Wasatch Rails 2007

Salt Lake International Airport is a Hub for both Delta and Sky West. Direct flights are available from most points via these two carriers. Virtually every other major airline also has regular flights into Salt LakeAlso, the airport is served by Southwest. Thus, most airlines keep prices low to compete.

The fair park is located within minutes of downtown and the airport. There are many hotels/motels in the downtown area and west of the airport. Many of these provide shuttle service to the airport and most likely shuttle service to the Fairpark upon request. There are two malls and the Gateway shopping district within downtown. Many restaurants are also within this same area. The Utah Transit Authority's Light Rail line connects many of the hotels, the downtown malls, and The Delta Center/ Gateway Shopping District (including the former Union Pacific Salt Lake depot).

For those who are interested in shipping their modules directly to the Grand Building via common carrier, arrangements can be made. The fairpark commonly deals with these requests and will store your shipment at the fairpark and deliver it to the building for setup. Delivery should be scheduled for early in the week of the show. They will also handle the storage and pickup of you return shipment from the fairpark.

The Grand Building will be open for setup starting Thursday afternoon between 2:00 and 9:00. The building will open at 8:00 Friday morning. We have 9 hours available for set up Friday before the show opens to the public at 5:00 p.m.

A sign up sheet will be made during October. Those participating may email their requests for time on the layout. This is done to insure that we have enough operators to man the layout and that everyone is given an equal opportunity to run trains. Op Sessions will be broken into two hours slots, slots may be combined. We anticipate that there will be an opportunity for a minimum of five people to fully man the layout during the op sessions. Anticipated positions include a dispatcher, a clerk, yardmaster, crews for through trains and locals. The layout may be opperated by smaller crews, likewise the number of postitions may increase as the size of the layout is confirmed.

There should be plenty of opportunities for run time during the show. There will be a total of 21 hours of operations time available!

Our current plans call for using a dispatcher to give verbal clearances via radio for train movements and track and time for locals operating on the mainline. We do not anticipate using track warrants. However, if sufficient interest is expressed we may use them during selected op sessions. We currently use a Switch List, hand written on a standard preprinted form, prepared by a clerk. To keep the paperwork and amount of preparation minimal, an industry list will be created before hand. The clerk prepares the switch list by randomly choosing industries for pickups and deliveries of cars. Cars are selected from the yard by the yard master. We have tested this system at several shows and have found that it works well.

To help avoid addressing issues we are proposing a voluntary pre-registration of addresses. A simple system that we use is each person is assigned a two digit prefix. The last two digits of the locomotive number make up the remainder of a four digit address. Ninety-nine people can have ninety-nine locomotives without any conflicts. Programming can be done with confidence before participants arrive. If you are intersted in participating please request a prefix when you sign up to participate. Because this is voluntary, on site (off railroad) programming (possibly via computer) will be provided for those in need as conflicts arise.

The show closes at 4:00 on Sunday. Take down normally moves very quickly. For those who may want to start their drive home Sunday evening modules can normally be quickly loaded, especially if you have your vehicle ready to load near a door. We have had some delays in the past waiting for an open door and the elevator. The delays could have been quickly solved if we had been a little less lazy.