Every year, the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) holds an annual convention in order to provide a place for the membership to meet to continue their association with the hobby in a common forum. The convention rotates to a different city each year, and this year the convention was in Kansas City, Missouri from August 5th-12th. In conjunction with the convention, the NMRA also holds a National Train Show taking place on the last three days of the convention. This train show feature operating train layouts, vendors selling model trains and model railroad supplies, and model railroad manufacturers displaying their new products.
For this year’s National Train Show, several LEGO User Groups (LUGs) and LEGO Train Clubs (LTCs) were given 3000 square feet of space to display their LEGO train layouts. This marks the first time in several years that so many clubs were able to come together for a National Train Show. Participating Groups included KC Brick Lab, the hosting LUG, Texas Brick Railroad, ArkLUG, Twin Cities LTC, OKLUG, PennLUG, IndyLUG, CincyLUG, Pewaukee Road LEGO Train Line, and MichLUG. Also represented was LifeLites, CRR Studios, OKBrickworks, and of course, Brick Model Railroader.
Special Edition Caboose from BMR
This was the first ever National Train Show for Brick Model Railroader to participate in, and we wanted to make it a good one. We had several special items planned for the event, the first being our special edition Missouri Pacific Caboose premium instructions.
The prototype selected was a Missouri Pacific extended vision caboose, of which a few are preserved. With obvious ties to the history of railroading in the state of Missouri, the caboose was a no-brainer. Glenn Holland designed the model for this caboose and nailed every detail, including a full interior and even a fully represented lavatory! An optional lighting kit by LifeLites was also made available. Also included in the kit were Missouri Pacific “Screaming Eagle” decals printed by OKBrickworks, as well as printed (yes, printed) tiles by CRR Studios featuring the NMRA logo for the 2018 show and our own BMR logo.
We only made 35 of these kits, all going to attendees of the show. No more of this special edition will be made. Don’t worry if you didn’t get one, we will have a regular edition of the wide vision caboose coming later this year.
The First Ever BMR Golden Driver Awards
We at BMR wanted to do something to recognize all the great train building from AFOLs and clubs at the show. From that idea the BMR Golden Driver Awards were born. We wanted this to be a way for train builders to be recognized for their efforts by their own peers. In this case attending BMR staff members were Glenn Holland and myself. This is the first event we have done this at, but will hopefully be doing it for future large events which BMR attends.
Best Rolling Stock, Gresley Teak Coaches by Gareth Ellis
We chose Gareth’s Gresley Teak Coaches for their excellent elegant detail, faithful representation to the prototype, wonderful interior, and lighting. These are challenging cars to model, and Gareth carried them out beautifully.
Best Diesel Locomotive, Santa Fe F7 by Anthony Sava
This one was a difficult choice. Not one but two awesome models of the iconic EMD F Unit from two different builds made their debut at this show. Anthony Sava’s Santa Fe F7, and Shawn Kelly’s Kansas City Southern F9 ABA set. Both models set a new bar for a LEGO model of the F unit locomotives, and we’re each amazing in their unique takes on that complicated nose. But it ultimately came down Tony’s superior truck detail, and fully glassed in cab. Yes, it was that close.
Best Steam Locomotive, Canadian Pacific 4-4-4 Jubilee by Edward Chang
This one was the clear star steam locomotive of the show. Ed did a wonderful job capturing the graceful lines of this often overlooked locomotive. The striping is on point and subtle, and clever build techniques are to be found all over.
Best Structure, Bottle Factory by Seth Hardwick
Seth’s bottle factory was more than just a nice looking building. It featured animated factory processes both inside and out. Outside the recycled glass came down a chute to be melted in a furnace, and on the inside, newly made bottles made their way down a conveyor bet to be packaged. It was great to see in operation, and the movement really drew attention from the crowds. And did we mention the interior was lighted as well.
Best Layout, ArkLUG
We awarded Best Layout to ArkLUG because their layout represents the complete package. Though not the largest layout at the show, ArkLUG did an amazing job of packing in a wide variety of scenery, building, and details. Both whimsical, and realistic elements blended seamlessly and great trains combined with some innovative ideas on layout building made for a wonderful time viewing. One of the overlooked features was a gentle sloping grade worked into the track. This was done to allow for lower than track landscape details like a stream flowing under a section of the line. This was done so well, it was easy to miss, and had no negative impact on running the trains. The ArkLUG layout was an excellent blending of LEGO, and model railroading concepts.
BMR Shirts
While at the NMRA show, BMR made it one step closer to having shirts available. Above are the test prints, and we like them a lot. We just have a few small details to tie up before final release.
A Modular Standard for LEGO Train Layouts?
The NMRA show was more than just public hours. There were after hours activities each night. And one of the most interesting happened on Saturday when several builders gathered at Shawn Lazarz’s house and started discussing a modular standard for creating LEGO train layouts.
The genesis of this idea is the FreeMo Standard popular in model railroading. Free-mo was developed with the idea that a set of standards focusing mainly on module endplates would enable faithful modeling of prototype trackplans and operations in a modular environment. The length and track configuration of a Free-mo module or module set is up to the modeler. Free-mo takes the boredom out of running trains monotonously around a double or even a triple track mainline. With Free-mo, less is more.
The idea, for now, being discussed for LEGO trains, is to create a standard for building a modular layout section that will mate up with other sections from builders across the country to form a collaborative train layout. This is not meant to replace an established club’s own layout, but give builders who don’t belong to a club, or those traveling to a show who do not have a club layout to participate with, an opportunity to be a part of a large LEGO train layout. A simple standard where anyone from an advanced train guy to a noob can read the standard build and connect at any future show.
For now, talks are being held in an invite only group, so that we can keep things focused and moving without a lot of distractions and competing conversations. Many attending LEGO train builders from the show, as well as other prominent members of the LEGO train community are hashing out the gritty details. As the standard starts to take on more substance, and concepts are nailed down the group will be opened up for all to participate.
BMR will be a primary supporter of this new standard with many articles to come on the subject.
Third Party Train Control Options
Another hot topic of discussion at the show was Third Party option for LEGO train control. We’ve already seen Brick, BuWizz, and now PFX Brick developed by LEGO Fans for controlling Power Functions Technic and train motors. At the show however we saw some model railroad options being adapted to use with LEGO trains. Namely Gareth Ellis and his adaptation of the Deltang System, which looked simple to install, and offered some nice features. We will be covering this and other systems more in-depth in future articles.
Photos and Video From The Show
Phots from the 2018 NMRA show can be found at the link below.
NMRA 2018 Flickr Gallery from Cale Leiphart
Our BMR videos from the show can be found at the links below.
Salt Lake City 2019
With the 2018 National Train Show in the books, it’s time turn out attention to the 2019 show which will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah. We gained a lot of momentum for the LEGO train hobby at the 2018 show, and we’re hoping that we can keep that going for 2019. We are interested in hearing from any LUGs in the area, or those who plan to travel to the show. The sooner planning can start, the better we can make this event.
BMR will make every effort to attend next year with a few exclusives already in the planning stages.
Conclusion
The 2018 National Train Show was an awesome event. All the LEGO clubs involved brought impressive displays and represent the best of the LEGO train hobby. Old friends we’re reunited, and many new friends were made. Brick Model Railroader made it’s first appearance at an NMRA event, and a lot of talk was made on the future of our hobby, and it feels like we have a bright future ahead.
