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Dutch Station
October
4 - 7, 2001
By Marc Sisk
(Ed. Note: Click on the thumbnail pictures to see full-sized versions!)
Noll Horan, John Steitz, and myself traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to attend the Dutch Station NMRA MER Convention. This was my first regional NMRA convention. My main purpose in attending was to take my Pipestone Pass modules and have them judged to see if they would qualify me for the Master Builder - Scenery Achievement Program Certificate, and to see what a regional convention was like.
Noll and I traveled together arriving approximately 5:45 pm on Thursday. Noll, as one of the MER Directors, had to attend a director's meeting which started at 6:30 pm. Since I had not registered by mail, I went to register and see what the schedule was like. John arrived at approximately 10 pm and quickly found me. Noll warned me that director's meetings could go on for some time, so at midnight, I gave up and went to bed as the meeting bore on.
Friday morning, I took the paperwork for my modules and two structures to the contest room to enter them into the model contest. Modules were located in a different room from the contest room. This room housed a small, modular HO scale layout, the company store, and the door prizes to be given away at the banquet.
This was also the first time I had entered a NMRA contest. Noll was very helpful in making sure I had the right documentation filled out for each entry. For those of you considering an entry, I would say go for it. The paperwork is not hard and even if you don't score enough points for a merit award, you will learn from the judge's comments how to improve your models and modeling skills. Noll had just finished his Dunkirk 0n30 Steam Locomotive and his "Liquid Manure Special" 0n30 tank car the night before we left for the convention. He entered them into the contest along with his N scale climax.
I recently finished building a Water Clinic which describes how I create water effects using Envirotex-Lite in six relatively easy steps. I brought it with me in the hopes of being able to present it during the convention. I asked the convention chairman to see if he could work it into the schedule. The chairman gave me a time slot for Saturday morning.
John was off on Friday morning to the rail fan tour at Hershey, where he got about 1 ½ hours worth of great switching action on tape. Noll and I drove to one of the layouts set up as an "on your own" tour. When we arrived at the house, the modeler's wife let us in explaining that there was a mix-up in the schedule and that her husband was at the convention. So, she let us see the layout, but no trains were running. Noll and I looked at the nice HO layout (there were no N scale layouts on the tour schedule). That evening, the three of us visited another very nice HO scale layout a short distance from the hotel, and then had dinner at one of the local restaurants. When we returned from dinner, John and I attended a clinic that Bob Charles (past NMRA president) gave on his NMRA travels to South America, Scandinavia, and Germany. It was interesting and full of foreign narrow gauge equipment. Noll got snagged by fellow MER leadership and never showed for the clinic. I believe they wanted to razz him about his contest entries.
Saturday morning, we all attended a signaling clinic. I followed the presenter for a while, but was really focused on my clinic, which was to start right after the signaling clinic in a different room. When I looked over at Noll, his eyes were glazed over trying to follow all the electron paths the presenter was describing. After an hour of this, Noll and I left to prepare for my water clinic. The clinic was well attended with all seats filled and a few standing. Several folks came up to me after the clinic and said that they really appreciated someone showing them a start-to-finish way to create nice water effects. I will do this same clinic for those interested NVNTRAKers at a future backshop.
After the clinic, Noll was off to do some of the contest judging. John and I wandered around for a while. There were no layout tours scheduled for Saturday. I went into the contest room as models were being judged. Lots of white gloves, "geezer goggles", and flashlights being used by the judges. Later in the day, we attended a rock-carving clinic.
After the judging was over, I went to see how we did. Noll racked up first place for his Dunkirk steam locomotive and second place for his tank car in the model contest. His tank car won the inaugural Marv Kershner Memorial award for creativity in modeling and also won the "outhouse" award for creatively modeling a local manure-hauling car. I was lucky enough to have my modules score enough points to qualify for the Master Builder - Scenery AP Certificate. My two structures did not earn enough points for a merit award, but having them judged was a great learning experience.
The banquet was Saturday evening. Noll sat at the head table with his fellow directors. He really sat up there because he knew that they would be first at the buffet line! During the dinner, we were "entertained" by a local "comedian". This guy did get funnier as the evening progressed (and no, we were not drinking heavily). The food was good. At the conclusion of the dinner, they handed out the awards. Noll's outhouse trophy is something to see! The Marv Kershner award for creativity is also really nice. I received the new modeler award which included a nice plaque and some money to boot. Dinner and awards was followed by an auction run by Bob Charles. I got some HO ore cars for my wife's wreath making endeavors and John got a antiquated, somewhat running, PRR steam locomotive.
Sunday morning, we loaded up the vehicles and then attended the MER meeting. Each director/committee gave their report. The 2002 Spring MER Convention will be held in Richmond, 6-9 June, I believe. There was much discussion about recruiting new members into the MER. After the meeting, we were off to visit 5 layouts on the way home. Christopher Columbus, err, I mean John Steitz, chartered our course, and we were off. John did an absolutely outstanding job of guiding us through the Pennsylvania countryside en route to these layouts. We even passed some awesome steel mill structures in Mechanicsburg on the way. The first layout was a club effort, but when we arrived, it was locked up. The other four went without a hitch, however, and we saw some really great HO layouts.
In closing, for those of you who are not NMRA members, I would urge you to join not only the NMRA, but also the local region and division. It is an excellent way to learn more about your hobby, become a better modeler, get involved in the available activities, and share in the benefits that it provides you. There are some mighty fine folks associated with these organizations, all pulling for the same cause, having fun in Model Railroading!
Here're a number of pictures that Matt took at the show - click on the
thumb-nails to see full-sized images!
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