Hub Show

Submitted by Michael Greene:
On Sunday November 12, 2000 the Bristol S Gauge Railroaders took their modular layout to the NMRA HUB Division show in Marlboro, MA. While this is not one of the standard yearly shows for the Bristol Club, the club felt it was a good opportunity to promote S to a different audience. Thanks to an invitation from the HUB Division's show organizer (and S fan) Bill Goldthwait, the Bristol Club turned out in good numbers, and had a great time!

The club layout drew a lot of attention from attendees (attendance reported at 1450+), and provided the opportunity to showcase S in several flavors. Running at various times on the layout were American Flyer (original as well as re-motored & DCC installed), some of the recent vintage S products like S Helper Service SW-1s and SW-9s, American Models' steam and Amtrak Superliners, P-B-L's Heisler, Pennsylvania Heritage Models' RDC, along with a raft of other rolling stock featuring some of the newest products on the market from S Helper Service, R.S.S.V.P., American Models, & Crown Products (Port Lines).

In addition, a wealth of other models were displayed including some scratch-built items such as the three level auto carrier by Bill Frazier, as well as custom painted items such as several 44 tonners by Bill Frazier (Lehigh Valley) & Al Coughlan (Bay Colony), the beautiful output of the re-chroming service for American Flyer cars offered by Doug Peck at Port Lines Hobby Supplies, some custom painted B&M items from Dick Connors, and more. (Author's note: I'm sure I missed some items in this list since I was unable to stay for the entire day.)

But when it was all said and done, it's the "action" of S that in the author's opinion really grabbed the crowd's attention, as compared with layouts of other scales. Whether it's the American Flyer accessories, the smoke & chug from American Flyer and American Models locomotives, the sound from Soundtraxx and/or Dallee sound units installed in many of the operating locos, the scratch-built operating coal car unloader, the multiple trains running on each mainline thanks to NMRA DCC, other locomotives working short spurs, or the operating crane brought by Tom Robichaud, it's total "movement" of S that gets people interested. It was also the case that some attendees attention was caught by the detailed nature of some of the S models, as well as some attendees fond remembrances of American Flyer in their youth.

Based on the comments the author heard while at the show, it was a good show to showcase S to modelers in other scales. One attendee remarked that he was not aware it was possible to still get S gauge track, other than American Flyer (the Bristol Club layout is a combination of American Models flex and handlaid track), while another remarked at the extremely high quality of the newest S scale models from S Helper Service, R.S.S.V.P., P-B-L, River Raisin, Southwind, American Models and others. And of course the Heisler prompted several discussions about narrow gauge S and the beauty of it (author's note: just wait until Sn2 and Maine Two Footers starting making the show circuit!)

Doug Peck brought this rechromed AF car. This picture doesn't do it justice! It has a near perfect finish. Really a beauty!

We had great participation from the members running the layout. On duty hear are Bill Frazier, Doug Peck, Jerry Rivet, Bruce Russell, Dick Connors and Gene Kelly.

We have the coal dump back in full operation. Here Tommy is using an SW-9 to push a car into position.

The coal falls through a slot in the benchwork, and is collected in a bin. After all the cars have been emptied, the train returns to the main yard where they are refilled. This operation is fun for the operator, and a great crowd pleaser as well.

A fire broke out in the hunting cabin in the woods, Equipment was dispatched from our new firehouse, and it was soon under control.

A village has been growing up around Coughlin Station. Along with the firehouse, Helen's Eat and get Gas and an icing station for our new reefers.

Tommy had to limit the smoke from his steamers due to smoke detectors in the hall, but once in a while he would let it rip!

Suddenly it was over. Here the teardown crew prepares the modules for the trailer. It was a great show for us! Thanks to Skip for the pictures! Here is a short report from Tommy:

First, starting with setup on Saturday, it went well. We were able to park the trailer outside the cafe door so that the walk was short. Since there were few other layouts setting up we had plenty of space to work. Before setting up we noticed a TV monitor hanging off the wall so we asked if we could hook up our camera system to it. We got the OK so we positioned the layout close to the monitor. No major problems with set up, we had a good crew, thanks.

Bill was able to design and print up a few new club badges. Michael picked up a laminator. So between the two of them the few people who said that they didn't have badges, got new ones. The new ones look real good, Bill and Michael, thanks.

Sunday operations went well. The show started at 10:00, I got there about 8:00 and ran some stuff before the show started. During the show we had a good number of club members operating. The sign-up sheet worked out great. Running accessories were: the coal dumping station, with a SW9 pushing the cars on and off, the DCC operating crane car, the barrel loader, the turntable, video camera car and the station sounds. We had a good assortment of operating locos and rolling stock. The attendance, I heard, was somewhere around 1400. There seemed to be plenty of people in the morning showing interest in our layout. We had some great comments regarding the camera car and coal dump. I think that this was a good show for us to attend.

The biggest disappointment for me was we couldn't really run the smokers. There were at least 6 smoke detectors around the layout, bummer.

I do like the concept of having one team of people doing setup and another doing teardown.