National Model Railroad Association Tour.
In July 2001 the NMRA held its annual convention at St. Louis MO. As part of the convention the NMRA offered a one day tour of Rix Products and Rick Rideout's (Rix) model railroad layout. The trip would be an all day event with travel times around 7 hours. Two busses were sold out for the trip.
Henderson Subdivision Model Railroad Layout Tour
One of the Busses, unloading in front of the house. The two busses arrived a couple of hours apart to keep the number of people now to a minimum.
Guess making their way around the layout.
Here Keith Kittinger ( Helper Number 2 ) sets up a throttle for the next train off of the St. Louis mainline track headed for Evansville's Howell Yard.
Even with 250 feet of 4 foot wide hallways it can get crowded with 50 people visiting all at one time.
Cokes and Chips were provided for our guest in the lounge area.
Rix Products Shop Tour
Next the group headed to Rix Products for a peek at how we manufacture our kits. Vicky ( my wife ) greets the guest at the door.
Guest got to see the molding machines in action.
Here I am telling how I got started with my first product. Just behind me is our new Van Dorn molding machine making the Rix Rail-it in HO and N scale.
The bus drivers were super nice. The groups were having such a good time that they voted not to go back to St. Louis on time and stayed several hours longer than they were suppose to. The bus drives let the groups stay as long as they wanted.
Milton (Red) Rideout ( center ) my dad was on hand to help out. Dad was the guy who gave me the cash to build the mold for my first product the Rix Rax. I would have never got into business without his help. :-)