Steamtown Railfest Information

I have been talking to Mark Brennan for a few days now via email and cell. He seems like a great guy and is super excited we are coming to this event.

Here is what I have so far
- Area for display - 20ft x 20ft
- Hotel accommodations - Radisson in downtown Scranton (walking distance to Museum). We are getting a goverment discount for $84 a night. Not sure how many in a room, I will find out tomorrow.

I will be meeting with Mark this week (hopefully tomorrow) to see the display area and get a lay of the land (loading dock, carts, restrooms, vending, decompression areas, etc ...)

Questions I have asked. Still waiting for answers.
(These are questions I have and questions I received from PennLUG members during Brickfair.)

1. What time can we load in?
- The earlier the better. We were hoping for late Thursday night or early Friday morning.
2. How many nights is the group discount good for?
- Many PennLUG members live more than 2 hrs away and were planning on coming up Thursday night. Therefore we need hotels for at least Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
3. Will we have access to loading carts or dolly's and stanchions?
- We are very kid friendly and love to talk to kids and their parents about Lego. But little hands wander and we wouldn't want any kids hands getting hit by a moving train.
4. What are the hours for the event?
5. Are we able to sell T-shirts at the event?
6. Will there be any food (meals or snacks) provided to PennLUG during the event?

Here are the answers.

1. What time can we load in?
- Early Friday morning
2. How many nights is the group discount good for?
- Answer still pending. I got contact information for Radisson for group rate discount. I will call today.
3. Will we have access to loading carts or dolly's and stanchions?
- Carts and stanchions are available.
4. What are the hours for the event?
- Saturday: 9am - 6pm. Sunday: 9am - 6pm
5. Are we able to sell T-shirts at the event?
- Federal facility, we might not be able to sell items.
6. Will there be any food (meals or snacks) provided to PennLUG during the event?
- No food or drink provided at event. There will be a food vendor on site for the event. They are prohibited from providing food to even their own staff.

Is this the website for the Railfest? http://www.nps.gov/stea/planyourvisit/railfest-2010.htm

If it's September 4-5th, I can probably make it. I'll need a ride from Philadelphia though.

Yes, that is the correct site.

Hotel Information

I talked to Gina from the Radisson today.

- $83 a night
- 2 beds per room
- I told her we might go 3 or 4 to a room and use sleeping bags. Her response was to do whatever we needed, but cots and pull out couches were avaialble. Not sure if getting the cots or pull out will raise the price. I can find out if needed.

I was thinking we would need rooms for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Set up is early Friday morning, so getting there the night before might be a good idea since we only have one day to set up. The show starts Saturday morning at 9am.

3 nights, 2 people per room = $124.50 + plus taxes
3 nights, 3 people per room = $83 + plus taxes
3 nights, 4 people per room = $62.25 + plus taxes

So, how many people are planning on coming and how many rooms do we need.

I WILL be there, but not till late Friday night... so IF I need a room, it is only for Fri and Sat nights. I might just take the van and skip getting a room. Need to know what the parking at the hotel would be like.

Not sure if you can park at the hotel with the van (camper?), but there is a walMart nearby that I see campers and buses parked at all the time.

I'm coming assuming I can get a ride up there. I'm not sure if Chris is going to come.

If we can't set up until Friday morning and it's only a 20x20 layout, if we got up there by 10am we could have that knocked out in no time. Let me know what time we are planning on going/meeting in case I need to make plans for Thursdays night.

Do you want the Snail Emporium and/or the Fire Brigade and/or the BrickPark for Steamtown? If so, which ones, and do you want the park to be the usual 2x3 baseplates, or smaller? I can make it 2 x 2 if needed.

Kreativ Snail wrote:Do you want the Snail Emporium and/or the Fire Brigade and/or the BrickPark for Steamtown? If so, which ones, and do you want the park to be the usual 2x3 baseplates, or smaller? I can make it 2 x 2 if needed.

From what I understand after talking with Dudley the other day, the layout should pretty much be a town, farm, train and windmill layout. Cale has some work weeding through all of our stuff to figure out how to get the most bang for the buck. I for one am interested in seeing downtown PennLUGville, the wind farm and a few houses on the outside of town, just do to the small size we are limited to.

I was at Steamtown yesterday. Not much time to type ... besides bullet statements are better.

- Load in can be as early as 7am on Friday. Park closes at 6pm.
- Carts/dollys will be available.
- Saw load in area. We load in from the room next door. It's going to be easy.
- We can park our cars outside in the load in area for Friday, maybe the whole weekend. If not, parking is free and not too far away.
- Public Times Sat 9am - 6pm, Sun 9am - 6pm
- Last year there were 5000 public attendees. They are expecting a 10% increase.
- Tear down starts at 3pm on Sunday. This is when the big boy trains start packing up and moving out.
- Food vendor will be on site. We are each getting food vouchers for the weekend. Not exactly sure how much they will cover (one meal, one day, all weekend). But he seemed to think they were all inclusive for the weekend. I will get more details today. This was something I pushed for and got it.
- Area is approx 20 x 20, I will have exact measurements today. Neither of us had a tape measure yesterday.
- There are 2 wall and 2 floor AC outlets for us to use if needed.
- WiFi ... I forgot to check. I will ask today.

Later
- Dudley

WiFi - Not available in park, but the city does push a signal. You may be able to grab it.
Food - Lunch both days is covered. Working on dinner too.
Measuerments - Still waiting, should have them later today.

Display area:

The Museum is an old roundhouse, so the area is a trapezoid.
Four sides, A and C are parallel.

Here are the measurements.
A = 25ft (wall, windows)
B = 26ft (wall, brick)
C = 31ft (open to hallway)
D = 26ft (wall, brick)

Thanks for doing all the legwork Dudley. I will be leaving my house early Friday morning to help with the set up and will stay Friday and Saturday, leaving Sunday night after the breakdown. I am up for rooming with someone, unless you guys want me to get a room and someone or 2 or 3, can room with me. Let me know ASAP so I can get a room reserved if needed. Otherwise let's have Mike T. do his usual and we will pay him when we check in.
Cale, are you ready to start laying out the town yet? I would like to see Evie's gingerbread house included if possible. The wind farm is packed and ready to go. I am working on a few new buildings and may have them done by then, some urban and some rural. Those aren't a big deal if they don't make the cut this time around.

I just got off the phone with Mike Dudley. He is going to give my name to the contact at the hotel to expect my call so I can get the discount rate.

I will reserve 3 rooms. We can have up to 4 people per room and decide if we need all r rooms the week of the event.

Mike Tighe