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The Footplate for June 2018

Written by Al Lowe
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Russ Segner, 4D Superintendent

Chuck Ricketts at the Spring Meet

Summer is here – put away the umbrellas and galoshes! It’s time to get outdoors and do some railfanning, ride a train, or visit one of our historic rail sites. I’m heading for Colorado again to ride the Cumbres & Toltec. Some are heading to Train Mountain in Oregon, others may head to Sacramento to the California Railroad Museum. Some will stay local and take the kids or grandkids to visit Thomas at Snoqualmie. In any event, get out there and check out some new rail location.

Make & Take Clinic

June has been a very busy month. The PNR meetings in Portland drew many of us to Jantzen Beach for some great clinics and layout visits. It was a chance to meet many of our fellow modelers from all over the Northwest. Jim Fugate, publisher of Model Railroader Hobbyist, was there demonstrating LokSound decoders and a really nifty control unit that emulates the control stand of the modern diesel engine.

The Pacific Northwest Region is one of the very best and most active regions in the entire NMRA. Your own Fourth Division is strong and very active. We just completed our Spring Meet in Redmond which was well organized and executed by Al Lowe and clinicians Alex Brikoff, Larry Sloan, Byron Osborn, MMR Bill Messecar, MMR Didrik Voss, MMR Max Maginness and MMR Chuck Ricketts. MMR Jack Hamilton, conducted a well-received Make and Take clinic building wood trestles. Make a point to attend in 2019!

Your Fourth Division is beginning a major effort to establish additional modular groups, at least one for HOn3 and possibly a Free-Mo HO group. Another group will begin building museum-quality dioramas to display at shows.

So, you have all summer to experience real trains, locally or around the world. Take lots of pictures and come back this fall prepared to share and perhaps present a clinic on what you have modeled or experienced. As a favorite beer commercial says: “One life right, don’t blow it. Mahalo!”

Convention or Meet, Superintendent’s Message

2018 Spring Meet on Saturday June 9th

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner

The 4th Division’s 2018 Spring Meet will be held at the Redmond Community Center at Marymoor Village (formerly Lake Washington Institute of Technology), 6505 176th Avenue NE, Redmond on Saturday, June 9th.

The Spring Meet web site is 4dSpringMeet.com, which includes an online registration page and venue details. The cost is a measly $20 for NMRA members. If you register by Tuesday May 29, you’ll get a free box lunch. You can register at the door, but you’ll probably not get a box lunch. Non-NMRA members are still welcome; if you haven’t been a member for a while, you join the national for a six-month “trial membership” for another $20.

There will be at least two simultaneous clinics, plus a Make & Take session. Click here for complete details.

Convention or Meet

PNR Convention 2018 Stumptown Express

Written by Al Turnbull
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by Jack Hamilton

Our convention will be in Portland (Second Division) this year. Stumptown Express dates are May 30 – June 2, 2018 at the Red Lion on the River, Jantzen Beach, Portland, Oregon is our annual Pacific Northwest Region Convention. This is the time for our annual meeting of the PNR Membership.
It is opportunity for people who may not have participated in our largest annual get-together to experience this unique event.
We are always on the lookout for new clinics and clinicians. If you have a topic which has been successfully presented at your club or division meet, please consider offering it for a wider audience. Contact Charlie Comstock at trains@upwardaccess.com
Our banquet speaker is Doyle McCormack of SP 4449 restoration and operation fame.
Geoff Bunza will conduct a make and take (materials charge) clinic on programming the Arduino microcontroller.
Our non-rail chair, Ruth Kaser, has excellent tours planned, including wine tasting in the Willamette Valley and a visit to Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store, Restaurant and Bakery.
Check out our website pnr2018.org

Registration and Hotel reservations are open.

Convention or Meet, News

Spring Meet Scenery Clinic Expanded to Two Hours

Written by Russ Segner
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The following changes are made to the clinic schedule.

Di Voss will replace Russ Segner’s 3:45 Clinic in Room 2 with a clinic on DCC, How to wire a DCC Layout.
This clinic will discuss how to find those niggles on a layout that cause shorts – Crossovers, reverse loops, and Wyes. This clinic will also discuss how to select power segments.
Finally, this clinic will discuss the different turnouts – Power Routing, Insulated Frog and Power Frogs – that present different problems for a modeler.

Di not talk about LCC unless someone asks a question. “

Russ Segner will then lead and present his clinic which is:

Scenery – pink foam, plaster and two-part epoxy. Tinting with acrylic washes. It will be a two hour hands on clinic starting at 2:15 in Room 3.

