We’re about two months away from the 2017 St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modeler’s Meet, which will be held on Friday, June 23rd and Saturday, June 24th 2017 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, Illinois—just about 12 miles east of metro St. Louis and a short distance from the old PRR-B&O-TRRA Willows Junction.  Here’s a little info, plus some links, and some of my favorite photos from past St. Louis RPM meets. Above. From our first RPM at the O’Fallon, Illinois Rec Center.  That’s Mike Budde on the right, displaying a ton of models.  Mike’s modeling has gotten way more … Continue reading No. 43: 2017 St. Louis RPM

My last post on the great Marion RPM Meet was all about the location, the railfan action, and the AC Tower exhibit. This time I want to post some random musings on the models, the modelers, and the Marion Union Station Museum itself. Above.  A beautiful display of HO scale Wellsville, Addison and Galeton (WAG) rolling stock was displayed by Ohio modeler Mike Schleigh. As I mentioned in the earlier post, I attended CORPM (Central Ohio RPM) in 2011 and 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Denis Blake hosts a neat event with slide shows, clinics, as many model tables as … Continue reading No. 32: Marion RPM, Part 2

One of the great things about having a blog is you can recognize people for their good work. I was fortunate to attend the 2011 and 2013 Central Ohio Railroad Prototype Modeler’s (CORPM) Meet at Marion Union Station, Marion, Ohio.  I wrote about it in the SCL Modeler online magazine in 2013.  What follows is an excerpt of that article, plus a lot more photos and info. Known by the modeling community as “Marion RPM”, this event followed the successful RPM format, with clinicians, model displays, layout tours, no contests, door prizes, and plenty of time for fellowship. About 75 modelers … Continue reading No. 30: Marion RPM, Part 1

The tenth annual St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modeler’s meet was held on Friday, August 12th and Saturday, August 13th, 2016 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, IL. This year’s meet was a smash hit. Over 467 modelers attended (not including another 10-15 kids and wives, etc.) making it the largest RPM-style event ever in the U.S. Full admission for both days was just $25.00. We had 23,000 sq. ft. for hand-picked scale vendors, railroad historical societies, prototype modeling clinics, visiting prototype layouts, hands-on clinics and learning stations, and much, much more in the modern, professional Gateway Convention Center. About … Continue reading No. 11: 2016 St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modeler’s Meet

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was able to do some traveling before leaving the States in November.  Among the many places I visited was Fredericksburg, Virginia to attend the Mid-Atlantic Railroad Prototype Modeler’s Meet, also known as MARPM, on 25-26 September. The meet is run by Norm Wolf and a crew of another four or five guys at the Wyngate Hotel just off I-95 between Richmond and Washington D.C.  Norm told me “Don’t think of this as a convention…think of it as a bunch of friends getting together to talk about trains.”  I did, and it was a … Continue reading No. 5: MARPM