S Fest 2016

My cap will be there wearing something underneath...

Rusty

I will be there.

 

Raises his hand in the air...

Ben 

I only go when it is in Saint Louis.  I wish it was there every year. 

I make it to Chicago, Milwaukee and Rockford.  I sit it out when it is in St Louis...just to long if a drive.  

Ben 

Looking forward to it.

Bob

I'll be there Friday and Saturday following three days aboard Amtrak's Empire Builder from Portland. Will be bringing four containers of trains for sale. No American Flyer nor Lionel, but plenty of American Models, S Helper, S Scale America, SouthWind and even a Scenery Unlimited doodlebug. Overall, nine days of travel including 4,196 rail miles.

Gil Hulin

Sooooo.....

I was there when the hall opened.  It was in just one large room again.  I thought "smaller than last time", but it dawns on me that I say that every time.  Seems to me, Chicago's turn at hosting is always the largest event, anyway, there was still a lot to look at.

American Models was there with some surprises found in the move from one building to another and I picked up a sold out C&NW SD60.

I had hoped to find a nice selection of old Pacific Rail Shops kits (specifically the AFC hoppers, but it was slim pickings). I did find one of my primary targets. 

The guy with all the boxed vintage Gilbert stuff was there, nice and all but I think the guy forgets that the Gilbert demographic is not growing, and his prices are crazy.  

I picked up a SF SHS caboose, nothing rare by any means, but I am sick of waiting on MTH to get their finger outta their nose and make them.  There was the strongest selection of S Helper stock I have seen at an S fest in a while.  

I will be back tomorrow, with the assistance of my 5 year old. Might pick up a few more things I don't need.  I will try and take some pictures of the show and post tomorrow. Here is a picture of two of the three things I picked up today, the SD60 just happen to fall into the hands of Ed Golden before it got to my car to await a TMCC instal.  

More tomorrow....

Ben

Ben,

I found at the Fest something I had given up on, a Milw. Rd. Doodlebug. these were made by American Highrail quite a while back. Two fellow members in Badgerland had these and I desired to have one, after seeing them the first time, and at that time they were sold out. The first thing I saw as I entered the trading hall was this Doodlebug on John Hecks table. It did not stay there, call me "Mr. Happy". also found a used American models B for repaint. If anyone on this site is there on Sat. please stop at our table top layout and say hello, will be running P. E. along with other trains, I would like to meet some folks from OGR that are at the Fest.

Ray

Rayin"S" posted:

Ben,

I found at the Fest something I had given up on, a Milw. Rd. Doodlebug. these were made by American Highrail quite a while back. Two fellow members in Badgerland had these and I desired to have one, after seeing them the first time, and at that time they were sold out. The first thing I saw as I entered the trading hall was this Doodlebug on John Hecks table. It did not stay there, call me "Mr. Happy". also found a used American models B for repaint. If anyone on this site is there on Sat. please stop at our table top layout and say hello, will be running P. E. along with other trains, I would like to meet some folks from OGR that are at the Fest.

Ray

Ray & Ben,

   I am so glad you two were able to find some of the treasure you needed. I enjoyed seeing the photos, Ben of your find. I also have been looking for a SHS St Fe extended Vision caboose but all is not lost yet. Thank you both for your postings and reviews of the S Fest. It gives me hope for the future.

Don

Now that 2016 S Fest is history I wonder if there might be somebody on the forum that has the American Models B unit, AC version with sound and if you might scan the instruction sheet and post it here? I have engine sound and horn but I don't know how to sound the bell.

Rayin"S" posted:

Now that 2016 S Fest is history I wonder if there might be somebody on the forum that has the American Models B unit, AC version with sound and if you might scan the instruction sheet and post it here? I have engine sound and horn but I don't know how to sound the bell.

I don't recall there being any special instructions for the sound B unit, I'd have to check tonight.  If you turn the unit around, you'll be able to sound the bell, but you'll lose the horn.  It's all in the polarity of the DC overlay.  Otherwise, to sound the bell requires a separate bell button or one on the transformer.

