Scattered Thoughts . . .

Okay, this blog entry should be the end of video clips from the train show in January. I had a lot of clips to put together! Fortunately, I was able to split them up into four separate videos so they are a bit more tolerable to watch. This video was put together with just a few clips of Maggie the Clown doing her show...  The kids always seem to enjoy her and she seems to enjoy interacting with the kids throughout the entire weekend!

When we went to the Amherst Railway Society's train show this past January, I had planned to shoot a lot of photos and a lot of video. We had nobody there with us this year so there was very little socializing to do. Well...  there was indeed some socializing done in the hotel bar at night but there was very little socializing at the show. I figured I had time and energy for both photos and video at the show. I always shoot a lot of photos but, since there would be very little socializing time, I decided to focus on getting enough video clips to put together a loonnngggg video of the various operating model railroads at the show.  Sheila, at the show Most of my photography gear is rather lightweight now. I traded in some older, heavier gear for newer, lighter and better gear. This year I walked around with one little camera body set up for video and another relatively small camera body set up for still photos. Then I had an extra lens and a bunch of batteries. It was pretty

My model of a Porter steam locomotive. One of the many attractions at the Amherst Railway Society's annual train show has been an operating steam locomotive running on 100 feet of track. This particular locomotive has made the journey from Maine to Massachusetts for the train show the past two years and it has been a really nice addition to this huge show. The Boothbay Railway Village loads their Edaville #11 Porter steam locomotive on a big truck along with 100 feet of track and makes the journey to Springfield, MA just for this incredible train show. I'm sure it is a lot of work but many of us at the show appreciate all their hard work to make this happen. All the kids at the show had an opportunity to learn about steam locomotives as the engineer showed them around the cab. They were able to pull the deafening whistle, ring the bell and even peer into the red-hot firebox. This is a great opportunity for everyone, especially kids, to learn a little bit about these st

There were a lot of great operating model railroad layouts at this year's show. I think there were over 50 layouts this year and that didn't include all the hands-on layouts for the kids to play. I put together a very short video of the "Best In Show" layout modules at this year's Amherst Railway Society's Train Show. I have to say that this particular layout was quite impressive and even evoked an "oh wow..." when I first approached it!  The layout was built by the 'Four County Society of Model Engineers' from Central Maryland. This layout was highly detailed with great lighting and I feel both of those points should be mentioned here. Beyond the exceptional detail, what I found exceptionally impressive was the realistic, cohesive color scheme used throughout the entire layout. The color of this model world was consistent and about as realistic as I've ever seen in a model railroad. The consistency from module to module was key t

It's that time of year again. This is when we head south for our annual train show at the largest train show in the United States.  A few other train shows around the country erroneously  claim to be the largest train show but, when we check the facts, none even come close to this show. This is a show we look forward to all year long.  Unfortunately, I am still exhausted from our past six months of hospital visits followed by a very eventful holiday season. Sheila is understandably exhausted too. She's having difficulty with this latest cancer treatment plan so far and it is cutting into her sleep significantly. Hopefully things will ease up soon since she has ten years of this last stage of cancer treatment. Regardless, we're both looking forward to getting out of town and strolling around the largest train show in the country.  There really isn't anything on my "wish list" for purchases this year so we don't need to attempt to see the entire sho

After our breakfast at The Cracker Barrel and buying a few gifts in the gift shop, we headed across the river to the Big E for the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show.  This is an awesome annual event. Not only are there eight acres jam-packed with train stuff, train vendors, and more than 50 operating layouts but it is a very worthwhile benefit fundraiser. The proceeds of this show go toward a children's hospital, railroad museums, and historical railroads in the form of grants. This year, a little over 23,000 people wandered around the 350,000 square feet of show over the course of the weekend.  My weekend was cut very short due to spinal pain. Subsequently, Sheila and I only spent two hours at the show each day. My spinal pain was brutal and the only relief was to get back to the hotel and get off my feet. On the positive side, this allowed me to take in a college basketball game I would have otherwise missed! We really missed quite a bit at the show though.

Every year, the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show starts with a rather high-pitched steam whistle blowing in the distance when the doors open. This year, the steam whistle was from a real, life-sized narrow gauge steam locomotive! We parked in a sea of cars and then started our trek toward the four huge buildings housing this immense train show. Typically, this can be a brutal, bone-chilling walk but, c ompared to our weather in Vermont, the weather in Springfield this year was quite mild in the upper 30's which allowed us to dress relatively lightly. This makes a tremendous difference while walking around indoors all day long.   Between the four buildings showcasing this train show, Boothbay Railway of Maine, set up some temporary narrow gauge tracks and one of their steam locomotives. Throughout the show, we would hear this locomotive's steam whistle blowing... we could even hear this whistle blowing while at our hotel a couple of miles away... boy, that

Making our way to the door of the Big E for the train show... This past weekend we attended the Amherst Railway Society's 2016 Train Show... and, as always, it was a great weekend! I love model railroading but this weekend is about two things... Obviously, first and foremost, it's about model railroading but it is also a big social event. We've been attending this show long enough that we've established some 'tradition' for this busy weekend. We all arrive the day before the show begins, congregating in the hotel's lounge for dinner and drinks. We attend the show on Saturday the moment the gates open, spend the day perusing all the show has to offer and looking for good deals on trains, and then we all go to dinner at a German Festhaus. Relatively speaking, Sunday has become a rather peaceful day of meandering around the 8 acres of model railroading show. This year, Sheila and I arrived in Springfield Friday morning and spent the afternoon shopp