I started this thread for a place to post all reports from the ECLSTS 2007…
To start with…I called Ric Golding at the Holiday Inn Holidome, and found that he was alive and well, having been awake for almost a half hour, when I talked with him at 05:55 EDLST.
His room is fine, and all is welll…
Have a great party and show, everyone…wish I was there…
I will be leaving here shortly to join the festivities. Fortunately I only live an hour away…
Fred, Bruce, Bart and Gary…you guys will be missed!!
I’m about to head down to the lobby and see who shows up…
Hey guys we are in Room 106, but didn’t get back from the Diner until after 10 pm. Come around if you are up or have a chance.
Wasn’t a huge crowd there yesterday, but being a Friday that was understandable. Ran accross a lot of familiar faces and some not so familiar. I expect a much larger crowd today. I’ll leave the product reviews and other news to those better at that sort of thing…
The regulars gathered in the Mills’ Suite until after midnight. John Reilley (sp?) and his wife Belinda came by, but that was about it. Lots of food not being consumed, so it heads to the show today. On the show, the most impressing model, to me, is a 7/8ths Bachmann 45 tonner turned into a small chain drive work horse by Keith. He was really looking to share that with the big boy crowd, but alas he is alone. There are very good diaramas and all the layouts look great. As alway, though some won’t agree, the best place to see show pictures will be on LSOL. Yes, they do serve a purpose and do a good job. Short report and now off to the races. I’'try to post more this evening.
We just got home and emptyed the car. Belinda and I had a great time and met everyone friday nite i do’nt think you could find a finer bunch of folk anywhere. You treated us like we were friends for years. We already started putting our 1 dollar away each day for next year, the show was great. I got some track, a pinless nailer which i got a 50 dollar discount. Belinda and i met the owner in the bar and we bought him a drink and he gave me a 50 dollar wife discount.I also got a Annie and a few more items. Let me take a nap and i will talk later.
I’m home safe and sound. Left about 6:15 this morning, got in a couple hours ago. Photos are here:
http://www.lscdata.com/users/eclsts2007/
A great one of the EBT hopper by Rich Yoder (I may have to buy one as a trophy), and a bunch of great ones of Ric being switchman for the next generation of railroaders.
I bought St Aubins out of AMS NG track, I bought all they brought. A couple other small purchases, too.
We arrived home about 6PM on Sunday. An attempted trip to the EBT on Sunday with Ric & Jan / Andy & Elaine was aborted about half way there from York when it started to pour and NOAA was reporting heavy rain as far West as Pittsburgh - so We left the Goldings and Clarke’s to head west and we turned around just before the Blue Mountain tunnel.
The vendor hall was much busier on Friday than Ken’s report would have you believe. Trainworld all but sold out, so much so they left early on Saturday. I tried to buy some Split Jaw clamps from Jerry and he was sold out before the show closed on Friday. Traffic in the layout hall was much better on Saturday. I gave away a lot of EBT literature and displayed Bob’s unfinished EBT boxcar.
We certainly missed the regulars (Fred, Gary, Bart, Bruce and those I forget) but it was great to meet some new faces. John Reilly is the life of a party and had us all in stitches several times with his great stories.
Fred, you will be disappointed to know that this crowd was not even able to consume one case of beer. Of course, I was talked into bringing that swill from Old Latrobe by my bride. There was no Honey Brown to be had in the suite. We had to leave the unfinished case for the hotel crew as there was no room in the vehicle to bring it with.
Ric’s van left York with the back tires bulging and the front wheels barely touching the ground. It seems like Andy just couldn’t keep it in his pants (his wallet, get your mind out of the gutter) and had many large purchases to pack along with the Timesaver and the new Inglenook module.
My Envoy was packed to the gills and I only bought 2 show locos, a couple of Delton hoppers and an Air Nailer. I tried to get John’s discount and Jerry (the Grex dealer) wasn’t too happy that John had told me of his special deal. I only got $25 off which is still available to any LSC member by mail.
Ric’s expanded Timesaver + Inglenook layout looked great. Give him a couple of years and he’ll fill the entire alcove with a point-to-point railroad in modules. One thing very different about Ric’s layout is that it is close to the ground. Children can see what is going on and it is the only layout in the hall where a child can take the control and run “the job”. By the smiles on their faces, and the amount of time they stuck with it, it’s easy to see that if introduced properly, children enjoy operations as much or more than roundy-round.
Bob Temper drew a crowd with his sculpy figure demonstration on both days. I think he has created at least a few dozen new figure makers, my son and wife included. Matthew sat with Bob all day on Saturday and came home with a completed figure that is significantly better in detail and accuracy than many that I have bought from Life-Like and Aristo.
We had a great time 
Film at 11
JR
OK, Jon, you failed that test… it was Ric & Jan, Andy & Jane, Bob & Elaine…
hehehehe
And, You missed a good day up at the EBT… Wasn’t raining when we were there…
The Friends were up there, working on buildings, and the scenic passenger car, and working on putting a truck under a coal car…
Bob’s scratch build cars looked great…
Was a good weekend, and was great to see you all again,
Andy Clarke said:
OK, Jon, you failed that test..... it was Ric & Jan, Andy & Jane, Bob & Elaine....hehehehe
JR
As Andy stated, we had a good trip to Orbisonia after the ECLSTS. It was raining in Robertsdale and coming down from Broad Top Mountain, but dry in the valley. The EBT is really changing as the “Boney Pile” is being taken down and used. Bouilding look good and old equipment is getting a new coat of paint and relettered.
You won’t believe this, but we had just a little bit of room left and so stopped at Watt’s for a couple of things.
The weekend was great, but some of the regulars, and not so regulars, were dearly missed. As John stated a true gathering of great friends. We supported the Starlight Diner well and they also treated us like family. What fun. I’ll get some pictures posted over the next couple of days.
Obviously, the confuser is fixed. The grass got mowed today right before a thunderstorm and there is a pile of work at the marina. Spring is in full bloom and here we go. I’ll come back to this posting as I can. Lots of stuff to catch up on.
Fred, the suite was worth every penny. We had a good turn out on Friday and lots of friends on Saturday night. The new hours of the show are a little different. I Kind of feel slighted. We normally had Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This year, Thursday was short, Friday was long, Saturday was people leaving and Sunday was a trip to EBT, which is always great, but not the same as past years at York. I know what it was more than anything. I was short changed on the number of meals I got to eat at the Diner.