Rocky Mountain N Scale Show

I had the great opportunity to take my layout to the Rocky Mountain N Scale Show in Denver, CO. The show was put on by the local N scale club, Denver N Scale, and was a great success.

While there were many modular groups there, mine was one of the only 2 personal layouts (the other was a modular set owned by one person) at the show, other than some vendors. It was a great opportunity to show what can be done with N scale in a small space. I was able to share my experiences of building the layout with many people who were just getting started.

I had many comments on everything from the size of the layout, great use of space, and not too much of any one part of building a layout (benchwork, trackwork, scenery, etc.). I think people liked being able to crawl under the layout and see the simplicity of the electrical work (and, yes, many did crawl under it). I wasn't able, and didn't want, to hide behind the layout and many people were able to ask questions on everything from design decisions to construction to operations.

While I think the modular groups are great, and hope to someday join one and build my own modules and run long trains, I think people saw my layout and realized that a small layout can be a good layout. I hope that I helped to remove some of the intimidation that comes, unintentionally, from the larger modular layouts. I heard some say that they had started and never finished larger layout, but this would have have been a good size layout to start with.

I decided to go to the show for all the reasons given above, but also to force myself to get some much needed work done on the layout. The week before the show I finished plastering the foam, drilled the holes for the wiring, painted the foam and plaster, wired the track, and finally got a train running. I went right up to the wire, but when the dust settled, the show and the layout were a success, at least in my eyes.