Kimberton Report

[ebtbob]

Good Morning All,

       As I reported earlier,  the annual Kimberton Narrow Gauge Modular meet was held at the Fair Grounds this past weekend,  thankfully in nice weather.
      When I enjoy an event like this it is hard for me to see a negative side,  but thing was striking in its absence.   People.   One has to wonder if the price of gas is starting to really take hold.  My biggest concern is that several of the vendors said this may be their last year at Kimberton if they did not have a decent weekend moving their wares.   Ed Fillion of Deerfield River Laser comes down from West Springfield,  Mass,  Bill Banta comes from a distance as does Joe Fuss(Raggs to Riches) who comes from north central Pa.  If vendors like these cease to attend,  then it could very well spell the end of the event and that would be sad.
       Anyway.....people or not,  the event had its usual selection of wonderful modeling in scale from N to Large scale.   The Friends of the East Broad Top had their modular railroad there and this year it actually ran quite a bit.  In the past the group was always struggling with an electrical problems.   They also had two or three new and different modules which was nice to see.
       As usual,  the Nn3 guys were there as well as a group that models in HOn30 incorporating a great sea front section.  Pictures I took of the event can be seen in my gallery at www.rrpicturearchives.net.
      Some of the usual vendors were there including John Weigal with his large selection of Bachmann On30 equipment.   Ed Fillion of Deerfield River had some new items including building fronts which are not show in his website.   He tells me that it is difficult to update the site as he does it himself and it is very time consuming so I think he may take my idea of putting pictures of those items on his Yahoo Group....Deerfield River Models.
Unfortunetly,  Ed was not able to have the EBT caboose ready for the show so I will continue to wait patiently.  Speaking of EBT equipment,   BTS is bring out several pieces of rolling stock for the EBT and has them listed,  some with pictures on his website.   Be prepared for sticker shock.
       There was a model of a  large scale EBT #14 that is available for $3000.    The model is about three feet long,  so you do the math for the cost per foot.   The model is incredible and assuming the ability to pay for the equipment,  I would be seriously thinking of moving my hobby outside.
       All in all,  I still had a good time and look forward to next year's show.

Bob

[David(UK)]

Bob,
That link you gave leads to the home page of  Picturearchives.net and not to your album - too many listed albums to search through to find yours.
can you post a direct link, please?

[ebtnut]

I'll second Bob's comment about the drop in attendance.  It was pretty quiet there, compared to past years.  Good to renew acquaintances, and I enjoyed to clinic on the Hurcules Powder Co. 30" gauge plant railroad.  Too bad all that stuff disappeared.  It also appears that On30 is now carrying the flame for 1/4" scale narrow gauge.  Not a great deal of 3 foot stuff for sale this time.  Other thing I note, which I also see at NMRA affairs, is that the average age of the attendants keeps going up.  We really need some new, young blood in the hobby.

[C.P.R.R. Manager]

See if this link works:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archivethumbs.aspx?id=22527

Thanks for the pictures, Bob.  Sorry to hear attendance was down.

[Woody Elmore]

The Bob Rule picture of EBT #14 made my day - all it needs is some soot!

[ebtbob]

Woody,

    Now I am sorry I did not take a picture of the brass two bay hopper sitting on the same table.

Bob

[drmsparks]

I wonder if the attendance was down because the weather was good.....First weekend for vegetable planting, etc.

Dave

[ebtbob]

Dave,

     The Kimberton meet is the same weekend,  third weekend in May every year,  so I doubt the lack of turnout was for gardening etc,  but one never knows.   All I know is there was quite a bit of talk on the price of gas and how people - in attendance - were getting to the point that they would only travel to shows that they enjoyed in the past.

Bob