39 - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Schedule of events at The East Wind ‘08,
2008 O Scale National Convention
By John Roberts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The kick-off event for the 2008 O Scale National Convention
will be an all day excursion on the Vermont Railway.
Air conditioned motor coaches will leave Worcester
at 6:30 a.m. and drive you in comfort to Bellows Falls, Vermont
where you will board the train and enjoy sightseeing
at its old-time best!
The train, pulled by a beautifully refurbished RS-1,
leaves Bellows Falls following the Connecticut and Williams
Rivers, passing by covered bridges and a beautiful
cascading waterfall and gorge at Brockway Mills. Then
through fertile farmlands and ski country, traversing a winding
route through the mountains to Rutland, Vermont where
the locomotive will run around the cars for the trip back
to Bellows Falls. The entire trip covers approximately 100
miles. Included in the price is a continental breakfast and
lunch served on the train. After you return to Bellows Falls,
you will board motor coaches and head south on route 91
to the historic Putney Inn, where you will stop for dinner.
At the Putney Inn you will enjoy their Vermont Feast that
includes Vermont Maple Glazed Ham and Slow Roast Vermont
Turkey. After dinner the motor coaches will return you
to Worcester, arriving approximately 8:30 p.m. It will be full
day of railroading fun.
The Vermont railway has made the McIntyre, a private
observation car, available to us. The McIntyre is a 1923
Pullman bedroom observation car. The car can accommodate
up to 10 passengers and your own personal on-board
staff with food and beverage service included. We are offering
this car first come, first serve, to the first 10 people to
sign up for it. Once we have 10 passengers, we will stop
taking reservations. Do not pass up the opportunity to travel
back in time to the early 20 th century and enjoy the splendor
of that period. Also on July 23 rd , the exhibit hall will be
open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for modular layout setup and
from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. for dealer setup.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
8-11a.m. modular layouts and dealers will have access to
the trading hall to complete their setups.
At 9:00 a.m. the Boston Tour leaves for Lexington and
Boston. You will travel by motor coach, accompanied by
a tour guide who will highlight all the points of interest
on this tour. The tour should return to the convention at
approximately 4:30 p.m. Also from 9:00 to 10 a.m. will be
the O Scale Kings meeting on the third floor in Conference
Room C. The model contest room will open at 10 a.m. to
receive models for the contest. From 11:00 a.m. to 7:00
p.m. the trading hall opens for your purchasing pleasure.
Clinic hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Thursday’s
clinics include Joe Foehrkolb converting 3-Rail to 2-Rail;
George Muller on track work; Phil Ginkus weathering with
chalks and Dennis Lyons on O Scale buses for your layout.
Lastly, on Thursday the model contest will open from 1-7
p.m. for viewing and voting for your favorite models.
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Providence and Worcester shop tour will leave at 9
a.m. and return at 10:30. The P&W shop is less than onehalf
mile from the convention, so there will be plenty of
time to take in the entire operation.
At 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., the Yankee Candle/Magic
Wings tour departs. Travel by motor coach to Deerfield,
Massachusetts, where you will enter what has become
known as the Disney World of candles. Later you will travel
to Magic Wings where you will find an 8000 square foot
glass conservatory filled with tropical plants, butterflies and
moths.
At 9:30 a.m., the trading hall will open for dealers and
the modular layout folks and at 10:30 a.m. the trading hall
and the model contest room will open for viewing and voting
and all will remain open until 6:00 p.m.
Clinics and seminars will run from 10:30 a.m. until 5:00
p.m. Friday’s clinics will include Mike Tylick presenting
clinics on digital photography and scratchbuilding, Brian
Scace on layout and track planning, a special two hour
clinic by Harry Hieke on torch soldering, and Debbie Ames
on DCC.
7:00 p.m. until 11:00 is for home layout tours. As of this
writing the plan is to have at least five home layouts open.
Ben Brown’s Chemung Northern Railroad, Bill Pirtel’s, The
Big Four with a Mountain Division, Debbie Ames’ outdoor
Fn3 layout, along with others we are waiting for final confirmation
on. Don’t forget there will also be nine modular
layouts on the trading hall floor as well.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The trading hall will open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
for dealers and modular layouts and will open for trading
at 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. The model contest room will
open from 9:00 a.m. until noon for viewing and voting and
then from noon to 3:00 p.m. for viewing only. 3:00 p.m. to
4:00 p.m. is set aside for picking up your models from the
contest room.
Clinics and Seminars will run 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and
will be repeats of the clinics presented on Thursday and Friday
for those who missed them. From 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. will
July/Aug ’08 - O Scale Trains • 45