Hey Cocoa Beach Attendees,

Anything of interest to report? How were the clinics?

Any new product announcements?

Were there wild parties, drinking and debauchery???


Shawn Beckert

Shawn Beckert asks:


Hey Cocoa Beach Attendees,

"Anything of interest to report?"

For those that don't know, I am the "Stuckee" for the meet and might be considered a bit prejudiced. I will say that after 3 very active days...read that 4 hrs sleep per day...I am considering checking into a mental institution of my choice for a day or two. I will also say that the op session that was run at my layout on Thursday was the most enjoyable by far that I've ever done...or attended...primarily due to the crew...Bill Darnaby, Ted Culotta, Mike Rose, Bill Schneider, Bruce Smith, Dennis Lippert, and Jeff Aley. On Sunday, Bill Schneider, Dennis, Jeff and Bruce were present again in the afternoon for an impromptu session...the four of them taking control of the layout as I stood around in a daze probably muttering something about how many dinner tickets had been sold the previous day or the location the night before of the showing of the unexpected slides of Sherman Hill.

How were the clinics?
I can only comment that Jeff Aley [ with very capable help from John Shankland ] was his usual efficient self in managing the operation of the 5 concurrent presentations. He also was able to find 5 computer projectors...one in Florida.


Any new product announcements?

SC&F did show the very tardy Harriman 2 door 60 ft baggage car. It should be available in a few weeks since there is little more to do on it. I'll leave the rest to others.

Were there wild parties, drinking and debauchery???

Of course. The success of meets like Prototype Rails at Cocoa Beach depends on the chemistry of the attendees, clinicians and manufacturers that attend. We have been very fortunate to have had in the past a very effective chemistry and it happened again this year. To those that participated, thanks very much.

BTW, the dates for next yr are Jan 5-8 and by then the entire hotel will be rennovated.
Mike Brock
Prototype Rails Bossman

At 02:31 PM 1/10/2005, you wrote:

BTW, the dates for next yr are Jan 5-8 and by then the entire hotel will be rennovated.
Mike Brock
Prototype Rails Bossman

I certainly hope that the renovation isn't accomplished by someone with a single first name like Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily....

BTW, the dates for next yr are Jan 5-8 and by then the entire hotel will be

rennovated<
I heard on PBS the other day that Delta (primary carrier to get there)
was reducing rates by a large margin. Wonder if I can buy tickets now?<G>.

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS

Bob Webber notes:

"I certainly hope that the renovation isn't accomplished by someone with a
single first name like Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily....

I agree more than you can know. I figure, incidentally, that if we experience a tsunami here in 2005 it would have occurred at 9 AM on Jan 7 when we opened registration.

Mike Brock




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I thought that Soundtrax (Digitrax?) was expecting it sooner than that?

Jon, Delta's fare may be cheap now, but the question begs to be asked--will they be around to use the ticket next year?
Paul Lyons
Laguna Niguel, CA

In a message dated 1/10/2005 1:49:25 PM Mountain Standard Time, atsf@...
writes:
I heard on PBS the other day that Delta (primary carrier to get there)
was reducing rates by a large margin. Wonder if I can buy tickets now?<G>.

----> Sure...of course the real question is will Delta still be around then!
I hope so!

Take Care!

Brian R. Termunde
West Jordan, Utah
"Ship and Travel the Grand Canyon Line!"
Grand Canyon Railway
Utah District

Mike, what was the attendance this year? Just bodies, not bodies paying
attention.

--- In STMFC@..., "Mike Brock" <brockm@b...> wrote:

Bob Webber notes:

"I certainly hope that the renovation isn't accomplished by

someone with a

single first name like Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily....

I agree more than you can know. I figure, incidentally, that if we

experience a tsunami here in 2005 it would have occurred at 9 AM on
Jan 7 when we opened registration.

Mike Brock

Hey, Mike, watch it. You get one..we get one ! Seriously, I had
a great time and thanks for the all the hard work. Especially
enjoyed catching back up with Chuck Hitchock after all these
years...gee he used to come over to see my sister when he was in
high school and ended up fiddling with the HO layout with me (at 6
years old) and my dad. We had a great time playing "remember when".

The clinics were great. The models..albeit mostly in a scale I'm
not familiar with anymore, were spectacular.

Thanks from my wife Deb and myself

Buck Dean
(O, Of course)
Jacksonville, FL

Gary Laakso asks about Prototype Rails:



"Mike, what was the attendance this year? Just bodies, not bodies paying
attention."
I'll do a double check, but from our calculations Sat night it was 231. This did not include spouses helping dealers like Westerfield and F&C nor some assisting the operation of the modular layouts.

Mike Brock

Comments?

One of the best meets I've been to, well worth it. It was even worth leaving the house at 3:30AM in a blizzard in order to get to the airport on time, and then waiting on the ground for an hour while the plane was de-iced. (Come to think of it, maybe THAT's why the Flroida meet was so good....). On top of the meet the chance to nearly destroy Mike's layout was wonderfull. He MAY be able to get the main lines clear in time for next year's meet....

