The Greenberg Train Show was held on March 29 & 30, 2008 in Wilmington, MA. The layouts on display were the same as in their fall show. My favourite from last time, the European Train Enthusiasts were there. Layouts from NMRA HUB Division and Northeast NTrak were there among the others.

I visited some of the layouts that i missed last time. The Lego Users Group had a very impressive layout. Every nook and crany was filled with interesting details.

I also met Cam Sargent of Concord who was sitting at his desk, drawing his railroad art using only 3 pencils. He said it takes him, 40-50 hours to complete one drawing. Copies of his prints were for reasonably priced from 16$ to $21.

Click on the picture for the still gallery:

Here is a clip from the show:

I just started attending train shows since i started this blog. After every show, i always missed or forgot something. So i decided to list my tips here, for attending train shows.

Timing:
Usually they have the shows over the weekend. Try to get there early on the first day to beat the crowds. Or if it is just the pictures of layouts you are after, getting there 2 or 3 hours before close on the last day will also help in avoiding the crowds.

Comfort:
Carry a backpack to store all the flyers, items you might buy there and your camera/camcorder. Do wear comfy shoes. The Amherst show held this year was spread out over 3 buildings and my feet hurt by the end of it. Carry some snacks and water. A true rail fan cannot waste time on food ;-)

Taking Pictures:

• To get good pictures, a nice camera with zoom and image stabilization would be great. Ideally, a tripod will be nice but with the crowds mingling about, it will be a pain to setup and use.
• When the doors open, visit all the layouts quickly and see which you like. Then come back to your favorites ones and click away. Also, i have noticed that in the first few hours, the operators seem to be relaxed and free to talk with you.
• Take pics of the club layout names as it will be easy to remember whose layout it is, if you want to write about it later.
• Just before leaving, review your pictures and see if some of them need to be retaken.

Picture Tips:

• Most generic model train show pictures are top down. Break the mold. Try going for eye-level shots if the layouts have not put a plexiglass on the sides. Real life rules for picture-taking also apply here.
• If you can get close to the models, switch your camera to the Macro mode.
• Set your camera to Automatic White Balance.
• Please do not use flash. Most pictures get washed out.
• If your camera has a timer, use it. Since you will not be using flash, the picture will be prone to camera shake. Even clicking the shutter might shake the camera. Use the timer, and hold steady. Since a tripod is cumbersome at a train show, maybe you can try the $1 tripod.

Taking Movie Clips:
Some cameras can take decent movie clips. If yours doesn't and you don't have or don't want to bring your camcorder, you could go for a Flip Camcorder. I have been thinking about it but waiting for a sale. Movie clips would be hard without a tripod but try taking steady clips every 10-15 seconds. You can edit and stitch them later using Movie maker or any other software.

Shopping:
Some merchants don't take Credit/Debit cards. Carry some cash. Also its very easy to get carried away and wanting to buy a lot of stuff. Having cash stops you from over spending.

Have a generic list of what you might buy. It will keep you in focus. If you see some new product but want to research it a bit, take a picture of the dealers name. I used to write their names or take their business card but often i lost them.

I recorded the Boston-bound Acela, the Regional and the MBTA Commuter all within 20 minutes of each other. Wished Acela would have sounded the horn though.

If you happen to be in the Massachusetts area, the Greenburg Train show is happening this weekend at the Shriner's Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. Check their listing for more details.

Railway Herald publishes free PDF magazines for the railway enthusiasts. Their March 14th issue on UK railways and heritage steam railways is available for download. Back issues, all the way back to February 2005 is also available in their archives.
For the outside UK railway fans, they have Railway Herald Worldwide.

The downloads are in a Low or High format. If you have high-speed, do get the High quality PDF's. The images in those are just great!

Finally its here! It took almost 3 years for the DHR team, from around the world, to recreate the Darjeeling route for trainz. It is around 45 miles long. The trainz version covers Panchanai to Darjeeling and it approx 4 hours long. The DHR team created all the content for this route. This includes the locos, passenger cars, houses, vehicles, people, trees, car beeping sounds and lots more. I spent half-an-hour and the number of custom content were astounding. Check out the screenshots to get an idea of the scope of this route. Congrats to the team!

