Trainfest 2006 - TRAINS.Com Forum Gathering

[kschmidt]

    Greetings,

    Well with this writing Trainfest 2006 will be in the history books, and history it might make.  According to announced attendance on Sunday morning,  attendance on Saturday November 11th set a new record with over 13,000 people attending.  The weather was cold but, clear.  The last couple of years Trainfest had been experiencing warmer weather with sun.  So this could be a record setting year for attendance. 

    Also the TRAINS.com forum gathering set a new record.  We had 10 people attend the 2nd Annual event.  This one was held at 12noon at the Kalmbach booth.  Below is the photo that was taken by Kalmbach staffer Mary Graf to record the event. 



Here is the list characters - from left to right
Back Row - Phillip(wgnrr); John(jwinter);Dave(dknelson);Joe(MP36phan);Jim(zardoz)
Front Row - Ed(damilwbeernut); Max(lordatmo); Mike(techguy57); Keith(kschmidt626);Chris(gluefinger)

We just missed Noah Hofrichter by about 10 minutes, but it was great to get a chance to meet and talk with Noah at the Milwaukee N Southeastern Club booth. 

Also if you notice Chris(gluefinger) is not smiling.  Chris forgot his signature fedora, but Mary Graf from TRAINS was nice enough to give him an engineers hat to wear for the picture. 

Trainfest 2006 was alot of fun, but alot work.  Thanks for everyone that makes its possible.  Also a couple of announcements from Trainfest 2006.

Athearn had some first test runs of N-scale F45 and FP45's with and with dynamc braking
Athearn also had the Challengers there, they looked VERY NICE.
Atlas had some of the N-scale GP38's including the WSOR ones, LOOKING GOOD. 

I figured I would leave you with this shot,  could this be your X-ray ???



Keith

[rvos1979]

Nuts, I just missed you guys by a few feet, too!!

Was talking with Brad Kowal at the time, we were trading war stories about the railroads we worked for, was good to meet him.

About the WSOR GP38--I do believe the roof is off, I peeked under the hood once when I worked for the WSOR, 3807 has a four stack manifold instead of the standard two stack arrangement.  Other than that, a VERY nice model!!

[techguy57]

Just wanted to say it was great to meet you all and finally put faces with names.  As always, Trainfest was wonderful and I had a great time.   I'm ready for next year's Trainfest already.

Mike

[Lord Atmo]

hey there i am holding up my first HO CNWs! it was a big moment for me honestly. my first 6-axles! my layout is coming into vision!

it was nice meeting you guys, count me in again next year!

[zardoz]

Gee, I didn't realize I was so bald!!!  Maybe I should have worn one of those spiffy hats like Chris is wearing.....

 

I was nice meeting all of you.  Shall we consider ourselves the "Terrific Ten"?

[blhanel]

You're not nearly as bald as some of us are, Jim.

[Lord Atmo]

Gee, I didn't realize I was so bald!!!  Maybe I should have worn one of those spiffy hats like Chris is wearing.....

 

I was nice meeting all of you.  Shall we consider ourselves the "Terrific Ten"?

sounds like a plan! and by the way, i moved back 6 more feet now to watch trains. i'm heeding your warning!

[da Milwaukee beerNut]

Perhaps a noon summit for 2007 without snow - add Vos and a few others.
Great to meet and to match faces with the names - wonder what the Anti-Gates really looks like ??? Could be scary!

November 10 & 11th - 2007 - Here we come!

[da Milwaukee beerNut]

Chris K looks like a bishop who escaped from a radical chess set!

[Mookie]

I think it looks like a group of nice people from our forum!  Would like to meet you all in person if you are ever out this way! 

Mookie

[zardoz]

Chris K looks like a bishop who escaped from a radical chess set!

Yeah, like something from Alice In Wonderland.

[CShaveRR]

And you, Jim, look younger than you should!  I guess railroading for too long ages one.

This group was completely exclusive of anybody who went to Mookiefest in October.  Wouldn't it be neat to get Kalmbach to host a combined gathering somewhere like Galesburg or Rochelle!  Or Lincoln!  Or Chicagoland!

