TMTEX 2011-All over for another year

This year at Toowoomba was the first outing of SSC. In fact the first time I've ever taken a layout to a show. In the last few days before last Friday I must admit to being a little nervous, but also really looking forward to another great show to be a part of.

Friday morning Daz turned up for the first loading of SSC into the trailer, a little bit of time had been put aside for this in case of any dramas. We were both pleasantly surprised at how easily and quickly we were all loaded up. The trip up was a good one, with a brief stop for some lunch, and a little check of the radiator, all seemed ok, after a top up and a cool down.

The location in the hall was between two other layouts, with a fair amount of space around us for the 'modelling' table and associated stuff. All seemed to go together ok, and apart from spending a little bit of time on one join to make it right, everything worked well. Some running of locos after a clean of the track did begin.

You can see the basic setup in the photo above, doesn't look too shabby. Oh the fridge is for the food and milk for breakfast, of course.

There had to be at least one photo of the three of us so here it is!
We spent some time Friday meeting up with other bloggers and all the crew that come along to the T'ba show, a great night. Really, we met some really great blokes. It was amazing the number really after going to T'ba for as long as I have (Me about 8 years now, Daz has attended all 20, unreal!), each time we make some new contacts with new people each year, great stuff.
Saturday dawned and it was a bit of a slow start, cold weather of course being the reason for that! I wanted it to be a good day one, running wise, especially for the two blokes helping me out. I didn't want it to be a day of trouble shooting which would become a real drag by the end of the day. Apart from some small easily fixed track issues, it all seemed to work ok. By morning tea I think I was beginning to relax, finally.

Ian P came over and offered a spray of crc for the track, yep crc 2-26, for conducting electricity, ohboy! what a massive difference! A small spray onto a track cork block, and a second one to wipe the track after passing the first over the track work. Bloody brilliant! Slow running, what a breeze, I can't thank Ian enough for his help. Great to meet his family also, and the trio is about to be made four, all the best with that T and Ian.

I really enjoyed the interaction with the public, plenty of questions. That was exactly what I wanted, we were all kept busy and the day flew by. To all our fellow modellers who came for a look and a chat, thank you, it is really enjoyable to speak and swap ideas with all of you, a humbling time I can tell you.

Saturday night was dinner in the hall and the trivia contest, once all twenty questions were answered the wait for the winners began. Well when 3rd place was announced we thought we were out of the running. Then 1st place was ... yep us, we couldn't quite believe it. Great fun, and quite a laid back night, most enjoyable.

Sunday we had some opportunity to get around the hall, with the three of us there two could stay and one could circulate. I've a list of some things to fix, but overall Sunday ran like Saturday.

I could ramble on for ages, but I must say a big thank you to Darren, and Brendan for making this such a great weekend. To the T'ba club, again a great show, some great new ideas from a presenters perspective this year, and they were simple and effective. So thanks to all for a really enjoyable first outing of SSC.

Till next year, Oorroo! Geoff.