Articles, Convention or Meet, News

Military Society of Model Railroad Engineers Upcoming Events in Anchorage, Alaska

Written by Cliff Green
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Mike Philo

Feb 24 – Mar 5, Anchorage, AK: The Military Society of Model Railroad Engineers (MSMRE) will have three sectional layouts set up during the annual Fur Rendezvous winter festival in Anchorage, Alaska. The layouts – in HO, HOn3 and N scales – will be on display in the Alaska Railroad Passenger Terminal from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM most days, longer on some days to accommodate arriving and departing ARR passengers. Admission is free to all. Contact: Randy “Bj” Bjorgan, bjorgan@alaska.net, 907-952-4353.

Feb 18, Mar 18, Apr 15 (all are Saturdays), Anchorage, AK: Military Society of Model Railroad Engineers monthly Open House, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM at the club’s location on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Layouts in HO, HOn3, N and O. Admission is Free. Contact Randy “Bj” Bjorgan, bjorgan@alaska.net, 907-952-4353 for directions and access from off post.

(Editor’s note: Marty Quaas maintains a well-known web page on Alaska model railroading at http://alaskamodelrrnews.homestead.com/, with information on his layout, “The Consolidated South Western Railroad”, as well as various model railroad clubs and prototype organizations and activities in Alaska.)

Convention or Meet, Model Train Show, The Alaska Section

Make and Take Clinic, March 4th, 2016, Truss-Rod Flat Car in Wood

Written by Chip Van Gilder
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by Jack Hamilton

The first 4th Division Make-and-Take (MaT) clinic will be constructing a truss-rod flat car in wood. We will offer a choice of three scales for the project: O, HO and N. The clinic will provide the raw materials (wood, plastic parts, and metal for rods) as well as appropriate detail parts. The clinic will not provide trucks or couplers. The intent of the clinic is to address scratch building techniques and procedures, not to create a car that will be featured on your layout (if it does fit into your era and home road you get additional benefit from the clinic).

You will need to provide basic hand tools to complete the project and we will provide a list of recommended tools to those who intend to participate. Attendees will be required to measure, cut, fit, and glue up the pieces needed to complete the car. The clinic will have on hand several miter boxes and razor saws, a couple of electric model chop saws, and a variety of glues and adhesives that participants may desire to try out. The clinic will have a nominal cost for materials and we are targeting between $10 and $15. We will have a supply of additional materials on hand in the event of an “oops”.

The date for the clinic is March 4th, and the clinic will start at 9 AM with an anticipated 4-5 hours run time. The clinic will be in a Tacoma location and we will have room for up to 20 participants. The scheduled clinicians are Di Voss and me (Jack Hamilton), with others possible.

Please let me know if you intend to participate, which date(s) work for you and which scale you would like to work in. Reply to gradiver@wavecable.com. I will e-mail you the specific location of the clinic, along with other necessary details.

This is a fulfillment of the intent of the 4th Division to initiate a periodic (and traveling) MaT clinic series outside of our normally scheduled local clinics. We are now ready to move forward with the first of what we hope will be a continuing series of opportunities for our members to gain knowledge and either learn or polish skills.

Convention or Meet

Model Railroading in Alaska (and Arizona)

Written by Cliff Green
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Mike Philo

Editor’s note: In a recent e-mail newsletter I mentioned Marty Quaas’ web site about Alaska model railroading (which includes his wonderful layout “The Consolidated South Western Railroad” as well as his well known display layout “Mooselip, Alaska”): http://alaskamodelrrnews.homestead.com/, and reminded 4th Division members that Alaska is part of this division. This is Mike’s reply.

Your recent note on model railroading in Alaska prompted me to write to you. I live in Anchorage and am a member of the NMRA. I belong to the Military Society of Model Railroading Engineers, based on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage. Our club has permanent layouts in HO, HOn3, N and O scales, plus modular layouts in HO, HOn3 and N scales.

For many years we have been displaying our three modular layouts (N, HO, HOn3) at an Anchorage winter festival called Fur Rendezvous (“Fur Rondy” for short). Until a few years ago, Marty Quaas was displaying his Mooselip layout at Fur Rondy, too. It is a wonderful layout and the crowds loved it. So did I. Unfortunately, Marty has not been able to attend Fur Rondy in recent years, probably in large part due to the long drive from his home to Anchorage. Many people, including me, miss him and Mooselip.

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Articles, Convention or Meet, Model Train Show