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The Northern Illinois LEGO® Train Club is showing at the Day Out with Thomas
event at the Illinois Railway Museum this weekend and next.
Show dates are:
August 15-17,23-24.
For more details, see the Illinois Railway Museum site at http://www.irm.org.
Their site is confusing - since they usually don't charge for admission to the
grounds (donations only, I think) I am confused if the admission price applies
to everyone, or just people wanting to ride the Thomas train. If you are coming,
you can contact Ondrew Hartigan at (630) 301-2998 for arrangements to get in.
Hope to see you there!
-Tim
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Photos are available hear:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=53611
enjoy,
ondrew
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In lugnet.announce, Tim Courtney wrote:
> The Northern Illinois LEGO® Train Club is showing at the Day Out with Thomas
> event at the Illinois Railway Museum this weekend and next.
>
> Show dates are:
>
> August 15-17,23-24.
>
> For more details, see the Illinois Railway Museum site at http://www.irm.org.
> Their site is confusing - since they usually don't charge for admission to the
> grounds (donations only, I think) I am confused if the admission price applies
> to everyone, or just people wanting to ride the Thomas train. If you are coming,
> you can contact Ondrew Hartigan at (630) 301-2998 for arrangements to get in.
>
> Hope to see you there!
>
> -Tim
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In lugnet.announce, Tim Courtney wrote:
> The Northern Illinois LEGO® Train Club is showing at the Day Out with Thomas
> event at the Illinois Railway Museum this weekend and next.
>
> Show dates are:
>
> August 15-17,23-24.
>
> For more details, see the Illinois Railway Museum site at http://www.irm.org.
> Their site is confusing - since they usually don't charge for admission to the
> grounds (donations only, I think) I am confused if the admission price applies
> to everyone, or just people wanting to ride the Thomas train. If you are coming,
> you can contact Ondrew Hartigan at (630) 301-2998 for arrangements to get in.
>
> Hope to see you there!
>
> -Tim
What is the NILTC club policy on "guest trains"? If someone were to say, make a
road trip, and brought a train (8-wide, of course) - could they run it on your
layout?
Great pics, btw - lots and lots of fun 'eye candy', and great work modelling the
rolling stock there at the museum!
JohnG, GMLTC
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, John Gerlach wrote:
> What is the NILTC club policy on "guest trains"? If someone were to say, make a
> road trip, and brought a train (8-wide, of course) - could they run it on your
> layout?
Well, we discourage "guest trains" from the audience, simply because we had a
rather unique experience with a kid whose trains we offered to run. BUT - if
you're an established member of an established train club, I don't see how
running your trains would be a problem. So, please, bring them out!
Unless you start yelling (repeatedly) "let's pull it together! like the twins!"
Then we'll kick you out ;-)
> Great pics, btw - lots and lots of fun 'eye candy', and great work modelling the
> rolling stock there at the museum!
Thanks!!
-Tim
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Tim Courtney wrote:
> Well, we discourage "guest trains" from the audience, simply because we had a
> rather unique experience with a kid whose trains we offered to run. BUT - if
> you're an established member of an established train club, I don't see how
> running your trains would be a problem. So, please, bring them out!
You've had problems with guest trains in the past? Do tell! The only problems
the GMLTC has had recently is when a kid brought his Hogwart's Express. We're
so used to running our 8-wide trains - they require almost full throttle - we
ran his right off the table... OOPS!! He was pretty cool about it though, and
laughed while I rebuilt it.
And yea, I'm seriously considering a trip down there. Gotta run the
'Challenger' sometime soon... :-)
JohnG, GMLTC
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, John Gerlach wrote:
> In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Tim Courtney wrote:
> > Well, we discourage "guest trains" from the audience, simply because we had a
> > rather unique experience with a kid whose trains we offered to run. BUT - if
> > you're an established member of an established train club, I don't see how
> > running your trains would be a problem. So, please, bring them out!
>
> You've had problems with guest trains in the past? Do tell! The only problems
> the GMLTC has had recently is when a kid brought his Hogwart's Express. We're
> so used to running our 8-wide trains - they require almost full throttle - we
> ran his right off the table... OOPS!! He was pretty cool about it though, and
> laughed while I rebuilt it.