The route is free and the total size is around 550MB broken into many zip files. You have to be a registered Trainz user to get the zip file password. Downloading and installing takes some time. Register at their forum to get detailed instructions and support.

Have fun while chugging up the Himalayas!

TO ALL UNION PACIFIC NEW HIRES
Welcome to your new life as a UP object. Please read this Updated Employee Handbook immediately.

DRESS CODE:
It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing new Red Wing boots & carrying a $600 Gucci grip, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress in-between, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

SICK DAYS:
We will no longer accept a doctor statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.
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[via Truemac at the Trainz Forum]

A great Marklin model layout by Per.

The pictures of his layout are very clear and zoomed in to show the details. He also has some great tips. I particularly liked the idea of using white pepper and black pepper to simulate sand. I wonder if it will be cheaper than using the usual model flock. He has also created paving-stone sheets in Powerpoint that you can download and use.

After listening to yet another steam recording on the Great Train Show podcast, i started looking around for more and came across Steamsounds.
This site has a great collection of steam recordings and more in their archives. Also in his Railway Sounds Links section, he has links to other steam and diesel recordings, as well as German and Australian recording.
The German site is organized by class of locomotive and has great photos too.

Located in the root of your Trainz installation directory (mine is at C:\Program Files\Auran\TRS2006) is a configuration file called trainzoptions.txt

Mine looks like:

-DepthBits=24
-StencilBits=8
-fullscreen
-Jet=bin
-cabinfov=80
-driverfov=55
-freeintcam
-DefaultAutoMip=none

There are three parameters that i add/change to customize my trainz experience. These are:

-freeintcam
adding this will allow you to use the arrow keys to move the view when you are driving in the CAB mode.

-cabinfov
-driverfov
The default values are cabinfov=65 and driverfov=55. This lets you adjust the field-of-view in the CAB mode and in the Driver sessions. The bigger the number, the wider the view. I did some test with the numbers to show you how it affects the view. Click on the thumbnails to get a bigger image.

-cabinfov
      
The 95 setting was a bit skewed for me so i kept it at 80.

-driverfov
      
Note: The larger the value in the driverfov the more performance hit you will face. So if you have a fast PC and lotsa memory then go for it. I have kept it at the default but when i take screen shots i switch to 85.

Great layout, good camera work and uplifting music.
[movie by scs0360]

Rhode Island PBS is broadcasting the Great Scenic Railway Journeys: Celebrating North America's Steam Railways tomorrow, March 6th at 7:30pm. It will report on the 17 historic and scenic tourist steam railroads in North America and the efforts to preserve it.
Check your local PBS station/listings.

I had been thinking of getting the Marias Pass route for trainz for some time now. HP-Trainz are about to release a plus pack for this route. This will be free to the owners of the Marias Pass route. When i saw the detailed cab view of the F40PH engine, i knew i had to get it now.

The route is DEM based terrain and covers from Whitefish to Shelby. All stations and important objects have been modeled after their prototypes.

The route comes in a 400MB zip file. All files are included in it. Installing via the Content Manager (CMP) took some time. I thought my CMP has crashed but please dont be impatient. Let it do its thing. The route comes with many session but i tried the passenger run from Whitefish to Shellby. Estimated time to complete this session was 3 and 1/2 hours. I stopped at Essex and decided to share my views.

The route is well detailed and has lots of trees. Ground texture was done very realistically. Surprisingly, i still got a good frame rate and enjoyed the ride. Ambient sounds included the birds in the trees and the countless babbling brooks.

I know, there are many like me who cringe spending more than 20$ for a Trainz addon, but this route is well worth it. If you are into freight operations, there are many industries along the route that you could service. Some sessions are also included. In addition, the soon-to-be-released Plus pack with the detailed F40PH engine and additional session makes a great buy.
Price is 14.90 Euros. [More Screens]

I had purchased the EMD SD9 locomotive for Trainz, from Virtual Motive Division. The cab view, done by Josef Pav is exceptional, almost real!

I took it for a spin on the Desert Wood route from US Locomotive Works. The hoppers in the consist were from RRMods.

Some great railroad photos by Kevin Scanlon. I liked the surreal nature of each of them. A wonderful play with light and shadows and of course trains.

via [BoingBoing]