Rail Fest, Rosenberg Museum, April 8, 2017

Bob took some photos while we were setting up. This happened the weekend before the Saturday of the show. We had experienced some electrical issues during the last show in February, so the Rosenberg museum allowed us to set up early so that we could find and fix those electrical gremlins. "Unfortunately", none reared their ugly heads after we got it all set up. In this first photo, Don (left) and Steve are trying to get the two modules to line up vertically and horizontally while at the same time installing C-clamps to hold the modules together.

After the modules are put together, some fine-tuning may be needed as the rail joiners are installed. Rusty (kneeling) is checking the position of the rail joiner that Steve has placed. In the background Chuck (orange shirt) and Ron are working on the rail joiners for the next module over.

Installing the 4-inch long rail pieces in place over the borders of the modules is always a time-consuming task. However, we had lots of hands-on-deck, so the work went relatively smoothly.

As soon as the physical rail joiners were installed, Peter (center) and Rusty went around and checked the layout out electrically, to see if we could reproduce the gremlins we had during the previous show. Peter is placing a test engine on the track to see if it can make it around the layout.

The following Saturday was the actual show at the museum. We had a great turnout of audience members. Lots of little kids, i.e. future model railroaders. This was the view that greeted the visitors as they entered the building where we were set up. We had a relatively minor electrical problem at the start up of the show. It was easy to solve, but it took us 2 hours to find. During that time we only had two trains running, one of which we couldn't control. Additionally, no one had brought any 9-volt batteries, so none of the throttles could be used. Oops! Even after many years of experience, we still tend to forget some things. Dan and Ron made a quick run out to a local store to buy their entire inventory of 9-volt batteries! The rest of the day, the layout ran well, and we all had a great time.

The freight yard was set up at the other side of the layout. Due to space constraints, we were only able to set up our basic layout, which consists of the four corner modules, and the freight and passenger yards, each consisting of three modules.

Chuck (foreground) is keeping an eye on the small (and the occasional big) hands that like to touch and grab things on the layout.

Chuck's train is coming around the corner of the layout. Barely visible in this photo are, on the left, Steve, in the center of layout near the back, Dan, and Don is on the far back side of the layout.

The day was beautiful with full sun the entire day. However, it was quite windy (gusting up to 18mph), so the skirting we use on the layout took a hit during the day. But that doesn't matter to the little boys and girls, who loved getting on the stand to be able to see the trains roll by.

We had a lot of questions posed to us about model railroading in general, layout construction, and sizes of model trains. This display showing O-, S-, HO-, and Z-scale gondolas helps a lot. This shelf took a hit several years ago, knocking all cars down to the floor. The N-scale car did not survive that hit, which is why we don't show it.

Old and new together in the yard (both in model and in prototype). Don's F7 on the left is by S-Helper Service is from 2002, while Chuck's SD70ACe is by Lionel and made in 2014.

The farm scene at the front of the layout is always a wonderful attraction. Unfortunately, the dog house behind the car on right was blown over by the "scale" hurricane winds.

Next to us was the museum's own O-scale Lionel layout. The gentleman shown in the photo, a museum volunteer, worked hard to get it operational, because the layout hadn't been run in a couple of years. The room on the other side of the wall that has the display cases has a beautifully-finished HO-scale layout. The San Jacinto model railroad club brought their HO-scale switching layout, which was set up in the room behind the gentleman in the photo. The Rosenberg museum also has a large G-gauge garden layout on the other side of their property. So, people were able to get a good idea of all the different sizes that are available in model railroading.