To St Louis for the TCA National Convention? (June 30: Pics.)

How come you are not on the layout tours?

Hi Dick,

I have no clue. I made the offer several months ago, had conversations with the local TCA rep, who actually lives close by, and he was supposed visit me (twice), but I never heard again. Interestingly, to get to one of the layouts that is on the tour, they have to drive within 1/4 mile of my house.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, drop me a line. Coming by yourselves may give you more time to 'inspect' my layout, which is not done but may be of interest. I do work on it almost every day.

Thx!

Alex

I live in St. Louis do you have to be a member to go?

Thank You

Ken

Alex....I'm glad Dick asked his question above.  I had to smile a little since I remember you telling me months ago that you had tried to extend your hand of friendship to the local TCA guy to whom you refer.  It is very difficult to understand why he showed no interest in responding to your invite or contacting you about including your beautiful layout on the tour schedule....especially since you are a member of the TCA.  Looking at the tours that are scheduled indicates to me that perhaps the local interest was more focused on traditional toy train layouts rather than your Hi-Rail scale approach...??  Frankly, it is ashame and TCA members are missing out seeing one of the premier layouts in the country.

Alan

I have no clue. I made the offer several months ago, had conversations with the local TCA rep, who actually lives close by, and he was supposed visit me (twice), but I never heard again. Interestingly, to get to one of the layouts that is on the tour, they have to drive within 1/4 mile of my house.

Alex - Anyone that has experience with layout tours knows that it is best done when there are clusters of layouts to see, that's very poor planning.  

You have a wonderful layout I hope to see in the future.  I'm going to the O Scale National this year otherwise I would definitely stop by. 

yes I will be there

stu

Ken,

Membership required:

To attend the TCA Convention activities? I do not know.

To visit me? No, no membership required - only interest in trains, so come on over!.

Alan,

You had alerted me to this possibly happening, but it was worth a try.

Marker,

If you cannot make it this time, any other time you are in the area would be fine.

Stu,

Looking forward to your visit!

Alex

Business used to take me to the St. Louis airport and St. Charles (in the news now)

frequently.   Did the recent storm impact the convention site?  (I have come to suspect

that another publication in this field has a bias in favor of "traditional" or "tinplate"

trains vs. high rail.)

Alex,

I would love to see your layout...

Sent you an e-mail.

Thanks

Mike

That is too bad about not being on the tour.  I was not involved in setting up the tours so I don't know what all went into the decisions.  The person who set up the tours does not live near you so perhaps the information being relayed got lost.  I don't know if I can make it out to your place during the convention but sure would like to see your layout.

FWIW there are some changes working its way through the Division.  The current President and Chair of the convention is from the Wright City area.  The current Vice-President is from Columbia.  I know that Dennis has had his hands full getting the Convention organized and under way.  

Dick...unless I am mistaken, I believe the person to whom Alex refers is the one that lives in the Wright City area....which is where Alex lives and is his mailing address!!  In my opinion there is no excuse here as the offer to see the layout and to consider it was months ago...

Alan

Be that as it may, it is obvious that somewhere along the line the info was lost and he is not on the tour.  It's really too bad but there is nothing we can do about it now.  I can assure you that no insult was intended.

The person in Wright City is not the person who set up the tours; the person who did is from St. Louis.

I realize that the folks who organize these conventions are all volunteers and they do a  good deal of hard work to pull them off, but boy did they drop the ball on this one. To miss the chance to see one of the best layouts in the country and particularly when a TCA member went out of his way to make the offer to open up his home to the convention, all concerned should take notice to this and not let such a mistake happen again. This does not reflect well on the local organization who put this convention together or on a national level from the standpoint of those who are attending.

I hope the word gets out so that convention attendees can see this layout though it is not on the layout tour schedule.

Alex, congratulations for making the effort here.

Folks, I was on the planning committee at that time, and there was never a mention of Alex's layout.  I later dropped off the committee due to time reasons (I could not commit the time required, or what was needed to do things right)  but never heard of you reaching out to the local Division folks for inclusion in the tours. Going direct to the officers (published in Every newsletter and available from National) would have been totally appropriate. I can proffer to you that several of the committee members at that time were not retired folks, and had numerous other responsibilities to attend to. This changed sometime in the process, so there might have been some items drop through the cracks. In any case, it is not appropriate to make outside commentary without a better understanding of the situation.

It is nice of you to offer to the folks here the opportunity to visit your layout, and hope that some can take you up on it... I have heard that you have a very nice layout.

There was no criteria set for the types of layouts to be visited. 

The recent storms have no impact on the convention site.

Bob,

I really do appreciate your comments, and I suspect that the tours were set very early on.

I attempted contact via email in early October 2012, but was unsuccessful. Then at York I met the rep in person, and we had a nice conversation. That was followed by several invitations for a visit, and tentative acceptances, all via telephone, but nothing so far.

I know how busy a person can get organizing something like this, and also understand that a recently started layout such as mine, with just over two years in the making, may not warrant a visit. No hard feelings at all on my part.

Still, anyone who wants to take a chance and take the time to visit us, is more than welcome!

Thx!

Alex

Disappointment is one thing...but stand behind your club.  I am sure this was not a slight..someone made a decision...so be it!!!  Have an Open House, and make the best of it.  I regularly go to one Convention or another, and I enjoy whatever tours are put together.  I am sure there is no sinister plot afoot, and there are probably others disappointed that their layouts were not included.  THANK YOU ROB for bringing reason to this thread

Alex, thanks for the offer of a visit.  I sent you an email yesterday, but have not heard back.  Just checking to see if you received it.

Peter,

Earlier this morning I was looking for all those who are planning to visit so I can email them directions, found your email, and replied. I just looked at the forum now, searched for this thread and found your post!

If anyone else is contemplating visiting our house, please email me so we can coordinate.

Since activities for the TCA Convention are scheduled for every day during that week, and at different times, you are welcome to visit us at your convenience - just let me know with a day or so in advance.

So far there are 10 planning to visit, which is great.

Thanks!

Alex

A short while ago I emailed maps and directions to those who have expressed and interest in visiting me - less than two weeks from now!

If I missed you, or if you have just decided to visit, please email me.

Thanks!

Alex

Alex,

Thanks so much for having myself, Leah, my Dad and a few members from Midwest TCA over on Thursday afternoon.  You and your wife Judy were such great hosts.

Seeing the layout in person was such a treat.  What is not reflected in your videos is the high quality in your bench work and construction.

Thanks again for a fun day,

Mike, Leah and Buzz

Alex

Hope you taook a bunch of pictures of people seeing your wonderful layout. It would be great if you could post some of them. Thanks, Bill

Bill,

We had a great time. Altogether we had 16 people visit, and everything went well. I had a train stop just short of its destination during the playback of a DCS a Record/Playback session once, only to find out afterwards that I had set the voltage just a bit low for that section of track.

To answer your question, though, I was so engrossed with the wonderful friends who visited, that I did not take any pictures! However, there were several of them who did take many pictures, of the layout and of the people, and I hope they post some on the forum. 

My sincerest thanks to all who took the time to visit us, and I look forward to having them over again in the near future.

Alex

Here are a few pictures from Thursday morning.

Dick, Bill, Alex, Mike, Frank, Buzz

Dick, Bill, Judy, Alex, Mike, Frank, Buzz

Bill, Judy, Alex, Mike, Leah, Frank, Buzz

There may be more pictures later.

Alex

Alex:

Sure looks like everyone had a wonderful time visiting your layout. This was very kind of you to open your home to those attending the TCA National Convention.

Having visitors to the layout is what it is all about. We sure look forward to seeing your layout one of these days.