I uploaded them here…
http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/ECLSTS%202008/
One of the more interesting vendors was a guy who did replicas of light houses. A few of them stood close to 3’ tall. For anyone with a fondness for these keepers of the flame…
Neat pics ken keep em comin for us guys who can’t be there in person. Well done!!
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/blueregal/_forumfiles/funny_49.gif)
Hi Ken,
Many thanks for the pics of the ECLSTS. It is very pleasing to be able to see pics and many of us are unable to make the Show.
Best wishes Alan
Thank you, Ken…
Your welcome Fred…you were missed.
I didn’t see any LSC convention badges today? Oh well maybe next year. I actually did very good and was well behaved. Only spent on much needed items,basically maintenance items for the RR .
I do want to say too the LSC community though that I was very very proud of my 7yr old son today. He had managed to save a little over $180 over the past year from chores,birthday money etc. He decided he wanted and purchased his first and “very own” Bachmann Tweetsie set today as that is what he wanted! He has been eyeballing my magazines and catalogs for the past few months …was kinda suprised at the choice. A good one none the less!
We came home and pulled the money out of the piggy bank to re-pay dad. He is very excited and I’m very pleased that he made such a wise choice.
Ken I saw the lighthouses as well. Not my taste but pretty darn neat! Being a native of the area Brickers French Fries kick ass!
It was a great family day for the Russell’s and I made a few contacts as well. To me this is a great family oriented hobby that even the wife enjoys. I’m so glad I didn’t build my HO empire in the basement (perhaps later in life?)
Sorry for the book just wanted to share my experience.
Dave
Ken, It was great to see you again - but all too quickly over! It seemed like a whirlwind. I wish we had more time to chat.
Dave, you’re gonna have to remember the LSC crowd usually hangs out in the alcove behind the NHGRS module set-up. Ric has his time saver and Jon Radder has an EBT booth. It’s the back entrance to the hall.
I hope the Bachmann 10 wheeler your son bought was the Anniversary edition. They’re great running engines.
Thanks Ken…I’m learning…
As for the Bachmann set …It makes no difference to me what he purchased. As long as he respects it,takes care of it. Honestly I thought the boy was gonna blow it on something different. I did have to coach on what he would get with his well earned money. Your 7yrs old…do you purchase a realistic model or purchase something you can play with. Wise choice on his behalf IMO…
I’m really sorry I missed you guys
Well, it was a great event for me. Though I look back, and I thought I’d taken more pictures. But, I can’t find any of Ken or John. 
Jean and I arrived at about 1:30 or so, and took a quick swing through the hall. There’s some neat models, there, but we didn’t really see any bargains that I couldn’t avoid. I did spend some time over at Rich Yoder’s site. He had the prototype for EBT #14.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3547.JPG)
He also had production models of his gorgeous EBT hobbers, but they were selling at $425. …just a bit out of my league. But, I did take some pictures that might help me build some once Bob gets the new kits underway.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3549.JPG)
Don Watson (a former “neighbor” of mine) had his NG private car on display. It’s a true masterpiece.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3558.JPG)
I took the opportunity to compare my motorcar to the original railtruck.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3578.JPG)
One vendor had a great price on the rail trucks - $119. The hotel left a lot to be desired. Rooms were not ready at 6 PM. Apparently they had a lot of people check out that morning. I thought that would be a normal event at a hotel. Who knew? But, Ric talked them into giving us a small conference room. So we soon set up for “drag and brag”. Bob had brought part of his neat mining engine, as well as his prototype for his hopper kit, a toilet car, and some passenger roof parts.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3584.JPG)
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3582.JPG)
Ric brought his inspirational motor car as well as his garden railroad for his garden railroad.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3583.JPG)
Ric had a great time telling about the acrylic structures one of his employees made.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3588.JPG)
Everyone was interested. 
