Large Scale Central

National Garden Railway Convention 2019

Conventions, Shows, Clubs and Get-Togethers
#1

The Rose City Garden Railway Society is hosting the 2019 National Garden Railway Convention in Portland, Oregon in late August. It’s going to be a spectacular event and a great venue for large scale train enthusiasts. We expect a large attendance as we have quite a few nationally known layouts to visit in this region and we will offer some unique railroad experiences.

We are calling modelers who wish to share their knowledge and experience to present a clinic at the National Garden Railway Convention in 2019. The convention clinics will run from Tuesday August 27th through Saturday August 31st, from 2 P.M. through 5 P.M most days, with the possibility of some later sessions.

Desired clinic topics broadly include Gardening, Layout design and construction, Locomotive and rolling stock maintenance and modification, Structure modeling and bashing, Modeling skills such as air-brushing, couplers, weathering and new technologies such as Laser cutting and 3D printing.

If you have a clinic on a subject you’d like to present to your fellow modelers, send your contact information and a description of your topic to [email protected]

Thank you for your interest,

Rose City Garden Railway Society

NGRC 2019 Steering Committee

#2

More than usual layout tours at the August 2019 convention here in Portland, we will share the opportunity to engineer trains. On four of our larger layouts we will host evening operating sessions (by sign up reservation). After introduction and coaching by club members, convention visitors will be able to fully participate in an operating session that will include running and switching duties of a local way freight, or a priority express, under direction of a Dispatcher, using train orders, time table and Way bills. Each visitor will have an assigned conductor (coach) to help through the “unknowns“ of an unfamiliar layout. The chosen operating layouts can accommodate between five to eight trains simultaneously. Our Portland club regularly hosts operating sessions (much more fun than just watching trains run) and we look forward to sharing this with registered guests. No prior operating experience necessary (just love to run trains). All these four layouts use hand held radio controlled throttles for each train and will offer the guest crews a chance to proceed with their train from town to town, meeting and passing other trains, switching cars at some locations and arriving at a destination to get a new assignment. Guaranteed fun evening and usually a fair amount of excitement. The NGRC 2019 will be hands on fun.

Warner Swarner, Bearspaw Southern

#3

I’m bummed I can’t go because the school year here will be in its second week making it a little tough to take time off to get away. I really enjoyed San Jose two years ago. It was the impetus for lighting the fire in me to get something happening in my garden. This summer has been time of major overhauls on the railroad. Hope a future conference will be timed a little better for some of us teacher types.

Richard

#4

I’m bummed I can’t go because the school year here will be in its second week making it a little tough to take time off to get away. I really enjoyed San Jose two years ago. It was the impetus for lighting the fire in me to get something happening in my garden. This summer has been time of major overhauls on the railroad. Hope a future conference will be timed a little better for some of us teacher types.

Richard

#5

My reason is I don’t know I may just amble down the road and have a look see at what they have to show. Of course, I may need to help operate a local RR for a day or two. The last show I was at was 2010 in Tacoma. But then I was open on Sunday PM. Maybe I’ll see some of you fine Gentlemen there! Paul

#6

The reason for picking the convention dates in late August was complex. Portland is a very popular convention location For lots of interests other than Railroading. In order to get reasonable rates and to coordinate our activities with big rail attractions we had to go late in rhe summer season. Then we realized we needed to coordinate with the Narrow Gauge Convention in Sacramento. It provided a great opportunity to do a “grand tour” of Garden, Outdoor and Narrow Gauge Railroads by tagging much of the west coast‘s two big conventions “end to End.” the Portland convention will include as many as 30 local area layouts, not counting preconvention layouts in Seattle/Tacoma area and in between southern Oregon. Train Mountain near Klamath Falls will be open for both Conventions in between on Labor Day. If you like large scale and can be on the west coast, next August should be huge. Hope to meet up with a lot of you here. Our club, Rose City Garden Railway Society is very active with over 100 family memberships and growing.

Warner

#7

And a number of us will try for the grand tour and appreciate you juggling the dates to make it work.

Greg

#8

Staver Locomotive usually has their fall steamup right around that time. Have you talked to them to coordinate times?

#9

Vance Bass said:

Staver Locomotive usually has their fall steamup right around that time. Have you talked to them to coordinate times?

Staver’s Fall Steam-Up is usually the third week in September. The 2019 NGRC is August 27-31 with the Staver run Saturday evening. Larry Staver came to us with the offer, so I would assume there would be no conflict.

#10

Our NGRC2019 Convention in Portland will be August 27 - 31. The Convention run at Staver’s will be Saturday night 31st. Our club runs regularly there once each month using battery and steam powered equipment. The big steamup meet is traditionally all steam and will be a full weekend, three weeks later in September, 20 and 21. Since we get to operate club member’s equipment on his fabulous layout, some of which isn’t steam, it was best to keep the events separated. Also, we couldn’t go that late into fall for all our garden layouts and be sure to stay “green” Plus connect with the Narrow Gauge Convention with Train Mountain in between. This way visitors will get to sample all the west coast large scale venues.