Internation Rail Show, A good idea?

I am wondering, What do you think of a International Rail Show? Various countrys could send over equipment. If the Flying Scotsmen, The first Genesis P40, the X20 and an ICE where flown over, it could be a good idea. It could be an amazing line up, A F or E, A Mallard, Flying Scotsmen, TGV, a GE or EMD road unit, some old Alcos, etc. In my opinion, It sounds like a good idea, but the only issue is transportation, getting a Big boy, to say,... London could be hard, But once it is there, its sounds feasable. Any ideas, Could it win my a nobel prize, or am I just an overly non-realistic mind wanderer?-Alexander NHtrain

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RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, SVTS, Feb-16-04, 09:34 PM, (1) RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, CSX_CW60AC_GregMarck, Feb-16-04, 10:05 PM, (2) RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, Tim Frost, Feb-17-04, 03:16 AM, (3) RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, ASR_Q301, Feb-17-04, 06:16 AM, (4) RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, thomil, Feb-17-04, 06:42 AM, (5) RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, OTTODAD, Feb-17-04, 08:35 AM, (6) RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, Swissie, Feb-17-04, 05:25 PM, (7) RE: Internation Rail Show, A good idea?, John 136 6000 GO, Feb-18-04, 12:11 PM, (8)

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I guess you never heard of the "Fair of the Iron Horse"? It was suppose to take place last summer in Baltimore, but was cancelled when the roundhouse roof collapsed. While the line up was never confirmed or finsihed, it was to house a unique and electic collection of locomotives from around the world. They hope to hold the event in 2006.Chris Bogley
Syracuse New York
www.msnusers.com/AshleyPhotography3rd shift production, Krispy Kreme, East Syracuse NY. www.krispykreme.com

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front the cash and I'll start planning it.
Greg
HighV0lt6ge - AIM/AOL
gregoryis411@hotmail.com

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Not a bad idea but it would be rather cost prohibitive to ship tens of thousands of tons overseas *just* for a show.Tim Frost

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Im sure we could send over NR75 (GE Cv40-9i) and some English Electrics, you guys (and gals) in North America NEED some EE's, 2nd best sounding desiel locomotive!!>Mike Forster<
Perth, Western Australiapacificnational_nr103@hotmail.com

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I see almost nothing electric in the line-up. How aboutb some ICE trains from Germany, or 4010 Transalpin from Austria. As for the Diesel part, Deutsche Bahn still has some BR 605 ICE Diesel Trains standing about idly. any takers?greetings from Germany.
Thomas

"Damn the torpeodoes- Four bells Captain Drayton" - Admiral Farragut aboard USS Harford during the Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5th 1864.

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The cost of assembling a reasonable variety of Internatinal Rolling Stock for a limited period would be prohibitive with no chance of recouping a reasonable proportion from Visitor Admissions ! Then there is the question of in which Country to have it in, visitors from all over the world wanting to attend.We have an excellent Railway Museum here in the U.K., in the City of York and I am sure so have many other Countries.What could be an option would be a Permanent International Railway Museum somewhere, like the USAF Aircraft Museum at their Hill, Utah base, assembling contributions from various countries.The area such a permanent show would cover, creating and maintaining it, would cost a lot on money, to be recovered from Visitors and unless it is in a area central to where most International visitors would have to fly from not likely to pay for it's existence.Sorry to sound pessimistic, but I am an Accountant and can see no Investors on the Horizon smelling rich returns !!! O t t o

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LAST EDITED ON Feb-17-04 AT 05:34 PM (EST)

