New England/Northeast RPM 2016

The 2016 New England/Northeast RPM is wrapping up as I’m writing this.  The meet moved to a new location this year and it seems like it was a success.  There were a lot of models on display and quite a few interesting clinics.  The new venue isn’t perfect, but I think it’s an improvement over the old location.

Since before I started attending, the meet had been held in the Collinsville, CT Community Center.  Collinsville is a beautiful little town in the middle of nowhere.  While I enjoyed having a reason to go there, the drive took quite a long time, there weren’t many affordable hotels nearby and the venue was overcrowded.

This year the meet moved to the Holiday Inn in Enfield, CT.  The location is not quite as pleasant as Collinsville, but it’s right off I-91 so it takes a third of the time to get there and there’s considerably more parking because attendees don’t have to fight for space with library patrons, community gardeners and anyone else using the facility.  A shuttle runs to Bradley International Airport and the train stations at Windsor Locks and Springfield, rooms are available in the hotel and there are a dozen other hotels within a few miles.  The display room was a little tight. I like it when the models are spread out enough that they can be easily studied and photographed from all sides, but it seems like there’s room to expand a bit next year. There were a lot of models on display, and seeing those is the main reason I attend.

The clinics this year ran the usual gamut.  I went to both of the ESU LokSound clinics that Matt Herman offered, Jim Lincoln’s discussion on using Solidworks to design parts for 3D printing, Ted Culotta’s presentation on using Adobe Lightroom to catalog and edit photos (after which I used Adobe Lightroom to prep all the photo’s in this post), and Bob Fallowfields slideshow on his gorgeous CP layout set in Windsor, ON in October of 1980.

All in all, I’d say the move was a good decision, the meet is easier to get to and has the ability to grow in the future.  If you haven’t been before, consider attending next year.  Enjoy the photo’s and please let me know if I incorrectly credited any models or spelled anyone’s name wrong.