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6th
Hutchinson Model Railroad Show another successful enterprise An estimated 450 people attended the 6th Hutchinson Model Railroad Show on Oct. 14, at the McLeod County Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. Paid admission totaled about 330. For the second time, the show was a joint venture between Luce Line RR Club, Inc., a club of 35 members in the Hutchinson, Minn. area, and the 25-member Minnesota River Valley Division of the Thousand Lakes Region of NMRA. The MRVD is centered in the Willmar, Minn. area. The show attracted about 55 flea market tables of model railroad merchandise, down about 10 from the 1999. A couple larger vendors attended a show at Madison, Wis., instead, according to flea market chairman Dan Sargent. The show once again featured more than a dozen operating model railroads arranged by layout chair David Zachmeyer, including four from the host Luce Line club. The Luce Line's own 8-by-31-foot HO scale railroad was there after taking third place at the Great American Train Show in St. Paul the week before. Also, the Luce Line introduced a 6-by-12 three-rail layout in the beginning stages of construction. Two temporary loops of track were ready. LLRC member Stan Koci and his daughter Amanda displayed their 12-by-12 American Flyer layout, while Terry and Patrice Davis ran their 40-inch-by-6-foot N-scale Cleveland, Mankato & Eastern. Also present were four small layouts in N, HO, O and G scales brought by the Great River Rail Society of St. Cloud, a large HO layout from the O.S. & B.O. group in the Twin Cities, the large N-scale Mr. & Mrs. layout from the south metro area, and a LEGO layout from Ortonville, Minn. Two layouts from the MRVD were unable to attend as anticipated. Four clinics were presented. Gary Ristow of the MRVD showed how to weather freight cars. Brian Wordes of the MRVD led a clinic on hand-laying rail. Mike Penn of the Twin Cities Division/TLR/NMRA had a clinic on painting backdrops. An O.S. & B.O. member had a clinic on "zero defects" through coupler and truck tune-ups. Wordes organized the clinics. Former MRVD Superintendent Curt Radunz brought his experience running TLR contests to the Hutchinson show. The popular vote model contest attracted nearly 30 entries in six categories. See the photos of the winners elsewhere on this Web site. The LLRC obtained $1,650 in door prizes won by layout operators, MRVD and LLRC members. Another $2,150 in catalogs, magazines and other materials were distributed free. A total of 12 general public show attendees went home with door prizes of subscriptions to Kalmbach magazines or video tapes. Kathy Graf and the Country Diner once again provided excellence concessions. The LLRC is tentatively planning to host the 7th Hutchinson Model Railroad Show at the Hutchinson grounds again from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, 2001.
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