This years show featured a fine new layout on the Turntable: a 3 track L shaped layout featuring Mike’s yard, and Carl’s new crossover modules. The layout was designed by Executive Assistant Trackmaster Ed Beaver. This year was also the first use of the Maryland Power Cabinet at the B&O.
Setup was a snap, no problems, we started at 7AM and were running at 11:00 AM when the museum opened. We had lots of help from everyone with modules: Ed Beaver, Bill Hakkarinen, Harold Pavelka, Ralph Fox, Carl Condon, Tim Minor, Fred Koester, Dave Sealing, and some that just came to help: George Tsakiris, Frank and Giovanni Coneglio, Mika and Matt Milburn, Chuck Pestacchi, Tommy Johns, Doug List, and Barry Sheehe.
The layout featured some really nice holiday decorated modules from Ralph Fox, Harold Pavelka (nice Bridge), and others.
Show Days were split between myself, XO Ed Beaver and Deputy Trackmaster Carl Condon.
Staffing was adequate to great, with plenty of run time for everyone due to the 3 tracks. The Legacy and DCS and Power Cabinet worked well. One big improvement was the range on the Legacy remote was greatly expanded from 30 feet last year to over 100 feet this year due to the new antennae on the Power Module. Crowds were good but not as heavy as in the early years.
Operation was smooth all week. The combination of Mike’s yard and Carl’s crossovers gave us for the the first time the ability to stage trains in the yard, and then move them out to any of the three loops, which was fun and made crew changes faster.
Many times we had two trains on each loop, running 6 trains at once was quite a sight.
We had lots of runners drop in to run: Andrew Israel, Ben Saxe, Matt Flanagan, Fred Rossmark, Garrett and Ben Goldtein, Frank and Giovanni Coneglio, Tommy Johns, Steve Gobel, Doug List, and Phil Barbara among others.
Free Cab rides on the Museum train were offered and many of us took advantage of it. The Museum had some very nice new decorations and looked great. Staff treated us well bringing us tables and chairs, and getting Trackers to the Cab rides when requested.
Special thanks to Dave Sealing for transporting Crash 2 to and from the show.
Take down went well, the museum closed at 4PM and we were on the road by 5:45PM.
Many Thanks to all the participants and helpers, we could not have done it without you. I hope to see you all back at the B&O next year.
Best,
Craig Schelle
Trackmaster