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Olympia Layout Tour March 2

Written by Al Lowe
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Jim Sabol / Photos Scott Buckley & Jim Sabol

See the Tehama Valley Railroad and Ten More Great Model Railroads

OlyLayoutTour1

This Saturday, March 2, you can visit eleven — count ‘em, eleven — great layouts in one day in the Olympia/Lacey area. Visiting hours are arranged to flow from Northeast to Southwest to help you visit as many layouts as possible without backtracking.

Lucky us! These are among the finest model railroads in the Fourth Division, several of which are regularly written up in major modeling magazines and considered “must-see” during convention tours.

One such layout is the HO Tehama Valley Railroad of Scott Buckley, recipient of the 2012 4D Grab Iron Service Award. In its purpose-built, 25′ x 40′, climate-controlled room, the TVRR short line originates and serves the northern California town of Walnut Grove (freelanced but you’ll swear you’re in Chico or Colusa or Yuba City). Even as many towns north of Sacramento were strung out along the tracks and old Route 99, the thriving agricultural town of Walnut Grove is oriented to the tracks of the little ten-mile short line. The authenticity of the scratchbuilt grain elevator, feed store, packing house, fuel dealer, and cattle pens, along with a supporting cast of era-appropriate town buildings, convinces even casual visitors that this is indeed the northern Sacramento Valley. (Don’t miss the sturdy but economical benchwork of this innovative layout.)

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Like most of the home and club layouts in Thurston County, the Tehama Valley is built for prototypical operation, with local freights shuttling loads and empties related to the predominant ag business and other community necessities between Walnut Grove and its interchange with the mighty Southern Pacific’s mainline at Hamilton City, as well as serving other small towns along the way. Even the scenery Scott Buckley has created convinces the guest operator that this is, indeed, Golden Bear territory.

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Steaming out of Hamilton City headed east with the morning local, the summer sunrise in your eyes and deer grazing along the right of way, you half expect to see wisps of steam from distant Lassen Peak drifting across the rolling landscape of golden grass and black oaks. The friendly waves from ranchers stopped at the grade crossings in their pickup trucks tell you that the Tehama Valley road is both needed and appreciated by the hard-working citizens of this important crop-growing region. They will enjoy waving back to you, too, on Saturday, March 2, from noon to 5 p.m.

For a map to Scott Buckley’s Tehama Valley Railroad and the ten other layouts open on March 2, from N scale to 1:32 scale, email Scott. Ten more talented modelers and their helpers would love to share their layouts and their knowledge with you. Come visit!

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Layout Tour, Olympia Clinic

NMRA InfoNet News for February

Written by Al Lowe
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Tom Draper

NMRA Organizational Changes

  • Eastern District Director John Roberts is unable to continue serving on the BOD due to health reasons. Joe Gelmini has been designated as John’s replacement to serve out the remaining years of John’s term as Eastern District Director. We all wish John well. The family requests that you not contact John at this time.
  • Gerry Leone has resigned as Communications Director for personal reasons including some unfortunate personal snipes from other officials and the organization’s slow pace of modernization.
  • At Large Worldwide Director, Tony Koester is retiring from the BOD due to term limits. Tony has served as a Director for the past six years. This position will be filled via the upcoming elections.
  • Atlantic District Director, Nobby Clarke is retiring from the BOD due to term limits. Nobby has served as Director for the past six years. This position will be filled via the upcoming elections.
  • As a result of a disciplinary action the BOD declared the At Large North America Director position vacant. As a result, Miles Hale is no longer the ALNAD. A replacement will be named according to NMRA policy and procedures. Reference the NMRA web page for additional information.
  • Bill Kaufman, Vice President for Special Projects has resigned for personal reasons.
  • Tom Draper has been appointed Director of Support Services to fill any vacancies until a replacement can be found starting initially with the publication of the InfoNet News.
  • Rick Coble was confirmed by the BOD as Assistant National Secretary supporting National Secretary John Stevens.
  • Most of the functions of the Member Services and Map Departments have been folded into the Marketing Department. Those functions that were not moved to the Marketing Department were assigned to other existing departments.
  • PresidentCharlieGetz hastens to add there is no village coup in all of these changes but rather a combination of events that has led to a dynamic turnover. The NMRA is is good shape!

