Category: Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Article and Photos by Rich Thom

Cliff Aaker, subbing for clinic chair Rich Blake, welcomed 24 to the SV&W NMRA Clinic’s October meeting.  Cliff welcomed first-time attendees Roy and Penny Andrukat, Oak Harbor residents modeling in n-scale; we hope they become regulars.  Sad news about the Anacortes and Fidalgo Model Railroad Club, whose members are long-time clinic contributors: the lease on their space has been terminated by the building’s owner, a familiar story to many clubs.  The club’s annual Fall Open House on Nov 2^nd and 3^rd will likely be their last.  We hope modelers from all over the area will consider paying a visit to the club’s HO-scale 24’ x 45’ layout, featuring Many scratchbuilt bridges and other structures.  Hours each day are 10 am to 4 pm; the address is 419 Q Avenue (intersection of 5^th and Q), Anacortes.

The evening’s clinician was MMR Mark Malmkar, who reprised highlights of several clinics he presented over the years back in Nebraska, from which Mark and wife Chris relocated to Whidbey Island.  Mark first covered diverse topics including: layout design for 4’ x 8’ tabletops; locomotive wheel arrangements; benchwork types; wiring basics; passenger car eras and car types; and dining car window arrangements.  Mark is an expert on passenger cars, Pullman Company history and its monopoly on sleeping car services, and the complex Pullman routes and innumerable car variations, and always has good examples and anecdotes to share.  We were even pulled back into that era by Mark’s use of flip-charts—if anyone can remember those!  (In his defense, he has also given clinics using Powerpoint.)        

Next, Mark focused on his extensive use of insulating foam scenery (Fig 1).  Mark has managed a somewhat rare feat: He packed up and moved his entire Nebraska model railroad to Washington, and is in the process of re-assembling it, with some shifts and rotations of sections here and there to fit the new space.  One feature which made this easier—or even possible at all—was his extensive use of foam scenery rather than plaster hardshell.  Its light weight and ease of creating large, easily-removable scenery sections and smaller liftouts is well-known.  Mark described the tools and adhesives he used to laminate 1” – 1 and ½” – and 2” sheets into landforms, the rasps and carving tools used to sculpt it, and materials to overcoat it to form the final scenic form.  Fig 2 shows one of several liftouts Mark brought in to show, this one with a tunnel.  Thanks to Mark for an interesting and entertaining presentation.      

Rich

Article and Photos by Rich Thom Unless Noted

Clinic Chair Rich Blake welcomed a bumper crowd of 31 who gathered at our Oak Harbor venue for the Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic’s first meeting of the 2018-19 season. Four from our “sister” clinic in Mt. Vernon joined us, and Rich welcomed as well two new guests whom we hope will become regulars: Dennis Persson and Jon Bentz. Dennis is building an n-scale layout, and Jon a large On30 pike. Jon, a member of the Pacific Northwest On30 Modular Group, has a 14’ x 39’ space for his planned southwest-Colorado themed “Rio Como” railroad, designed from the outset for operations. We look forward to the first open houses of both layouts—no pressure, Dennis and Jon! Rich thanked Susan Gonzales, our Program Chair, for the very successful Whatcom Railway event this summer, which drew over 40 participants from both the Whidbey and Mt. Vernon groups; if similar interest is expressed next year, the event may be repeated. Rich reviewed the regional calendar as well as upcoming clinics for the season. In October, the popular “mini-clinics” will be the program, followed by Mark Malmkar, MMR (on a topic yet to be revealed) in November. December will see our traditional “Wassail” evening of an entertaining program plus pot-luck, and January, a “make-and-take” evening. Spring programs are still open but one will definitely be a repeat of our joint sessions with the Mt. Vernon Clinic, at their venue, with lots of “hands-on” clinics in “walk-around” format.

