Midwest Train Show 2004
Attendees
- Scott Sanburn
- Stefan Garcia
- Victoria Garcia
- Tony Hedglen
- Grace Hedglen
- David Kohrman
Midwest Train Show 2004
Attendees
Report
This was the 2nd Annual Midwest LEGO Train Show. It was located in Cantigny Park, in Wheaton, Illinois. This was the second all-Lego show there, and it went quite well. We thank Ondrew Hartigan for his invitation, and all of his help to get this show on the road.
The Midwest Lego Train Show, which most of our club refers to as The Cantigny Show, is always a fun show, and this year was no exception, despite a few snags. Setup was on Friday, and so most of the club members set out about midday for Chicago. Scott, Tony, and Grace were bound in from South Bend; Victoria and Stefan from Kalamazoo; and David from Muncie. After an hour delay due to exceptionally heavy traffic, Victoria and Stefan arrived at Cantigny. Scott and crew were still stuck in traffic, and didn't arrive until about two hours later. Once they got there though, Scott's trailer was unloaded rather quickly, thanks to everyone's help. After a few minutes, everything was inside where it was nice and warm, and we all set about laying out the tables. Ondrew sketched out a quick table layout, which helped quite a bit. Table setup went smoothly, and we were soon working on laying down baseplates and track. Scott, Tony, and Grace set up the yard, Stefan rebuilt his bridge, and Victoria was busy putting up sneeze guards. Setup this time around was accompanied by music blaring from Stefan's computer slideshow setup. Nine o' clock rolled around, when we were supposed to leave, but Ondrew talked the park people into letting us stay for another hour. By the end of that hour, we had most of the baseplates and track down. David got into town too late for setup due to the traffic. At ten, we all left to get at least a few hours rest until we could finish setup the next morning.
Seven-thirty rolled around, and we were all back at the park working furiously to get the layout ready in time for the crowds. David set up his buildings, completing the town portion of the layout. By nine, we had a mainline running just as the first visitors started to trickle in. Victoria had a nice display with framed poster/catalogs and flyers set next to the Stefan's slideshow. In a corner of our room, they had set up a ball contraption and the Connect Four robots. Crowds were pretty steady all day long. On the Michiana-LUG layout, there were four of the new BNSF GP-38's running. After a few hours, Ondrew brought over several large tubs of brick for Victoria and Stefan to sort, which took up most of their time. Scott and crew worked on the yard, which steadily grew more impressive throughout the day. At one point in the day, Victoria and Grace spent several minutes attempting to solve a problem with one of the steam engines which kept derailing. Other than that it was a pretty uneventful day. Once the show closed down, the three clubs decided what Lego store to raid. Woodfield was decided to be our victims, and our string of cars set out for the mall. Everyone else seemed to have decided to go shopping that night, and the parking lot was packed. We split up to go look for parking spots, and after a while everyone found their way inside to the store. Most of us made a beeline for the Pick-A-Brick at the back of the store, and began stuffing cups. Some people finished shopping early and went to go eat, while some stayed behind to pack more cups. Much to our collective delight, the store had black X-Pods for individual sale, as well as the name tile packs. Most of us bought at least a few of those, as well as the new fire engine set. Slowly we all finished up and went our seperate ways until the next day.
Scott and crew were already manning the layout by the time Victoria and Stefan showed up. They set about sorting more of Ondrew's tubs, while Scott and Tony managed the trains. Grace spent much of the day festooning the layout with flowers. This day, Beth, the LEGO lady that appeard on TLC's While You Were Out, was there with several thousand 1x8's, which she guided children into using to build a very large tower. By the end of the day, it was significantly taller than any of the people observing it. Stefan put his camera into one of Scott's Club Cars to get some video of the layout. Scott later did the same with his camcorder, though it had difficulty clearing the bridge. Wrecks were pretty rare throughout the show. One minifig rode a train to his demise against the side of the bridge girders, however. Four o' clock rolled around and we all set about packing up the layout. David packed his buildings and left, while Victoria and Stefan stayed around just long enough to help tear down the tables, leaving it to Scott, Tony, and Ondrew to pack the trailer. This has been a fun show to do for the past two years, and we look forward to next year!
Thanks
Ondrew Hartigan & NILTC - For getting this show organized, and for patience dealing with us. Thanks!
David Kohrmand - For his awesome downtown buildings.
Chad Smith - For sending along his comic shop.
Grace Hedglen - For counting all those PaB flowers!
Links
Cantigny Park - Wheaton, Illinois