Rusty

Since you are using a AC unit you need a two button accessory that AM sells or two of the sound activation buttons Lionel has used forever with it's Flyer products before TMCC and Legacy. I use the Lionel buttons on all my sound equipped AC powered AM units.  

Roundhouse Bill posted:

Since you are using a AC unit you need a two button accessory that AM sells or two of the sound activation buttons Lionel has used forever with it's Flyer products before TMCC and Legacy. I use the Lionel buttons on all my sound equipped AC powered AM units.  

Bill,

Since you use the Lionel buttons do you find your train slowing some each time you activate the whistle or bell on your train. Mine did every time I activated mine so I elected to purchase an American Models Transformer and that solved the problem. There was a problem with the electrical components inside the buttons that caused a considerable current draw when the button was depressed which in turn caused the train to slow. So rather then work to correct them I decided to buy something that worked correctly.

Don 

I used the buttons on the handheld with the MRC AH101 to activate the whistle and bell. They did not affect the engine speed.

Likewise I had no slowing when the horn/bell was activated with an MTH Z4000.

Rusty

Rayin"S" posted:

Now that 2016 S Fest is history I wonder if there might be somebody on the forum that has the American Models B unit, AC version with sound and if you might scan the instruction sheet and post it here? I have engine sound and horn but I don't know how to sound the bell.

Ray,

Here's what came with my AC/sound AM ACL FP7 A-B-A set:

It seems slightly less informative than the info given by folks here.

Rusty

To   NOTINWI      I have some Pacific Rail Hoppers that I would sell.

Call if interested   937-456-1226

Bob

im not in a position to call you at the moment but am sending an email shortly. 

Ben 

I didn't get home from S-Fest 2016 until after dark on Wednesday, but the 9-day trip was very worthwhile and a pleasure to see so many longtime friends. The Empire Builder ride back to Oregon was on time all the way, as opposed to the mostly 3+ hours late trip eastbound. The 65+ degree weather in Oconomowoc in November was great, but I was sorry to see that the folks in Whitefish, Montana, might not have any snow yet for the Thanksgiving weekend opening of their Big Mountain ski resort season.

I got to visit a Menards' store for the first time at Onalaska, WI, before boarding Amtrak at La Crosse. I had no interest in the O gauge freight cars, and felt that most of the O scale buildings were too large for my vintage waterfront On30 layout. The quonset hut was the only structure that caught my attention, but I have already made use of four of Lionel's shorter quonset hut in creating false-front storefronts. So, I moved over to the next aisle and purchased a Lemax porcelain, British-style pub structure that won't take much painting to Americanize.

Gil Hulin

 

Don,

 

There is an SHS SF caboose on Ebay.

 

richabr posted:

Don,

 

There is an SHS SF caboose on Ebay.

 

Thanks Rich I really appreciate the heads up but I was able to buy one from a guy in York Penn. I called him and he found one for me. Take care Rich and Happy Railroading.

Don

Ben , If you sent an e-mail I never received it. Bob Guckian

bjg@embarqmail.com

Bob Guckian posted:

To   NOTINWI      I have some Pacific Rail Hoppers that I would sell.

Call if interested   937-456-1226

Bob, where are you located. I noticed the 937 area code. Im between Columbus and Cincinnati.

Im also looking for any Pacific rail hoppers!!

I called and was told "January". "Production delays" Sounds like MTH is following Big L's example. If stuff was made here, would there be so many problems? Would final prices be much higher? Shipping all that way has to add considerably to the cost of an item. But, what do I know??

Mark,

The delivery date after Jan. 1 is what we have been told. It was not a problem with wrong color but manager in China scheduled these to be combined with other refers in production without consulting MTH in U.S. This is what we heard from MTH.? These, according to MTH, will be shipped by MTH directly to purchasers. I hope their info is correct.

Ray V.P. BSG