O Scale West was held Friday and Saturday May 27 & 28, 2022 (Memorial Day Weekend). I attended on Friday. As in the past, the meet was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel located next to the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Santa Clara is located about 40 miles south of San Francisco. It is where the SF 49ers play football. The stadium is directly across the street from the convention center.
Here is the hotel:
I arrived at the meet at 10 am. This was an hour after the meet opened at 9. This is a view of the meet space upon entering.
Gary Yoesle's table was full of beautiful Sunset 2-rail models.
This was another Sunset 2-rail model. The price was very reasonable when compared to modern Lionel products.
Craig Matoza's table with various items for sale.
Dan Dawdy of O Scale Resource was present. I enjoyed a brief conversation with Dan.
More items for sale at reasonable prices.
This photo was taken about noon. There were empty tables.
More items that I didn't see at the March Meet. Every show reflects its local area.
Shelly from White River was offering show specials. She hauled all this stuff from Kansas City. We had an enjoyable conversation. I told her that I really enjoyed the 2018 Kansas City NMRA National Convention and meeting a few of the White River people at that meet.
Another photo taken at about noon. The trading haul was fairly empty and some vendors had already left.
Overall, there was plenty of product at reasonable prices. Attendance was much less than previous shows. This may have been because of the uncertain economy, high CA gas prices, and because the show was on a holiday weekend (Memorial Day). I was told that attendance by the 3-rail community (Lionel, etc.) was discouraged. I don't know if this is true or not. The 3-rail modular layout that is usually at this show was not present.
The highlight of the show, for me, was the Orange County O Scalers modular 2-rail OW5 layout. The members told me that they are the only O scale 2-rail (OS2R) modular layout west of Denver. The layout is from Orange County, CA. Orange County is a few miles south west of LA. The group had about a 400 mile drive to get to the show.
This display has been much improved since I last saw it before Covid. Many new scenes have been added. The layout is controlled by NCE DCC. It is huge. Here are views of its overall size. I was told that minimum radius is 99 inches (O-198).
Here are some individual scenes. Naturally, nearly all the equipment and scenery has a CA flavor.
I don't think that the Santa Fe ran doodle bugs in CA. Does anyone know? These were excellent models.
Surfing USA! This is the CA of my youth. Yes, I had a friend whose family had a red Thunderbird just like the one shown in the photo. I drove it the 4th of July parade with the parade princess sitting in the back. The top was down.
A very well done industrial scene.
Orange County used to be all orange groves. Now it is mostly housing and cities.
How did the Nickel Plate get to CA? David Vaughn must have sent these?
It isn't well known that CA is a huge oil producing state. You will see oil wells in the central valley and along the southern CA coast including inside cities.
A very nice WP model.
This is a SP 4-8-2 mountain. They were used in both freight and passenger service I have a 3rd Rail 3-rail model of this engine.
SP moved a lot of baggage and mail in the past. These were very nice models.
UP has always been a big player in CA. This was the first time that I have ever seen one of these models running. The sound was awesome.
The caboose marks the end of the photos.
Layout Tours: Thirteen layouts were open for tour during the convention. I didn't go to any of the open layouts because all local tours were scheduled between 7 and 11 pm. I avoid driving at night. Also, traffic was brutal throughout the Bay Area because of the Memorial Day weekend. Everyone seemed to be on the road to the beach or the Sierra mountains.
The break down of the tours was: OS2R (OW5) - 3; On3 - 4; Sn3 - 2; and HO - 2. Two of the OS2R layouts are in Fresno which is a couple of hundred miles from the Bay Area about half way to LA. The Golden State club in Richmond, CA is open today (Sunday). It has O, On3, N, HO, and HOn3 layouts. One S gauge layout is in Oregon.
Overall: I enjoyed the show. It was great to see and talk to people that I hadn't seen for the last two Covid years. This was a wonderful show for buyers because of all the bargains. Every seller that I spoke with was disappointed by the low attendance on Friday. Hopefully, attendance was better Saturday. I couldn't be there Saturday. NH Joe
