NTS&B First (annual?) Piedmont Pilgrimage

Since this was the first time we participated in the Piedmont Pilgrimage, I decided to write this note to describe our experience for anyone who is thinking about trying it in the future. We had right at 50 people attend, but it was fairly evenly spread over the 4 hours. The maximum at one time was about 10 people. Everyone was very friendly. There were discussions about their layouts and mine, and many demonstrations on the few accessories that are currently on the layout. We had 4 or 5 people (including myself, Kathy, my son and his wife, and Ron S part time) working the open house. There were 2 people stationed on the main floor guiding people and making sure everyone signed in. The other 2 or 3 people stayed in the train room to operate the layout and chat with visitors. Having 3 people is the least I would recommend, while 4 and 5 worked out really well.

The trains ran for almost the whole 4 hours, with only 2 or 3 5 minute breaks when no guests were there. Reactions to the layout was lots of smiles, a couple “Wows”, and even one highly excited “This is awesome, I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole life” at the top of the voice of one of our young club members. There were only 2 train accidents, which to my sons delight were both caused by me. Luckily no trains hit the floor, or even made it off the table. The fast acting #91 breakers were a life-saver, since they shut down power as soon as the derailment occurred, so the trains didn’t keep driving themselves right off the layout (Thanks Train Dr. Ted).

We planned snacks and drinks for about 50 people. The weather was great, so we set up the food on tables on the back patio outside the train room. Out of the 24 bottles of water, my son was the only one that drank one. Only 1 bottle of soda and 2 bags of cookies were opened, so we had way too much food and drink. Three of the 4 boxes of donut holes were devoured, but I’m fairly sure it was mostly by the ‘help’. We stopped at another layout in the afternoon, and they had a bowl of Halloween candy. That appears to be a much more reasonable approach. The good news is my wife has some extra cookies for her quilting club meeting.

The overall experience was fantastic. We had numerous small children, which were all very well behaved and supervised. A couple people even talked about wanting to come back next year. So, would I do it again next year? If we are invited again, and depending on the timing and other commitments, You Betcha :)