June 2002
|
Meet the GATS People! *** Trolleyville - As reported in an earlier edition of the Trolleyville Times, Great
American Train Shows, LTD was sold to Moe and Kathy Geoghegan in November
2001. At the same time, most of the long time employees of the company left
to pursue other interests. Such familiar names as Randy Bachmann, Bill Grove,
Jr. and the former CEO, Dave Swanson are no longer involved with the daily
operations of GATS. Trolleyville was able to visit the new facilities on May 3rd
while participating in a planning meeting for the enhancement of the GATS
Train Shows. We even got a peek at the 2003 schedule and we can say that
almost everyone will be happy with it. After many years in Villa Park,
Illinois, the company is now physically located in Addison, Illinois at 2121
West Army Trail Boulevard in the building shown below:
GATS, LTD now employs a resident
trolley fan. He is Frank Hicks. Frank
joined GATS in 2000 and is responsible for public relations & advertising
for the Great American Train Shows and the growing number of computer shows
run by the company. Frank lives in Naperville, IL and attends the College of
DuPage where he is pursuing an AA in Drafting. Frank is also very involved
with the Illinois Railway Museum at Union, IL. Frank followed in the shoes of
his father, who has started volunteering at the IRM in 1975, seven years
before Frank was even born. Frank is working on C&AE 308 at IRM and
painted former ex Kansas City, Philadelphia PCC 2267 (Bicentennial Car) back
into KCPS 755 (Original Paint Scheme). He is also working on another Chicago, Aurora & Elgin
interurban as we write this. He is extremely knowledgeable on trolleys and
interurbans, most of which were a distant memory long before he was born. Two other personnel remained with
the company after the sale and they are Bill Grove, Sr. (l) and Tom Edmonds (r).
Bill
Grove, Sr. does most of the negotiations with the exhibit halls and
fairgrounds where the Great American Train Shows are to be held and believe it,
that is a very difficult job. The operators of these halls and fairgrounds know
that, in most cases, they are the only game in town with the necessary parking,
area and other facilities for a show of this nature. Not only are the local
government agencies involved but also each and every show floor plan must
have the approval of the local fire department. Tom Edmonds has been acting
as a Chief Financial Officer for years and continues in that capacity. For a
long time, he was the Show Director for the highly successful monthly Great
Midwest Train Show held at Wheaton, IL in the Du Page county Fairgrounds.
(See our report on this "Really Big Show" in column 2.) Be on the look out for the 2003
GATS schedule, which is due out early this month, especially if you are a
vendor. Some of these shows will fill up very fast, so get your reservations
in quickly. [NEXT ISSUE: Trolleyville visits Rochelle,
Illinois, the home of four large diamonds.] |
RRB
Industries takes another step forward! *** George Huckaby - In the last issue, we mentioned that Randy Bachmann, formerly of the Great American Train Show, LTD started a business, which is marketing a line of laser cut wood structures from the 1950's. (By the way, Randy is not related to Bachmann Industries, Inc that makes many familiar model railroad items).
Trolleyville visited his shop on May 3, 2002 and is pleased to provide an update on the operation. Randy has obtained his own laser-cutting machine capable of cutting and scribing both wood and styrene. Several examples of his coming product line were displayed. Below are some of the prototypes displayed in his front office:
RRB Industries in conjunction with Custom Traxx is examining the possibility of producing cobblestone street sections for HO scale traction layouts. The sections would be made to fit ORR track specialwork. Keep an eye in future issues of this paper for more about this supplier. *** Trolleyville Visits the
Great Midwest Train Show *** George Huckaby - For many years now, model train lovers in the Chicago area have been gathering one Sunday each month at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton, Illinois to buy and sell their favorite model railroad items. The show is called the Great Midwest Train Show and it occurs on the 2nd Sunday of the month in all months except May and June when it is moved to the 1st weekend to avoid Mother's Day and another Fairgrounds commitment. There is also no show in July due to the County Fair. Trolleyville was present at the May 5th show. We had visited this Show in September 1999 and found to our surprise that little has changed. This is still probably one of the premier model railroad shows in the country as vendors come as far as Saint Louis, Indianapolis and Milwaukee for this one-day extravaganza and there are no empty tables by show opening. Below are exterior photos of the five buildings that are packed with vendors, layouts and displays.
|
