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We just recently attended the Amherst Train Show in West Springfield, MA and I would say that it was one of the better ones judging from the last few years. For us the attendance and business (sales) was certainly higher than years past. Many other vendors said the same thing. The official attendance figures were 21,534 for a two day show and most of these attended on Saturday.

It’s February already which means all of our well-intended New Year’s resolutions are fading away or forgotten completely. Many of us will be paying off Christmas debts for a long time. Many will still be trying to learn how to use their new upgraded fancy electronic not so smart phones or eye-tablets or whatever gizmos. Some may have their grandkids helping them figure stuff out. Many model railroaders should be adding new stuff to their layout, breaking in (or just breaking) a new locomotive, building some kits, or helping their grand kids enjoy model railroading as a trade-off for them helping with the electronic

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and are planning to have a Happy New Year. Make sure your new year's resolutions are realistic and achievable. You might even spend some time practicing writing 2020 a few times. We are starting a new decade of the 2020's and hopefully this coming decade will be happy and prosperous for all.

Did you know that January is “National Hobby Month”? Check out the following web site www.nationalhobbymonth.com, YouTube, and Facebook for more info. Also the National Retail Hobby Stores Association’s (NRHSA) has more info too.

How much model railroading stuff did you get for Christmas? How much did you give for Christmas? Now it's time to get back to building layouts, building models, kit bashing and up grading models, coupler conversions, helping others and sharing your time and skills, and simply enjoying this great hobby. However, more importantly, is making sure your family is well cared for and there's peace and harmony in your home. No hobby, or anything

The below message is copied from last year’s Dec. #144 article as I can not improve much on what I said before except that we need Christ in our lives more than ever.

It is Christmas time now and we hope that everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and, as I suggested last month, you made a special effort to better understand what Thanksgiving really means and then gave proper thanks for all you have. Christmas is another special time for giving thanks but it’s more focused on thanking God and Jesus Christ for all they have given us. The Christian world has set apart this time of year to celebrate the birth of Christ and what he has done for all the world, not just a part, or a select few, but the entire world and all mankind from the beginning to the end. Thanksgiving is celebrated only in the U.S.A. but Christmas is celebrated all through the Christian world.

So here we are getting ready for another Christmas Holiday but unfortunately most people are focused on Santa Claus rather than on Christ.

It is now "The Holiday Season" with Thanksgiving coming on the 28th. The word Thanksgiving is self-defining "giving thanks" but thanks for what and to who? The first "official " Thanksgiving is dated 1621 about a year after the Mayflower Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. This Thanksgiving lasted about 3 days celebrating their first harvest and survival. However, there were many similar celebrations in the late 1500s and earlier 1600s up and down the east coast for basically the same reasons of landing safely from a long voyage and surviving the harsh environment.

Since most of the early immigrants came here for some form of religious freedom they already had strong beliefs in "The Almighty God". As such their Thanksgiving was giving thanks to God for "all they had". These celebrations lasted on and off through the years and during the Revolutionary War Congress (who believed in God) appointed one or more Thanksgiving Days a year. The Continental-Confederation Congress, the legislative body

2016

Trainfest & Bachmann dove tailed coupler arm (December 2016)

Well, did you have a great Thanksgiving? If you did that's great and if not then why not? Most of us free Americans had four days off to be with our families and spend quality time with them which is the most important thing we can do. Hopefully, you were able to help some of your family enjoy model railroading and get them interested in this hobby, which can be enjoyed by the entire family.

Now if Thanksgiving worked out well you should be planning a fabulous Christmas Holiday with your family which, of course, includes some family model railroading. Don't just hide in your basement, garage, attic, or spare room playing with your trains alone. If your family is not interested in your model railroading do something uniquely special to show them that they'd want to come and see. But if they are still not interested, set your trains aside and spend the time with them because your trains will still be there later but your family

2014

Christmas Season (December 2014)

Here we are just getting to or over Thanksgiving, depending on when you received this flier, and now going into the actual Christmas season. Those of you that have a model railroad layout that can be changed for each season or have a once a year Christmas train set up, are you now working on this season’s change out and setup? What’s your actual theme a snow scene with Santa Claus and Christmas decorations, a Thomas Kinkaid sparkling country scene, how about a totally politically incorrect Christmas scene with a beautiful baby Jesus Nativity on public property and “Merry Christmas” posted all over and school children decorating a tree and exchanging gifts and everyone of them having fun without some adult filled with political fears telling them not to because of some small minority “might” be offended. So get them layouts changed, pull out the yearly Christmas Train, and put up that Nativity Scene.

The Spirit of Christ is real and if we show the world

2011

Trainfest & The Holidays (December 2011)

We attended Trainfest Train Show in Milwaukee, WI this past month and in our opinion, it's one of the best shows put on anywhere. It's in a very clean newer building, plenty of convenient parking, very well organized and supported by their staff, and they promote this show a lot. Friday the 11th was a set up day and a special vendors day, Saturday was so busy we could hardly see out of our booth, and Sunday had a steady flow of people, including many who were not railroader's bringing their families to see the trains. The show had plenty of things for kids to see and do and they were loving it all. To see the emotions and big smiles on the kids' faces really makes it worth it. It's a great show and we highly recommend it to everyone from the highly experienced model railroader to the non-railroader looking for good clean entertainment for all ages. We didn't have any new products to introduce but we showed samples of our new O-Scale line of

2008

Modeling Skills Pt. 4 (December 2008)

Just a few more comments about “modeling skills” in this issue and then I’ll move onto other subjects. These comments were never intended to offend anyone but only to point out various trends. These trends are based on quite a number of things. Model railroading history goes back to when model railroading was an absolute “scratch building” hobby (as did most hobbies). As prototype (real) railroads grew so did the hobby, perhaps beginning with simple “toys” being “whittled” out of a block of wood by some semi “skilled” father (brakeman, engineer, or such) making a gift for his child. As the child grows so does his or her desire for a more “functional” toy. Then the father, with finer tuned skills, now makes rolling wheels and more details. As usual, comes the competition of “one-upmanship” between the kids and between the fathers which, of course, brings better toys. Then some enterprising father or skilled youngster begins to make these to sell