Hi Otto and others,I fear this is more like dreaming - or a case for MSTS Prototypically: It reminds me of a "rail fair" held in ca. 1978 (?) in the city of Basle, Switzerland (then my home town). A static exhibit with rolling stock from various European countries was held in two buildings of the local trade fare whicha) were adjacent to the local freight yard of the neighbouring German Federal Railroads (the city is the border town to Germany and France and thus has RR facilities of all three systems) and
b) therefore had permanently installed standard gauge tracks running through both buildings, intended for shipping purposes, but suitable also to stage the rolling stock.What did not fit on the tracks had to be trucked in on flatbeds - including a selection of narrow gauge equipment, LRT motors, cogwheel cars for mountain routes etc. The trade aspect was there, with most of the (now merged) manufacturers present, kind of a railroad version of the Paris Aerosalon, the Farnborough Air Show, or the Dubai International Air & Space Exhibit. Still I doubt that the fair changed the order books substantially.Operationally, the show was spruced up by the local transit authority running a trolley route to the fairgrounds. It announced that it would lease one trolley set from each of the five other Swiss trolley systems, plus one from the neighbouring German town of Freiburg and dispatch these six consists to the route to the fairground. All these system share the same gauge (1 metre tracks), and the same line voltage of 600V. Still it turned out that only half of the intended consists could be converted and adapted in such a way that they fulfilled the specifications of the local operator. These included details such as minimal curve radii, weight per axle, radio systems, supplementary systems such as remote controls for switches, etc. etc. And one of these three was the local interurban company sharing the same trackage on a daily basis (but usually not running on the route to the fairgrounds). Cars of the other three systems had such fundamentally different specifications that an adaption was not possible without fundamental changes to the cars, a task which stood in no relation to the duration of the fair (14 days). And these differences even existed inbetween six fairly similar transit systems operating within a geographical area of ca. 300 km (200 miles). The bottom line is: It can cost a lot just to move trains from foreign systems (or countries) onto a new system and adapt them to the local specifications, even if such an apdaption is just needed to ferry the cars/engines around without risking to derail them someplace. Let's not speak of what it takes to actually run foreign equipment on a system it visits...But now to MSTS: All these restrictions do not hinder you to create such an event in the sim - not only as static exhibit, but with an operating train-o-mania. I remember what joy I had setting up and playing an activity for Marias Pass 3.0 quite a while ago which used anything but North American rolling stock. My pair of Chinese diesels with Russian Passenger carriages meeting a Mexican F7 with Australian grain hoppers while the narrow gauge switcher of the Swiss RhB assuring the local to Kalispell waited in the wye with its neat string of post WW II German Heavyweight cars, and some Italian high speed diesel railcars idled along in a siding further down the track... I had no problems creating 20+ "foreign" AI consists with all the fabulous downloads available in the library here. Maybe you want to give it a try too (hint, hint)Cheers,Lukas a.k.a SwissieEdited for the odd typo

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It would indeed be a nice thing to do, but probably not very practicable - as several others have pointed out.However, don't forget that individual locomotives or other rolling stock have, from time to time, visited other countries. Back in my youth in England, when I went train spotting at Paddington, I could always recognise "King George V", No 6000, coming from quite a distance. The long distance recognition signal was the brass bell mounted on the buffer beam, which was a momento of a visit years before to N. America.Flying Scotsman has more recently visited N. America (in the seventies if I remember correct) - a visit which bankrupted the owner at the time (Alan Peglar). Scotsman has also visite Australia, where it set a distance record for non-stop running by a steam-locomotive hauled train (probably equipped with a second tender) which I believe is still a world record. Any-one who can correct me is welcome to do so.
The proposed "Fair of the Iron Horse" was mentioned earlier, in another post. Wasn't that commemerating the 100th aniversary of another "Fair of the Iron Horse", staged by B&O?
I doubt if we'll see a truly international fair, but it's nice to dream. I like the suggestion of "Lukas a.k.a Swissie" of setting up something in MSTS. I used to have a train with a British Class 50 leading 10 Canadian GO-Train coaches with an Austrian Golsdorf 180 acting as a banking engine in the rear. Not as ambitious as Swissie's setup - but fun. It ran the Settle-Carlisle route and Marias Pass. I've had at the back of my mind creating an activity which would resemble something of an internation fair, but haven't yet done anything serious about it.CheersJohn

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