August 29
Given that attending the 27th National Narrow Gauge Convention was the original reason behind this trip, its way past time for a report on this aspect of my visit to the USA.
I last talked about my time in Maine (see The End of the Line) left me having arrived back in Portland after a few magic days exploring some of the old 2 foot lines to the north.
My plans for Wednesday had a bit of a different flavour, with a visit to Art Fahie and Bar Mills Models in western Portland as the first order of business. I had first come across Art, and his beautifully detailed N scale 'Niagara & Pearl Creek' layout in N Scale magazine in the mid '90s, and had always admired his work - the N&PC would have to be one of the most complete layouts I've seen, with lots of little detail scenes really bringing the whole layout to life.
In more recent years, Art has risen in prominence through his structure company, now located in a wonderful replica the Sandy River station at Strong, holding pride of place in his front garden.
As Charlie Getz satirised in his convention-closing address, the show Art put on for us almost approached the flavour of an evangelical religious revival. This was perhaps only a little bit over the top, but what it was in fact was very well organised, and focussed on giving 900 (?) odd visiting modelers a good look at the whole operation in as streamlined a fashion as possible over 3 days. Full marks to Art for pulling it off in an entertaining and educational way, whilst maintaining a sense of humour, and being a most gracious host.
First up was a look at his new Sn2 Maine 2 foot layout 'Wharf Street'. Like the N&PC, beautifully detailed and lit, with enough going on to keep one busy for an hour or two checking out all the details. Definitely something to aspire to in my own work - I wish!
Next was a look behind the scenes at the manufacturing processes core to the business - centrifugal pewter casting, and laser cutting, as well as the whole distribution process. I was very impressed with how streamlined the whole process is, and the volume and variety of kits coming coming out of a very modest space.
Next we retired to Art's house, and a look at a very nicely done Gn15 mini layout 'Spoof of Narragansett Pier RR', built by Tom Staton, a friend of Art's, and which later placed 2nd in the diorama section of the convention contest. This was followed by a very funny short movie from the '50s about the trials of being a model railroader's wife. We do need to laugh at ourselves from time to time.
After that, it was deeper into the bowels of Art's basement to finally see the Niagara and Pearl Creek in the flesh - yet another highlight for me. I even found a scene I remember from an article in which Art describing how and why he built it, from the first issue of N Scale magazine I had come across way back in 1995.
After a magic 15 minutes looking over the N&PC, we repaired to an outdoor pergola, for a chance to relax, rehydrate, and chat with other visitors and members of the Bar Mills crew. Mike Tylick was giving a rolling, interactive clinic on kit building and weathering techniques, and I also enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with Earl Smallshaw, in amongst a generous handful of Art's crew. New England seems to be home to a well known cohort of fine modelers, and I get the sense that Bar Mills is a bit of social hub for the guys in the area.
This part of the visit also provided us visitors with the chance to add to Bar Mills coffers, and I walked away with three kits earmarked for the K&DR at a very fair price.
By the time I got back to my digs, that was the afternoon done for, so next on the agenda was to find Convention Hotel in Central Portland, pick up my registration pack and get into the thick of things.
A wee bit of an aside - you will see a few of my convention photos here, but if you want more, spend some time checking out Mario Rapinett's site. Mario's work leaves mine for dead - well worth spending some time browsing through. Enjoy!
At the registration desk I had the pleasure of at last meeting Martha Sharp, Convention Registrar, and purveyor of fine jewelry as mentioned in my last post. Duty done, badge attached and paperwork and Convention T-Shirt in order, I turn around and who do I see but Tony Koester, for whom I did a bit of writing for his 2000 MRP magazine, and then later in the year, had the pleasure of meeting, along with wife Judy, when they visited NZ for the National Model Railroad Convention.
Tony & I had a quick chat, and then with the promise of a catch up later, it was off to the hotel lounge bar for a bit of dinner, a Shipyard Ale or two, a chat to fellow barflies, and a study of the convention timetable. The bar was humming with conventioneers, which meant a late arrival of dinner, and sadly missing the start of the first round of clinics.
Plenty of other things to do, with two floors of trade stands and layouts of various descriptions to explore, plus the competition room upstairs, with some outstanding work on display, and still more notable people from within the hobby all over the show.
Whilst checking out the photographic section of the competition room, I got chatting to a very pleasant older gentlemen of obvious railfan photography expertise, from the look of the prints he was hanging. He introduced himself to me as Mal Ferrell , and I realised I was chatting to well known author and photographer, Mallory Hope Ferrell! It felt a bit like you accidentally finding yourself buying a beer for Sir Edmund Hillary at the local pub without twigging to who he was until you were on to the second pint. Nice guy too - Mal, I mean!
Cruising around the trade stalls just made my eyes bulge. I was glad I had set a budgetary limit, and that my interests are closely directed, otherwise I could very easily have gone quite silly. Even the selection of books, new and old, were varied enough to make one salivate, and the array of kits in all scales and gauges (though mostly narrow gauge to be sure), was just amazing.
I had my one big ticket item already reserved, and hopefully waiting for me somewhere amongst all this array of interesting avenues and culs de sac. After a good hour of happy window shopping, I found Matt Sharp at the Train and Trooper stand, and he dug out this for me:
T&T HOn30 SR&RL 2-6-2, #24
Matt & Martha had a run of these commissioned, and I had reserved one a couple of months earlier. Arranging to collect it in Portland did cost me some sales tax, but the savings in postage and GST more than made up for that. On top of that, I also had the pleasure of meeting Matt, who went through the all examples he had on hand to ensure I ended up with an one which had test run particularly well. With that in hand, as well as a couple of books on my 'must get' list, it was back to South Portland for some zzzzzs.
