6th Annual Parksville Railway Day August 11 2024

[RS18U]

If you happen to be around the Parksville, BC, Canada area on August 11th, come check out the 6th annual Railway Day at the Parksville Museum, 10 - 4.  There will be at least one Japanese N gauge layout since I am helping run it, and will be running some of my recent purchases 🙂 https://parksvillemuseum.com/events

 

Will

[cteno4]

Fun, pictures please!

 

jeff

[RS18U]

8 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Fun, pictures please!

 

jeff

You bet!

[RS18U]

As promised, here are some photos from today's show.  I have not heard a final attendance number but its over 400 which is pretty good for what it is (not quite what Jeff is used to but...).  20 exhibitors were signed up and there was only 1 no-show.

 

I should note that I had no hand in the layout.  Some of the trains are mine, but nothing else.

 

It looks like we were also able to recruit a few more T-Track group members too, so bonus!

 

Will

 

Setting up at 7:30 AM.  The owner is to the left

 

Overview from one end

 

Overview from the other

 

My 787 got a good run

 

General overview

 

Main street, or as the owner calls it, High Street Japan

 

 

 

 

 

We did run one SL, but it had issues with the slight grade we ended up with

 

Part of the rest of the show.  Thankfully the weather cooperated with temperatures around 21 C and a nice breeze

 

Two of mine, and one of the owners

 

Takedown at 3:30 PM

Edited August 12 by RS18U

[cteno4]

Looks like it was a fun day! Nice portable layout.

 

jeff

[RS18U]

22 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Looks like it was a fun day! Nice portable layout.

 

jeff

We had a great time Jeff.  And to be honest this was the first time I have been on this side of a show.  Set up at 7:30, show started at 10, take down at 3:30.  We were down one side with 2 others but since the organizers had a scavenger hunt on it was fine; ours had the 3 bicycles and at N scale not easy to see.  Easy access all around the 4 sides.

 

We did discover that our layout was too high for most kids to see, so hopefully going T Track on tables will eliminate this.  And only one somewhat over exuberant participant who derailed one train, but no damage.

 

We did have one young man (complete with Royal Hudson engineers hat) come by multiple times and in this photo you can see him 'training' his grandfather on how to run the layout.  Priceless.  The fellow in the red had a Marklin radio controlled layout at around O scale next to ours.  A huge hit with the kids as they could run the trains using the hand held controllers.

 

Edited August 13 by RS18U

[cteno4]

@RS18UThat’s all great to hear. Yep doing shows is just learn as you go along and trial and error. After over a hundred shows in 20 years we are still learning!
 

Yeah lower tables like regular banquet tables are about the right height for kids to enjoy. One of our events had a lot of very sturdy chairs and we will post a few of these backwards around the layout and kids kneel or stand on them to see the layout better. But many kids love being right at eye level with the trains and will stand there staring down the tracks waiting for a train to come thru!
 

Yes there will be some little fingers and some big ones. Does take watching carefully and being ready with a gentle but firm “Please don’t touch” and 90% of the time parents then take over and watch carefully, but a few don’t so you just have to keep careful watch. Bigger fingers are more of a problem as they usually don’t take well to being asked not to touch! But never had any major disasters and more stiff broken in transit than ever at shows. Big thing to watch are bags of all sorts over arms, long droopy sleeves, or camera straps that can swing over the layout.

 

The kids are the best when they get so enthralled and some stay at the layout for a very long time. We actually cheer quietly when a little kid melts down when parents drag them away from the layout, we take it as the supreme complement.

 

We have found that events that are non train shows get the best responses from the visitors as they are not expecting to see model trains and you get a great rush of surprise and delight and folks tend to be much more inquisitive and spend time look at details than folks at train shows.

 

cheers,

 

jeff