The National Capital Trackers have cancelled their appearances through the remainder of 2020. We will post the 2021 schedule when the information becomes available.
2012 Celebrate Fairfax Show Report
Celebrate Fairfax 2012 Show Report
We had 23 hours of running time in a three day period during the festival and we ran trains!
This show ran smoothly! A show of this length requires planning and dedication from the Trackmaster, assistants, and the members.
We had 30 Trackers participate in the show from planning through takedown. Trackmaster Joe Helsing laid the foundation with initial planning, coordination, and staffing for the show. A special thanks to assistant Trackmasters Steve Kehn and Chris Herndon for their efforts in setup/takedown, maintenance, troubleshooting, managing the show, and towing the trailer. This is the first time that we used the powerhouse at Celebrate Fairfax and it worked out well.
A Tracker sign-up sheet was used to determine when members were showing up during the festival. This allowed for adjusting run times to meet the ebb and flow. We also used a revised running signup sheet and managed signup to be equitable, so all had plenty of run time. We also made sure that those running conventional engines were easily accommodated.
Dave Bonner provided donuts and coffee, a vital task; he came through with flying colors. A special thanks to Jenna Krause for providing the train-themed cookies! The Trackers received an award from Celebrate Fairfax for 18 years of service to the show. The plaque was prominently displayed on our layout.
This was the first show ever where the club used QR barcodes. These barcodes were placed in various spots around the layout on the Plexiglas. Persons with a smart phone could scan the QR barcode and be taken either to the NCT website or the NCT Facebook page. The response was phenomenal! A special thanks to Chris Herndon and Justin Krause for making this happen!
When not running trains, members could walk outside and enjoy the festival. As always we were located within the Government Center Atrium, a beautiful location. At night on Friday and Saturday we had a great vantage point to watch the fireworks.
Tasks were assigned for setup, running, and take down. In a show of this length and complexity it is a necessity. This included the unloading and reloading of the trailer by qualified persons (Steve Kehn and Rick Eudy) to put items in their assigned places and to minimize any potential damage during transportation.
Thanks to all that provided modules: Scott Bennyhoff, Matthew Kehn, Glenn MacKinnon, Jim McDermott, Kenny & Sandra Warren, and Ed Beaver.
Special thanks to Rich Colton for his three-module smoking geysers (really cool!) and Chris Herndon for providing his yard. Nice to see a few Tracker “old geezers” Dan Danielson, Mike Fistere, and Keith Webb.
Thanks to my son Elias for his help and company. Thanks to all that participated!
What a lot of fun!
George Tsakiris
Acting Trackmaster
2013 USMC Museum Show Report
Download as a PDF: 2013_MCMuseum_Show
NATIONAL CAPITAL TRACKERS
“O” GAUGE TRAIN CLUB
US MARINE SHOW REPORT, FEBRUARY 9-10, 2013
As a gracious invited guest, the Trackers showed up on time at 6:30 a.m. David Fair, our host and Education Specialist for the Marine Museum, greeted us at the loading dock.
Thanks to Regis who hauled the VA trailer, the equipment for the show was quickly unloaded and placed on the showroom floor.
The floor was taped for the 16 X 48 ft. layout by John Zampino and Zach Gibson (guest of Matt Flanagan). Lynn Gaines came all the way from Mineral, VA to help with the set. It was great to see him. Also Glen MacKinnon arrived to help with the setup.
By 7:15 a.m. the tables were going up. Regis was securing electric lines for the power module and making the necessary connections to the layout. Zach Gibson was a great help setting up and expressed an interest in joining the club.
The two crossover modules made by Justin Krause were placed at both ends of a 3-track module system. This design allowed trains on the inner and outer loops to crossover to a center track. The trains could be taken off and put back on without disrupting train movement. It was an excellent design allowing for non-stop operation. We ran like a real railroad!! Oops—except for the occasional rear end train wrecks by George Tsakiris. The NTSB was called in and found several engineers had come down with a distraction disease—“talkitis”. Fortunately it wasn’t texting or there would have been an engineer suspension. The assembly went well and by 9:30 a.m., the trains were running. Throughout the day there was never a problem with DCS or TMCC. The electrical system and train operations ran without a hitch.
