Click on pictures for a larger view.
My chief operator/assistant this year was Charlie Crawford (right)who did a fantastic job of keeping things running while I was able to spend time chatting with the visitors. Charlie really "earned his pay" late in the afternoon when some gremlins entered the trains and we started getting some "hickups" that required switching out some locos. Later examination showed a combination of dirty track & loco wheels. This is interesting as I did a "wet" and "dry" cleaning of the entire layout and locos that morning.
My other operation/ assistant was I.D. Jackson (left) who kept busy backing up Charlie, keeping an eye on things, and chatting with our guests. Speaking of guests, "Coalfinger" Ken (right) from our NCIOG group showed up to offer support and talk L&N to another "Old Reliable" fan (me).
The visitors trickled in at the start and we had a number of visitors from the neighborhood as this was the first year I put flyer on all 37 house's mailboxes in our neighborhood.
It was great to see a number of small children (future model railroaders?) and everybody did a great job of "look, but don't touch". The camera car was a hit with both the children and adults as they could see themselves on TV!
Many of the visitors commented on the mountain area and liked the waterfall and lake area. The group below is looking at the Matthews freight yard where there is alot of potential action with locos and rolling stock.
"What scale are those buildings on the mountain" was a popular question. The answer is they start as HO down at the bottom, reduce to N scale half way up, and are Z scale at the top. The Z scale vehicles at the top are actually charms used on a charm bracelet. They're only $1.23 at Hobby Lobby instead of $$$ from the model railroad suppliers.
George Potter's wonderful N scale layout was on tour the same time as ours, and just like last year we had flyers for each other's railroads with directions and pictures. It was a popular handout and many of the visitors had just come from George's or were headed there next.
We had a "jam" of people for a period of about an hour were we had up to 15 people there at one time! The railroad room was full of people and people had to wait outside for their turn. This gave them time to visit the refreshment table and have a seat in the waiting area. Is that Joe in the hat??? He was a first time visitor and it was great to have him visit and give his input.
With the two running trains speed set correctly, Charlie stepped out of the room to allow more space for the guests. Speaking of guests, another member of the NCIOG, Paul stopped by to visit and also dropped off some stuff I left at Bob's. Thanks, Paul. His layout is on the tour and he and the NCIOG group have been working hard to get him ready.
It was a very successful open house with a total of 63 people with 44 of them not being member of the NMRA. I believe we helped promote model railroading and had a great time doing it by spending time with our guest listening and talking to them. A special thanks to Charlie Crawford, I.D. Jackson, and the Piedmont Division for allowing us to showcase our layout on the tour!
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You know, I really haven't given you enough credit for the great sign over the basement door. I love it! It really adds to the layout. Didn't think about it much until I saw it in the photos again.
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