one of the prototypes Scale trains visited for their model) among other things.

Over all, I feel that the area is really easy to get around versus other metro area I've visited. Plus with google maps or the iPhone equivalent, car pooling would be a great option in my opinion.

If anyone has questions about the area just pm me even though this is a year away.

Jason