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- December 15, 2011 1209
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
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- December 15, 2008 1211
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