Pictures and Videos taken during the Southern Christmas Show 2024 season appear here as they are provided.
MMRR SCS 2024 Opening Night Prep Walk Around on 11-13-2024 at 3:26 PM
You can use our calendar to see the operating times for this year’s Southern Christmas Show.
This page also serves as the main page for the Metrolina Model Railroader’s Southern Christmas Show 2024. This year we added more features to the layout. You can read about them on our New Christmas Train Modules page and the Press Release page.
Photos from Brian and other visitors on November 15th and 16th, Days 3 & 4, of the 2024 Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte, North Carolina. Click/Tap to enlarge.
We have a Find-It List that we post each year. Lately, the Southern Christmas Show also publishes the list of items that you can find on our French Broad & Catawba railroad layout. Alan provides some of the neat items that can be located on the layout. On Day 5, he took the following photos providing visitors with better hints where they can locate some of the items.
Alan’s photos of some of the interesting items to locate using our Find-It Scavenger List.
Southern Christmas Show 2024 – Wednesday, November 20th – Day 7, French Broad and Catawba (FBC, FB&C) layout Walk-Around at High-Noon.
Metrolina Model Railroaders Club (MMRR) member Henry starts his volunteer day at the Southern Christmas Show 2024 on Wednesday, Day 7 by doing a walk around the French Broad and Catawba model railroad layout which is in booth #31B relatively close to Santa Claus. He points out some of the details with closeup views as he walks around the layout. However, this is just a teaser because to get a real sense of all the fabulous features of the layout, you should stop by and see it for yourself.
MMRR Southern Christmas Show 2024 Model Railroad Layout Walk-Around Wednesday Day 7 High Noon
Upon arriving at the Southern Christmas Show, I didn’t have an exhibitor’s badge on me. One was waiting at the booth. So, I went inside expecting JT to be there with it. He thought I had come in the front door and had walked out front to meet me. I came in the side door. So, I started making a video walk around the layout. JT returned with the badge quicker than expected. I had to go back to the loading area and drive over to the vendor’s parking lot plus get my trains inside the building.
This video shows a back corner view towards the inside of our small version French Broad & Catawba layout. It also shows Alan’s HO scale Lionel Polar Express passenger cars being pulled by Chuck B’s Monon Diesel locomotive around the outside loop. On the inside loop is a club Erie steam locomotive pulling a string of the club’s freight cars. You can see the alien flying saucer that has abducted a farmer and/or one of his cows behind the trailer park that has Santa and his sleigh on one of the roof tops of the trailers. As I make my way around to the city, you can see an automobile entering one end of a wooden bridge that crosses over top of our double mainline tracks. On the edge of the city are 15 cent burgers at the Drive ‘n Dine where one can also get rootbeer floats and soda. Notice that the Coca-Cola truck is at the railroad crossing waiting for trains to go by so that it can continue its route out of town.
In the foreground, a taxi waits outside the passenger depot where an outdoor play of a manger scene is taking place. A family has just purchased their Christmas tree for either $5 or $10 dollars while another buyer discusses which tree he wants to buy from the tree lot. Outside of Patti’s Paw House, Clark Kent has just transformed inside a phone booth into Superman and is about to leap into the sky. Perhaps his justice will prevent a villain’s actions from being recorded at the Criminals Records building. A Santa Claus carrying a large sack of toys walks in front of John’s Shoe Repair while someone purchases something inside of Rexall Drugs which has decorated its building with a face of Santa Claus with his famous greeting of “Ho Ho Ho!” The large corner office building has a lot of activity going on inside of it. You will have to look closely inside to figure out what they are doing.
JT arrives with a badge for me so I have to stop the recording. See the next FBC Walkaround to see more fabulous spots on the layout when I return.
MMRR Southern Christmas Show 2024 Model Railroad Layout Walk-Around Wednesday Day 7 11:01 AM
Although a video was made of Henry’s Broadway Limited Imports (BLI) Amtrak GG-1 #913 Electric Locomotive, something weird happened and the video was lost. The photos taken during the recording are available. The trains looked greats.
Christmas Trains running on the French Broad & Catawba Railroad layout at the Southern Christmas Show.
Alan’s Lionel HO scale Polar Express passenger cars being pulled by an Erie Steam Locomotive on the FB&C layout during the 2024 Southern Christmas Show.
Photos from Henry’s Day 7 High Noon FB&C layout Walkaround. Click/Tap to enlarge.
Henry’s Rapido AMTRAK LE E8A 8-piece Passenger Train on MMRR FBC during 2024 Southern Christmas Show
Henry runs an Amtrak Phase I model train consist of one Rapido Limited Edition DCC Sound-Equipped Amtrak EMD E8A Diesel Engine Locomotive #4316 pulling 7 older Athearn Amtrak passenger cars on the Metrolina Model Railroaders club’s French Broad & Catawba Railroad at the 2024 Southern Christmas Show on November 20th, 2024. 17-year old guest Jackson pulls the club’s ore cars using his Broadway Limited Imports Paragon2 (upgraded with P3 or P4 smoke generation and Sound) Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 Steam Engine & Tender Locomotive #611. ** Note: Henry mistakenly calls the locomotive a 50th anniversary edition. It is NOT. It is a Rapido Limited Edition of the first E8 that Amtrak repainted. Rapido released this limited edition in celebration of Amtrak’s 50th anniversary.
