[ebaykal]

……Selcuk-Ephesus.

Hi Guys,

Its been an unbelievable 4 days at Utrecht / Holland, said to be one of the most prestigious model rail events of our time and also regarded by the news media as the champions league of model rails, namely :OnTraXS 2012.

The event took place at an old railway station at Maliebaan, The Spoorwegmuseum as the Dutch call it. The organizers are all modelers themselves which makes this event more special then the others, whereas the Museum only acts as a means of exhibition ground and what a ground it was. Full of ambiance , surrounded by steamers , coaches and rolling stock.

http://www.spoorwegmuseum.nl/nieuws__actue...a/on_traxs.html

All 30 layouts exhibited were scouted by the organizing team and to be honest they've done a marvelous job. Cracking layouts they were from all over the world and a flawwless organization througout the event in every respect that you can think of.

I've prepared a chronological pictural parade of the Selcuks teams participation from start to finish.

Hope you will all enjoy.

DAY 1 (1 March 2012 Thursday)

The team gathered at the airport at 3:00 am hrs treating ourselves with coffee, awaiting the plane.

..arrived at Amsterdam airport 10:00 hrs. We decided to hire a van since we had a lot of baggage and would be appropriate to save time instead of travelling by train,bus or even taxi's.

thanks to Ali's gps navigator we reached the hotel in no time in Utrecht

....after checking in we passed on to the museum where we got together with our team member; Alan Rees who traveled all the way from Switzerland.

The museum was ready for the event.

With great joy we found Selcuk waiting for us next to our exhibition post.The transport company had done a good job. Just in time.

Paul, the leading organizer showed us the way around and informed us that since it still was museum visiting hours to the public we had to start at 17:00 hrs to erect the layout.

This part, the erection, I simply hated it. It took us 8 hours.The good news was that there were no damages inflicted to the layout. Packaging passed the test.

.....at the end of the night/early morning it looked like this, ready for the event. We all had back aches

....to be continued

Erkut

 

[Brian Considine]

Thanks for the pictures Erkut.

Goes partly to show people just how much effort & logistics it takes to exhibit a good sized layout.

The presentation looks very, very professional - a real credit to the team.

Look forward to seeing the continuation.

 

[7113]

I can only echo Brian's comment.

Regards

 

[David Todd]

Morning Chief P.

I have just finished reading and agree with your comments......

Did think I saw you, in a photo, in the background.....

 

[Chinahand]

A great demonstration of how it should be done and we now know that it was worth all the time and effort you put into it. Well done guys

 

[ebaykal]

DAY 2 ( 2March 2012 Friday)

First day of the show and hearts are pounding. Every member is a bit nervous. Drew early to the museum and had our breakfast.

The maestro is ready for the show, let the crowds in;

At 10:00 hrs am the crowd pours in;

..and in no time the TV channels are on the spot;

..Mr Hagen Von Ortloff from Eisenbahn Romantik, SWR TV
http://www.swr.de/eisenbahn-romantik/team/...ppw3/index.html
..visited and promised a full hour series just on Selcuk in Dortmund

..the guys from Continental Modeler ;

..our Lokfuhrer Alan doing his job;running those trains

Particularly loved this idea and all credit goes to the organizing team, footstools for kids

First day ended up in success judging by the crowds comments.......we were happy;

If its MIBA who wants to take pictures you reserve him to the end of the show so he can work properly. I mean its MIBA!
http://www.miba.de/

..We all returned back to the hotel with blisters on our feet to meet our final team member who honored us, the master of all master railroaders; Jacq Damen

...to be continued

Erkut

 

[Doug]

Thank you very much for sharing these photos

I feel that I'm there, sore feet and all (after having done some shows like this before) - hey, why wasn't I invited? I probably would have come too if you had let me do some train driving.

Congratulations on winning the On traXS! Award 2012 - very much merited.

For those interested, here is a general video of the event, showing what was on as well as some shots of the Selcuk-Ephesus layout.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/F86psUTRN-0?rel=0

 

[ebaykal]

Thanks Doug,

QUOTE (Doug @ 7 Mar 2012, 18:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>- hey, why wasn't I invited? I probably would have come too if you had let me do some train driving.

This is an official invitation, and all the members of MRF is a witness to it. You are our Lokfuhrer in Dortmund

Erkut

PS: How about pinning this thread.MRF has a winner

 

[upnick]

Hi Erkut,

The footstools for the kids are an excellent idea often forgotten by exhibitors we should be encouraging the young to see more layouts.

