Rutland Train Show
This past weekend, Sheila and I headed down to Rutland for a small train show. We've been attending this show since the first show seven years ago. Each September, we find it is a nice excuse for a relatively short day trip.
It was nice to get out of town for a short while after weeks of significant health problems for me. Sheila and I seem to take turns with poor health. This past month was my turn, apparently, so it was nice to get out of town if even for a short day trip.
The weather was quite nice although we did encounter a few sprinkles on the way down to Rutland. The autumn colors are barely visible in our neck of the woods and not yet all that crisp anywhere nearby but we did encounter some color once we approached Killington right outside of Rutland. Driving through the northeast is always nice this time of year... the air is cooler and the landscape is in a stage of transition with colors beginning to uniquely enhance the appearance of each type of tree.
We headed directly to the show location first which was at the Holiday Inn this year. This train show is so small that we are usually in and out of there within 30-45 minutes. This year's show was mostly HO scale stuff and that is the scale which interests me the least so it was a bit boring and a bit of a disappointment for me. I'm always on the lookout for a nice new model but none were to be found this year.
The one year that I went to this show with absolutely no money in my pocket, I came across a nice Fn3 scale train set (very big trains) for less than $50! I quickly asked the vendor to hold the set while I went hunting for an ATM to get some cash. I returned within minutes and paid the gentleman his money and we headed home with a trunk full of narrow gauge F scale trains and track. That was a great show! This year, however, nothing caught my eye.
There are always a couple of operating layouts at this show. This year, the Amherst Railway Society was there with one of their smaller arrangements of layout. These layouts are built in sections called modules. Each module is typically two feet deep by four feet long. There are corner modules as well. They arrange the modules into a large rectangular shape. This particular club, the Amherst Railway Society, models in HO scale... but I don't hold that against them!
Actually, the Amherst Railway Society is the club that hosts the largest show in the US every January. We attend that amazing and gigantic show every year and it has become a big social event for us with a number of close friends. We spend the entire weekend there. This year, the grandchildren will be attending the show too and they are excited about it!
The funny thing is, everyone tends to go their own way at the show. The socializing occurs before and after the show on each of the days. We visit various restaurants and the hotel has a decent family-friendly lounge area with a bar. So a lot of socializing is done here, in the pool and even in one of the rooms. Wow... I'm really looking forward to this year's show!
After we left the show in Rutland this weekend, we headed to Hobby Lobby (right up the road from the show) to get a start on some Christmas shopping. Since Christmas is probably the only holiday that I actually celebrate and feel any different than the rest of the year, anything having to do with Christmas is fine by me anytime of year. We then headed to a pretty good pizza place for lunch. We each got two slices of various flavors of pizza. Finding good pizza (NY style) in Vermont is a rarity so this was a very welcomed and tasty find.
Then we went around the block to Rutland Beer Works to purchase some "Hide and Seek" beer. We stumbled upon this beer at Hannaford's near home one day a month or so ago. It is a summery lighter ale with a crisp fruity base. It also has a low alcohol content which suits us just fine too. This beer has quickly become my favorite beer. Making this two hour journey to Rutland is tough if only for beer though so we made sure we visited their brewery while we were down there for the train show. (We'll have to find another reason to head down that way again soon!)
After our beer purchase, we headed back toward home. We took a short 20 minute detour after Sheila misunderstood the GPS directions but the weather was nice and spending an extra 20 minutes together wasn't such a bad thing anyway.
It was nice to get out of town for a short while after weeks of significant health problems for me. Sheila and I seem to take turns with poor health. This past month was my turn, apparently, so it was nice to get out of town if even for a short day trip.
The weather was quite nice although we did encounter a few sprinkles on the way down to Rutland. The autumn colors are barely visible in our neck of the woods and not yet all that crisp anywhere nearby but we did encounter some color once we approached Killington right outside of Rutland. Driving through the northeast is always nice this time of year... the air is cooler and the landscape is in a stage of transition with colors beginning to uniquely enhance the appearance of each type of tree.
We headed directly to the show location first which was at the Holiday Inn this year. This train show is so small that we are usually in and out of there within 30-45 minutes. This year's show was mostly HO scale stuff and that is the scale which interests me the least so it was a bit boring and a bit of a disappointment for me. I'm always on the lookout for a nice new model but none were to be found this year.
The one year that I went to this show with absolutely no money in my pocket, I came across a nice Fn3 scale train set (very big trains) for less than $50! I quickly asked the vendor to hold the set while I went hunting for an ATM to get some cash. I returned within minutes and paid the gentleman his money and we headed home with a trunk full of narrow gauge F scale trains and track. That was a great show! This year, however, nothing caught my eye.
There are always a couple of operating layouts at this show. This year, the Amherst Railway Society was there with one of their smaller arrangements of layout. These layouts are built in sections called modules. Each module is typically two feet deep by four feet long. There are corner modules as well. They arrange the modules into a large rectangular shape. This particular club, the Amherst Railway Society, models in HO scale... but I don't hold that against them!
Actually, the Amherst Railway Society is the club that hosts the largest show in the US every January. We attend that amazing and gigantic show every year and it has become a big social event for us with a number of close friends. We spend the entire weekend there. This year, the grandchildren will be attending the show too and they are excited about it!
The funny thing is, everyone tends to go their own way at the show. The socializing occurs before and after the show on each of the days. We visit various restaurants and the hotel has a decent family-friendly lounge area with a bar. So a lot of socializing is done here, in the pool and even in one of the rooms. Wow... I'm really looking forward to this year's show!
After we left the show in Rutland this weekend, we headed to Hobby Lobby (right up the road from the show) to get a start on some Christmas shopping. Since Christmas is probably the only holiday that I actually celebrate and feel any different than the rest of the year, anything having to do with Christmas is fine by me anytime of year. We then headed to a pretty good pizza place for lunch. We each got two slices of various flavors of pizza. Finding good pizza (NY style) in Vermont is a rarity so this was a very welcomed and tasty find.
Then we went around the block to Rutland Beer Works to purchase some "Hide and Seek" beer. We stumbled upon this beer at Hannaford's near home one day a month or so ago. It is a summery lighter ale with a crisp fruity base. It also has a low alcohol content which suits us just fine too. This beer has quickly become my favorite beer. Making this two hour journey to Rutland is tough if only for beer though so we made sure we visited their brewery while we were down there for the train show. (We'll have to find another reason to head down that way again soon!)
After our beer purchase, we headed back toward home. We took a short 20 minute detour after Sheila misunderstood the GPS directions but the weather was nice and spending an extra 20 minutes together wasn't such a bad thing anyway.
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