Milwaukee's Trainfest '07 has come and gone. The attendance both days seemed quite good although perhaps not at last year's 20,000 plus record breaking level. Most impressive was the fact that all age groups seemed well represented. Plenty of kids of course, they get in free, but also plenty of teens and late teens. Appropriate recognition was made of our veterans at 11 am on Sunday the 11th. There were also regular reports on the Packers/Vikings score, or perhaps I should just say, on the Packers score.
Unfortunately only a small handful of us showed up for the annual group photo. I assume Keith Schmidt will be posting it soon. Dana Kawala was kind enough to be our photographer. Thanks Dana.
A general impression -- the gap between the sale price of model trains and the list price seems to be growing. There were good deals to be had at Lombard Hobbies, Chicagoland, Sommerfelds, TAG, and others. I got the new Walthers HO catalog for $8 which is a good deal I think. My favoriate vendor, Toolman (from Dallas) was there and had the usual great tools you just don't see anywhere else (many of them rather scary looking medical tools) at 3 for $10.
In the manufacturers section, Accurail had Trainfest special runs of boxcars for Wis Central, C&NW, KGB&W, and Milwaukee Road hoppers. Thus I was able to get a 40' CNW boxcar that does not duplicate other numbers that I already have.
The Athearn MP15AC is a stunning looking model. If it had been in the case at Overland Models it would have looked perfectly at home. The MTH Erie Triplex was not running when I was at their booth but it looks impressive.
Bowser, Atlas, Kato, NWSL, and Walthers all showed some interesting things, many of which have already been announced. It was good to see Chooch and Lionel back at Trainfest again. Chooch announced a new cut stone wall product in resin that looks nice but they did not have any for sale yet. Unfortunately Monroe Models was not there, nor was Woodland Scenics or N Scale Architect. Sylvan was there, possibly for the first time. Caboose Industries was showing their wireless throttle in addition to the well known turnout throws.
This was my first opportunity to examine a Rapido passenger car up close. The details of the windows and underbody are very impressive, really extraordinary. Now I know where the money goes on those beauties. However I have to admit that the friendly lady at their booth was so pretty that I probably did not pay the attention to the passenger cars that I could and should have.
ConCor showed its UP M10000 and Aero Train models. They seem like smooth runners.
New to me was Cripplebush Valley. They make the rubber rock castings that MR used in the February issue on the MR &T. If you do rugged Western scenery you should definitely explore their line because they look absolutely ready to install. You can't believe they are soft rubber they look so much like rock.
And I had a good chance to chat at some length with Dave from Unreal Details who makes and sells the Magic Water product. He gave me good tips and I look forward to showing him the results of my upcoming "pour."
Depots by John has some neat looking new products. Unfortunately some of them are N only, and will not have HO versions. The Radtke filling station in N looks great.
http://www.depotsbyjohn.com/
I was hoping someone would be showing and demonstrating the Noch static electricity grass thingy but --- no such luck.
But Hunter Scenery http://www.huntersceneryco.com/ was a new name to me and their forest floor ground cover looks great. I bought a package and it is exactly what I am looking for.
Model Tech Studies http://www.modeltechstudios,com/ was another new name to me. Their structures look like real showpieces. Speaking of showpieces the HO brass truss bridge offered by BLMA is exquisite. Their literature also shows it in N. They have lots of detail parts and small structures as well. I was also impressed by the structure kits, I assume laser cut kits, from Mountaineer Precision Products.
I felt a little sorry for a German couple that showed some intriguing scenery product but their trees were not for sale and at this time they have no American distribution.
One of the midwest's finest modelers and custom painters, Matt Gaudynski, who had been with Intermountain for a time, is back with Des Plaines Hobbies but now also has his own line of (mostly N) kits under the Fox Valley Models name, including a Milwaukee Road transfer caboose, evidently in brass, that has to be seen to be believed. His website shows them unpainted but painted they are little jewels of detail. http://www.foxvalleymodels.com/
The real story of Trainfest of course is the many operating layouts and modeling demonstrations and I got dozens of great ideas just by looking around. So that is my report. I would never reveal what I spent -- my wife has internet access too you know -- but I was looking at layouts and talking to people and, yeah, shopping for 15 hours over two days.
Dave Nelson
Nice report! Is the meet mainly of new items, or are there a lot of old/swap items? Just wondering... I may fly home for it next year (I am from Green Bay and often come home with the family to visit my parents and sister)....
Brian
ShadowNix wrote: Nice report! Is the meet mainly of new items, or are there a lot of old/swap items? Just wondering... I may fly home for it next year (I am from Green Bay and often come home with the family to visit my parents and sister)....Brian
John Tews, who runs Trainfest with the NMRA's WISE Division, has always been adamant that Trainfest is NOT a swap meet. There is very little used material for sale other than some collectible Lionel, and not much of that. It is primarily to be a showcase for the hobby with operating layouts. The dealers and manufacturers help pay the freight but the primary purpose is and has been to let the public see model and toy trains in operation. The manufacturers often emphasize new items but not exclusively.
As to clinics, a few manufacturers do demonstrations (Woodland Scenics always does a nice job of showing how to use their products but they were not there this year for some reason). There is a table reserved for demonstrations so you could watch guys doing simple scenery or kit building or track laying or simple operating. Of course if you live in the area the normal WISE Division monthly meets feature clinics. Many of them are just railfan slide shows but there are typically clinics on modeling as well. I am preparing one on ballasting track for example.
Not to mention Factory Direct Trains's Trackmobile. It looked really nice, and it ran very well.
Phil
Thanks for the report Dave, especially on Cripplebush Valley molds and Hunterscenery ground cover, the picture on the website is not very good of the forest ground cover, does it look really good? (hint picture)
Well I am a ways away from using the forest ground cover product to take a picture of it for you but the key features to me are that the color is right, and the texture seems rough enough without being grossly out of scale as can happen if you try to make your own ground cover using an old blender.
I am not surprised that it does not photograph well and perhaps when i install it it won't photograph well on my layout either. When you think about "duff" (no, not Homer Simpson's favorite beer but the rough texture found on forest floors and under trees) the impression from a height is uniformity but close up you see the old pine needles, rotted sticks, mulched leaves and all the other things that over time gradually become dirt but are not yet dirt and all have different colors and textures. The trick is to capture the roughness of the texture yet keep in mind what the stuff would look like if held in an HO (or insert your scale here) scale human hand, seen from a hundred or more feet away. An HO pine needle is an incredibly tiny thing after all.
True HO scale duff might look great in a photograph but would probably look too smooth to us in real life so in a sense you have to make it oversize to make it clear what it is. Not selective compression, but selective expansion.
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
MilwaukeeRoad wrote:If I was informed there was a picture, I would have gladly been in the photo.
Sorry! I posted info in every Forum on this site: toy trains, garden, trains, models. We would have loved to see you and have you join us.
Keith posted the photo at the end of this string
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1240333/ShowPost.aspx
I forgot the name of the fifth guy though, darn. Call it out friend!
I'm the fifth guy, lurking in the back row.
I hope you all made your way over to The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Transit Historical Society display to see some samples of interurban and streetcar artifacts, maps, photos, and our nicely detailed O scale operating trolley layout.
Yep that is mark trying not to be blinded by Keats' shirt. I am the guy holding the sign. Keith Schmidt at far left forgot to wear his Trains.com t-shirt. Lord Atmo at far right is looking dubious about the entire event. And again, the photo was taken by Dana Kawala of the MR staff.