Guys,
Just want to thank you all for your terrific support
at last weekend?s 2005 St. Louis RPM meet. There were
well over 140 attendees and a great time was had by
all. About 45 guys brought models to display from G
to HO, and we counted over 841 models on display.
There were several hundred other models on display
that were for sale or vendor display (such as Al
Westerfield?s and Ted Culotta?s displays) and the
grand total was well over 1000 models.
Many thanks to the team for putting on a historic
event. We think this was probably the biggest one-day
RPM meet ever. Dave Davis and I planned this thing
all year?-he's my go-to guy for practically
everything. Loren Casey ran the clinics. David Jobe
helped make the flyers and advertised heavily. And
special thanks this year to Brad Joseph for opening
his home and layout for the social/operating session.
We managed to jam 35 guys into Brad?s basement and
overwhelm his air conditioner, but the heat added an
extra touch of prototypical realism for operators on
Brad?s UP high-desert-themed layout.
Special thanks also to Ed Hawkins and Pat Wider for
contributing 120 copies of RP Cyc #1 as gifts for the
attendees. What other modeling event could you attend
where you pay $10 to get in but get a $29.00 book for
free? This was a wonderful and generous thing to
do--thanks guys!
Notable names in attendance included John Welther, Ted
Culotta, Chet French, Dan Kohlberg, Clark Propst, Vic
Smith, Ed DeRouin, Brian McQuitty, Mike Dudley, Ben
Hom, Andy Weusthof, the aforementioned Ed Hawkins and
Pat Wider, plus many, many others. Notable names from
industry included John Hitzeman (AMB) Bob Liljestrand
(Bob?s Photos), Ted Schnepf (Rails Unlimited) and Al &
Patricia Westerfield, John ?Wildman? Lee (Badger). In
addition, Perry Lambert--a terrific ATSF modeler and
FreeMo expert--came down from Kansas and gave a great,
impromptu FreeMo presentation. Great job, Terry.
We got great participation from area historical
societies. Unfortunately the MP HS was a no-show, but
the CNW and Terminal RR Association guys were very
active, and the Central of Georgia team--led by Allen
Tuten and Todd Horton--were the talk of the town. Todd
and Allen are great guys and we had a lot of laughs.
Photos? I mananged to take about 60 photos and will
post them on my PBase site as soon as possible. I
didn?t have time to take many model shots, so if you
have model photos from the meet that you?d like me to
post, please send them along and I?d be happy to post
them with your credits. My wife Kristina worked the
door, and-?just like last year-?reported quite a few
funny stories. I?ll post some of her stories on PBase
along with the photos.
What?s on for next year? Well, Dave and I are already
planning to put on a third annual meet next August.
Everybody likes mid-August and we agree that an August
meet seems to kick off the modeling/meeting
season...although we all know that real RPM-ers don?t
take summer off. We?re going to look into a slightly
bigger room, but intend to limit the vendors again
while trying to max out on historical society and
attendee participation. After all, this is a modeler's
meet--not a train show.
I haven?t debriefed with all the vendors yet, but
everyone I?ve talked to said they were 20-25% ahead of
last year and several big names have already committed
to attend a third annual event around the same time
next year. For now, we?re going to continue with a
one-day event to keep things simple. Also, I thought
the night-before-RPM social was a big plus and we?ll
keep that on the agenda too. If you attended and have
some thoughts or criticisms or ideas to pass along,
please drop me a line at Golden1014@yahoo.com.
Sorry for the delay with this report but I was wiped
out on Sunday and was in New Jersey Monday and Tuesday
for work.
Thanks again to everyone.
John
John Golden
O'Fallon, IL
http://www.pbase.com/golden1014
2nd Annual St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modeler's Meet
August 20th, 2005
Collinsville, IL
Contact: John Golden, Golden1014@yahoo.com
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