Greenberg’s Toy and Train Show in Upper Marlboro, Maryland on February 9–10, 2002

Locomotives and rolling stock

The distinctive shapes and Class A railroad liveries of Constantine’s locomotives in particular elicited knowing expressions of recognition from our train-savvy visitors.

An overall look at the yard as an 8–wide freight passes.
Bob had an articulated high-speed train…
…with a neat set of angles to its end (which wobbled as the train flew down the track and around the curves).
A sturdy-looking switcher.
Abe built tank car after tank car after tank car…
8–wide locomotives had to be relegated to the outermost track.
Bob’s 4-4-2 steam engine used slip-on metal sleeves around genuine LEGO® wheels.
A GP-38AC heads out over the bridge spanning the gap between our tables.
Harry Potter 4708 Hogwart’s Express makes an appearance.

Layout

Our layout was designed by Bob Hayes.

The table in the middle seemed like a good idea at the time, but we came to regret its presence.

Trolley Line

We had a pair of trolleys controlled by an RCX so that one would start up as the other arrived at the station. While they ran really fast on Saturday, more realistic speeds were achieved on Sunday.

The trolley station with the RCX hidden in the brown building.
Bob built one of the trolleys, Tom the other.
Whee!

Kevin’s Metrorail cars

Shortening them to a non-prototypical length improved their structural integrity and operational performance (slightly).

Bob’s movie theater

Constantine’s bank

Modeled after a photograph Constantine found in the book Lost America: From the Atlantic to the Mississippi and representing The National Exchange Bank of Hartford, Connecticut which in the original bore a Rebuilt 1869 sign near its top and was demolished in 1917.

Structures

A control tower overlooking the yard.
Rich’s blue station made another appearance.
Jeff’s courthouse returned as well.
Oh, sure, pick on Christina’s building to have burn…
Kevin must know the bland face of suburban offices well.
Margaret’s 7–11 included again.
Roy was inspired by Tilt Brick 1×2 Base and some other pieces to build.
Clearly a popular joint. And this is just the day crowd.
The drive-in at Constantine’s Wendy’s has attracted customers.

Judy’s sculptures

The sculpture of a pair of Bukharan Jew performers was Judy’s entry in the 1st International SYSTEM Creativity Contest last year.

Judy is pleased to have a spot on the layout for Roma the musician and Alla the dancer.

Rich’s mountain

Margaret collaborated with Rich to attach a cable car to his mountain.
The flag is a souvenir from last October, when children at Fall for Fairfax built it.

Participants

Participants in attendance: Stephen Roberts, Denise Jadud, Kevin Loch, Tom Cook, Bob Hayes, Rich Schamus, Christina Hitchcock, Abe Friedman, Greg Kramer, Margaret D. Keys, Cris Berneburg, Aaron Sneary, Roy Gal, Claudia Coles, Constantine Hannaher, Judy Miller, Marian Hardy, John “Fuzzface” McMahon, Ken Rice.

Participants turn their cameras on others of the club.

Christina is publicity director of our parent organization [at the time], WAMALUG.
Watch those hit counters at Brickshelf spin.
Constantine looks dubious as he inspects the operations.
Stephen mugs (just a little) for the camera.
Denise and Abe seem to be enjoying the weekend.
Tom checks out something on his notebook computer.
The only known image of guest Sheila Moreland attending this show.

Ancillary activities

Children’s play area
Claudia set up a MindStorms-based game of train movement for visitors.

Uncategorized highlights

An unusual visitor at the filling station.
Aaron built an “Alpha Team” car with borrowed Train parts.
Rich supplied his flowers.
Marian’s streetlight controlled by RCX.
Our ribbon for displaying at this show adorns Abe’s Statue of Liberty set.

Brickshelf gallery of Stephen F. Roberts, Brickshelf gallery of Tom Cook, Brickshelf gallery of Bob Hayes, Brickshelf gallery of Kevin Loch, Brickshelf gallery of Christina Hitchcock, Brickshelf gallery of Abe Friedman from the 9th, Brickshelf gallery of Abe Friedman from the 10th, Brickshelf gallery of Roy Gal, Flickr album of Constantine Hannaher.