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3589.JPG)
Jon brought a great assortment of beer and freely shared.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3586.JPG)
It ended all too soon, but we had some great discussions. The folks that Ric dragged to the show were delightful - I really had a great time. Saturday dawned a bit cool, and Jean and I did not make it over to the diner at Oh-dark-thirty with the show participants. We got there, had breakfast, and still had to wait a bit for the show to open. I ran into Bob over at Rich Yoder’s again, where he had been discussing the EBT steel boxcar kits he had produced. He happened to mention that I had my model of EBT 181 with me. With that in mind, I thought that it would be great to get a picture of the boxcar behind EBT #14 and went out to the car to get the model.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3603.JPG)
As I’m putting my car in place, Rich points to one of his neat hopper models and says “Want to swap?”. I probably hesitated at least one-tenth of a second and said “Sure!”. Rich wanted an official photo.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Events/ECLSTS/2008/IMG_3610.JPG)
I was delighted at this trade. It seemed to validate my work and Bob’s on the kit. Even better, was how my good fortune was received back in the area.
Sorry I missed seeing that in person, Bruce, but it was the first thing I heard about from Andy when I arrived. “Bruce lost his boxcar”…“What? Did someone steal it? How do you loose a boxcar” He then told me the story of “The Swap!”…I’d say you both made out on that deal…!!
We are back home, safe and sound. Great time and great friends. I’ve got some water issues to deal with so may not get to pictures and such until later. Thanks to every one.
Here are few of the pictures we took - This is Bob Temper showing his talents of figure making
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/rgolding/080401%20001.jpg)
Jon Radder trying his hand at the switching puzzle “The Timesaver”
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/rgolding/080401%20002.jpg)
I believe this young man’s name is Nolan. This isn’t his first year of working the puzzle.
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/rgolding/080401%20018.jpg)
This was either our 7th or 8th year of attending the ECLSTS at York. Andy Clarke says he’d really like to go and see more of York than the hotel, the Starlight Diner and the Fairgrounds. He did get to visit A. C. Moore’s to pick up plastic ice cubes as we left town. What more does he want?
Quote:Those are the bright spots. Ain't much else in York worth seein...............except maybe some old MA and PA ROW south of town.......
Andy Clarke says he'd really like to go and see more of York than the hotel, the Starlight Diner and the Fairgrounds.
I have to think that Bob Temper was having just as much fun as Ric. Every time I came by, Bob had some kids building, baking, and painting figures. Even a few adults.
You know, 8 or 9 years ago, we went to York for the first time. It was great! I took pictures, filmed a lot of the railroads. Hung around with lots of friends I had made on the net. I just didn’t want the weekend to end. But it did.
The next year, back again. I was more familiar with the layouts, saw all the friends. Caught up on all the news, new products and latest developments. I probably wore out my welcome at some of the layouts and product displays. I needed something, some place to anchor and gather. I wanted to be part of the clubs, part of the show. So we started planning and plotting.
Back home, we came up with an idea. With the help of guys on the net from all over North America and some of the guys even in Europe, the “Timesaver” was formed around a group called the International Society of Large Scale Model Railroaders or ISLSMR. No rules, no boundaries, just fun and trying to get all the factions to start talking. (I started to make a list of names, but decided it would be better to not list some for fear of missing others) Ron Wenger, one of those instigators, who was in charge of JJ Productions at the time, said we could gather in the alcove. It wasn’t big enough for any one else and it could be our gathering place.
By the third year, the start of the “Timesaver” was on display. Jan and I hauled it to York. People were there to help us set it up. It was designed to fit in a 1997 GMC Safari van. 31 inches wide and 13 feet long. 6.5 feet long when folded in half. First year pretty basic, just the simple switching puzzle. Though ballast and a little scenery was added, it hung on the wall of our garage when it wasn’t at the show. We began to show an example at the show that you didn’t have to have a great big yard, all kinds of equipment or lots of money. The idea was to have fun and be part of the event.
It stayed in this state for a number of years. As the KVRwy continued to expand in Carlyle an area was eventually found in our basement where the “Timesaver” could be set up as part of the railroad. Years passed and the “Inglenook” was added as my interest in operations and switching puzzles grew. We would go to York and come back telling the stories of how much fun we were having and how great the show and the people were. To us, York has become the traditional start of Spring.
This year, we had 8 couples join us from the greater St. Louis area. A lot more of our friends stopped by to see what was going on and to just have a place to gather. For the past few years, we have developed the whole alcove area as having more of a purpose. Bob Temper, the Gateway Garden Railroad Club current president, joined us over the last couple of years to display his talent of making figures. He has a natural talent, but learned most of his skills here on the net. Jon Radder and I met at York, in the Alcove, many years ago. We developed a strong friendship over our common interest of the East Broad Top Railroad. We’ve now added an EBT display to the Alcove. Over the last couple of years, the Radder’s and the Golding’s have taken family vacations together in Canada with our Ottawa friends and many others like Bob and Martha McCown and Bruce and Jean Chandler. We gather in the Summer at Fred Mills’ IPP&WRR and then span out for us to discover Canada’s railroad history and how the model railroaders enjoy the hobby in the area.
