Live steamers at Maker Faire
By Rob Lenicheck July 13, 2012
As in 2010 and 2011, Northern California’s Bay Area Garden Railway Society’s Live Steam Group participated in the Maker Faire, held at the San Mateo Event Center, May 19-20. If you’ve never been to a Maker Faire, it’s hard to describe what you will see and experience there. Suffice to say, there are a lot of really creative people out there and since the Faire happens in only a few, select places in the entire world, this event is not to be missed.
Many people passed through to see our layout, which was inside this year. (In previous years, we were outside in the elements and, unlike this year, the elements played havoc on our trains, even blowing some cars off the track!) 
There were about a dozen or more steamers there each day to show and run their engines, many of which were scratch built. There were many opportunities for us to talk to the crowds of people as they passed through, many of whom had never seen a live-steam engine in the sizes we run.
Maker Faire is sponsored by Make magazine, a quarterly devoted to people who build projects in a variety of disciplines, including computers, electronics, robotics, metal-working and wood-working. The organizers said that more than 110,000 people attended this year’s San Mateo Faire and that 20 percent of them were there both days.
A back-of-the-envelope reckoning indicates that BAGRS members spoke with more than 6000 individuals during the two-day event.
Most of us took a breaks to see the many sights the Faire had to offer: not only the very innovative and imaginative creations, but also the commercial ventures that featured such products as 3D printer, software design and electronics. Though Maker Faire originated in San Mateo, the magazine now sponsors similar-sized events in Detroit every July and Queens, N.Y., every September. It also holds “Mini Maker Faires” in communities worldwide, including Dublin, Ireland, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Hong Kong, Quebec, and Brighton, England.
Those participating included Seth Abrahams, Bill Allen, Harlan Barr, Dave Cole, Steve Heselton, Mike Martin, Dennis Mead, Henner Meinhold, Richard and Melinda Murray, Chris Pearson, Jim Recker, Ron Sickler, Joel Taylor, David Wegmuller and Gary Whaley.
This article originally appeared in Trellis & Trestle, the monthly newsletter of the Bay Area Garden Railway Society, in a slightly different form and is reproduced here by permission.
More photos of the general Maker Faire:
