Fri. March 26
1150 - After a busy morning at work, I grabbed some lunch before heading to Wilmington. Should be OK that I won't be there until later...
1245 - arrived at Shriner's Auditorium only to find that everyone was there and they had already unloaded the trailer! Seems that the message to meet at 1200 meant be here first, then go for lunch. I thought it was the other way around...
1315 - Matt and Chris arrive, bags of food in hand, wondering why no one was at McDonalds. Whew, I wasn't the only one!
1420 - tables are put together according to plan. I got to roll around underneath the tables with the drill securing bolts.
1645 - I needed to leave for a family event. All of my MOCs are now in place. Should be able to help finish up detailing the layout with minifigs and trees tomorrow morning.

Sat. March 27
0835 - arrived early to help finish setting up. Joe bought donuts - yea!! Helped put out minifigs and got the monorail track finalized, hooked up and tested. Eric did a splendid job planning the monorail for this particular layout! Teddy's mountain tunnel is also in place now, looks great.
0950 - Panic! Only 10 minutes left and we haven't tested any of the trains yet! Need to clear the tracks of boxes and bins so we can get done!!
1000 - Whew, made it! The last boxes were stored and the trains are all running exactly at showtime. That was kinda close...
1200 - crowds have been steady but not crushing, which is good. Unfortunately we already lost one train to the floor - Tom's. It was a spectacular crash, too. Pieces everywhere!
1300 - Took the last lunch shift. Decided to bring my own food for one of the two days to keep things kinda healthy. Does a fluffernutter on whole wheat count?
1330 - Am now in one of the two pits with the train speed regulators. Nice change of pace. Get to interact with the crowd a lot from in here. Folks at this show are very respectful of the layout - it's awesome!
1410 - Gee, how many pictures of the layout that people have taken am I in? Maybe I should always smile...
1500 - Done with the pit. Need a bathroom break anyway.
1600 - Show is done for the day. Taking lots of pictures of the layout after all the people are gone. Not happy with my camera settings; need to find the user's manual and figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Sun. March 28
1150 - arrived late as it's Palm Sunday. Meandering around the layout, answering questions and helping with layout issues as needed.
1230 - time for lunch. Got to eat with Linda and Jon. Mmmm, hamburgers...

1600 - Show is officially over! Went really well. Now need to start packing everything...
1630 - All my MOCs are put away. Packing up all of Jamie's monorail stuff. Might be the last show using his magic box of monorail, as he'd like to try to bring it back with him to Denmark next time he comes to visit...
1700 - Carrying all this stuff outside. Amazing that we can get it all into the club trailer!
1730 - All packed and done! 1.5 hours, not bad. The traditional after show dinner is dwindling in size, only 5 of us are going. Changing venues, trying the Horseshoe Grill vs. the Piccadilly Pub.
1900 - Dinner was very good! Place is really nice; I think we'd definitely go there again. Heading home after a fun but tiring weekend. Thanks, everybody!!

NELUG will be doing a display at Greenberg's Train & Toy show located at the Shriner's Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. The show is Saturday and Sunday, March 27 & 28 and goes from 10:00am to 4:00pm on both days. As always, we'll have a brand new layout for this show and some new creations to show off!

For more information on Greenberg, including admission information, please visit http://www.greenbergshows.com/. For directions to the Shriner's Auditorium, please visit http://www.alepposhriners.com/directions.html

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sub-zero temperatures, blowing winds, and an uncooperative trailer couldn't keep NELUG away from the Amherst Railway Society's big Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA this past weekend.

 

On January 30th and 31st, 2010, NELUG participated in the Amherst show for the first time.  Setup began on Friday, but was delayed slighly by our trailer, which was frozen in place thanks to the extreme cold here in the Northeast.  Our determined crew persevered, however, and by 10pm Friday night, we were set up and ready to run some trains.

 

Saturday morning approached quickly, especially when the doors for the public opened a full hour earlier than we had expected.  This just added to our fun, however, as we quickly left the detailing work that we were finishing up, and began pulling locomotives and rolling stock out of boxes, speedily getting the layout up and running as the first onlookers trickled in.  From that point on, everything ran smoothly throughout the weekend.