[Markgro]

Well with this writing Trainfest 2006 will be in the history books, and history it might make.  According to announced attendance on Sunday morning,  attendance on Saturday November 11th set a new record with over 13,000 people attending.  The weather was cold but, clear.  The last couple of years Trainfest had been experiencing warmer weather with sun.  So this could be a record setting year for attendance. 

Trainfest 2006 indeed did set a new attendance record. After the show ended on Sunday evening, an announcement was made declaring an attendance figure of over 20,000 people--the highest total in Trainfest's 35-year history!

[bnsfncoal]

I missed you guy's by about 20 minutes...The food line was nuts!!! Did anyone see the drive-in theater n-track corner module? I thought it looked really good. A pretty clever idea.
Hope to catch you guy's next year and please don't drop 16.5" of snow again....that wasn't very funny.


Guy

[kschmidt]

    Greetings,

    It was great to meet everyone at the 2nd TRAINS.com Forum Gathering, I like the "Terrific Ten".  That is great news about Trainfest attendance.  The last couple of years the show had been battling nice weather outside.  We did notice at our N-scale club booth that the aisles were pretty crowded on Saturday, even with the aisles being pretty wide, it was like being back in the old exhibit halls.  Also Friday night Thundersnow storm was quite interesting to watch as we were eating beef tips over noodles.

    Another announcement from Trainfest - Jerry's Bay View Hobby Shop will be closing.  Those from Milwaukee know this hobby shop to be a real gem.  Jerry has been at the Kinnickinnic Ave location for 30 years, plus he worked 20 years at Casanova's running there train department.  Jerry will be turning 70 in 2007 so he decided to pull the plug.  The hobby shop will be closing in March 2007(I believe).  If you get a chance to stop in and see Jerry wish him well.  This was his last Trainfest. 

    Trainfest 2007 3rd Annual TRAINS.com Forum gathering,  Bigger and Better than 2006.  One can never plan to early.    A  Noon Summit without the snowstorm,  just never know in Milwaukee in November.  It was also interesting that November 10th is the day that the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk, maybe in a storm similar to what blew threw on November 10, 2006. 

    Till next year,

    Keith Schmidt

[zardoz]

    

    Another announcement from Trainfest - Jerry's Bay View Hobby Shop will be closing.  Those from Milwaukee know this hobby shop to be a real gem.  Jerry has been at the Kinnickinnic Ave location for 30 years, plus he worked 20 years at Casanova's running there train department.  Jerry will be turning 70 in 2007 so he decided to pull the plug.  The hobby shop will be closing in March 2007(I believe).  If you get a chance to stop in and see Jerry wish him well.  This was his last Trainfest. 

Casanova's!  Wow, does that name bring back memories!  If I recall correctly, that place had a HUGE model railroad department; at least it seemed that way to a 16-year-old.  Too bad about Jerry's closing, but after 50 years I suppose it's time to tie- up.

[Mookie]

And you, Jim, look younger than you should!  I guess railroading for too long ages one.

This group was completely exclusive of anybody who went to Mookiefest in October.  Wouldn't it be neat to get Kalmbach to host a combined gathering somewhere like Galesburg or Rochelle!  Or Lincoln!  Or Chicagoland!

Or Paris or London or.....

[dknelson]

It was great meeting all of you folks at the Kalmbach booth on Saturday.  Sorry that a few of you couldn't make it but we will shoot for an even bigger and better group photo next year.  It was fun to see the worried looks on the faces of the Kalmbach folks as our group more or less squeezed out the rest of the public at photo time. 

As fas as a second meeting location more convenient to some of you  .... well there is Rochelle.  Galesburg has a great train show and maybe Kalmbach should be encouraged to take their booth there.   We'll drop polite hints in Bergie's ear.  And now we learn that he was in Peoria for the weekend rather than partying with us!

We in Milwaukee will be sorry to see Jerry retire.  His shop is small but packed with stuff and as those of you who go to Trainfest know, sometimes he has in inventory stuff that has not been available for years

Memories of Casanova's hobby shop.  I first went there probably around 1959.   To get to the train department you had to walk through the gun, knife, hunting, and sporting goods departments.  They had a rack with "men's magazines" -- not like Playboy but lurid covers from Argosy etc --- heady stuff for a 12 year old.   And that was back in the day when hobby shops had shelves of brass locomotives in stock to sell.   There was something pleasantly dingy about Casanovas.

Dave Nelson