The “Drag and Brag” has developed from Fred Mills, myself and others gathering at the bar at the Chicago Garden Railroad Convention in around 1998 to 2000. Somebody should do better at remembering the exact year than me. This whole thing has turned into a great part of the York Weekend.
So the “Timesaver” is going to evolve some more. The latest change is to make the “Timesaver” lighter or in smaller sections, still capable to hook up to the KVRwy and now also be able to connect up the Gateway Garden Railroad Club’s modular layout. Sounds challenging, but really I don’t think to difficult if we use what we know and have tried. Combine that with the basic principle of the “Timesaver” of leading and trailing point turnouts, a run around and track lengths that limit how much can be moved at one time.
Man, I get to get busy. York is less than 12 months away.
Ric Golding said:For the record: My wife Jane, kept asking when we got back from York, what York looked like, and I always told her, I had no idea, cause we only went 3 places, the diner, the hotel, and the fairgrounds... I don't think she really believed me, till we went to York, last year... Of course, after 10 minutes at the trains show, she got bored, and the girls all made a bee-line to the outlet mall.... I don't think they even looked at York, as they drove thru... ..
This was either our 7th or 8th year of attending the ECLSTS at York. Andy Clarke says he'd really like to go and see more of York than the hotel, the Starlight Diner and the Fairgrounds. He did get to visit A. C. Moore's to pick up plastic ice cubes as we left town. What more does he want?
As for A.C.Moore’s, this couple that i rode out to York with, <Ric & Jan>, can’t use their complete names, as we must protect the quilty… Anyway, these two hit A.C.Moore’s, like they hadn’t been shopping anyplace in ten years… Yes, I needed those “clear Square Marbles”" to simulate ice blocks, however, when they checked out, I thought we were going to have to rent a trailer to haul back all their purchases… hehehehe
It was nice to see distant friends, again…
Andy, your shed should be all set, BTW.
I can’t remember for sure how many ECLSTS shows I’ve been to. I’ll guess this was my sixth one. The first year it was all brand new and I was blown away. No one had prepared me for how much there would be to do and see and I ran around the show like a mad man trying to see and buy everything. I went to several seminars, including one on Operating given by Ric Golding. We might have spoken at the seminar and if we did it would have been our first meeting. The next year I was better prepared and came armed with a camera and tripod. Hundreds of pictures recorded every idea on the modular layouts. By this time I was emailing back and forth with Ric about the EBT so we made plans to formally meet Ric and Jan for the first time and share a meal together at the Starlite diner. From that point forward, a stop in the alcove was a mandatory part of attending the show.
About 4 years ago, while I was trying to understand the object of the Timesaver puszzle, Ric bribed me with an offer of an exhibitor pass if I would help him load up after the show. I’m easy and became an honorary member (and equipment grunt) of the Gateway club. The idea of an FEBT table grew out of that, and for the last 3 years we have been doing a low-key display of Modeling the East Broad Top in the alcove. I’ve gotten to know the regulars like Andy Clarke and Bob Temper and their wives plus all of the Gateway folks that Ric has dragged along.
The last few years we’ve added a few new regulars. John Reilly has been at the last two “drag-and-brags” and there are always new folks from LSC and M*S stopping by to say hello as well as old friends.
Each year the decision to go gets harder. The show is no longer the draw it once was for me. I’m done impulse buying and even though there always new scenes, the modular layouts don’t pull me in like they once did. If it wasn’t for all the fine folks that stop by the alcove, I probably would have pulled the plug this year.
I’m in the same boat, Jon. There aren’t many deals that I’m interested in. Last year I bought a bunch of AMS track, mostly to save shipping. This year I didn’t buy anything except lunch. I go to see old friends, and meet new ones, but even then, some of the old regulars have been missing for the last few years.
Plus the Holiday Inn screwed up royally this year, my last year staying there. The hassle of finding a new place for next year may be the nail in the coffin for York for me.
