Topic: Events
As a large urban area, Saint Louis has several train shows each year. GATS and other national shows make their appearance, but there are also ones sponsored by local model railroad clubs.
This past weekend I participated in the Mississippi Valley N Scalers annual train show. MVNS has been holding this show each October for serveral years. There were modular layouts representing N, HO, and American Flyer plus a gymnasium full of vendors with goods for every scale.
We took a few items for sale from our shop. Augusta Station's train clock layout also went on the road for the first time. This computer controlled layout is the creation of David Senften, owner of Augusta Station.
The layout mystifies and amazes observors by arranging N scale cars on three tracks to indicate the time of day. You calculate the time by counting the number of cars on each of the tracks to acquire the three digits which make up the time, i.e., hours and minutes. In this photo several people look on as three locomotives shuffle cars in and out of position on the tracks while Dave explains how it is accomplished. Dave is the wizard who designs and builds the other unique animated and interactive displays at Augusta Station.
I managed to find time to tour the layouts on display and take a few photos of the fine modeling on display. The first two are NTrak followed by a N scale coffee table layout, a Lego layout, and finally a scene from the HO layout.
