For those that have never driven a vehicle on glaze ice, it can be a truly, hair-raising experience.  Hook a trailer behind your vehicle and you will really have something to remember.

As we were preparing to leave, we began to hear radio and TV reports within the Mall about bridges icing over and roads being closed.  City crews were working as hard and fast as possible with their sand trucks, but were unable to be everywhere at once.  The reports seemed to indicate that Highway 90 and I-10 East were still open, so I headed out in that direction with Gary Rouse behind me in his pick-up truck. I often look at my rear view mirror while driving, and there were times, that night, when I thought that trailer was going to come around in front of me.  However, very light traffic, along with a whole lot of luck, permitted us to get home without so much as a scratch.

By 9:00 or 10:00 the following morning (Friday), the ice had melted and it turned out to be a very nice day. We managed to set up our layout in the new “U” configuration that evening and had trains running for the Saturday show. That was the first time we presented Norm’s modules in a show and they were a great attraction.  It wasn’t the REALLY BIG layout that we had planned, but it was a good layout and everyone was well pleased with the results. However, Gary and I often look at each other and mutter, “Never Again”.

The year 1996 turned out to be our year for big layouts in terms of work as well as size. We set up a pit type oval at Frolin’s Summer Show, using the battleship corners along with the automated mountain division modules. This layout was somewhat smaller in terms of size, but the large corner modules, along with the automated mountain division modules, plus four six foot modules with detachable legs instead of folding legs, all added up to a lot of additional work.

Our last show of the year (Oct.’96 AMRE) saw one of our best layouts in terms of size and attractiveness.  For new modules, it featured Gary Rouse’s Harbor Scene and Orphie Neathery’s Lion King module. This layout consisted of 24 modules with approximately 110 linear feet of track or about 3 ½ scale miles. It was a good layout, the trains ran well and everyone had a good time during the show.  However, in terms of show layout size, this was a peak that our club would not match for the next two years.  Some of our members began to speak of shows in terms of work instead of fun.  Also, Norm Phillips withdrew his modules immediately after this show for the purpose of additional detail work and wiring. It was time for the club to do a bit of re-evaluating.

We started 1997 with a slightly smaller and tighter “U” shaped layout for both the Feb. SAMRA show and the April New Braunfels show.  We used mostly four foot modules and were able to transport the layout with the trailer and about three extra vehicles. Both layouts featured  Orphie’s modules (the town modules and Lion King module) across the front and they really drew a lot of attention.  However, Orphie decided, at this time, to pull his modules from future show displays, and we were suddenly faced with a loss of seven modules including two 3 foot corners. Time to fall back and re-group, one more time.

For Frolin Marik’s Summer Show, we managed to assemble a shallow “U” shaped layout that was 26 feet across the front. This was accomplished by using the three New Braunfels modules and a couple of bridges. Three foot corners were provided by Carl Lawson and Ken Stewart. Ken had just completed his corner by adding a very nice farm scene that included a barn, house, an orchard and various other details.