Ohh, I wish that was our problem :-) There's a mentally handicapped child who is
at one of our shows every year. He really loves the trains, but is quite loud
and disruptive - and his parents have difficult time controlling him. One of our
members (who shall remain nameless - no, it was not me), said it was OK for him
to bring his own LEGO trains in the next day. So, he did.
We ran the trains ... and during that time period he would not be quiet, at all.
He brought a My Own Train from my recollection. Since we also had a stock MoT on
the layout, he decided to bug our poor yardmaster for about 15 minutes to "pull
it toghether, like the twins!" We couldn't figure out what he was referring to,
and finally put it together that he wanted the two MOT engines to run together.
The real problem was the annoyance of the child (who looked about 14)
incessantly trying to get our attention, while we had other things to do
(sometimes cleaning up trains, switching, or (God forbid) resting behind the
tables). Also, it appeared the parents left for a period of time, leaving the
kid and his brother (who appeared sane, but probably not more so than the
rivet-counters across the room) by the layout, essentially for us to watch
(since they were being so disruptive).
So, this has kinda scared us into not allowing guest trains -- from people we
don't know, that is. If I ever want to annoy Ondrew, all I have to do is say,
"let's pull it together!" :D (ughh)
> And yea, I'm seriously considering a trip down there. Gotta run the
> 'Challenger' sometime soon... :-)
Well come down this coming weekend if you can. There's one section of the layout
that gets pretty close to our clearance standards, but the rest should be just
fine. I'd love to see the Challenger run!!!
http://www.niltc.org/standards/track/
(this needs to be updated, we've switched to 8 studs between rails from 4.
I can't remember if we ran the Frisco or not this show.
-Tim
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Tim Courtney wrote:
> In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, John Gerlach wrote:
> > In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Tim Courtney wrote:
> > > Well, we discourage "guest trains" from the audience, simply because we had a
> > > rather unique experience with a kid whose trains we offered to run. BUT - if
> > > you're an established member of an established train club, I don't see how
> > > running your trains would be a problem. So, please, bring them out!
> >
> > You've had problems with guest trains in the past? Do tell! The only problems
> > the GMLTC has had recently is when a kid brought his Hogwart's Express. We're
> > so used to running our 8-wide trains - they require almost full throttle - we
> > ran his right off the table... OOPS!! He was pretty cool about it though, and
> > laughed while I rebuilt it.
>
> Ohh, I wish that was our problem :-) There's a mentally handicapped child who is
> at one of our shows every year. He really loves the trains, but is quite loud
> and disruptive - and his parents have difficult time controlling him. One of our
> members (who shall remain nameless - no, it was not me), said it was OK for him
> to bring his own LEGO trains in the next day. So, he did.
>
> We ran the trains ... and during that time period he would not be quiet, at all.
> He brought a My Own Train from my recollection. Since we also had a stock MoT on
> the layout, he decided to bug our poor yardmaster for about 15 minutes to "pull
> it toghether, like the twins!" We couldn't figure out what he was referring to,
> and finally put it together that he wanted the two MOT engines to run together.
>
> The real problem was the annoyance of the child (who looked about 14)
> incessantly trying to get our attention, while we had other things to do
> (sometimes cleaning up trains, switching, or (God forbid) resting behind the
> tables). Also, it appeared the parents left for a period of time, leaving the
> kid and his brother (who appeared sane, but probably not more so than the
> rivet-counters across the room) by the layout, essentially for us to watch
> (since they were being so disruptive).
Gosh, I'm tired. I meant this last parenthetical to mean ... "this was a
problem, since they were being so disruptive."
-Tim
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Well the whole NILTC club was very pleased ( and a few members surprised) to
receive a visit by John Gerlach at our Thomas show today. He stayed for only a
few hours but it was a real blast! The highlights included:
a. Joint NILTC/GMLTC 8-wide freight train 16 feet long !
b. John's rebuilt challenger making the entire 20'x25' layout circuit without
any help from the old 0-5-0 switcher.
c. Seeing John's challenger and my Frisco 1630 (the prototype actually operating
at the museum during our show) posing on a bridge together. Pictures are coming
soon at www.NILTC.org but this scene actually felt like heavy steam.