 

The visitors at Amherst were some of the best that we've experienced, and many were curious about the LEGO hobby.  NELUG's members shared information, swapped stories, and generally had a wonderful time playing trains together as we interacted with a very enthusiastic crowd.  The show layout featured a small town scene, two farms, a wind farm, and lots and lots of track and trains.  New feature included on the layout were a corner mountain section, and a second smaller mountain showcasing a wonderful winter scene.  As usual, our trains represented several local lines, as well as some make-believe railways that pleased the public.  We were also pleasantly surprised to see many of our friends and fans from past shows.

 

Photos of the event can be found in the NELUG Flickr pool.  For those who may have missed us in West Springfield, our next show will be at the Wenham Museum in Wenham, MA, this upcoming February 14th and 15th.  We look forward to seeing you there!

 NELUG, PennLUG and two members of ParLUGment were the clubs who contributed to the AFOL layouts at the first ever LEGO KidsFest run in the USA.  The event was held at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, CT on 20-22 Nov. 2009, and by lunchtime on Saturday maximum capacity was reached for the first time at the newly constructed venue! 

 October and November have been very busy months for the members of NELUG!

On Saturday Oct. 3 NELUG celebrated it's 10th anniversary at the SEE Science Center in Manchester, NH (home of the LEGO Millyard display).  Members of NELUG and their families participated in an afternoon of events that included a pizza party, a MOC judging competition, playing a floor-sized version of Carcassone made in a pirate theme on 16x16 baseplates, and a giant raffle of LEGO!  Over 50 people participated in the event and a fun time was had by all.

On Saturday Oct. 10 NELUG participated in the second annual  "Mito Walk and Family Fun Day" for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.  Like last year, this fund raising event was held at LEGO Systems, Inc. headquarters in Enfield, CT, and featured a 5K Walk, LEGO raffle, a skateboard demonstration, LEGO displays, a free build area, and a huge floor mural. NELUG's participation this year included a moonbase display, a Great Ball Contraption (GBC), a train and town display, and several MOCs.  Ten members of NELUG participated in helping with this worthy cause.

On Columbus Day (Oct. 12) NELUG member Teddy Welsh hosted a meeting of "NELUG West" aka western MA/CT/VT. Members from that part of New England gathered to build moonbase terrain to be used at LEGO KidsFest (see below).  Several members attended and were treated to dinner as well as an evening of 'moonscaping'.

We then held our monthly meeting on Thurs. Oct. 29 at the Burlington Mall following the usual routine of meeting at the LEGO Store at followed by dinner at Uno's. Turnout was excellent and in addition to the multiple LEGO purchases, food and drink, several members brought MOCs to show to the group (and the restaurant employees, who are now big fans!).

Then on Sat. Nov. 7 about 10 members gathered at the SEE Science Center to participate in a video taping session of experiences surrounding NELUG's participation in the building of the LEGO Millyard display.  NELUG and the SEE Science Center are collaborating on the project, which will hopefully be ready by 2010!

Our November monthly meeting was held on Thurs. Nov. 12 at the Natick Collection aka the Natick Mall.  Members gathered at 6pm at the LEGO Store and were treated to lots of great purchases.  Dinner followed at John Harvard's in Shoppers World, where final discussions were held about our participation in...

LEGO KidsFest was held at the CT Convention Center in Hartford, CT Nov. 20-22.  NELUG participated in a big way, providing a large train and town display, the Boston Skyline mosaic, a moonbase display, multiple Steampunk MOCs, the floor-sized version of Carcassone, and lots of airplane and dinosaur MOCs.  Pictures of the event can be found in the Flickr pool "LEGO KidsFest 2009" and a more complete write-up of this event will be posted shortly.

While the lack of current articles on our website about club events and activities may be an indication that NELUG is not that active, there is actually another more pragmatic explanation for this phenomenon – we actually love to build, but don’t really like to write about building. So with apologies, here is a belated account of our participation in the National Train Show (NTS) hosted by the National Model Railroaders Association (NMRA) at the Hartford Convention Center in July, 2009.

IT WAS GREAT!! The club pulled out all the stops and put together the biggest, best layout we’ve ever done, thanks to the tireless effort of many of our club members! The member participation level was super, and several new members got to display for the first time. In addition, NELUG was one of 5 LUGs who participated in the show this year, organized under the sponsorship of Trains ‘n’ Town (TnT) and the International LEGO Train Clubs Organization (ILTCO).