He was most helpful in setup and take down. He was the go-to man when we needed to bring the club trailer to Bill Creech the following day. He had Caterpillar heavy equipment on his modules. Harold Palvelka brought his new module which displayed an automobile roadway under the tressle.
Matt Flanagan brought his two Union Pacific Big Boys. Also a beautiful Lionel Legacy B&O E-7 engines with scale B&O Heavy Weight passenger cars—a great looking set. Dave Bonner brought his MTH Northern Pacific F-3’s ABA to pull 32 freight cars and a wood sided caboose. Also an MTH Milwaukee Road F-7 ABA with 40 freight cars and a bay window caboose.
Richard Colton displayed 3 modules at the show. This Statue of Liberty module is a tribute to the Twin Towers of New York City. The other two modules are famous US landmarks—Mount Rushmore and Yosemite National Park. The mountain ranges featured hikers, campers and various wildlife such as mountain goats and black bears. Ken Warren brought his two module Dept. 56 Christmas village snow scene. He ran his Western Maryland Legacy AC 6000 engine with matching caboose and 17 freight cars. Jim McDermott displayed two modules with three tracks and a passenger station with people.
Chuck Pestacchi brought his two modules that displayed a McDonald’s operating food stand with sounds and a moving car, a Christmas carousel, and a 1930’s ice skating rink with skaters. He also had a series of classic cars on his modules. He ran an Erie Tri/Plex steam engine pulling custom Caterpillar heavy equipment flat cars, and an RF&P Berkshire engine with a full set of 19th century woodsided passenger cars.
George Tsakiris put up a bump and go trolley, passenger station and Montrose flour warehouse. He ran a Pennsy Atlantic B&O engine and a Mikado freight engine pulling Pennsy passenger cars. Justin Krause brought his famous triple crossover modules, a Lionel 4-12-2 engine and 36 reefer cars; also an MTH New York Central Mohawk engine and passenger cars.
John Zampino brought his modules sporting the nightlife of the Baltimore strip clubs complete with the Gaiety Theater and the local police station. John ran an MTH class “A” N&W 4-6-6-4 engine #1218 and a leatherneck beer freight car with an end of the train device light. Rich Colton kept the tracks clean with a daily wipedown. Thanks, great job!! Bill Robbins, Lynn Gaines and Ken Warren’s guest helped in takedown at the end of the show. The show was a great success. DCS and TMCC operated flawlessly and the trains never stopped running. Attendance on Saturday was 1,662 people and Sunday was 494 with a total attendance of 2,156.
Our thanks to the US Marine Museum and David Fair for hosting us. When all vehicles were loaded we headed to Dixie Bones Restaurant in Woodbridge, VA for a celebration dinner of ribs. Thirteen members and guests attended.
Submitted by Mike Fistere, Trackmaster and George Tsakiris, Assistant Trackmaster.
Modules for Enchanted Forest
I’m asking for 5 more modules to get to a total of 13 (if we had even 2 more, we could extend the layout bt 4 feet). We plan to use a geezer gate and McKinney’s short radius curves. We will not be able to accomodate really large engines. The power house should outside of the layout due to the narrowness of the inside oif the layout. We will have 3 tables inside the layout.
The Enchanted Forest will run Nov 23 & 24, with setup on Fri Nov 22nd at 4:00pm. The show is in the Westin Hotel, Tysons Corner. The hotel is easy to find on Rte 7, very close to the I-495 exit. I need a total of 14 straight modules (maybe 13 if we use a geezer gate). Attached is a room layout diagram. The room is somewhat narrow and the layout is positioned nearly up against the rear room wall to provide the best access for visitors. Therefore the modules along the rear wall should have scenics placed so as to be visible from the room front (i.e. backwards). Hope you get the idea. So far we have signed-up:
Harold Pavelka – 2 modules
John & Nik Masiyowski – 1 module
Jim McDermott – 2 modules
Garrett Goldstein – 1 module
Please sign up and get back to me soonest. helsingj@comcast.net
Joe (Trackmaster)
John M (ass’t trackmaster)
Attachments: Visio-Ench Forest1 westin tyson
Show Report – USMC Museum 2013
As a gracious invited guest, the Trackers showed up on time at 6:30 a.m. David Fair, our host and Education Specialist for the Marine Museum, greeted us at the loading dock.
