No. 204: 2024 Chicagoland RPM

The most recent Naperville Railroad Prototype Modelers Conference, now known as Chicagoland RPM, was held on October 10-12, 2024, at the Northern Illinois University Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois. Chicagoland is one of the premier railroad prototype modeler events in the country, providing attendees with clinics, presentations, layout tours, vendors, historical societies, and more. The best about RPM events is the gathering of friends from around the country for fellowship and collaboration on railroad modeling. More about this year’s event can be found at https://www.rpmconference.com/. A good RPM meet starts with a good party. A dozen of us from the … Continue reading No. 204: 2024 Chicagoland RPM

No. 198: St. Louis RPM 2024 and Layout Visit

On August 19th and 20th I attended the St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modeler’s Meet, now hosted by Lonnie Bathurst and a team from the Gateway NMRA. It was a HUGE event–over 900 attendees, lots of models to see, and lots of great vendors. It is a must-do event for prototype modelers. The event began on Thursday night with some layout tours and a social at the DoubleTree Hotel in Collinsville. I went to the social and it was a lot of fun. It was like a family reunion. I saw a ton of guys I knew and eventually I sat … Continue reading No. 198: St. Louis RPM 2024 and Layout Visit

No. 188: Chicagoland RPM

Chicagoland RPM wrapped up last week and it was a great success and a lot of fun. The meet was hosted by Resin Car Works on Friday, 27 October and Saturday, 28 October 2023 at the Northern Illinois Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois. Around 400 modelers from around the US and Canada attended. The NIU Conference Center, below. It was a gorgeous fall weekend. The two-day event featured 35 clinics, 115 vendor and historical society tables, home layout tours, modular layouts in-house, a fun Friday evening social in the NIU atrium, and lots of camaraderie and fellowship. At right is … Continue reading No. 188: Chicagoland RPM

No. 182: The 2023 O Scale National and 2023 Savannah RPM

Two weeks ago I attended two modeling events back-to-back. First, on March 17th I drove up to Chicago from St. Louis to attend the annual O Scale two-rail Train Show and Meet at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center Lombard, Ill. I was only there for three hours, but I had a nice time and ran into a lot of old friends, and met some new ones, and also bought a few hard-to-find things. You can read more about that event at http://www.marchmeet.net. Naturally the O scale community does things a little differently. This Milwaukee 2-6-2 was entered in the model … Continue reading No. 182: The 2023 O Scale National and 2023 Savannah RPM

No. 97: St. Louis RPM 2018, Part 2

This post on the 2018 St. Louis RPM Meet focuses on some of the 3,700+ models brought by attendees for display. Here is a view of the 81 8×2-1/2-foot model tables on Saturday morning before the doors opened.  Most of the tables are filled although it looks like this one UP train took up three tables.  That’s okay though–that’s one reason why we get so many. This selection encompasses only photos I took.  Our photographer, Mark Lewis, took a lot more photos and I’ll post some of those soon. Above.  Dennis Eggert has always been a hero of mine with his … Continue reading No. 97: St. Louis RPM 2018, Part 2

No. 95: St. Louis RPM 2018, Part 1

The 2018 St. Louis RPM Meet was held last weekend, 20-21 July 2018, at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, Illinois.  Once again it was a great time and this year’s event was another record-breaker, with 662 prototype modelers in attendance. Photos above and below by Norm Buckhart. This year’s event featured 23 clinics and hands-on presentations, 51 scale model vendors on 128 tables, 17 railroad historical societies on 30 tables, three modular layouts (HO, N and O/Proto-48), six hands-on learning stations and exhibitors, three home layout tours, three evening social events, and the largest attendee model display in the nation, … Continue reading No. 95: St. Louis RPM 2018, Part 1

No. 90: US-prototype Freemo Event in Winnweiler, Germany

This weekend I invited myself to a private Freemo event in Winnweiler, Germany, about 40 minutes from my home.  My friend Peter Aue was going to be there so I e-mailed Peter and he arranged for me to visit Friday after work. About 25 guys, most of them from Germany, brought US-theme Freemo modules and set them up in a grade school gym about 125 x 40 feet.  Here’s an overview of the layout, below. Peter and I sat and talked for two hours about a whole lot of things.  Peter is quite a modeler and craftsman.  He makes his … Continue reading No. 90: US-prototype Freemo Event in Winnweiler, Germany

No. 67: US-Modellbahn Convention Rodgau

My wife gave me a few hours off from family duty last Saturday—it was my 54th birthday—so I could drive up to Frankfurt to attend the U.S. Model Railroader convention in Rodgau, a town southeast of Frankfurt.  After living here two years it the first time I was able to get away and spend some time at a modeling event. It was a really neat show.  It was something like a U.S. RPM meet, with a lot of vendors and a couple of manufacturers, but unlike U.S. RPM meets there were no clinics, no model displays, and nothing resembling a … Continue reading No. 67: US-Modellbahn Convention Rodgau

No. 54: St. Louis RPM, 2017, Part 2

Here are some model photos from the 2017 St. Louis RPM Meet last week.  More complete coverage of models is being assembled on our new Flickr site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/35369592@N06/albums. Our official photographer mark Lewis also took a lot of photos and I’ll get them soon and post a Part 3.  The photos below are models that I liked. First, a few photos of the model tables.  We had 56 eight-foot tables set aside for models and they were almost full. I take a lot of crap from people about not extending the tables up to eye-level.  We resist that, believing that … Continue reading No. 54: St. Louis RPM, 2017, Part 2

No. 53: St. Louis RPM, 2017, Part 1

The 2017 St. Louis RPM Meet was held on Friday, June 23rd and Saturday, June 24th 2017 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, Illinois…and it was a blast! Above.  An overview of the room on Friday morning.  by Friday evening we already had 445 in attendance. I traveled back to the US on the Sunday before the meet and spent the week seeing friends, doing some railfanning, and prepping for the meet.  It was a good week but it went fast.  The evens started on Thursday evening when we had our usual “social” at Bandana’s BBQ–which about 80-85 guys … Continue reading No. 53: St. Louis RPM, 2017, Part 1