Eurowest 2016

As in many previous years at the end of July, today I made the trek to San Carlos for Eurowest 2016 organized by the West Coast chapters of the European Train Enthusiasts (ETE). I keep going there primarily because this is the only opportunity to find used, or low-priced, european-themed model railroad equipment and supplies in a non-online setting. While there is EBay and several online stores, they don't compare to seeing the actual thing before buying, especially for used equipment.

The second-hand tables, as well as the very large table of AC Eurotrains in Sacramento, and chatting with various people kept me busy for a couple hours.

There were modular Maerklin layouts from the San Francisco and Southern California ETE chapters.

A very nicely done loading scene on the SoCal modular layout. 

Maerklin's model of a DB Gesellschaftswagen ("Entertainment car") was parked in a siding on the modular arrangement of the San Francisco chapter. The car has built-in, digitally controlled LEDs and speakers to simulate a dance floor with lights and music.

A nearby campsite -- probably railfans -- right next to the tracks.

Bauernhofszene on a SoCal module

I very much liked how this scene with lots of junk behind the roundhouse is coming together. I'm planning something similar (without crane or track) for the area behind the roundhouse in Emsingen.

Today's catch. A bit more than planned, a couple impulse buys, and I ended up not buying several items that were in the wrong era or locale for my layout. Pricing was very fair on most items.

I could not resist the catenary repair car set ("Turmtriebwagen"), even though the model is from the wrong era and locale. I just say the Turmtriebwagen hasn't been repainted to yellow yet.