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© August 09, 2010 |
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Purchase your DLS Convention Tee now while supplies last.
The Journey Begins
The First of the Traveling Regional Conventions
By Rick Henderson
Discover Live Stream Staff WriterDiscover Live Steam completed the first leg of a planned long-term, multi-stop rail journey, which will criss-cross the country in the coming years. The kick off for the regional convention tour was in Coshocton, Ohio at the Mill Creek Central Railroad held July 29 through August 1, 2010. And what a kickoff it was with Discover Live Steam 225 visitors from 23 states (that's 90% of the states east of the Mississippi) descending on the well prepared staff of Mill Creek Central for four days. DLS visitors also brought in 69 locomotives, 28 steam and 41 other, along with 204 train cars, most of which should have been caught at one time or other in photographs. Some visitors had more train cars not unloaded due to train length limits to leave room for everyone. Then there were the Mill Creek Central trains already on site.
The Discover Live Steam Staff
(from left to right)
Rick Henderson, Jim O'Connor, Dale KingThe great MCCRR 40 plus staff, the ones in maroon shirts, pulled off the considerably sized visit, making it look as if it were a monthly occurrence. When minor problems occurred, there was someone close at hand to get the proper help. There was plenty of help to unload and people to explain the set-up, including where to park trains when not running. Kathy with her clipboard was keeping close track of what was being unloaded so the visiting trains were not too long. If you needed any question answered, there always seemed to be a maroon shirt person nearby.
The Mill Creek Central Crew.A big advantage for everyone was the arrangement to have a local Cub Scout Pack #403 and parents, as the food vendor, offering food for all three meals of the day and staying open well into the evening for those running into the night. And the best part, it was all priced low and well prepared, which does not often come from mobile event food vendors. The stand seemed to be kept busy at all times as they had to make several trips to restock during the days.
The Mill Creek Central Railroad track is a point to point railroad with just over 6,700 feet of mainline track to run on between the looped ends, so a round trip is a full 2.5 miles. While the track is still growing at both ends and even with a branch off the middle at Doran wye, it will remain true to the point to point operation and not interconnect to nearby track loops.
Currently there is 54 feet in elevation difference along the route that takes you over a very tall bridge and through two tunnels. The necessary grades are just over 3% in a couple of places.
The working signal system covered seven signaled blocks between passing sidings and was very easy to use, though some visiting engineers took a while to comprehend that "they" captured and cleared the block themselves and it was not all automatic or dispatcher controlled. Everyone was given a full map of the track with all of the MCCRR Safety Guidelines on the back. The main yard, shop, steaming, car-barn, another turntable and loading area is on the middle level close to the center of the mainline run, in the area called Middletown. To help accommodate the DLS meet, this turntable, twelve steaming bays and new spur tracks were added in the four weeks leading up to this meet. From Middletown you continue up to the Mountain Division on the upper level, which is a little less developed but may have the most potential. There were several big steamers constantly running all four days along with many smaller steamers and other types of locomotives. As typical at meets, some trains were a work in progress and some were for sale. There was even a hand-pump car that may have found the 3% grades on the Mountain Division a little challenging. If you were in the market for a locomotive, there were a few available and some vendors had new equipment on site to "test-run", which many people did. The hobby vendors attending were a very strong showing for a first time convention and a nice cross section of the riding-scale hobby. The 20 registered vendors included; Bryterails Strawberry Plains, TN, Cocolamus Creek Trolley Millerstown, PA, Enterprise Plastics Kent , OH, Flashers R Us Smith Station, AL, Godshall Custom Machining Shermans Dale, PA, High Driver Video Productions Ickesburg, PA, Little Engines of NJ Lancaster, PA, Locoparts Suffolk, VA, Live Steam Locomotives Santa Paula, CA, Mr. Motion Sagamore Hills, OH, Mountain Car Company Salem, VA, New Windsor, Ohio, NGT Models Lansing, MI, Plum Cove Studios Gloucester, MA, Precision Steel Car Hamilton, OH, Ridge Locomotive Works Freeland MI, Stephenson Machine Ind. Lees Summit, MO, The Rail Channel Springfield, VT, Tom Bee Trucks Royal Oak, MI, and Village Press-Live Steam and Outdoor Railroading Traverse City MI. Two other scheduled vendors were a no-show and there was some free-lance selling.
Marty Knox Neil Knopf & Jim O'Connor Mike Venezia Three brief seminars were conducted on Saturday by the Little Engines trailer located next to the big trestle. Marty Knox of Ridge Locomotive Works covered "Getting the maximum life out of your boiler". Neil Knopf, editor of Live Steam & Outdoor Railroading, covered the A, B, C's of article submission to any publication and how easy it really can be. Mike Venezia of Little Engines covered "Laying out the stack, blast pipe nozzle on your live steamer". I am not sure what a typical run day at MCCRR is like, but I doubt it includes tracks being operated at full capacity and finding cars, trucks and trailers parked in every field in sight. A retired Pittsburgh & Lake Erie caboose sits along the entry drive, though with all of the vehicles on site, it was not as evident. The town of Coshocton, with just over 11,000 people, is rated one of the top 100 towns to visit and still enjoys small town community events such as free outdoor community band concerts at the courthouse square, which was a pleasant surprise on an evening tour of the town. Undoubtedly, MCCRR will have return visit requests from people that attended the DLS convention and they may want to take time to see the surrounding area on a future visit. If you were unable to make this meet, you may still enjoy the event with a high quality DVD covering the event. A sample of the coverage from Thursday & Friday was shown on Saturday and pre-orders filled the order box by Saturday evening. They will be available to all for $20, which includes shipping, through High Driver Video Productions. You may mail a check to the address listed and note you want the DLS Regional Meet at MCCRR video. They should be shipping by early September, maybe sooner. Where is the next meet? This meet went very well and we now need to hear from some tracks as we are working on the 2011 and even 2012 schedule. Who wants to be next?
More shots from around the track. On the next page are tree-cam shots taken at three locations.
Photos from others at the meet
See more at the Mill Creek Central home page
Written by Rick Henderson
from High Driver Video Productions
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