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.