June 13 - 16, 2002 Closing Credits

Ron & Sue Sebastian of Des Plaines Hobbies and the Chicago "O" Scalers hoped that you enjoyed the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont and the "Return of the Century" the 34th O Scale National Convention. (The hundreds of overly-fit male and female body builder's roaming the halls on Saturday were thrown in for free — interesting scenery or surreal effect? Trains did look better than the amazing Hulk in lipstick...)

2002 O SCALE HALL OF FAME Ron Sebastian inducted three new members to the O Scale Hall of Fame in 2002. At the Saturday Banquet, he announced first the two members who would be honored posthumously — Irvin R. Athearn and Cliff Grandt. Then he paused and congratulated the third honoree who was in the audience: Ed Duddy (owner of the House of Duddy email Otrains7@aol.com). The room immediately erupted with applause and as Ed sat overwhelmed for a few moments as the crowd of O Scalers came to their feet for a rousing standing ovation. While most honorees left us long ago, Ed Duddy joins Bob Weaver, Lorrell Joiner, John Armstrong, and Jerry White honored as living O Scale Pioneers (and still with us).

O SCALE NATIONAL CONVENTION 2003 John Smith laid out his plans for the 2004 convention. Room rate will be $91 ($101 with tax, no parking charges) and additional schedules were posted (see OSN SCHEDULES).

O SCALE NATIONAL CONVENTION 2004 A representative of the 2004 committee gave a short speech at the Banquet. Plans for 2004 are moving right along and he promised to post updates in 48/ft, O Scale News.

O SCALE NATIONAL CONVENTION 2005 Also at the Saturday Banquet, the crowd approved the bid by the Big Bend Model Railroad Club in St. Louis, Missouri. They plan to hold their convention in early June at a resort 10 miles east of St. Louis. Room rates for this convention will vary as several styles of accommodation will be available, but in general the price range for rooms will begin at $45 per night (economy) to $100 per night. More information will be listed in the "Schedules" column of 48/ft., O Scale News as it is made available.

Hyatt Regency O’Hare, 9300 W. Bryn Mawr Ave [south of I-90 and I-190, and east of River Road]. The site of this year's O Scale National Convention.

The Model Contest at this year's O Scale National had two parts: Judged (by category) & Popular Vote (for Best of Show).

• Wally Zincke, Model Contest Chairman. His assistants and fellow judges were Dave Crevie (editorial consultant at 48/ft, O Scale News) and Larry Rajeck (O Scale modeler and member of two local 2-Rail O Scale clubs — Fox Valley O Scalers in Elgin and the Prairie Scale Model Railroaders in Lombard).
• Categories Freight Cars; M-O-W & Caboose; Steam Locomotives; Internal Combustion Locomotives; Structures & Diorama; Passenger Cars; Traction & Electric Cars
• Awards Awards were announced at the banquet, Saturday evening and Ron Sebastian will be mailing plaques to the winners as soon as the engraving is completed; photographs of these models will appear in the next issue of 48/ft, O Scale News — run 165.
  • There were no Freight Cars entered. In fact fewer than 30 models made it to the national this year, still the judges had to spend considerable time reviewing these as the models entered in this year's Return of the Century Model Contest were some of the finest that we have seen in recent years!
  • Vane Jones Award This award is presented each year to the O Scaler who is judged superior in traction modeling based on his entry in the annual model contest. The award was designed by Robert Robbins, and this year Bob also won this award this year as another of his fine Illinois Terminal models (scratchbuilt from styrene, custom painted and detailed with a full interior and over 1,000 individual Grandt Line rivets) once again proved his skill and amazed the judges.
  • Best of Show The only "popular" award at this year's O Scale National Convention, those passing through the contest area voted for their favorite model, an M-K-T Motorcar Shed, by Jim Zwernemann of Texas.

  "Judged" Superior by category.