Henry’s Rapido AMTRAK LE E8A 8-piece Passenger Train running fast on MMRR’s FBC during 2024 SCS
At 4:46 PM on November 20th, just before taking his Rapido LE DCC Sound-Equipped Amtrak EMD E8A Diesel Engine #4316 off the tracks, Henry decides to run it at 82% throttle to get an idea of its top end speed performance on the club’s small version FB&C layout while it is displayed for the Christmas holiday season. A young boy visiting the booth happens to see the train speeding along and excitedly keeps up with it for a loop around the layout. Listen to the boy as he shares his enthusiasm with his parents. It is rare to catch trains moving at this speed on the layout. The Rapido Amtrak handles it well and looks good doing it while pulling 7 older Athearn Amtrak passenger cars.
Henrys Amtrak Phase 2 DC Only F40PH on MMRR’s FB&C railroad at the 2024 SCS Nov. 20th, 24 @ 5: 07 pm
The Metrolina Model Railroaders Club’s French Broad and Catawba layout uses Digitrax DCC command stations to operate the layout. The Digitrax makes it possible for members to operate both DCC and DC only locomotives on the layout. This is very convenient and economical because it allows members to the opportunity to run older and sometimes less expensive trains on the layout alleviating the challenge of having to convert everything to DCC. It isn’t a good idea to let DC locomotives ideal for long periods of time on layouts using Digitrax and Bachmann command stations that will run both DC and DCC locomotives. For the most part though, if you keep the trains moving at moderate speed, the DC motors can handle it. I like to limit how long a let DC only trains run though as I have one 35- to 40-year-old Bachmann Amtrak Metroliner passenger car locomotive that noticeable slowed down after running it for several hours one summer on the club’s layout when it displayed at the NC Transporation Museum.
Here, Henry pulls the club’s ore cars with one of his DC only Amtrak Phase II F40PH Diesel Engine locomotives #283. This is a Walthers Trainline model locomotive that Henry acquired along with a Bachmann DCC equipped Amtrak E60P Phase II Electric Engine #976 back in August 2023 along with several Bachmann Full Dome Passenger cars. He applied the grab irons to A283 shortly after the locomotive arrived. The Amtrak #283 ran flawlessly at the 2024 Southern Christmas Show for about 30 minutes on November 20th, 2024, before Henry replaced it with one of the club’s French Broad & Catawba railroad diesel locomotives, #6908.
Henry’s Doubled-headed Amtrak 50th Anniversary 9-pc Train Consist on MMRR’s FBC at 2024 SCS 6:40pm
Athearn released some beautiful HO scale Amtrak 50th Anniversary Edition locomotives. Henry runs to of his Athearn AMD-103 P42 DCC Sound-Equipped engines on Metrolina Model Railroaders Club’s (MMRR) French Broad & Catawba (FB&C) small HO version HO scale layout minutes before closing time at the 2024 Southern Christmas Show. These 2 locomotives have been MU-ed together and are double-heading the pull of 7 older Athearn Phase I passenger cars. Amtrak P42 #46 is a Phase V engine and Amtrak P42 #108 is a Phase VI engine. The Phase mostly refer to the paint scheme on Amtrak locomotives. Amtrak adopted calling their different paint schemes phases after this trend was begun by model railroaders. Together these 2 locomotives easily and smoothly pull 7 passenger cars around the small version FBC layout. These are some handsome-looking locomotives!
In the video Henry mentions that he didn’t appear to be on Thursday night’s schedule although originally he signed up to be there. He did show up on Thursday night and run some trains. Look for those videos to show up on the metrolinamodelrailroaders.org website and within our Metrolina Model Railroaders YouTube channel very soon.
The club’s French Broad and Catawba Diesel locomotive is also pulling a long consist of box cars and ore cars.
On Day 9, Friday, November 22nd, before leaving his volunteer shift, Mike stopped by the Southern Christmas Show’s special guest’s booth of Mrs. Karolyn Grimes and invited her to stop by our booth to see the special diorama we made to honor her visit. The following morning while Alan and Nick were manning the layout, Mrs. Grimes showed up. She was very pleased with the display. The following photographs were taken while actress Mrs. Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey’s youngest daughter Zuzu Bailey was present at our booth. You can read more about Mrs. Grimes as Zuzu Bailey in our Press Release.
Mrs. Karolyn Grimes / Zuzu Bailey visits Metrolina Model Railroaders Club’s French Broad & Catawba layout at the 2024 Southern Christmas Show on November 23rd, 2024.