- BMW, NILTC
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Brian Williams wrote:
| |
Well the whole NILTC club was very pleased ( and a few members surprised) to
receive a visit by John Gerlach at our Thomas show today. He stayed for only
a few hours but it was a real blast! The highlights included:
a. Joint NILTC/GMLTC 8-wide freight train 16 feet long !
b. John’s rebuilt challenger making the entire 20’x25’ layout circuit without
any help from the old 0-5-0 switcher.
|
After only wiping out a few of the track-side structures on the layout....
*grin* Gotta love that 8-wide overhang! The Challenger still needs some
fine-tuning, this was its “world premier”, since I had never actully run it
powered. “Thanks” to all the guests who thought it looked good!
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c. Seeing John’s challenger and my Frisco 1630 (the prototype actually
operating at the museum during our show) posing on a bridge together.
Pictures are coming soon at http://www.NILTC.org but this scene actually
felt like heavy steam.
- BMW, NILTC
|
I was going to post a note last night, but I was just too tired after a 17 hour
/ nearly 900 mile day... *grin*
I had a BLAST with the NILTC folks! I wish I could have stayed the entire
weekend, but it was worth it for the three hours I did spend with them. The
Illinois Railroad Museum is a wonderful place to visit,
and the NILTC was doing them right with several Lego models of IRM locomotives
and rolling stock. We spent much time stealing, er, “copying” ideas from each
other - the NILTC folks were eyeing the GMLTC trains I brought down, and I was
eyeing many of the details and functionality of the NILTC layout.
NILTC, THANKS! for letting me hang out with you for a couple of hours. I’m
looking forward to the next time!!
JohnG, GMLTC
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, John Gerlach wrote:
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I was going to post a note last night, but I was just too tired after a 17
hour / nearly 900 mile day... *grin*
|
Replying to self - it was only an 800 mile day, not 900... ;-)
JohnG, GMLTC
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if anybody is watching or seems to be interested we made the paper.
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Kenn/Trains/NILTC/Thomas/1-pre-event/herald_article_small.jpg
ondrew
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In lugnet.announce, Tim Courtney wrote:
> The Northern Illinois LEGO® Train Club is showing at the Day Out with Thomas
> event at the Illinois Railway Museum this weekend and next.
>
> Show dates are:
>
> August 15-17,23-24.
>
> For more details, see the Illinois Railway Museum site at http://www.irm.org.
> Their site is confusing - since they usually don't charge for admission to the
> grounds (donations only, I think) I am confused if the admission price applies
> to everyone, or just people wanting to ride the Thomas train. If you are coming,
> you can contact Ondrew Hartigan at (630) 301-2998 for arrangements to get in.
>
> Hope to see you there!
>
> -Tim
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
> if anybody is watching or seems to be interested we made the paper.
> http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Kenn/Trains/NILTC/Thomas/1-pre-event/herald_article_small.jpg
Thanks for sharing! (yes, we're watching and yes we're interested).
The article doesn't make more than the usual number of errors (BrickLink.com as
a source for "LEGOS" ...) but I do wish the media would give up on the "adults
playing with kids toys" angle, it gets a little tiresome.
If some LEGO sets are badged 9-99 then they aren't "kids toys", are they? :-)
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
> > if anybody is watching or seems to be interested we made the paper.
> > http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Kenn/Trains/NILTC/Thomas/1-pre-event/herald_article_small.jpg
>
> Thanks for sharing! (yes, we're watching and yes we're interested).
>
> The article doesn't make more than the usual number of errors (BrickLink.com as
> a source for "LEGOS" ...) but I do wish the media would give up on the "adults
> playing with kids toys" angle, it gets a little tiresome.
>
> If some LEGO sets are badged 9-99 then they aren't "kids toys", are they? :-)
I suppose it's up to us to change that impression when we give interviews. If we
(collectively) make a conscious effort to say they are not just for kids,
perhaps it will change over time?
-Tim
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In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Tim Courtney wrote:
> In lugnet.trains.org.niltc, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> > If some LEGO sets are badged 9-99 then they aren't "kids toys", are they? :-)
>
> I suppose it's up to us to change that impression when we give interviews. If we
> (collectively) make a conscious effort to say they are not just for kids,
> perhaps it will change over time?
Yes. AND call the mediaperson on it (in a nice way, while thanking them for the
coverage) if they misquote the interviewee.
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