Railfest 2001  

2 June 2001

Once again, the legions of NVNTRAK gathered to run trains - this time at the Seventh Annual Manassas Heritage Railway Festival. As is the custom at this one-day event, the layout setup foreman arrived fashionably late, to find virtually all modules already on-site and in the process of being assembled. The Mark I layout plan quickly evolved to the final Mark II layout* after a short lesson in basic geometry (thank gosh for bridge modules!); clamp down took place at about 9 am and trains were running (in one form or other - a stray loco made the rounds of the Red Line…) by 10 am, just in time for the start of the festival.  Our layout included 24 member-owned modules, three bridges, and seven club corners, for a total of 124 running feet (more-or-less; I still am not sure how to figure corners!) of layout - not bad for a 30' by 40' tent!

We thought that our "Clear Weather" order had been misplaced because it looked for sure like rain early in the morning, but then the clouds broke, the sun came out, and we got our traditional fine weather, and even got away with no high winds! At least no rolling stock was blown off the track this time… Due to construction at our old site (a skate rink is going up there), our tent was moved over right in front of the train station, which was one of the best things that could have happened to us. Everybody (and that's over 31,000 attendees!!!) who went anywhere at the festival wandered through or around our layout - lots of questions, lots of wide-eyed kids, and lots of fun! We were (as usual) just down-wind of the cook-tents so there was (again) lots of spontaneous salivation going on as well… 

We brought our Operation Lifesaver gear with us to the festival. By putting a divot in one side of the layout, we were able to set up a table with Dave Freshwater's VCR and lots of OL handouts on it. By day's end those of us around the table had memorized all three of the tapes we showed ("Highway or Dieway - it's YOUR choice!"…) and lots of visitors learned a little bit about railway grade safety, thanks to Operation Lifesaver.

By the time tear-down started at 4 pm, we were all tired, happy with the day's events (even Nick, after he found his car keys!), and looking forward to next year. Speaking of which, the first two orders of business for next year are to make sure we get the same primo location again and also to remember to ask for tables… If you've not made it to a Manassas Railway Festival - or simply missed this year's show - it's not too early to start planning for the 2002 festival. I'm not positive about the date, but my guess is that it's going to be on 1 June 2002, so plan to be there!

...and last but not least, an observation about the attendees… We completely filled the layout with eleven module-bringers and a BUNCH of modules. At least nineteen  additional club members showed up to help set up and/or tear down, or simply stopped by when they could, just to say "Hi!" and to hang out… Steve Zutter brought a table and chairs, figuring they'd be useful somewhere (They were - thanks!). Even Tony Dimassi from Richmond appeared, to harass us! Two different MPD crew made sure that NVX2 was on-hand with our corners (Thanks Steve and Bobbie).  THIS is what made our participation in the festival such a success - the camaraderie, the responsibility (us? uhh…), the willingness to participate, and the group spirit displayed by the whole gang. Thank you all!!!

Below are links to two pages of pictures taken at the Railfest, as well as the final layout plan.  Please be patient when loading the galleries - they take awhile...