Adventures in S Gauge – The 2025 NASG Convention

Michael Byle
2 days ago
4 min read

Porter Locomotive viewed on the NASG Convention’s Essex Steam Train Excursion

I just recently had the pleasure of attending the National Association of S-Gaugers Convention in Norwich, Connecticut. It was titled: The Shoreline Special”, sponsored by the Connecticut S-Gaugers and Bristol S-Gaugers. I brought some S-guage trains from the shop and set up a couple of tables in the vendor hall. This required a 4:30 am departure from Colonial Beach, VA to arrive in time for setup and the opening reception. There were 100 tables full of amazing S-gauge stuff in the vendor hall. There was a large layout by the Connecticut S Gaugers right behind my tables.

CBTJ Tables in Vendor Hall. Connecticut S Gaugers group setting up their layout behind

The first full day of the Convention started with an excursion to the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat where we had a delightful ride on their fully restored Pullman heavyweight passenger cars pulled by a 2-8-2 steam locomotive. The locomotive was built by Tangshan Locomotive Works in China in 1989 according to the builder’s plate. The Conductor told me the story of how this locomotive ended up here. In 1989, Tangshan was the only company still building steam locomotives, and three American excursion railroads ordered engines from them. The three engines were loaded on a ship in China, but one was lost overboard in a storm. This one is one of the two that survived . It was used to be pull excursion trains for the Knox and Kane Railroad in Pennsylvania. It was bought from them by Essex where it is now in active service.

Tangshan Locomotive that pulled our excursion train.

The Pullman cars were quite luxurious (Jamie Bothwell convention organizer standing)

After our Steam train excursion, we headed to the Connecticut Trolley Museum where we rode on a wooden trolley and viewed their diverse collection of trolleys spanning many decades. They also had the one intact PATH car that survived the 9-11 attack on the world trade center and a running layout with active trolleys and an indoor museum. All-in-all a worthwhile and interesting afternoon.

NASG members boarding the Branford Trolley

That evening, I manned the tables in the vendor hall, after which there was a Board of Trustees meeting. I have just been elected Eastern Vice President of the NASG and this was my first board meeting. It was mostly a changing of the guard, but we discussed the future conventions being planned. The next one will be in Dearborn, Michigan. I spent most of the following day in the vendor hall, but taught two clinics on American Flyer repair, restoration, and modification. They were well attended. Contest entries displayed some amazing modeling work from kit and scratch built engines, rolling stock, structures and dioramas; all in S gauge.

The vendor hall was filled with vendors selling all kinds of things, from classic American Flyer trains, parts and accessories to S Helper Service and American Models trains, as well as custom items including 3-D printed rail cars, detail items and structures. There were also plenty of structure kits and detail parts on offer. There were three operating layouts in the vendor hall as well. You could also pick up the convention rail car, tee shirts and other items from the NASG company store.

On Saturday, the vendor hall was open a half day and then vendors removed their wares to clear the room for the banquet that evening. The convention planning committee gave out billboard kits at the banquet on Saturday and asked for them to be assembled and photographed on S gauge layouts for publication in the Dispatch magazine, the official publication of the NASG, I assembled the billboard I received and placed it on the S-gauge layout in the shop and took the photo below. The billboard will be there for you to see if you come into the shop over the next year.

Billboard announcing the 2026 NASG Convention shot on my S-gauge layout

All in all it was a great time and I can’t wait until next year. I have developed friendships with people at these conventions that I only see there, and it is always fun to catch up with them. If you have never been to a convention like this, I would encourage you to join in. It is a great opportunity to spend time with others having similar interests and to pick up useful tips to increase your skill and enjoyment of your trains. If you would like to learn more about the NASG, you can check out the web site at www.NASG.org or, stop by the shop and I will be happy to talk with you. Membership is inexpensive and worth looking into if you enjoy S-scale trains.

Though I have N, HO, S, O, and G gauge trains. S gauge American Flyer will always be remembered as the first train I ever had and one of my favorites. These and many other trains can be found at CB Train Junction.