Tacoma NG convention 2022?

Nobody from this forum is coming?

Being from Pennsylvania it is way too far for my travels at this time.  In 2018 I was able to take in some western state museums, train excursions, and even a train ride all the way back east.  I would love to go to conventions, train shows, and museums out west but just not in my financial means right now.  It would be different if I would win the lottery... that I don't play.

Lee you have a wonderfully detailed layout!

Here is a link to the 2022 Narrow Gauge Convention, which is scheduled September 1st to 4th.

42nd National Narrow Gauge Convention

Iʻm actually just a few hours south on I-5 but my interests are 3-rail trains and what some call "looping". 

Good luck with the convention!

I would love to be there.  Much of my family grew up in the Tacoma area.  I saw Tacoma when the station was used by GN and NP.  However, I have to be on the east coast during this time period.  NH Joe

The layout tours yesterday went well. Had the entire staff of MRH magazine for a short while and met more than a handful of well known modelers.

At the vendor room last night, I finally got to meet ET&WNC historian Johnny Graybeal and had a nice talk with artist Gill Bennett. I also drooled over a lot amazing models in the contest room and had to use a lot of self control not buy a lot of stuff I wanted!

Good to read this convention went well for you.  I would have loved to have been there to see all the narrow gauge work & meet all the folks there.    D.

Nice to know this convention is well attended. As a vendor, I can consider future shows.

@Alan Rogers posted:

Nice to know this convention is well attended. As a vendor, I can consider future shows.

I don't know how well attended it was, but there were people all over the venue each time I was there.

I met A LOT of friendly and decent people, and finally got to meet folks I'd been emailing for years.

The editor of the On30 Annual and ET&WNC historian Johnny Graybeal are coming over around noon for a non advertised visit to the layout. I have no public tours today but I told them they were welcome any time...

@p51 posted:

The editor of the On30 Annual and ET&WNC historian Johnny Graybeal are coming over around noon for a non advertised visit to the layout. I have no public tours today but I told them they were welcome any time...

...and a good time seemed to be had by all.

If there were ever a group of gentlemen who could "get" what I was trying to do in this room, it'd be (left to right) Johnny Graybeal, George Riley and Chris Lane!

This moment made the entire event worthwhile for me.

A good feeling moment for sure.    D.

Hated to miss this, even was a wedding out there we didn't want to miss, but fires, floods, heat, erratic air travel, scalped rental cars, chickened out of driving it... Crazy couple of years... did make Hickory. Would have loved to have seen your layout.

Hi Lee, thanks for the update and sharing of pictures!  I really admire yoour work.  I missed the earlier note on the convention, hope it went well in my home town. 

The National Narrow Gauge Convention officially ended Sunday, but there were tours scheduled for me and a few other layouts yesterday morning. Once the last visitor left after 2PM yesterday, I was DONE and had a great time. The only thing I was slightly disappointed at was losing in the model photo competition to someone who submitted three D&RGW themed photos and took all three prizes, but I already knew that for many of the attendees of these conventions, it’s ALL about the Rio Grande stuff and nothing else.
As for my own tours, I set up a table at the front door, manned by my friend Robert Scott, the best qualified to talk about the layout aside from myself. I had a double-sided flyer about the layout for future reference:


Inside the room, I didn’t see one look of disappointment (I thought I would as I know many people want to just see the biggest layouts they can).


My tours were for Thursday and Monday (yes, Labor Day). The last day, I was asked to have tours the morning after the official event was over so that anyone driving south could swing by on the way home. Oddly, several of the visitors weren’t doing that and were instead heading back to Tacoma afterward.
More photos are here from the venue, including several of the contest entries here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...ms/72177720301823993