Thanks to Regis who hauled the VA trailer, the equipment for the show was quickly unloaded and placed on the showroom floor.
The floor was taped for the 16 X 48 ft. layout by John Zampino and Zach Gibson (guest of Matt Flanagan). Lynn Gaines came all the way from Mineral, VA to help with the set. It was great to see him. Also Glen MacKinnon arrived to help with the setup.
By 7:15 a.m. the tables were going up. Regis was securing electric lines for the power module and making the necessary connections to the layout. Zach Gibson was a great help setting up and expressed an interest in joining the club.
The two crossover modules made by Justin Krause were placed at both ends of a 3-track module system. This design allowed trains on the inner and outer loops to crossover to a center track. The trains could be taken off and put back on without disrupting train movement. It was an excellent design allowing for non-stop operation. We ran like a real railroad!! Oops—except for the occasional rear end train wrecks by George Tsakiris. The NTSB was called in and found several engineers had come down with a distraction disease—“talkitis”. Fortunately it wasn’t texting or there would have been an engineer suspension. The assembly went well and by 9:30 a.m., the trains were running. Throughout the day there was never a problem with DCS or TMCC. The electrical system and train operations ran without a hitch.
He was most helpful in setup and take down. He was the go-to man when we needed to bring the club trailer to Bill Creech the following day. He had Caterpillar heavy equipment on his modules. Harold Palvelka brought his new module which displayed an automobile roadway under the tressle.
Matt Flanagan brought his two Union Pacific Big Boys. Also a beautiful Lionel Legacy B&O E-7 engines with scale B&O Heavy Weight passenger cars—a great looking set.
Dave Bonner brought his MTH Northern Pacific F-3’s ABA to pull 32 freight cars and a wood sided caboose. Also an MTH Milwaukee Road F-7 ABA with 40 freight cars and a bay window caboose.
Richard Colton displayed 3 modules at the show. This Statue of Liberty module is a tribute to the Twin Towers of New York City. The other two modules are famous US landmarks—Mount Rushmore and Yosemite National Park. The mountain ranges featured hikers, campers and various wildlife such as mountain goats and black bears.
Ken Warren brought his two module Dept. 56 Christmas village snow scene. He ran his Western Maryland Legacy AC 6000 engine with matching caboose and 17 freight cars. Jim McDermott displayed two modules with three tracks and a passenger station with people.
Chuck Pestacchi brought his two modules that displayed a McDonald’s operating food stand with sounds and a moving car, a Christmas carousel, and a 1930’s ice skating rink with skaters. He also had a series of classic cars on his modules. He ran an Erie Tri/Plex steam engine pulling custom Caterpillar heavy equipment flat cars, and an RF&P Berkshire engine with a full set of 19th century woodsided passenger cars.
George Tsakiris put up a bump and go trolley, passenger station and Montrose flour warehouse. He ran a Pennsy Atlantic B&O engine and a Mikado freight engine pulling Pennsy passenger cars.
Justin Krause brought his famous triple crossover modules, a Lionel 4-12-2 engine and 36 reefer cars; also an MTH New York Central Mohawk engine and passenger cars.
John Zampino brought his modules sporting the nightlife of the Baltimore strip clubs complete with the Gaiety Theater and the local police station. John ran an MTH class “A” N&W 4-6-6-4 engine #1218 and a leatherneck beer freight car with an end of the train device light.
Rich Colton kept the tracks clean with a daily wipedown. Thanks, great job!! Bill Robbins, Lynn Gaines and Ken Warren’s guest helped in takedown at the end of the show. The show was a great success. DCS and TMCC operated flawlessly and the trains never stopped running. Attendance on Saturday was 1,662 people and Sunday was 494 with a total attendance of 2,156.
Our thanks to the US Marine Museum and David Fair for hosting us. When all vehicles were loaded we headed to Dixie Bones Restaurant in Woodbridge, VA for a celebration dinner of ribs. Thirteen members and guests attended.
Submitted by Mike Fistere, Trackmaster and George Tsakiris, Assistant Trackmaster