National Z Scale Convention in Medford

Bill Mock,

Thanks for sharing some pictures of the event activities today. I hope it warms up and I hear the temperature is in the 40s in the morning.
Sorry I couldn't make it from Hemet, but will be participating at the Railroad Days event at Brea tomorrow. I know it's warmer down here, in t he low 80s.


Robert

Yes Bill, thanks for the pictures.
Later if you have time, it would be great to have some little caption with the pics, like the plant tour, I recognize some die's, but what are they doing with the presses.

Thanks

Ben

I just got some photo description up, Ben. If you'd like to see more photos of the MTL Factory, just let me know and I'll send you some more.

Thanks!
Bill Mock

As I'm just about ready to hop in my car for the drive back down to Santa Monica, I was thinking back on all my happy memories of this first National Z Scale Convention. All the new friends and friends that I now know in person and on line.
I wanted to share one of my favorite memeories. During last night's Banquet Raffel, Karin Snyder donated three absolutely incredible little circus cars. The number was drawn and who should be the lucky new owner of these little gems? TORSJA WON! I can not think of a more perfect match. So I'm sure that as soon as Torsja gets back to his Needle Eye Railroad in Norway, we'll see photos of Karin's Circus Cars in their happy new home.
There is a God!
Thanks for reading.
See you all on Chat.
Bill Mock

What happened to the new product announcements from Micro-Trains? Any new locos? How about the long awaited track pieces?

HI Bill

Thanks for the photos and all the news, I also would love to see more of the MTL factory tour photos when you have the time.

Thanks
Mike..

Thanks Bill for the pictures and updater, and thanks to Torsja for the videos in Utube.

Here is the highlight video remix that I made from the 2010 Convention.



Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to capture all of the different equipment that ran - was a busy couple of days - and the lighting was even odder that usual but alas you take what you captured and make the best of it.

I haven't looked through my pictures yet, maybe I'll find a gem there worth posting.

Cheers, Brad

Really enjoyed that video Brad!

Thanks for making and posting it.

John
www.ztrains.com

TechRep wrote:

What happened to the new product announcements from Micro-Trains? Any new locos? How about the long awaited track pieces?

Just the scheduled new releases for May (as you can guess, I'm a happy camper on that score - two GPs for this kid...). I'm guessing MTL has been burned on making announcements upon which they ultimately cannot deliver (issues with suppliers or sub-contractors, etc.). So they only announce when they know it's a "sure thing". But that's just a guess on my part.

The only thing we "offically" announced was a Bridge Section for our Roadbed Track. We've discussed the E8 and E9 A/B openly and are moving ahead on the tooling. We have several other projects on the way, but we felt it best not to get too far out ahead as we are focused on the final last bits of the N Passenger Cars and other Freight finishing up. That took most of our focus so far. Learned our lesson on the SD40-2 and want to be realistic and upfront about schedules.

Joe
MTL

To bring the subject back on topic, the convention was a great success, especially if you measure it by the camaraderie of so many Z scalers under one roof. The modules and layouts were well done, worn out vendors in presence, and the excitement of new products was an added bonus. Please note "added bonus", I don't believe that should be taken as open season on those with less new product than others. We, StoneBridgeDesigns, had new products in the works but not at all ready for the convention although that was our target release date. But we had a good time and already miss our new/old friends who have left us to go home. I had no time to take any photos or document activities so anyone who can provide this we would be most grateful (thank you Bill Mock and Matt Petach!!!). Let's keep this friendly as to not ruin a good thing. Thanks to all who took the time and money to show up and to those who contributed gifts...
Karin Snyder

Being a participant of this event, I feel blessed. I had a chance to meet and talk to many great Z-scale modelers. Interestingly, the subject was modeling, new products were a non issue for us. Unfortunately, because of the busy schedule, I've missed the opportunity to talk with many others. The MTL crew did an amazing job to organize and run this convention, and special thanks to Karin and Loren for their hard work and great hospitality.

Lajos:)

zthek wrote:

Being a participant of this event, I feel blessed. I had a chance to meet and talk to many great Z-scale modelers. Interestingly, the subject was modeling, new products were a non issue for us. Unfortunately, because of the busy schedule, I've missed the opportunity to talk with many others. The MTL crew did an amazing job to organize and run this convention, and special thanks to Karin and Loren for their hard work and great hospitality.

Lajos:)

I agree with Lajos. Great time even though I missed the dinner saturday night. Loaded some pictures into the photo gallery

cheerz Garth

Thanks Garth for the pics, now understand what people was saying regarding the lack of lights, wow!

Ben

Here's a link to a really poor quality video that I shot of Lajos' Shay, RUNNING!
There's no doubt about it, it's much more impressive in person and with a Optivisor on!



Bill Mock

Medford Railroad Park Videos!
(Big kids playing with BIG toys)




Enjoy!
Bill Mock

Great videos, Bill! Is that a BN GP-30?

I took a short video of Lajos' shay also. Not the best quality either, but just another view.

Shay by Lajos video by craZ13_photo - Photobucket

Jerry