Two huge events climaxed a busy show season this summer. While Atlas reps travel to model railroad events far and wide all year, 2008 has been especially busy. Despite the economy and rising gas prices, crowds come in droves, and Atlas continues to make our presentations fresh, exciting and worth the trip.

July’s NMRA & O Scale Convention

Right across from Disneyland in Anaheim, California, the Anaheim Convention Center hosted one of the year’s major shows – the National Model Railroad Association Convention July, dubbed the “Anaheim Special.” This convention moves around the nation each summer taking full advantage of local attractions in major cities.

This year’s NMRA Convention celebrated the agricultural history of Southern California, specifically that state’s orange-growing history. The commemorative freight car, a refrigerator reefer simulating those used to transport oranges, is painted a bright orange. A week of special events took conventioneers to an Evening in Disneyland, complete with a train ride and special buffet with Disney characters, a wine-tasting, kitchen tour with cooking class, the traditional NMRA banquet, and a variety of clinics and layout tours.

Atlas had its own spectacular attractions at our large booth, most specifically the surprise announcement of the new, highly detailed Atlas HO Master™ GP40-2 Phase 1 locomotive, which we are bringing directly to market this summer. Read more about it here. Our new July-August-September Atlas Quarterly All Scales Catalog debuted as well, with a prototype photo of the loco on the cover.

Generating additional excitement were decorated samples of the N Master™ 8-40C locomotives, test shots of the N Trainman® C&O Cupola Caboose, and samples of the HO Master™ HH600/660 Locomotives. If you couldn’t make it to Anaheim, you can see these upcoming products for yourself and track their progress in our A-Z Shipping Schedule, easily accessible at the top of our home pages.

Next year’s NMRA Convention moves to Hartford, CT and is scheduled for July 5 – 11. For more information, visit www.nmra.org.

East Wind ‘08/40th Annual O Scale National Convention

The beautiful DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts hosts this popular show, scheduled for July 23 – 26, sponsored by the Southern New England Model RR Club. The center is conveniently located near the newly renovated Union Station. One of the Providence and Worcester main lines runs right across the street!

Ten operating layouts highlight the show, including a newly refurbished 24’ x 14’ Atlas O layout designed by Atlas master model builder Steve Horvath. Steve re-creates his impressive modular layout for such major model railroading events as the York, PA TCA Meet. He has been reworking it for East Wind in his large layout-building area at Atlas’ headquarters for weeks.

“The layout features an all-new track configuration,” Steve said. “It includes an operating Atlas O signal system and had been completely stripped and re-wired.” Check in with Atlas Sales Rep Jerry Kimble at the Atlas booth to find Steve’s exact location, which was unavailable at press time.

In the booth, Jerry will be showing the new embroidered shirts for Atlas O Golden Spike Club™ members. The newly released summer catalog will be available. Stellar 2-Rail products on display include a sample of the “GSC” 2008 exclusive car, the Napierville Junction Railway 50’ Box Car, the O Master™ FM Erie Built A&B units for the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Gold Series O Master™ USRA O-6-O Burlington Railroad Steam Switcher.

Atlas produced two commemorative freight cars for this event – a Boston & Maine 50’ PS-1 Box Car with 9’ sliding doors, repainted for the Bi-Centennial celebration of the line, and a Bangor and Aroostook (BAR) 50’ PS-1 Box Car, also with 9’ sliding doors. Both are very limited, exquisitely decorated and include all the desirable features that make Atlas O products the pinnacle of prototypical perfection. For more on this event, visit www.2008oscalenational.org.

“You Are There” with Atlas Videos

Can’t make it to a show? Recent, well-received additions to our websites are Atlas-produced videos, which present show previews and retrospectives. (Other videos highlight new products and/or offer how-to’s.)

Videos for all scales are accessible via our www.atlasrr.com home page, under “Resources” at the top of the page. There you will find videos demonstrating the Atlas HO Signal System, a tour of the Atlas O York layout and booth, a booth tour of the recent Springfield, Mass. Hobby Show, and a presentation of the new HO GP40-2.

Upcoming Shows

The box at the bottom of this column lists the shows Atlas will be participating in in the near future. After a brief respite, we’ll be gearing up for the October York Show, where we hope to again bring attendees the immensely popular Behind the Booth Seminars with our top Research & Development staff. Visit www.traincollectors.org for more information.

As always, we’ll be making the scene at 2009’s World’s Greatest Hobby Shows, now a must-see fixture on the show circuit. Next year, their road show stops in Philadelphia, (Jan.), San Antonio, (Feb.), Nashville, (Feb.), Cleveland, (Mar.), and Seattle-Tacoma, (Nov.). For more, visit www.wghshow.com.

At every show Atlas participates in, you can be sure we’ll bring new and exciting products, current informative literature and more. It’s great opportunity to get up close and personal with the latest and greatest from Atlas, and speak face-to-face with those who create our fine products, along with other friendly, helpful members of our accomplished and knowledgeable staff. We hope to see you soon!