Local Show? Let’s Check It Out!
Several weeks ago I needed some items from the hobby/train shop that I have been frequenting lately. The shop sits in probably the most unlikely place anyone would imagine one would exist but it is so easy to find and get to and my favorite. In a little town called Blue Ridge Summit that sits at the top of a Pennsylvania mountain, just southwest of Gettysburg. After getting all things I came for, and a few others I didn’t, the owner of the shop handed me a printed colored postcard for a train show/ clinics day Mini-Con. hosted by the South Mountain Division of the NMRA happening two weeks from the day and held at the local fire hall across the street from the train shop. Cool! I stuck it in my coat pocket and thanked the man for the info. It’s a 45 minute drive there from my home and had no clue what my plans were for that week. I barely know what I am doing the next day.
I love train shows and I have been to my share of the larger events and realizing where this town sits on the map atop this mountain, I couldn’t imagine there would be much to see. When I got home with my goodies, I sat down and read the show card and a few cool things popped out at me. “Best Part, everything is FREE!”. Hmm…That got my attention. “There will be at least a dozen informal and formal clinics. Operating model railroads, and Make & Take Clinics.” Now Im very intrigued. So I got on the phone and called Brett here at HO Scale Customs, and shared the info and asked if he wanted to go check it out. He was in. If the show sucked, we could always bug out and get a good lunch back in Gettysburg at one of the local watering holes. We thought this would be a great way to go talk with any fellow modelers in our region and spread the word about HO Scale Customs, the website and “Bench Time” podcast show.
Never Judge a Book By It’s Cover
The day of the show, as Brett and I drove there, we expected like ten people sitting there talking about their old days working on the railroad, spinning yarns about the braking distance of their favorite steamer, and the local club gossip and politics and a general swap meet flea market style thing with people unloading the model railroad stuff they no longer wanted. When we arrived in the parking lot of the fire hall we couldn’t find anywhere to park! There must have been 75 to 100 vehicles there. Surely there had to be something else happening. Bingo perhaps? After stepping inside, we were pleasantly surprised to see a lot of people milling around tables and we were immediately greeted at the front table by a few friendly elderly fellows from the NMRA and they began explaining everything about the event and what we will find where. I mean these guys were the coolest and truly made us feel welcome.
They informed us that at this event you just go mingle, sit down at one of the tables, talk with other modelers, take in the many clinics taking place, and make ourselves at home. So on we went.
No train swap of other peoples garbage! But there were a few manufacturer vendors there. The first one we came to, we were pleasantly shocked to see Carolina Craftsman Kits and spent a good 25 minutes talking with owner Jeff Grove and perused his display of awesome kits. Of course I purchased one, uunable to walk away without yet another project to work on! What a class act he is, and so willing to impart his wisdom of the hobby. There were a few others that we visited as well, but honestly, this show wasn’t about vendors. In fact it wasn’t about money at all. As we soon learned.
Filling the fire hall were rows and rows of folding tables, set up like at any moment you’d expect a big community chicken BBQ to take place. And sitting all around there were fellow modelers. No they weren’t talking gossip, politics, or about their latest acquisition of a cool tanker car. They were teaching and learning! Let me repeat that for you. TEACHING and LEARNING just about everything. There were clinics of all sorts at different table sections. One gentleman explained how he made all sorts of cool pine trees for any scale, Another about his method for creating a stream with water. Others covering how to make rubber rock molds and castings, electrical projects for railroads, how to wire railroad signals, weathering rolling stock, painting a locomotive, etc.We loved it and so did their captive audience!
Giving Back
But the most striking thing we witnessed was on very long bank of tables were two clinics given for building structures. These were the make and take clinics I had read about on the postcard! One half of the tables were building DPM (Design Preservation Models) plastic brick modular wall sections. Each of the participants crowding the table had their own small kit given to them by some sponsor of the show, and they were provided some tools,glue, etc. The other half were building a small and basic wood craftsman kits by Carolina Craftsman Kits. Again they were all also earnestly working hard at assembling them.
Both groups had someone giving instruction and helping. Impressive! Plus they get to take the kit home! The participants themselves were what got my attention most. There were men, women and kids all deeply into what they were doing, and all had smiles on their faces! And that my modeling friends is the magic of model railroading! The smiles! Being so captured and caught up in what you are learning and accomplishing something they probably never tried before!
Sure it is awesome to see the vendors at the shows and get yourself the latest and greatest! I certainly love that admittedly. But it is an entirely different dynamic to have people working together to make the show educational as well. Especially if you make it interactive and hands on. Think of all the new modelers that are generated with this approach and of all the opportunity this affords these modelers to expand their knowledge and skills. Imagine the impact just one small event such as this has when that person takes that skill or info back home with them and applies it to their own layout or modeling creating confidence and pride in their work. Now, imagine again the reaches of this shows and others across the world have if this person shares that with their local club if they belong, or with a fellow friend modeler.
We all have something we can learn from one another in model railroading. No two layouts are alike, and each modeler has his own special and unique talent to offer. There was a reason the parking lot was filled. There is a reason as to why this show has been back year after year, and there is a message and meaning to why the patron modelers were smiling and enjoying themselves. Because the experienced modelers in this hobby and at this show put away the egos and give back to everything that got them to where they are today. Return visitors for next year’s local “out in the sticks” show? You betcha!
