A report on
The 4th Annual

(and maybe the last)
Spring Windup

May 14, 2011
Denver, Colorado

John Bigelow's delightful London tram, made from a candy tin and a Hornby Mechanism.
Like the past three Windups, the 4th Annual Spring Windup was very well received. There were around 20 people in attendance, from Washington State, California, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Since the weather was so miserable in April last year, the Windup was moved to May to avoid it. Alas, this move was for naught. It started raining around 2:00 in the afternoon and didn't stop. Nevertheless, everyone had a great time at this unique event.

People again brought an amazing assortment of spring-driven goodies, including commercial trains from the US, Switzerland, Germany, England, Australia, and China. Sadly, Chuck Donovan could not be with us this year, but he sent a sampling of his whimsical work to be entered in the contests.

Chuck also generously once again provided the trophies for the contests, which included Slowest Clockwork Engine, Fastest Clockwork Engine, Strongest Clockwork Engine, Clockwork Engine that would Travel the Furthest on One Wind, and two Best in Show awards, one for commercial models and one for scratchbuilt. .

Barbara Horovitz once again put on an amazing lunch, this time with a Mediterranean theme.

Some photos of the event

David Outerridge (left), Bob Gladney (center), and Mike Harris admire the display tables.
Left and below: An amazing variety of clockwork trains from around the world was present. Manufacturers represented included Marx, Hafner, Wyandot, Hornby, Chad Valley, Maurlyn, Joustra, Bing Märklin, Walker-Fenn, American Flyer, and Bassett-Lowke.
Chuck Donovan generously provided these trophies, even though he could not attend. Categories included Fastest, Slowest, Strongest, Distance, and Best in Show.
Chuck Donovan also sent out a selection of his wonderful creations so he could compete in absentia. These have all been modified for speed and distance.
Paul Hagglund brought his 0-scale (scale -- not toy!) Walker-Fenn 0-6-0T, which demonstrated remarkable running characteristics, with its train of scale cars in tow. See it in action in the video below.
Marc Horovitz built this 7/8"-scale steam tram out of tinplate gleaned from old tin cans. It's powered by a Marx mechanism, regauged to gauge 1.
David Outerridge has been experimenting with multiple-spring drive. Concealed in the copper barrel are two heavy springs in tandem. The unit made it around the 140' loop an astonishing four times.
Another multiple-spring unit, this mystery engine was brought by Bob Carlson. It features three stacked springs and a reversing mechanism that involves bevel gears. It runs on standard-gauge (2-1/8") track.

Here’s a video of the highlights of the event.
If, for some reason, you can't view it, click here to go to YouTube.

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Sidestreet Bannerworks, 2011

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