Springfield Wrap Up

A great weekend up at the Springfield show. The weather was much warmer than any time I have been there before. I needed to buy a D&H T-shirt to wear Sunday as it was so warm in the building. The crowds were pretty good and I talked to a number of new and also familiar folks about Free-mo and model railroading.

I posted pictures I took of the Free-mo layout up on Flickr. Go to the link below to see them all (76).

https://flic.kr/s/aHsktHAXzn

Woodstown Jct. setup and ready to receive visitors - people and trains!

Saw some cool stuff at the show, picked up a few things of course, but mainly enjoyed operating on the Free-mo layout and talking to people. I know I probably missed a few of you who visited however. We ran operating sessions both days, and it was quite a run I had on Sunday when I went from Italy Yard down the branch to Woodstown, about 200 feet. I switched towns along the way and decided to terminate in Woodstown rather than head back as it took me an hour to do that part of the run. Very cool!

It was great having so many new people join with modules. Others from NJ and a new group out of Albany, plus a fantastic Bridge module from Ontario joined in this year making for a spectacular layout. The show director was quite pleased with the layout and people's reaction to it, and we have the same space available again next year. James Koretsky of NE Free-mo did a great job with the plan, which fit the space perfectly. And Fred Hessler and Bob Hall, also of NE Free-mo did a great job coordinating an operating plan that offered plenty of trains to run and industries to switch.

My friend Anton assisted with my modules and also brought some of his road power to run. Some of his nicely weathered Canadian units were operated Sunday with a good deal of natural sunlight coming through a  roof sky light making for some great photo opportunities.

My GRS GP40-2W (ex-CN) and Anton's CN GP40-2Wget some sunlight on the bridge at Woodstown Jct.

We did experience some issues with short circuits within our power district. This brought to mind my desire to isolate my module from the bus and install a circuit breaker. This way if I am the one causing a short I won't impact others in the power district. So while the modules are out and it is on my mind I will spend a little time working on that, along with getting the rest of the Power Pole changeover done to match the revised Free-mo specs.

So sorry if I did miss any of you looking for me, but glad to meet and say hi to those that read the blog and were at the show.

If anyone has any specific questions, post a comment here and I'll respond.

Who needs a Pepsi?