Given that attending the 27th National Narrow Gauge Convention was the original reason behind this trip, its way past time for a report on this aspect of my visit to the USA.
I last talked about my time in Maine (see The End of the Line) left me having arrived back in Portland after a few magic days exploring some of the old 2 foot lines to the north.
My plans for Wednesday had a bit of a different flavour, with a visit to Art Fahie and Bar Mills Models in western Portland as the first order of business. I had first come across Art, and his beautifully detailed N scale 'Niagara & Pearl Creek' layout in N Scale magazine in the mid '90s, and had always admired his work - the N&PC would have to be one of the most complete layouts I've seen, with lots of little detail scenes really bringing the whole layout to life.
In more recent years, Art has risen in prominence through his structure company, now located in a wonderful replica the Sandy River station at Strong, holding pride of place in his front garden.
As Charlie Getz satirised in his convention-closing address, the show Art put on for us almost approached the flavour of an evangelical religious revival. This was perhaps only a little bit over the top, but what it was in fact was very well organised, and focussed on giving 900 (?) odd visiting modelers a good look at the whole operation in as streamlined a fashion as possible over 3 days. Full marks to Art for pulling it off in an entertaining and educational way, whilst maintaining a sense of humour, and being a most gracious host.
First up was a look at his new Sn2 Maine 2 foot layout 'Wharf Street'. Like the N&PC, beautifully detailed and lit, with enough going on to keep one busy for an hour or two checking out all the details. Definitely something to aspire to in my own work - I wish!
Next was a look behind the scenes at the manufacturing processes core to the business - centrifugal pewter casting, and laser cutting, as well as the whole distribution process. I was very impressed with how streamlined the whole process is, and the volume and variety of kits coming coming out of a very modest space.
Next we retired to Art's house, and a look at a very nicely done Gn15 mini layout 'Spoof of Narragansett Pier RR', built by Tom Staton, a friend of Art's, and which later placed 2nd in the diorama section of the convention contest. This was followed by a very funny short movie from the '50s about the trials of being a model railroader's wife. We do need to laugh at ourselves from time to time.
After that, it was deeper into the bowels of Art's basement to finally see the Niagara and Pearl Creek in the flesh - yet another highlight for me. I even found a scene I remember from an article in which Art describing how and why he built it, from the first issue of N Scale magazine I had come across way back in 1995.
After a magic 15 minutes looking over the N&PC, we repaired to an outdoor pergola, for a chance to relax, rehydrate, and chat with other visitors and members of the Bar Mills crew. Mike Tylick was giving a rolling, interactive clinic on kit building and weathering techniques, and I also enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with Earl Smallshaw, in amongst a generous handful of Art's crew. New England seems to be home to a well known cohort of fine modelers, and I get the sense that Bar Mills is a bit of social hub for the guys in the area.
This part of the visit also provided us visitors with the chance to add to Bar Mills coffers, and I walked away with three kits earmarked for the K&DR at a very fair price.
By the time I got back to my digs, that was the afternoon done for, so next on the agenda was to find Convention Hotel in Central Portland, pick up my registration pack and get into the thick of things.
A wee bit of an aside - you will see a few of my convention photos here, but if you want more, spend some time checking out Mario Rapinett's site. Mario's work leaves mine for dead - well worth spending some time browsing through. Enjoy!
At the registration desk I had the pleasure of at last meeting Martha Sharp, Convention Registrar, and purveyor of fine jewelry as mentioned in my last post. Duty done, badge attached and paperwork and Convention T-Shirt in order, I turn around and who do I see but Tony Koester, for whom I did a bit of writing for his 2000 MRP magazine, and then later in the year, had the pleasure of meeting, along with wife Judy, when they visited NZ for the National Model Railroad Convention.
Tony & I had a quick chat, and then with the promise of a catch up later, it was off to the hotel lounge bar for a bit of dinner, a Shipyard Ale or two, a chat to fellow barflies, and a study of the convention timetable. The bar was humming with conventioneers, which meant a late arrival of dinner, and sadly missing the start of the first round of clinics.
Plenty of other things to do, with two floors of trade stands and layouts of various descriptions to explore, plus the competition room upstairs, with some outstanding work on display, and still more notable people from within the hobby all over the show.
Whilst checking out the photographic section of the competition room, I got chatting to a very pleasant older gentlemen of obvious railfan photography expertise, from the look of the prints he was hanging. He introduced himself to me as Mal Ferrell , and I realised I was chatting to well known author and photographer, Mallory Hope Ferrell! It felt a bit like you accidentally finding yourself buying a beer for Sir Edmund Hillary at the local pub without twigging to who he was until you were on to the second pint. Nice guy too - Mal, I mean!
Cruising around the trade stalls just made my eyes bulge. I was glad I had set a budgetary limit, and that my interests are closely directed, otherwise I could very easily have gone quite silly. Even the selection of books, new and old, were varied enough to make one salivate, and the array of kits in all scales and gauges (though mostly narrow gauge to be sure), was just amazing.
I had my one big ticket item already reserved, and hopefully waiting for me somewhere amongst all this array of interesting avenues and culs de sac. After a good hour of happy window shopping, I found Matt Sharp at the Train and Trooper stand, and he dug out this for me:
T&T HOn30 SR&RL 2-6-2, #24Matt & Martha had a run of these commissioned, and I had reserved one a couple of months earlier. Arranging to collect it in Portland did cost me some sales tax, but the savings in postage and GST more than made up for that. On top of that, I also had the pleasure of meeting Matt, who went through the all examples he had on hand to ensure I ended up with an one which had test run particularly well. With that in hand, as well as a couple of books on my 'must get' list, it was back to South Portland for some zzzzzs.
