St. Louis Gateway 2022 NMRA Convention
The NMRA and the Layout Design Special Interest Group will be holding their national convention in St. Louis, MO, USA from August 7 to 13, 2022.
Information on the NMRA Convention is available here; information on the LDSIG convention is available below.
The major LDSIG activities will include clinics, the LDSIG Tour, and the dinner.
The schedule for the week includes (all times Tentative at this point):
Sunday night meet & greet - 7:00 -10:00
Clinics, all week
Wednesday - Annual Business Meeting
Wednesday - Tour all day and evening
Friday Night Dinner - 6-9 at Hooters in downtown St. Louis
Dinner speaker Carl Wessel presenting “Modeling the NYC Kankakee Belt Line"
ALL OF THE LDSIG ACTIVITIES ARE OPEN TO ALL CONVENTION ATTENDEES.
Meet and Greet, Sunday, August 7, 7-10 PM
We will hold our traditional Meet and Greet in the SIG Room providing an opportunity for all Layout Design and Operations SIG members and friends to introduce themselves and their interests, and find folks who can share ideas and solutions to your layout design and operation concerns. We have invited owners of the Wednesday Layout Tour to provide a preview of the Tour. It is also a time to arrange car pools for the Wednesday Layout Tour. Do not worry about arriving late if your're enjoying tours and op sessions, we will be there until at least 10:00 PM.
Displays and Consulting
The SIG Room will be open Monday to Thursday. It is a great place to congregate, meet friends, make friends, enjoy the SIG Room Displays, get or give layout design consultation, or generally take a break between clinics or from other convention activities.
The SIG Room has space for you to post a display about your railroad, its design challenges and how you've solved them (or how you need help). Bring a display with you to the convention. It can be flat poster-board or 3d room models or whatever you think will help people understand your dream railroad. Display setup will begin Sunday afternoon and tear-down on Friday at noon.
LDSIG Table Volunteers Needed
If you can spare an hour or two to help man the LDSIG table, please contact the convention SIG coordinator, Doug Harding. The duties are easy and the benefits can be rewarding. You will have a chance to meet SIG members and potential members who you may only know through the internet or articles in the LDJ or the national model railroading press. Monday and Tuesday are the businest days when volunteers are most needed. The table will not be staffed on Wednesday during the LDSIG tour.
Layout Design Consulting Service (Monday through Friday - Open to all convention attendees)
Members of the LDSIG will be offering free half-hour layout design consultation sessions. Limited availability, sign up in person in the SIG Room during the Convention. Help Providers Needed! Help-provider volunteers are crucially needed. We need experienced LDSIG members volunteers to provide half-hour layout design help sessions during the Convention. This offers a service to the hobby and promotes the SIG. Each volunteer will be asked to set aside one, two or more hours during the Convention when they can commit to being available for help sessions. It is very important that we have volunteers and hours confirmed before the Convention begins.
Clinics - all week
There are layout design clinics all week given by some great clinicians.
Featured Clinic not to be missed for beginners or veterans. Lots of great information.
Layout Design Tips and Principles
The NMRA's Layout Design Special Interest Group created a Layout Design clinic entitled “Make Only New Mistakes”.
This three-hour clinic is open to all convention attendees, and begins at 8 AM, Monday, August 8, 2022; check the Convention TimeTable for the room assignment for “Make Only New Mistakes”. The clinic is an intensive session on track planning and layout design. Discover how to refine your layout’s vision, concept, and purpose; select layout footprints and schematics; draw accurate and useful plans; create efficient and engaging yards and industrial areas; make the best use of staging tracks; maintain space for people; and avoid common track planning errors. Step-by-step examples from a variety of layout designs will be discussed.
Whether your dream layout is strongly prototype-based, a creative freelanced theme, or somewhere in between, this practical session will give you the tools and best practices to help design a layout meeting your design goals!
Among the topics to be covered:
· Layout design phases: Conceptual, Structural, and Detail
· Developing vision, theme, and purpose
· The impact of givens and 'druthers considering space, resources, and skills
· Prototype research techniques and tools
· The user and viewer experience
· Layout footprint techniques
· Drawing and rendering tools and best practices
· Planning for people
· Multi-deck considerations
· Yard planning
· Staging design
· Signature elements vs. typicality
· LDEs: Possibilities and pitfalls
· Tricky traps of layout design (common errors to avoid)
· Layout design for operation
… and much more!
Wednesday, LDSIG Annual Meeting
This important meeting will be held in the SIG room. Information for the LDSIG tour will be handed out at this meeting.
Wednesday, LDSIG Annual Layout Tour
We currently have 10 layouts on this year’s Tour. For a list of the layouts including a general map and links to individual pages for each layout please click here or use the link in the left column.
Carpooling is strongly encouraged so you can discuss the unique features of these layouts as you travel. Carpool size will be limited due to roadway restrictions. All members of a carpool must register for the Tour. Sign-ups for carpools will be posted in the SIG room.
While we encourage carpools in normal vehicles - cars, up to 7 or 8 passenger SUV's, we discourage the use of larger vans and small buses. This tour is not designed as a bus tour. It allows you to enjoy the layout and speak with the layout owner for some time. Owners enjoy this also and would love to see 6 to 8 of you at a time but not 15 or 30. Please be thoughtful of the layout owners, the other tour participants and the nature of the tour.
On the LDSIG tour, one can stay as long as one wishes to study a particularly interesting layout or design element. The hosts are aware of SIG members' interest and are happy to answer questions. All this makes the tour an invaluable learning experience. No lunch is provided so you and your carpool buddies can eat what and when you want (there are plenty of good restaurants in all categories and price ranges along the route).
As in the past the Tour price includes the LDSIG Gateway 2022 Convention shirt.
Neither the LDSIG Inc. nor the NMRA will provide insurance coverage for private or rental transportation.
To sign up for the Wednesday Layout Tour and get your polo shirt, follow these instructions.
How to Sign Up for the Wednesday Layout Tour
Sign-up for this extra fare event will be through the Convention website by following the instructions below.
Instructions for those already registered for the convention
Follow the below instruction at the convention website gateway2022.org
Scroll down to the bottom of the left side menu and click on the blue “Attendee Registration” button. On the next screen click on “Modify my registration” in the gray box at the top of the screen. A popup will appear asking what you want to do, click on “Change my registration” and this will take you to the registration page with your previous registration details. Scroll down to the LDSIG registration item. When you select it you’ll be prompted to enter the monogram you’d like on your shirt and select shirt size.
Instructions for New Convention Registrations
For new registrations click on the blue “Attendee Registration” button and follow the prompts at gateway2022.org
Friday, Annual SIG Dinner
This year the SIG Dinner is open to all SIGs. We have a great venue for the Convention wrap up dinner.
The LDSIG Friday Dinner is On Track!
We’re dining on Friday evening 6-9 at
Hooters in downtown St. Louis
(100 N 7th St - four blocks from the Convention)
Our Speaker will be Carl Wessel presenting
“Modeling the NYC Kankakee Belt Line"
We will be ordering off the menu; you’ll need to purchase
a ticket at the LDSIG table ($10 for incidentals). Tickets can be purchased with cash or checks, no PayPal or credit cards
Seating in our private room is extremely limited, so purchase them early!
We hope to see you there for a relaxed gathering!
This will be a great opportunity to relax and rub shoulders with fellow SIG members, discuss everything you've seen during Gateway 2022 and reflect on how to apply your new insights to your layout!