Ohio N-scale Weekend 2011

The third annual Ohio N-scale weekend was held at the Franklin County Fairgrounds in Hilliard, OH (a Columbus, OH suburb). This event is organized by the Central Ohio N-trak club (http://www.centralohiontrak.org/ )patterned after the Bedford N-scale Weekend held annually in Bedford, PA. This is an N-scale only show with individual club layouts. There were twelve layouts and numerous dealers. Seven of the layouts were standard N-trak layouts and two were t-trak layouts.

There were too many great modules amd layouts to include photos of them all. Some of the outstanding modules or layouts are shown in the following sections. there were MANY more.

Participating clubs were:

• Burning River (Cleveland, OH area) Burning River brought an n-trak layout.
• Cantington N-trak (Huntington, WV) Cantington had a beautiful Ntrak layout with amazing modules.

  

• Central Ohio N-Trak (Contrak – Columbus, OH) - CONTRAK, the organizing club, had both an N-trak layout and a significant part of a three club t-trak layout.

  Central Ohio N-trak three foot corners with alternate blue line. Many of the CONTRAK modules feature the alternate blue line.

  

  Central Ohio N-trak t-trak modle by John Stuber. This module is equivalent to four single t-trak modules (two on each side of the loop). The GRVS modules were in this layout along with modules from CONTRAK and the Fort Wayne, IN club. The overall layout was the equivalent of twenty single modules long.

  

• Columbus Area N-Scalers (CANS - Canal Winchester, OH) - A large Ntrak layout.
• Dayton N-track (Dayton, OH) - A large N-trak layout.
• Great River Valley System (GRVS – Minneapolis/St Paul, MN) - We brought some t-trak modules to put in the multi-club t-trak layout organized by CONTRAK.
• Kentuckiana Society of N Scalers (K-SONS, Louisville, KY) - The KSONs intended to bring both an n-trak and t-trak layout, but were unable to bring the n-trak layout because the transport vehicle owner/driver had to work. Some of the n-trakers came anyway, but the only layout was a small ttrak layout.

  One of the modules is an operating tornado. All of the modules in this layout belong to Joe Martin.



• Mississippi Valley N Scalers (ST. Louis, MO) Mississippi Valley members came without a layout.
• Northeastern Indiana N Scale (Fort Wayne, IN) - this club had an N-trak layout and contributed a module to the ttrak layout organized by CONTRAK.

  

  Northeastern Indiana N Scalers - Steel mill by Jamie Freeze.

• New Jersey Southern N-Trak Modular Railroad Club (Collingswood, NJ) - New Jersey Southern had an interesting N-trak layout with back to back modules. The photos show two views of a combination end cap/return loop module set.

  

  

• Pittsburgh Lite Track (Pittsburgh, PA) - A double track modular layoyt built using Kato Unitrak.

  

• Queen City N_Gineers (Cincinnati, OH) - Queen City N-Gineers four track modules with extensive trackage behind the main lines. These two modules are by Joe Dapkins.

  

  

• Three Rivers Associates in N-Trak (T.R.A.I.N. – Pittsburgh, PA) - T.R.A.I.N. brought a standard N-trak layout.

  

The event’s primary focus was on the club members rather than targeting the general public. In addition to the train show the event included a door prize drawing, an on-site dinner Saturday after the show closed to the public, a charity auction, and private layout operating Saturday evening.

Next year's show is scheduled for May 18-20, 2012. A video report by one of the CONTRAK members is on the internet.