A full description of the event will hopefully be published soon in BrickJournal, so if/when that happens we will post the news. Pictures of the event can be found in the NELUG Media Gallery, the event's Flickr group "ILTCO NMRA Train Show 2009", and on the TnT and RailBricks web sites:
http://www.nelug.org/mediagallery/album.php?aid=411&page=1
http://www.flickr.com/groups/iltco2009/pool/
http://www.trains-n-town.com/
http://www.railbricks.com/

And speaking of writing about building, please check out the article in the current issue of BrickJournal (#7) about our 2 ½ year endeavor to help build one of the largest minifig scale displays in the world, the LEGO Millyard, at the SEE Science Center in Manchester, NH. And then go see the display for yourself - you won’t be disappointed!

Shortly, we should have a story up describing the fun we had at the NMRA National Train Show. Until then, please enjoy some pictures from the event.

The Boston Red Sox were a big hit at the 1st Annual Westside Train Show in West Springfield, MA.

On February 28th, NELUG displayed at the West Springfield Middle School, on invitation of the area's PTO. We fielded a 14' x 14' display, which contained a large rail yard, several industries, a small town, and Fenway Park, contributed by one of our newest members.

Trains of all varieties were on display, and the yard was kept busy throughout the day as several regional railroads took turns on the tracks. Spotted in the lineup were locomotives from The Green Mountain Railway, Vermont Railway, New Haven, and Rutland, as well as a 20 car Amtrak passenger consist. The Brickling Brother's circus train was on display, as well as the ever popular Thomas The Tank Engine.

We'd like to thank our host, the John Ashley PTO, for the effort that they put into making us feel at home. The coffee and donuts were much appreciated!

Photos of the show can be found in our media gallery.

New England Lego Users Group was invited to help celebrate the final weekend of the three month long Train Time exhibit at the Wenham Museum in Wenham, Massachusetts. We were happy to take part by creating a 16’ by 16’ train display. The visitors were enthusiastic (Please don’t touch that.) and for the most part, well behaved. (Sir, did your son bring that minifigure with him today?) Even Sunday’s snow didn’t keep everyone away.

The layout featured a busy rail yard (Can you make that one run?), an exciting carnival (No, none of them are sets), and a snow covered city and town. For adults, the carnival’s Round Up ride probably brought back some queasy memories. For the younger kids, (Watch your fingers.) Sponge Bob popping wheelies was a big hit.

One highlight from the city was a Chinese New Year celebration (Please don’t touch) going on in the shadow of two skyscrapers. (Look. The door moves.) In the town, our minifigures were busy skating, sledding, creating complex snow sculptures, and engaging in some pretty brutal snowball fights. But folks came to see the trains and for this show (Watch your fingers, please) they ranged from a dragon chasing a hand car to the classic Santa Fe Super Chief.

A three day show may have strained (Don’t touch that!) a nerve or two, but we had a great time and the museum staff were wonderful. They not only provided food and refreshment, but great company and support as well. Photos of the event can be seen in our Gallery.

This past weekend, there was an attack by the rare, fresh water shark at the NELUG display during the Greenberg Toy and Train Show in Hartford, CT. Other strange animal behavior on the display included snakes in the trees, sheep navigating the hedge maze, an ostrich chasing an escaped prisoner, geese leaping from rooftop to rooftop, and somehow, the cows confused fuel storage tanks for a milking station. The turkeys were in a highly agitated state, no doubt worried about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. The rooftops were crowded not only with geese and turkeys, but also battling ninjas, superheroes and super villains.

But the main show was, of course, the trains. Younger visitors were thrilled to see James and Thomas the tank engine, and the latest version of the Circus train was a universal hit. Another bit hit was the monitor displaying the view from the camera hidden in one of the train engines. Many people remembered NELUG from the display we did in the spring of 2007, but many more commented, “LEGO makes trains?” We were happy to introduce them to the LEGO Train System and hopefully created some new fans.

In addition to the train layout, we were given enough space for member, Bill Bourn, to give a hands-on LEGO Robotics demonstration with his battling bots.

Photos of the show can be seen in our Gallery

Written by Linda D
Editted by Jonathan D