Takeaways from the Greater Florida LEGO Users Group display at RealRail Train Show, Bradenton, FL

 The Greater Florida LEGO Users Group had a train show display at Bradenton, FL. While the club members did a multifaceted display at both MegaCon and Tampa Bay Comic Con, it has been a while since the club displayed a full train display at a two day event, perhaps before the COVID-19 pandemic for a display this size or larger. We did the one day Plant City NMRA SSR show, and I will cover takeaways from that soon, but RealRail is among the larger shows and this one did not disappoint. Without further ado, here's Tolga's Takeaways:

Three's a Crowd -- logistics of transporting high rises

Since May 2018 I made the decision to build Midtown Miami highrises in LEGO bricks to model an attainable Florida scene, as the buildings look cool and line the FEC/Brightline mainline (the Port Lead). Unlike the downtown skyline the buildings are at about 350-400 feet in height in Midtown and are easy to model and transport in this hobby. 2 Midtown and Hyde Midtown were finished in 2019, and transported to the Tampa Train Show, despite a horrible collapse to 2 Midtown which was addressed immediately (and rebuilt just before RealRail). Next in line was 4 Midtown, which would be built in 2020. I had the "Beat COVID" moment of displaying the building I worked on during much of the pandemic's worst for the first time. Much of the vertical work for 4 Midtown was accomplished during the initial wave of the virus (April 2020), and then some of the bottom floors (which include parking, recreational space, and some residential/commercial space) were added in the "Summer Spike" (July 2020). With no end in sight, the building was never finished, until one week before RealRail. Talk about procastination.

Rental cars have been the way to go given personal circumstances and the need for space to move these models. Not only would I have to move skyscrapers, but also baseplates, road plates, track, scenery, residential and commercial buildings (modular sized), vehicles, spare parts and trains. A "Standard SUV" is ideal for a two day show, since aside from those the incidentals and personal items can fit in a bookbag and a little more. The thing is, only three buildings fit. But, this is decent enough as it takes a 6 foot space easily with the neighboring East Coast Avenue, back road, and track filling out almost all of the GFLUG standard 60" depth. 

So if one wants to transport multiple high density builds, probably a larger vehicle or a trailer would be needed. That's how the Downtown Tampa skyline was transported. But some of this also comes down to managing the necessity of taking high rises for short train shows. Individual decision making comes into play here. Low density models can go far, in many ways.

This was an All Florida Layout! And, I didn't really do a track plan before.

I was not alone in this show, GFLUG members David G organized the display and Thomas W contributed several buildings. David brought his Orlando Amtrak Station, plenty of Anywhere Florida residential space, a couple blocks representing Pinellas County, and Tropicana as well as a small lake and pine forest. 

Thomas added some residential buildings to the layout, including three of which model Amsterdam, really cool. 

The Orlando station is a big hit and populated a very nice side of our display. The Tropicana scene, which was clearly a must have since we were three miles from their Bradenton plant, was included with an interesting transport friendly scheme David contrived. The main warehouse is collapsed into wall sections as otherwise you would have hollow space, and where you can't collapse the other buildings, other details can go in the box. Beautiful way to represent SW FL.

A little inductive logic and past experience from the Tampa show in 2019 helped me decide what to take to this show and how much. I was down a couple of buildings (both gas stations) due to various collapses that happened. However, I know that another pair of 72"x30" tables can be filled with the remaining modular buildings and a couple quick service restaurants (McD's/Starbucks). There was an ace up my sleeve that helped make this more so an All Florida Layout. The Plant City Depot scene I brought to the Plant City Show in 2021 was more or less intact and ready to put up again, and that easily added Plant City to the mix, alongside Miami and the surrounding areas.

And in a future show, expect more from the Tampa side of things.

Stretch

Not everything is about displaying high density metropolis. Suburban and rural scenes add a lot to a layout, as well as industrial scenes. You get to also put together a larger layout that you can't otherwise enjoy at home if you carry a bunch of baseplates and also put out/spread out trackside vehicles, accessories, buildings, and such. To clutter everything in one space would make a scene very noisy, so a little spacing is easy on the eyes and makes a scene a win win win. 

This is a very useful strategy for shows where we're tight on transport space but can go all out on the show floor. I plan to do a couple MOCs soon which will benefit from this. The V&G White Rock loadout,which I mentioned on this blog once, is one of them; a long loadout space for FEC rock trains with plenty of bustle.

Looking Forward

GFLUG will have the floor at BrickFest Live in Tampa, FL March 12-13. (I'm down here running model trains with ECHOES that weekend). MegaCon and Tampa Bay Comic Con are on the horizon later this year, and it is expected Plant City will get another train show before the end of the year. I am also considering the feasibility of running trains at the Deerfield Beach show in November.