Mid July was the NMRA National convention in Atlanta which I attended for the first time.  Started the trip on Friday before the convention and returned Thursday before it ended with "training" both going down and returning.  Stops included:

The stuffed and mounted steam
engines in Saltville, VA, and the little
industrial 25 ton GE in Glade Spring.

                                                                                                                 

On Saturday the state park and NS had
trains stopped for people to walk through
Natural Tunnel and photograph NS
heritage and Operation Lifesaver units.

and late that afternoon visited some
old stomping grounds, the SRy and
L&N stations in Knoxville, TN.

Sunday at the TVRM got to ride SRy 630 for the first time in over 30 years.  Didn't that bring back some memories!!  Back then worked it B-ham to Alexandria and Front Royal and return.  Not only did we use it for the public trips but took it on one political campaign and even to Warrenton to a coming out for two debutantes that was called the "Great Train Party".
 

 In Atlanta focused on layout design and operation special interest groups.  

On the Layout Design Tour we were able to get to four layouts which demonstrated various construction and layout techniques including an in progress N scale layout with a helix of over two dozen turns.  The Layout Design Boot-camp provided some new thoughts and the consulting sessions helped me to realize that I needed to clarify my concepts.  There were dozens of clinics available but attended only a few, among them were eastern logging cars, the NF&G railroad and associated logging lines and a fascinating presentation on SRy annual reports.  Failed to win anything in the silent auction, a good thing as have enough already, and saw a fascinating Gn15 layout in the contest room that takes up all of 2' X 4'.  While this little layout was a inspiration to build something, it will not serve as a diversion from building the V&T.  Also saw George Gaige's b&w model photos.  He won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  Congratulations George!   

Also got to operate on a great N scale layout and a wonderful N&W HO layout [photo].   On both nights got to operate with a long lost old friend from Oak Ridge who related that he had ridden the Shay powered Brimstone when he was 12 and they did a flying switch with a load of people.  Thanks to the work and hospitality of many, this was a great convention for me.


 

On the way back home stopped at the Southeastern Railway Museum with its many displays including this easy to fire Savannah and Atlanta #750 pacific

and finally finding the power for the Piedmont & Northern which is using the right-of-way originally used by the original P&N electric line.

All in all, it was a great balance between prototype and modeling railroads beautifully complimenting each other.


Reflecting on lessons learned from the "boot-camp" and LDSig consultations was to refresh myself on some of the material I already have, also more specifically define my line [such things as division yards, industries, interchanges, marshaling yards, etc], then list the signature elements to be modeled and see which ones I can reasonably fit in the space.  Methods of obtaining the grade between the two levels was discussed, horizontal and vertical easements, as well as "maximize long-term challenge, not puzzle complexity".  Where there are small spaces remember "overlapping" functions making sure there is runaround, switching leads and industry track alongside one another. 

With recovery from the trip, correcting lots of computer issues generated while trying to download some software for Proto Rail and getting this report posted behind me, it is time to start acting on the LD lessons learned.