NMRA Conventions? Of any interest?

Yes – I have been to NMRA shows, the best part is the home tours. You pay a fee and they give you a map and the away you go. Spent two days at this, and still did not get to them all. You will mostly see HO Scale but did see one 3 Rail under construction.

     The home tours are important, and not the scale. You want to see their train room.

What kind of room is it in, the walls, how much space is into there layout in comparison to the size of the house.  Meet the family & guest. This is the best part of all the shows objectives.

Love Home Tours

Gary

Link: 

http://www.nmra.org/

Already registered, train tickets, hotel reservation in Portland and signed up for tours of layouts, the Columbia Gorge, Gunderson facility, UP and BNSF yards.  All the tours have fees and include bus travel from the convention hotel. 

The NTS is several miles away from the convention center.

If you're interested in the scale/hi-rail side of 3-rail then the NMRA regional conventions could be a lot of fun for you.  There are clinics on track plans, scenery, layout details, operation, weathering, etc. that pertain to any scale.  As trainroomgary says, the layout tours are always informative.  I much prefer the regional conventions to the national NMRA convention.  Prices are higher for the national, and layout tours are by bus (with separate fees for each bus tour) whereas regional layout tours are self-guided and usually free.  The NMRA has a special 6-month "introductory" membership that costs $9 and you can pay this when you register for the regional convention.

If your 3-rail interests lean more toward packing in as many loops of track as you can, adding carnivals or cities with tons of blinking lights then you probably won't find anything valuable at an NMRA convention.