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 p...

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...

Late last night, I realized that I hadn't shared any photos of the train show yet so I went looking for all the photos I shot while we were in Springfield back in January. It just so happens that I shot a lot of photos this year and I even shot quite a bit of video! For now, I'll share a bunch of photos. When I have some time, I'll put together a few different videos by topic.   Even though we are at a show inside buildings and spread out over eight acres, Sheila always manages to find a bit of sunshine at the show... We ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel every morning... I'd eat there far too often if we had one near home! This early in the morning, we were often seated opposite the big stone fireplace... At the Big-E, making our way from the car to the show... Waiting in line for the doors to open... we arrived a bit too early on one of the mornings... fortunately, it was unseasonably warm this particular weekend... Sheila wanted photo...