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Winter 2010 GTE Show

The winter 2010 GTE Show was held on January 2-3, 2010 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. We set up on New Year’s Day starting at about noon. We set up a 23’ x 27’ rectangle with a 15’ x 25’ L-shaped oNeTrak branch line extension. Total layout size was 25’ x 42’. Modules were provided by club members Brian B, Rick C, Bob F, Tom F, Jeff J, David L, John L and Bob W. Dayton N-Trak provided two modules, a lift bridge and two corners to complete the layout. The layout was set up by about 5 pm less the last module from Dayton which arrived Saturday morning. A test engine was sent around the layout verifying we were good to go as soon as we got the last module from Dayton. Set up was aided by the new joiner kit with the color coded gauge and joiner tracks. Participants thru out the weekend included Matt B (and kids), Rick C, Bob F, Tom F, Jeff J, Travis K (and kid), David L, John L and Bob W. Dayton N-Trak visitors included Don K, Jim M, Brian N, Brian R and Bob H. 

We finished setting up Saturday morning when the last Dayton module arrived. We were up and running by show time. Dayton also brought several of their portable layouts.

There was the usual wide variety of trains including an 89 car coal train, the ‘beer train,’ intermodal & autorack trains, several passenger trains, an assortment of mixed freights and several locals. Tom F put together a passenger run detailing departure and termination points, station stops and crossover points. He also put together a switch list for a pair of locals. One local was staged in Bob W’s modules dubbed Coalton. This local had to crossover to the Red Line and service industries on the oNeTrak branch line. It then had to crossover back to Blue to return to the Coalton yard. There was a second local staged on the Red Line siding of Bob F’s museum modules. It had to crossover to service industries on the Blue Line before returning to the Bob F’s Red Line siding. This made for some interesting operations as locals and passenger trains crisscrossed the triple track dodging mainline freights. Rumor has it a UP Big Boy was spotted pulling several freights thru the branch line. At the end of the show, Tom F ran the “CINTRAK Sweeper” which gathered all the local cars and returned them to their owners.

Overall, the show went exceptionally well. The joiner kit not only improved the speed of set up, it also improved the quality as well. Joints weren’t just ‘good enough’, they were very good with each joint having the right size track. The DCC system performed very well. The passenger and local operations added some interest for those that wanted to more than run around in circles.