Mike O’Brien from the Mt. Vernon party announced this year’s modeling contest, which he has titled the NMRA Build Competition and Photo Match Challenge, open to all Mount Vernon and Skagit Valley and Whidbey attendees. There will be three contest categories: (1) structures, scratch-built (any scale); (2) structures, kit-built or kit-bashed (any scale); and (3) rolling stock, scratch-built, kit-built, or kit-bashed (any scale). The Photo Match Challenge can be any of the above or anything else related/useful on a layout. The contest is open to individual or team entries. The projects must be new and not something contestants have built previously. The build dates are now through March 2019—so get going, modelers! Judging will be at the joint clinic next spring. Mike has donated about $1,500 worth of prizes in all scales from his business Xtrains Model Train Supplies. Thanks, Mike!
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By Rich Blake

The Skagit Valley and Whidbey clinic will start it’s 2018/19 season on 12 September at the Summerhill Retirement community rec room in Oak Harbor.  (165 SW 6^th Ave) at 7:00pm.  Our guest speaker will be Eric Erickson who will provide a presentation on the Great Northern steam locomotives and track plans in the northwest.  Eric will have several historical photos to support his clinic which came from the Charles and Dorothy Wood collection.  We look forward to some interesting and locally significant prototype history from Eric.

By Susan Gonzales

SV&W Crew along with several guests enjoying a nice spring day at the Lake Whatcom Railway near Bellingham, WA.

The regular May meeting of the Skagit Valley and Whidbey Model Railroad club was not held at its regular meeting place but on a train in the foothills of Whatcom County. We had a delicious lunch at Bob’s Burgers & Brews just off I-5 on Cook Road prior to our departure time. All 23 of us were able to order and eat in record time.

We made our way to the Wickersham parking lot off Highway 9 where we purchased our tickets for a special ride on the Lake Whatcom Railway. While waiting for our other attendees, we were allowed to wander through the shed that holds a steam engine and other cars. We boarded the train being pulled by a diesel and began our trip.  Lovely ride through heavily wooded areas, the sun was out and we had entertainment in person of Ben the Banjo Man.  We sang along to old folk songs and railroad songs. In between songs, Frank, the owner of Lake Whatcom Railway Inc., told stories of the railroad. We went through a tunnel made out of culvert material. The end of the ride was beautiful Mirror Lake. We backed down the track to return to our point of departure.

#1070 an NP Class L-9 0-6-0 sitting in the storage shed awaiting boiler work.

A handcar was brought out for those hardy souls who wanted to try their hand at pumping some iron down the track.  It was very entertaining for those of us watching. We had a great afternoon outing and the rain held off till we were done.

(This little excursion railroad sits along HWY 9 north of Sedro Woolley and east of Bellingham near the shores of Lake Whatcom. The township of Wickersham was once a whistle stop for the Northern Pacific on it’s way to Sumas and was a connection point for the Bellingham Bay and Eastern Railroad. Find out more about the Lake Whatcom Railway by clicking here. ed.)

12 Inch Square Diorama Contest

Article and Photos by Rich Thom

The SV&W NMRA Clinic’s February meeting topic was the long-anticipated (well, since September anyway) diorama contest, this year shepherded by Phil and Susan Gonzales. The rules were simple: Build a small diorama, not to exceed 12 inches square [ed.], that tells a story. The mini-scenes could be any scale, and any height or depth so long as their footprints did not exceed the specified area. Entry categories were: scratch; kit; kit bash; and humorous.

Attendance on the night was lower than usual due to threatening weather, and we’re sure that several more dioramas were intended to be entered. (Those modelers are invited to bring in their work to the March meeting.) But the ones brought in on this evening were both clever and beautifully-constructed. Awards were presented using “Peoples’ Choice” voting, rather than any formal scoring system. Without further ado, let’s show the dioramas and say a few words about how each was constructed.

Fig 1- Cliff Aaker’s Station Scene, Platform Side

Fig 1 shows Cliff Aaker’s O-scale scratch-built station scene. The story: A boy is tempted to pet a frisky dog, left, but his mother, center, is unsure about it. Another pair of passengers, apparently more sure about their petting, awaits the train on the right. Note the stationmaster visible in the window; to see his other side, just turn Cliff’s diorama around …

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