Seriously, a great job by all the staff, presenters and hotel staff who bent over backwards to accomodate all the train geeks in the middle of a hotel renovation/reconstruction.

Bill Schneider

Other comments overheard on the plane as we approached Hartford... "Is that SNOW down there? Omigod!!!!" :>)

On Jan 11, 2005, at 11:24 AM, Bill Schneider wrote:

On top of the meet the chance to nearly destroy Mike's layout was
wonderfull.
He MAY be able to get the main lines clear in time for next year's
meet....

Hehehe... I thought we orchestrated that pretty well, filling tracks
1-4 in Laramie and then declaring the session over <VBG>. Its going to
take Mike a while to figure out what is where in staging ;^).

This year's "interloper" on Sherman Hill was a PRR K7A stock car,
tucked in behind the Big Boy, just like the photo shows, and then there
was talk of a NYO&W hopper... metalurgic coal?

We had a GREAT PRR presence there. PRR modelers displaying included
Ben Hom, Greg Martin, Stan Rydarowicz, Kris Kollar, Dave Volkmer, Greg
Mahklov and myself, of course (sorry if I left anyone out, my brain is
FRIED!). I think we inspired the AT&SF guys - they think next year
will be their year, but the hurdle is high, and "we'll be back"...
There were lots of great models from many other roads from other folks
as well!

There were some fantastic clinics as always, and you just can't get to
them all. I did get to see Bill Welch give two outstanding clinics on
the FGE/WFE/BRE reefer fleets. Bill Darnaby gave a great clinic that
followed a local freight over his layout. Jim Singer gave us some food
for thought on "unusual" consists, cars, etc... One issue that became
clear from his data is that reweigh dates may not be as rigid as some
suppose. Joe Jack presented two "unofficial" clinics Friday and
Saturday night after the regular clinics were over with his slides of
Conway, and an arial tour of the PRR from near Pittsburgh to Altoona -
incredible! I missed a third after-hours clinic of 30-40 year old UP
slides.

The biggest news for me came from two clinics by Ted Culotta and Larry
Kline about the Bob Charles photo collection. For those like me who
had no idea - this is a collection of somewhere over 500 photographs
shot in and around Harrisburg PA in 1946-48!!!!! Un-believable!!!
Most of the shots appear to be on the PRR while the remainder are on
the Reading. Ted showed lots of shots of house cars, reefers and a few
others, while Larry did the hoppers and gons. NMRA will be releasing a
new book edited by the "dynamic duo" with 300 or more photos (mostly of
the non-PRR cars, but with representative PRR photos as well) sometime
this summer (hopefully before the convention). This book will be a
MUST HAVE for the serious Pennsy and freight car modelers as it will
give a "snapshot" of the foreign cars on the road. I wrote down some
15 or more foreign hopper cars and didn't get them all... how about
Central of Georgia?

News from the manufacturers: Walthers had test shots of some more of
their cars, including the heavyweight diner (Southern prototype) and
their new wood express reefer (General American). Bill Wischer of
Walthers told me that the B60B molds should be cut soon, and that they
look good for a mid-year arrival. Stan Rydarowicz was displaying his
models including the single panel side PRR GLF (Bowser GLA with resin
panels) which he is selling and of course he had his line of parts.
Bill Schneider had their Pullmans, photos of the test shots of the
welded REA express reefer and some really nice structures. Mr. Greene
of Bethlehem Car Works was displaying the etched brass sides for both
the early (rectangular windows in the sides and doors) and late
(porthole window) versions of the PRR B60A. He also had B&M and NYC
baggage cars (IIRC) and his line of trucks there. F & C and
Westerfield were both there with their latest releases. I asked Al
about the R7 (PRR, FGE, National, X23 style reefer) and he indicated
that the biggest hurdle is past (he hopes <G>), so it is coming. A
bunch of us talked about getting a set of decals done for National
refrigerator cars, including Kahn's, for the PRR RF reefers that were
first transferred to FGE and then to National, as some remained in
service until at least the late 1940's! Greg Mahlkov had an n-scale
resin X23 prototype for which the master was made on a 3-D prototyping
machine... the wave of the future?? Bob's Photos and John La Rue were
both selling photos. Finally Ted Culotta (Speedwitch) was selling his
1932 AAR boxcar book and some incredibly nice SOUTHERN and UP decals as
well as decals for the as-yet-to-be-released IM AT&SF stock car.

The hotel was, well.... a construction zone <G>, but the renovated
rooms were very nice, and the staff worked very hard to make sure
things went well. You could see the signs of the hurricanes all
around, with many roofs still in need of shingles, lots of blue tarps
and about 1/2 the commercial signs (and many road signs) blown down.

I'm also happy to report that the Melbourne airport showed absolutely
no interest in searching my carry-on luggage that was full of trains
when I explained what it was... and the line at security? It was only
me... the place was empty. So if you plan on flying next year, and
Delta is still in business, look at Melbourne as an alternative - its
closer (40 min), smaller, and you get to railfan the FEC on the way to
and from Cocoa!

Kudos to Mike and crew for another GREAT meet!

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin
Franklin
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