If someone can connect me with Marty Megerian, I would like to see if I can view his video.
THank you,
Brad Andonian
________________________________
From: "Aley, Jeff A" <Jeff.A.Aley@...>
To: "STMFC@..." <STMFC@...>; "PassengerCarList@..." <PassengerCarList@...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 8:38 PM
Subject: [STMFC] Prototype Rails 2013 trip report
Note: I was the Clinic Chairman for PR'13, so my opinions are obviously biased.
Prototype Rails 2013 (January 10-12) is now behind us. Here are my thoughts:
Highlights:
+ The weather. It was unseasonably warm (10 degrees warmer than average), meaning that it was about 80 degrees and sunny on the beach. It's pretty hard to complain about that!
+ The clinics. We had a very nice lineup of clinics this year. As Clinic Chairman, I had nothing to do with this; the fine clinics are the result of the hard work of the individual clinicians. I attended several.
+ Frank Peacock's analysis of UP Freight Train Consists in Spring 1947 was quite interesting to me. Several folks were amazed that an interesting presentation could be given based on what could have been very dry data.
+ Perry Sugerman's clinic on Car Cards, Waybills, and Car Forwarding was very interesting. It was good to see an approach that is different to the one that I used (which I based on Tony Thompson's approach). I learned some good stuff [I like his concept of "itineraries", and will apply them to the way I do things.
+ Jim Dick's clinic on Car Service Orders was also good. He showed the diversity of CSO's and how they affected the appearance of trains. I look forward to getting a copy of his presentation so that I can study the text of the CSO's in detail.
+ Charles Hostetler did a nice clinic on the ICC 1% Waybill statistics. Unfortunately, he discovered that the statistics are not able to answer all of the questions that we'd like, since much of the data has been lost due to averaging. Nonetheless, there are some interesting trends that can be used, which he illustrated with examples.
+ Ken Tendick built a Westerfield resin kit right before our eyes. I've never seen anyone build a kit so quickly. He certainly went a long ways to cure "Westerfear". We used a camcorder + LCD projector so that everyone could see exactly what he was doing.
+ Mike Rose showed how he built the largest HO scale structure I've ever seen. It was very interesting, and very informative. He also show how he developed a town scene. Both are prototypical, of course.
+ Marty Megregian showed a film from 1937 (!!) of the Virginian Railway, including the re-building of their hoppers. Wow!
+ There were a bunch of other great clinics, but those were the only ones I managed to attend.
+ We had a lot of fine models on display in the ballroom, and manufacturers including Archer Rivets, SC&F, Yarmouth Model Works, Intermountain, Rapido, Paired Rail Publications, F&C, and many others who I can't recall at the moment.
+ The people. That's why we come to these things - the other modelers!
Lowlights:
- The illness of several attendees (including my wife) put a damper on the meet (at least for me). Fortunately, Connie started feeling better on Saturday, so we were able to enjoy Sunday and Monday.
- Attendance was only 247; I was hoping for 250-275.
- The website didn't have more details about each topic, nor a section where one could look up a particular person and see when s/he was scheduled. The Clinic Chairman for PR14 (me again) will have to work on this. He should also get the schedule published a bit earlier.
- Hotel food is S... L... O... W... Not bad tasting, but slow. On the other hand, there are many other dining options, including Sonny's BBQ, Roberto's Little Havana, and the Lobster Shanty.
- I only got a cookie on Thursday night :( It's silly how much I looked forward to a $0.65 chocoloate-chip cookie.
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