I agree the thread should be pinned

 

[dwb]

Seeing Alan there in front of the layout operating away reminds me to ask how you got on with the remote controls?

David

 

[adecoaches26point4]

Good to see Alan Rees having a great time with the rest of the team.

Marvellous set of photographs!!

David

 

[ebaykal]

QUOTE (dwb @ 7 Mar 2012, 21:31) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Seeing Alan there in front of the layout operating away reminds me to ask how you got on with the remote controls?

David

David, I was planing to add all the remarks of the technical bits at the end of the thread, but since you've asked ;both the ECos and the radio control passed the test flawlessly. Truly remarkable machines

We got acquainted with the ESU representative there and I told him the same, that they should be proud of their systems. ....but cannot say the same for some locos......but thats at the end.

Erkut

 

[ebaykal]

DAY 3 ( 3March 2012 Saturday)

We arrived early yet again because Jacq, responsible of what Abd and I are today, was about to inspect the layout for the first time and his thoughts and criticism was important to both of us.

...his proposals and suggestions were dully noted and blessed the layout;

...and the show started;

..we relieved Alan for a rest and took over in turns in driving the trains;

...We had a very important guest at the layout ; Mr Abe, the president of MOBA, ( Model Railroad Association of Germany)..in other words the boss of Dortmund Intermodelbau....came to see what kind of a layout he signed for......he left happy

....end of the day...we were happy;

....to be continued

Erkut

 

[ebaykal]

DAY 4 ( 4 March 2012 Sunday )

.....business was as usual, we got the feel of exhibiting;

Today we had a visitor; Jos, the master of trees. I strongly suggest the members to take a look at his work in how to make realistic trees:
http://stummiforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=18449

...and he was so kind to bring us birch trees;

....and rightfully found its place on the layout;

...in one point the sun shined thru the ceiling on to the Shrine of Mother Mary, I immortalized the situation;

...now some views of backstage; The heavyweight ESU ECos who has done its job perfectly;

...our electronics wizard Ali working on some loco's which let us down...I'll come to those later

...and a view of the Museum;

....Now came the time where the organization where about to announce the winner of this years event. They started by announcing the third and the second all in Dutch.When the first was announced the team just flipped with joy. The maestro received his award;

..years of hardworking had payed off;

...we were all happy!

...fellow modelers congratulated us;

.....and the finale....all the participants;

The team would like to thank Jacq, in honoring us, the Organizers Paul , Henk , Marty and Jelle Rijnhout in organizing a Top class Event which we will never forget.

....and you all think we partied??

....it took us 5 hours to pack it all back

...to be continued

Erkut

 

[Chinahand]

Thanks Erkut.

A wonderful photographic record of a truly remarkable achievement.

 

[jukebox]

I am so very, very proud of you guys!

Thanks for documenting the journey - and the exhibition process, something many of us would never otherwise see.

Jukebox

 

[7113]

Many, many, thanks for showing us the herculean "behind the scenes" efforts of all concerned. Well done to all.

Regards

 

[98 835]

Many congratulations from me and my club members * that your layout is the winner of the ONTRAX award 2012.
Your "Ephesus - Selcuk - Mother Mary Shrine layout" is it indeed worth to be awarded.

* Freunde der Eisenbahn Burscheid e.V.

 

[TonyDaly]

Wonderful layout & a wonderful record of the event. Congratulations to everyone involved & thanks to Doug for putting up the video.

 

[ebaykal]

Thanks Guys,

QUOTE (98 835 @ 8 Mar 2012, 18:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Many congratulations from me and my club members * that your layout is the winner of the ONTRAX award 2012.
Your "Ephesus - Selcuk - Mother Mary Shrine layout" is it indeed worth to be awarded.

* Freunde der Eisenbahn Burscheid e.V.

Thank you Franz, hope to see you in Leverkusen.

By the way, after Dortmund we are also invited to exhibit at Freunde der Eisenbahn Burscheid e.V in Leverkusen where Franz's team layout Durlesbach is well known, which was awarded Best of the Show layout in 2008 Birmingham.
As far as I know, the exhibition takes place in an Industrial Museum, another place with ambiance.

http://www.fde-burscheid.de/

Erkut