16 - 17 March 2002

As promised last year, NVNTRAK returned to Boy Scout Troop 964 and this time we were able to keep our layout set up for the whole show...  We had a great weekend! Paul Diley configured a simple 3 POFF x 2 POFF layout that ran 52' in length and things were up and running well before opening time at 10 am on Saturday. We shared a large room near the front of Saunders Middle School with the S scale club (those things are LOUD!) and we ran trains pretty continuously from 10 am - 5 pm on Saturday and 1230 pm - 5 pm on Sunday.

Attendance - by both NVNTRAK and the Boy Scouts/public - was quite good. John Cook and Mitch Mitchell ran ongoing Operation Lifesaver presentations during the Boy Scouts' merit badge workshops from about lunchtime until 4 pm each day; Dave Greenacre and Bill Baldwin ran merit badge clinics on structure building and railroad timetable reading during those times as well... All told, I understand that about 110 Boy Scouts got their Model Railroading merit badges this weekend, which is quite impressive and was due in no small part to NVNTRAK's presenters' help!

Paul Diley, Dale Rinker, Bobby Richeson (sp?), Ken Allen, Matt Guey-Lee, and Bill Rutherford all ran trains at various times during the show - our track was never vacant... Saunders seemed to be the place to be in Prince William County this weekend - there were, of course, lots of Boy Scouts and their families but there were also many people who'd read about the show in the local paper and who just wanted to see what this model railroading thing was...

Next year we're going back, so look for us over the weekend of March 15 and 16, 2003, and plan now to attend!  

Click on the thumbnail pictures to see full-sized versions.