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Here's an idea for an OGR Bus Tour (see this thread: Miss those OGR Weaver Tours for more info).

The Weaver operation and the layouts of Tony Lash and Robert Weaver no longer exist. Also, MTH has gone through a transition. So, OGR may need to do something different. So, I had an idea for an OGR-sponsored bus trip during York:

We will board a bus from the fairgrounds for a ride to Norfolk Southern's Enola Yard in Enola, PA followed by a visit to some layouts of TCA members in Enola, PA.

OGR could also do bus tours to some other spectacular O gauge layouts in the areas surrounding York.

Please let me know your opinion.

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Great idea!!  Coming from a far way to York, we are always looking at things to add more experiences for the week.  We fly, so it is great to see other things and be able to make a week event of it. A layout tour would be outstanding!  Never done one.  Really appreciated all of the layouts at York and TCA museum,  but would be even better to see how people have done them in their homes and get a chance to meet people.

This year our plan was to go to Steamtown in Scranton and hopefully Horseshoe Curve. Thanks for the tip On the Enola yard. I just googled it and that is much closer to York so may be able to squeeze that in too.

The bus tours we had some years ago were truly great fun and very instructive. No question about that. HOWEVER, we no longer have the staff resources to organize and conduct such tours. Back then, the OGR staff was significantly larger, and we operated in our own office building in beautiful downtown Poland, Ohio. Today, all operations are handled out of home offices in widely diverse locations ranging from Poland, Ohio (my editorial office) to Mountain Home, Arkansas (Publisher Alan Arnold's office) and various points in between. And, the existing staff is a small fraction of what it once was. Back when George Seil and Don Pedicini were part of our operation, they organized and managed the very successful bus tours. Those included some great visits to the Tony Lash layout, to Bob Weaver's layout, to MTH Headquarters, and to the Weaver Scale Models factory, among others.

What might be possible to do now would be for someone on this forum with some time on his or her hands and a good bit of energy and initiative to organize a series of self-guided open houses in the near and relatively near York area so folks could visit some fellow member home layouts or other attractions on a solo or small group basis. This is the kind of thing that is done at many of the hobby's national conventions. Would involve some effort to organize, along with the willingness of people to open their homes to such visits, but it could be done, I suppose.

Random thoughts, in no particular order...

Sorry that I missed the original OGR tours - they occurred during a gap in my York attendance.

Re the Enola Yard, I'd love it, but tours of railroad operations can be very difficult to organize due to security considerations.

It might be simpler to find members who would host open houses for self-drive tours than to arrange for bus transportation, but I'd be open to either.  Would definitely participate if they were held BEFORE the meet - afterwards, there is a bit of meet fatigue.

If you haven't done so, be sure to visit the train club in Red Lion - they usually have an open house on Wednesday and Thursday evenings of York week.  (Hope they'll be open in October.)

@Prr7688 posted:

Being from Pennsylvania, I have always wished that all the "O-gaugers" in the state would organize something similar to the Atlanta area's "piedmont pilgrimage" which is essentially a month long open-house layout tour.

While not the bus tour you have in mind, maybe there could be a week-long lead up to York of open houses.

There already is. The DE - MD - NJ - PA Model Railroad Open Houses happens during the month of November.  Most are HO scale but there are several O gauge layouts and they are all beautiful!  They post the dates and times and you can just show up and walk in during the specified times. And you meet some really nice people.

The bus tours we had some years ago were truly great fun and very instructive. No question about that. HOWEVER, we no longer have the staff resources to organize and conduct such tours. Back then, the OGR staff was significantly larger, and we operated in our own office building in beautiful downtown Poland, Ohio. Today, all operations are handled out of home offices in widely diverse locations ranging from Poland, Ohio (my editorial office) to Mountain Home, Arkansas (Publisher Alan Arnold's office) and various points in between. And, the existing staff is a small fraction of what it once was. Back when George Seil and Don Pedicini were part of our operation, they organized and managed the very successful bus tours. Those included some great visits to the Tony Lash layout, to Bob Weaver's layout, to MTH Headquarters, and to the Weaver Scale Models factory, among others.

What might be possible to do now would be for someone on this forum with some time on his or her hands and a good bit of energy and initiative to organize a series of self-guided open houses in the near and relatively near York area so folks could visit some fellow member home layouts or other attractions on a solo or small group basis. This is the kind of thing that is done at many of the hobby's national conventions. Would involve some effort to organize, along with the willingness of people to open their homes to such visits, but it could be done, I suppose.

I will reinforce what Allan said above.  While OGR would love to do something like this, we simply do not have the resources since OGR has been reorganized into a "lean and mean fighting machine" as the saying goes.  What I have seen work very well is for a local group of folks that are either part of a club or just know one another get together and organize a open houses where information is provided at the main meet (in this case perhaps York) on each layout/collection with a map on how to get to each along with hours and days of when the layout is open to visitors.  In my part of the country, we have a great meet that takes place in Springfield Missouri where there are some fantastic layouts.  The owners of those layouts generally circulate around letting folks know that at a certain times during the meet, they will offer their layouts for visitors.  OGR can help by using its promotion capabilities via email, eblasts, the forum, and the magazine.

I will add this to consider….I am sure you guys have seen my layout in Runs 313, 316 and 319. I do not get a lot of feedback from anybody so I am never really sure how much interest there is with members seeing the layout in person.

I live 60 to 90 MINUTES from York heading east on RT 30 and then north on RT 222. I would consider opening up my layout for member viewing. However, my layout is in the basement which means no ADA compliance. It involves a flight of steps. I only have one means of entry / egress so there could be issues with that. Finally, I tried to accommodate wider isles when I built for more guests but realistically, it gets crowded with 8 - 10 guys down there and me trying to run a few trains.

There is a lot of logistics to work out to satisfy everyone.

I also planned to have the TCA visit when the National Convention comes to York  but obviously have the same issues to deal with but on a bigger scale. They usually arrive with a tour bus full of visitors. 40 to 50 at a time.

Donald

Those were great times, weren't they, John? Awesome memories indeed!

On the 2008 tour, I believe it was, to Tony Lash’s layout and MTH Headquarters tour, I was purchasing several engines at MTH I found for a good price. I was last in line as the bus was fired up and waiting to leave.

Bill Parisi came in barking at me to hurry up, in a joking manner. After I paid and hurried to the bus, Bill stayed behind chatting with people. When he finally came back to the bus, I yelled out the bus window to him to hurry and get on the bus!  His chuckling smirk was priceless. Good times for sure.

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