Went to GATS in Philadelphia yesterday with my little boy. We were standing at one of the HO module clubs layout, looking at the intermodel yard. A l-o-n-g doublestack starts to come through. About the 15th car or so, one snags a switch and half the car begins to ride another yard track. Now, there is a club member standing across from me in the pit. He's about 2-3 feet away. Soon another car does the same thing. I'm looking at him and telling him "Hey, there's a problem. HEY THERE"S A PROBLEM" He looks at me and then looks away. I say "They're going to crash!" He then reacts. And then it happens. KABAM! The cars crash into a F unit and a couple of cars knocking them over. Now across the pit, about 14' or so away is the dispatcher, and he's saying "He was trying to tell you!" My little boy asks, "Why the trains crash daddy?" I could only look at the club member and think IDIOT. Overall the show sucked. A handfull of vendors and a few club layouts. ALOT of rude, ignorant people. Greenberg is coming in two weeks. Hopefully it will be alot better.
that had to have been a bummer. There was an unorganized trainshow at a near my shopping mall that was held down the middle if the corridors, they had a 6'x60' N scale layout IT WAS AWESOME!! also 20 local vendors and hobby stores came and seup, I walked home with several HO scale Coal Hoppers 2 CSX engines and 3 boxcars. (this was 4 years ago, be fore my N scale time) That N scale layout is one of the n scale layouts that inspired me to finally go to N.
Something similar happened at the local N scale layout last summer. Long train parted in the middle. opperator was off somewhere else. Lead loco came up on the stalled cars and ramed them, sending them all over both double tracks. Of course at the same time another train comes up from the oposit direction on the other track. While I'm yelling for someone to hit the kill switch, I had to reach over and pull the locos off the layout to keep them from going on the floor......Mike [ 05 February 2001: Message edited by: Mike C ]
Hey All,went to the GATS show in memphis this weekend .It was a fair show .Got some pretty good buys. It was crowded,didnt mind that so much;it was those strollers.. Man my ankles are sore ...I wish greenburg would come to memphis,heard they know how to run a show.... RRman48 RUSTYB FRISCO4EVER
I try to go to the GATS shows in Denver whenever I can get over to that side of the slope . They are always well organized, well run, full of interested folks and have TONS of vendors, guys doing demonstrations etc. It is a blast out this way !! Just goes to show how things are different in different areas!! Happy Modeling!! John
Hey I been there! One of the first GATS shows in Salt Lake had a traveling lionel modular layout, same situation - derailment and nobody paying attention. While doing my rain dance to get somebody's attention one of the club members told me to "mind my own business"!! OK, I sez, it's your money!!! Glad I didn't have to replace the MTH Turbine that hit the floor!! 2slim
