GRVS was invited to set up an operating layout at the St Paul Amtrak station as part of Amtrak's National Train Day event. The event was scheduled the same day as the train show at the Minnesota Fairgrounds to which GRVS was previously committed. The solution was to set up N-TRAK modules at the fairgrounds and table-top T-TRAK modules at the Amtrak station. The Amtrak event was scheduled to run from 11 AM to 6 PM with setup to begin after the eastbound Empire Builder departed and arriving passengers had mostly cleared the building. The T-Trak layout was provided by Dianne and Jim with an Amtrak train provided by Greg.
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As this was the first time Amtrak has had a National Train Day event at the St Paul station, none of the 25+ exhibitors had any idea what size of crowd to expect. The place was jammed ("over 5000 visitors "), which was surprising as there was also a train show at the Fairgrounds. In fact a number of exhibitors also had a presence in both venues.
The T-Trak layout proved to be a good choice as it was low enough for easy viewing by lots of children. The layout "puzzle" was to locate a number of annimals scattered around the modules including two tiny n-scale cats.
Given the venue, an Amtrak station where the current Empire Builder stops, we thoght it appropriate to run only various versions of the "Empire Builder" train. There were four "Empire Builder" trains on the layout running two at a time:
