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As no one else has posted as of yet, here’s a brief report on the NMRA’s 2008
National Train Show held earlier this month:
- Location: Hall D, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California
- Dates: Exhibition July 18-20, 2008
- Space allocation: 65 x 70 feet
- LTCO clubs: 9 preregistered, 8 attended
- ILTCO members: 68 preregistered, 50+ attended
- Tables: 40 rented, 35 used plus 3 clubs brought their own
- Barriers: 33 telescoping sections (10 foot maximum)
- Running train loops: Approximately 16
- Bridges 192 studs or longer: 6
- Biggest faux pas: Billed on local television ads as “Lego miniland”
- Weirdest moment(s): Convention Center attempted to install an ice cream stand inside the layout space. An hour later they attempted to install a bar in the same spot!
- Host support: NMRA ran a well organized event with easy vehicle access to the layout, quick registration, easy exhibitor access, and good security. The only facility downside was $10 per entry parking
- Paid attendance: 28,000
Special thanks to Steve Witt of LEGO for hosting the Thursday night pizza bash
at BJs and providing all the great LEGO booty. Thanks to all the clubs and their
members for coming from around the country and making this the largest LEGO
train display ever held on the West Coast.
-Ted Michon
SCLTC
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In lugnet.announce, Ted Michon wrote:
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As no one else has posted as of yet, here’s a brief report on the NMRA’s
2008 National Train Show held earlier this month:
- Location: Hall D, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California
- Dates: Exhibition July 18-20, 2008
- Space allocation: 65 x 70 feet
- LTCO clubs: 9 preregistered, 8 attended
- ILTCO members: 68 preregistered, 50+ attended
- Tables: 40 rented, 35 used plus 3 clubs brought their own
- Barriers: 33 telescoping sections (10 foot maximum)
- Running train loops: Approximately 16
- Bridges 192 studs or longer: 6
- Biggest faux pas: Billed on local television ads as “Lego miniland”
- Weirdest moment(s): Convention Center attempted to install an ice cream stand inside the layout space. An hour later they attempted to install a bar in the same spot!
- Host support: NMRA ran a well organized event with easy vehicle access to the layout, quick registration, easy exhibitor access, and good security. The only facility downside was $10 per entry parking
- Paid attendance: 28,000
Special thanks to Steve Witt of LEGO for hosting the Thursday night pizza
bash at BJs and providing all the great LEGO booty. Thanks to all the clubs
and their members for coming from around the country and making this the
largest LEGO train display ever held on the West Coast.
-Ted Michon
SCLTC
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Ted:
Thanks for the great wrap-up. Sounds like it was a hoot and that LEGO® Trains
were well represented. I’m sorry I had to miss it.
-Dave
ToT-LUG
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- Weirdest moment(s): Convention Center attempted to install an ice cream stand inside the layout space. An hour later they attempted to install a bar in the same spot!
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and I heard we were gonna get free ice cream (ok, it was really dipping
dots)...with guys like us, I’m curious to see what the deal was with getting ice
cream...we (as a group) could have potentially ate them out of their profit
potential...which might have taught them a nice lesson at the end of the
day...I’ll bet at least one person of our 50+ group would have had some kind of
ice cream at any moment during the day...
I was glad to see KABC (local ABC affiliate) come out and interview a few folks
(I think there were 2-3 of us interviewed. Upon seeing the Disneyland/Magic
Kingdom layout, the producer commented “Parent Company will kill us if we don’t
film this!! For those of you who don’t know, Disney owns ABC network, which
also explains why a lot of movies and stuff on Disney Channel wind up on ABC
family a few weeks/months later (but I digress).
I was interviewed by another cable network channel, which asked some pretty good
general questions, and seemed a little more in depth than my KABC interview.
(Granted, the KABC news reporter was cuter, but it was the cameraman asking the
questions, and I think he was the producer, too)
I took some pictures all around the layout, and I know Todd Thuma took a LOT of
pictures as well. My flickr account is just about full for a basic member, so
I’ve got to figure out if I want to pay for a pro account or work something
else.
All in all, a good show (even though I missed the group picture because I was
getting a rental car at the time).
Thinking ahead: http://www.nmra.org/convention/
NMRA 2009: Hartford, CT (20 min from LEGO Americas HQ) July 5-11
NMRA 2010: Milwaukee WA July 10-18 (NMRA 75th Anniversary)
NMRA 2011: Sacramento CA July 3-9 (and there might be something LEGO-related in
the area by then... NMRA 2012: Grand Rapids, MI July 29-Aug 4th
NMRA 2013: Atlanta GA July 14-20 (I believe Cobb Galleria is being targeted for
the event...intersection of I-285 and I-75) (you can be sure I’ll be working
with the LEGO Atlanta store to see if anything special can be done)
Scott
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In lugnet.trains, Scott Lyttle wrote:
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NMRA 2010: Milwaukee WA July 10-18 (NMRA 75th Anniversary)
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Scott, I assume you mean Milwaukee WI. I hate to think that people might be
going to the wrong state.
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In lugnet.trains, Robert Gurskey wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Scott Lyttle wrote:
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NMRA 2010: Milwaukee WA July 10-18 (NMRA 75th Anniversary)
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Scott, I assume you mean Milwaukee WI. I hate to think that people might be
going to the wrong state.
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Whoops, yeah.. MI... and that date posting did not post the way I wanted it
to...
scott
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