{"id":2042,"date":"2017-08-13T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/?p=2042"},"modified":"2017-08-13T05:24:14","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T09:24:14","slug":"brickfair-virginia-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/13\/brickfair-virginia-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"BrickFair Virginia 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

BrickFair Virginia 2017 was the last of the big AFOL convention I was planing to attend this year. Taking place last weekend, August 2nd to 6th, it was an awesome event filled with trains and fun. Though BrickFair may sometimes seem a little less prestigious compared to Brickworld when it comes to LEGO trains, BrickFair can no doubt draw a wonderful and diverse train presence with no less than seven clubs displaying train and monorail layouts, as well as \u00a0numerous models from individual builders. BrickFair was also host to a Train Olympics competition, run by Adny Mollmann and Nick O’Donell from OKILUG. And there were a few fan voted trains awards given out too. So let’s recap the fun.<\/p>\n

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Doug Forman’s, Vincent Hills Medical Center on the WamaLTC train layout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

The Train Layouts<\/h3>\n

WamaLTC<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Robert BRzostowski’s B&O RR, Harpers Ferry train station.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WamaLTC<\/a> is the local LUG to BrickFair Virginia and the brought the largest layout to display, and the largest group of members. With such a large group the WamaLTC layout is as diverse as they come, with everything from detailed, scale train modeling, to a giant city with towering skyscrapers, beachfront, and rural countryside, and even a little fantasy thrown in too. WamaLTC has something for everyone. And what’s probably most amazing is that they can take all these differing styles, and builds of different skill levels, and tie them together into a layout that works very well visualy. Wama’s train layout is proof that all you really need for a good train layout is to have fun, the rest will fall into place.<\/p>\n

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WamaLTC can do skyscrapers well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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OKILUG<\/strong><\/p>\n

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“OKILUG’s layout brings all the trains to the yard”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OKILUG returned to BrickFair this year with some serious train layout in tow. They had four running loops of track, some awesome railroad buildings, a yard stuffed with great train models, and some of the prettiest, most colorful diesels at the event. If you wanted to see some great trains running, you could find all you needed here.<\/p>\n

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Andrew Mollmann’s UP Heritage, Chicago & Northwestern locomotive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DelVaLUG Moonbase<\/strong><\/p>\n

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DelVaLUG’s signature, underhung monorail circling a Classic Space moonbase.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You want trains in space? Well DelVaLUG<\/a> had space trains, space monorail, moonrise, and the occasion space Christmas train. One of my favorite bits of DelVaLUG’s space displays is always the awesome underhung monorail designed by Nate Brill.<\/p>\n

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Classic Space Monorail, the way it should be done.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charm City LUG<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Charm City LUG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coming from the Baltimore Maryland area, Charm City LUGs<\/a> is one of the newer LUGs to Brickfair.<\/p>\n

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Charm City’s layout included a large airport.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HARDLUG<\/strong><\/p>\n

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HARDLUG’s western themed section of their train layout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HARDLUG<\/a> returned again to Brickfair this year. Their display featured a wide variety of things to see, including Japanese and Western themed sections, a small town , a huge airport, and a beachfront.<\/p>\n

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Up, up, and away! HARDLY had the airport of your dreams.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

RVALUG<\/strong><\/p>\n

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M-Tron monorail from RVALUG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

RVALUG brought the old school with the classic LEGO monorail system wrapped in some of the great LEGO space themes of the past. It’s great to see the old monorail system taken up a level.<\/p>\n

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Down at the monorail station with RVALUG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PennLUG<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The PennLUG trolley speeds through the city.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And now we turn to my own club, PennLUG. We’re one of the BrickFair veterans, having taken part in every BF Virginia event since it started in 2008. This year we decided to do something a little different We were running trains, but not using a continuous loop. Our running plan consisted of two parts.<\/p>\n

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A look inside the car barn on PennLUG’s trolley line as trolley no. 1 waits for trolley no. 2 to return before heading out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first was the return of running trolleys to our city. Our old trolley car barn came back for one last show, and we had the trolleys running under automatic, mindstorms control on a back and forth run through the city.<\/p>\n

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Urban steam railroading. Street running of trains is always fun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second part was street running of freight trains. With the rail yard at one end, and Red Lion and it’s yard at the other, we had two rail yards joined by a big stretch of street trackage in-between. So we were able to make up a train in one yard, run it through the city to the opposite yard, drop off cars, and pick others up, then run back to the original yard and swap cars again. This required running smaller locomotives, but it also gave us some more interesting running.<\/p>\n

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Rob Bender, PennLUG’s Master City Architect, has done another fine job laying out the downtown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Train Olympics<\/h3>\n
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Nick O’Donell clearly had it out for his OKILUG partner in the Train Demolition Derby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year for BrickFair, Andy Mollmann and Nick O’Donell from OKILUG hosted some train games Friday and Saturday night. Friday night was the Train Pull, Train Tug-O-War, and Train Races. The Train Pull consisted of locomotives taking turns to see which one could pull the heaviest weight. The Tug-O-War pitted two locomotives against each other in a battle to see who could pull the other across the line. The train race set two locomotive against each other in a 3 lap race around the OKILUG train layout.<\/p>\n

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My Norfolk & Western Y6b class locomotive decimated the competition in the Train Pull, and Tug-O-War.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the craziest event came Saturday with the Train Demolition Derby. Two locomotives faced of on a single track, each speeding toward each other, meeting in a glorious crash. The winner being the locomotive with the most spectacular crash. And after the event, latter that night, a few of us staged some more impromptu train crashes, with my Neighborhood Trolley exploding in a shower of parts against WamaLTC’s club trolley.<\/p>\n