Worlds Greatest Hobby Show – January 2012

Once every five years the World’s Greatest Hobby Show ascends on Utah. This years show featured displays from many manufacturers and regional vendors.

Layouts from the WGH Show
There were quite a few great displays of local modular layouts at the show. Including the Utah Free Mo group which is featured in the first to photos. Mike Nelson (top left photo) is a member of the USRM and gave a very interesting clinic about Free Mo modeling.

Treasures from the show
I can’t seem to go to a railroad show with out buying something. This show was no different. I found a three car set of Western Maryland box cars that I could not resist. I had been searching for the “speed lettering” car (Upper left photo) for a long time. The other WM cars were a bonus.

The USRM at the show
The Utah Society of Railroad Modelers had a booth at the show for recruiting new members. We were able to sign up 21 new members to the NMRA. Below are the business cards that I designed to hand out to people interested in joining our club.

Wasatch Rails 2011 – November 2011

The First Show of the Model Railroad Season
The leaves have fallen from the trees and the temperatures are dropping, but you really know it’s fall when the announcements for model railroad shows start to appear. The first show of the season is the Wasatch Rails in Salt Lake City. This year was a good gathering of fellow modelers. The show is sponsored by the Wastach Division of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). There was a good selection of layouts and vendors. A new feature this year were clinics sponsored by the Utah Society of Model Railroaders. The clinics included weathering, soldering, foam scenery construction and a Boy Scouts Merit Badge. I attended several of the clinics and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Show Treasures
As always, you can’t pass up some of the great deals you find at these shows. This year was no exception. Among the treasures were several more cars to add to my collection. A Milwaukee Road box car and a hopper car.

For the layout, I purchased a chain link fence kit which will be used for the oil depot at Lewistown and the Heath gypsum plant. I also procured several switch stands to be used in Falls yard when that area is finished. All in all, a very enjoyable time.

Train Show – March 2011

The Hostlers Model Railroad Festival is the largest show of the season. This year was better than ever. There were more vendors and displays then in past shows. New vendors from outside of Utah included Colorado, Nebraska, Idaho and more. The manufacturer, Exact Rail from Provo, had a small display both to answer questions about their products. We spent all day at the show looking at everything and I attended one clinic. If there was only enough money to match the products I was sure that I needed.

An short video about some interesting animation of a dump truck. Might be something I’ll use.

Here I am attending a clinic about the proper weight for rolling stock. Free and very informative.

I made out like a bandit with all the products available from vendors. Or, did they make out like a bandit from me? We were able to cross off several things off our “Scavenger List” and add things that were never there. The last photos of the painting truck and crew will make a nice story scene for the farm house.

Train Show – January 2011

We attended the Ophir, Tintic & Western Model Railroad Club 20th Annual Train Show at Thanksgiving Point on January 29th. This always an interesting show. A smaller show then others, it is well attended by the public with a good selection of vendors.

I was able to pick up several structure kits and a new DCC decoder for a locomotive. All of the structures are kits that need to be assembled and painted. Most will be located in the town of Denton.

Hostlers Railroad Festival – March 6, 2010

We attended the 21st Annual Hostlers Model Railroad Festival at the Union station in Ogden Utah. This is the largest show in the area. Always a fun event. Of particular interest was the ever changing Z scale layout in the last three photos.

We searched the vendors and various sellers for those hard to find items. Below are the items picked up at this show. A special thanks to my search team for their hard work.