Backyard steamups between NMRA, Summer Steamup
April 2, 2011
As part of its West Coast Regional Meet — an event designed to bridge the gap between the 2011 NMRA National Model Railway Convention and the National Summer Steamup, both being held in Sacramento in July — the Bay Area Garden Railway Society has scheduled two days of live steaming in San Francisco.
The Regional Meet, which a West Coast garden railway club usually hosts in years when the National Garden Railway Convention is east of the Rockies, will have a series of garden railway open houses, which will run from July 10-14. About 50 garden railroads are set to be open — about 10 a day — and the group has also scheduled an optional ride on the steam-powered Niles Canyon Railway, which will also feature a dinner.
Additionally, the group has secured six garden railways that cater to small-scale live steam and is encouraging steamers to bring locomotives and rolling stock to run on these layouts, which will be open Sunday-Monday, July 10-11.
While the West Coast Regional Meet has a $25-per-family fee (and the Niles Canyon trip and dinner is $25 per person), BAGRS officials have decided that steamers can run on the six backyard railways at no charge.
More information on the West Coast Regional Meet is available at http://bagrs.org/westcoastregional/ while information on the backyard steamups is at http://www.summersteamup.com/BAGRS-WCRM.html.
