Hello there webtraveller!
Well this has truly been a fun weekend at the start of August of 2017. I have had the chance to check out the National Train Show here in Orlando, FL. The show was held at the Orange County Convention Center. A dear friend of mine had told me about the show and I just had to see it for myself. This was the first time I had ever attended one of these events and I just have to say that I was more than impressed with what I had experienced. If you are like me and being a train fan, the railroad memorabilia alone is enough to get you going.
While walking around the show I had the chance to see many vendors that were selling model train items, which was nice to see and it gave me a bunch of ideas for the layout I would one day like to build. However, it was actually the train layouts that many of the model railroad clubs had brought to the show, from all over, that really caught my attention. I had spent a lot of time just looking at how detail minded the modeler’s had been. All of the layouts themselves are modular for easier transporting.
A few of the layouts caught my attention, being the sheer size and floorspace they consume. One layout stood out in particular, it was a z-scale (if you are familiar with the different size scales that model trains come in, z scale is the smallest size) layout and the gentleman who owns it told me he had been working on it for approximately 17 years. The layout was U shaped and featured a small town, some mountains, and a really nice multi tiered canyon setting. Just to see how small it was but the detail that is in it was remarkable. There are a few photos of this layout in the gallery, feel free to check out some of what I had seen:
To help remember my visit to the National Train show I decided to video and walk around each layout, here is the playlist on my YouTube channel, feel free to check it out and comment:
In summary I had a really great time attending this show. There was a lot to absorb and just admire about what everyone has done with their layouts. I personally plan to attend another one for sure.