  • Steam Locomotives
    • 1st PLACE — Louis Bartig CB&Q 2-10-4 (unpainted, scratchbuilt & superdetailed)
    • 2nd PLACE — Louis Bartig Atlantic 4-4-2 (scratchbuilt, C/P, superdetailed).
  • Diesel Locomotives
    • 1st PLACE — Darryl Townsend Canadian National FA & FB.
    • 2nd PLACE — Wayne Middleton Illinois Central E8's.
  • Passenger Cars
    • 1st PLACE — Wayne Middleton Illinois Central Seminole Limited passenger train.
    • 2nd PLACE — Jack Middleton New York Central 20th Century Limited passenger train..
  • Traction & Electric Cars
    • 1st PLACE — Robert Robbins Illinois Terminal #235, 1924 version (scratchbuilt from styrene, C/P, superdetailed with full interior and 1,000+ Grandt Line rivets).
      • 2nd PLACE — Alf Modine North Shore Line wood coach #312 (C/P, superdetailed).
  • M-O-W & Caboose
    • 1st PLACE — Jim Zwernemann M-K-T Caboose.
    • 2nd PLACE — J. Michael Miller branchline caboose.
  • Structures & Dioramas
    • 1st PLACE — Jim Zwernemann M-K-T Motorcar Shed (scratchbuilt from styrene to match prototype photographs)
    • 2nd PLACE — J. Michael Miller Texaco Gas Station (kitbashed, lighted, superdetailed)

Final Credits… to thank those responsible for working so hard in the many different aspects of this fine show:

• Your Hosts — Ron & Susan Sebastian who spent many hours coordinating the efforts of the 'O' Scale National Convention Committee a job which did not end with the opening of Registration. Special thanks is due to Sue for all of her extra work reorganizing the sales hall and dealing with all of the small "changes" imposed by chance and the Hyatt… with a lot of quick thinking and a little hard work she effortlessly kept the show on track.
• The smile most often seen near Ron's shoulder — little Madeline Sebastian, his granddaughter and the unofficial greeter of Return of the Century, the 2002 O Scale National Convention.
• The hard-working Committee — Kathleen Sebastian, Cheryl McCoy, Sam McCoy (also responsible for making the initial bid for 2002 in Atlanta and proposing Ron as the sponsor), Dave Phillips, Juanita Kamacher, John Kamacher, Joel Lebovitz, Karyn Rudnik, Tracy Mays, Joy Forsberg, Greg Heier, Larry Kotula, Charlie Vik, and Wally Zincke.
• Special thanks to publisher Tom Nixon of 48/ft, O Scale News magazine for loaning us his staff to help out with the convention and for timely publicity in his magazine prior to our show.
• Wally Zincke's Model Contest Judges — Dave Crevie and Larry Rajeck (who also worked setup & breakdown as well as filling in where help was needed throughout the convention).
• The Model Railroaders responsible for clinics — Bob Boelter, Jim Canter, Dave Crevie, Joe Follmer, Steve Fuller, Greg Heier, Dennis Mashburn, Pat Mitchell, Mike O'Connell, Jim Singer, and Mark Vaughn.
• The O Scalers who opened their layouts for tours and operating sessions — Paul Balter, John Barron, Terrell Colson, Dave Crement, John E. Eichman, the Fox Valley O Scalers, Al Kamm, George Kanary, Dick Lindquist, Earl Neuhaus, Ted Schepf, John Shankland, Smokey Mountain Model Railroad Club, Barney Stuempel, Myron Weber, Doug Weseman, Don Wolters as well as all of the their friends and fellow modelers who helped them so that their layouts could be seen by hundreds of visiting O Scalers.
• And one last belated thank you to the co-sponsor of the Wednesday evening "Welcome Reception" — Joe Giannovario, publisher of the new O Scale Trains magazine, who Ron would apologize to for neglecting to mention his contribution again at the convention's Saturday Night Banquet.

Remaining Meet Cars created by Ron Sebastian are now available to all… see the Meet Car page above or email Ron Sebastian directly and please note Meet Car in the subject line. Just touch the Des Plaines Hobbies icon or use the email button at the top of this page:

Broken links? please email Joy at OSN. Thanks.