2016 National Convention Bid

An excellent presentation was made by the host committee for the 2016 National Convention inIndianapolis,IN(“Highball toIndianapolis”). The BOD approved the bid. The convention will be July 3-10, 2016 in downtownIndianapolisat the Westin hotel andIndianaConvention Center. The National Train Show will also be in the Center, directly across from the hotel.

Future National Convention Dates

The BOD approved a motion to allow more flexibility in scheduling the dates and areas of the country for our conventions starting with the 2017 convention.

Donations to the NMRA

The BOD approved a motion to provide NMRA members a first opportunity to purchase items donated to theNMRAMuseumor Library or which were undesignated but were deemed surplus. Any unsold items may be offered for sale to the general public.

Data Sheets and Calendar

…are now the responsibility of the Publications Department.

NMRAMuseum

The NMRAMuseumhas reached over $300,000 in pledges for the California State Railroad Museum Gallery Exhibit (“The Magic if Scale Model Railroading”). This pledge amount has triggered a matching pledge amount of an additional $250,000 which puts the Museum closer to its goal of reaching $750,000. Fundraising will still be needed as we are not to our ultimate goal yet. The Museum is now in a position to ask for construction bids. It is estimated the gallery exhibit will probably be completed within 14 months of awarding a construction contract. TheCaliforniaStateRailwayMuseum is visited by over 600,000 attendees each year.

The BOD offered its sincere appreciation for the recent donations to the fund raising program of $10,000 by Model Railroader Magazine and $50,000 by The World’s Greatest Hobby. There were also four pledges of $25,000 or more and 12 pledges of $10,000 or more.

Financial Reporting

It was reported that the Summary of Financials for 2012 and the 2011 Auditors report will be published on the NMRA web site.

Both the 2012 NMRA Convention and the 2012 National Train Show made a profit from their operations.

HASEA Agreement Extended Indefinitely

The BOD approved extending indefinitely the one-year working agreement with HASEA, an association of 100,000 Chinese Model Railroaders and railfans, to share the NMRA’s standards and organizational knowledge. This agreement can be cancelled for no cause upon a 30 day written notice by either party.

Marketing Plan

Marketing Director Page Martin reported on a new ambitious marketing plan for the NMRA including in-package membership inserts with Walthers products as well as on-line and hard building hobby establishments, museums, special attractions and national and regional model railroad shows and conventions. An active program is being created for November which is National Model Railroad Month.

The Constant Contact email system has been set up and is ready for use by Regions and Divisions.

Awards

PresidentCharlieGetz presented the President’s Award to outgoing At Large Worldwide Director Tony Koester and outgoing Atlantic District Director Nobby Clarke for their years of service to the NMRA.

The BOD adjourned in Honor of John Roberts, HLM, MMR (MER), former President and Eastern District Director and in memory of Lt. Cdr. John M. Baker (USN) (MER), John Baker (AR), and Jim Long (PCR).

News

February Skagit-Whidbey Clinic Shows Road Making

Written by Al Lowe
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By Al Frasch / Photos by Perry Lambert & Al Frasch

Al Carter presented a fascinating clinic on making roads for a layout. He does seem to have an inordinate fascination with both asphalt and concrete surfaces, probably something from his ill-spent youth. However, he did indicate via both pictures and actual samples, the making of realistic roadways.

Especially interesting was the use of numerous brick material as a kind of underlayment for asphalt and concrete surfaces, with the brick showing through in places. It’s a great way to model older roads in industrial areas of cities or even back alleys!

Al used Red Devil OneTime Lightweight Spackling for making roads that won’t shrink. Spread the material between two styrene strips to create a roadbed; use several thin layers if you need to have it deeper.

Al also showed many samples of cracks in road surfaces and explained how to make them look realistic. Micron brand pens make excellent cracks on prepared roadways.

Plus, he explained that asphalt is not black, but weathers to shades of gray. He creates roadway stripes with colored pencils rather than tape or paint.

Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Oly Layout Tour to be Saturday, March 2

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Scott Buckley

The 10th Annual Olympia Model Railroad Layout Tour is scheduled for Saturday, March 2nd. Eleven layouts will be open to visitors:

  • Kevin Gastreich’s N scale P-3 Line
  • The Olympic Model Railroad Society’s HO scale layout
  • Jerry Barnes’ On30 scale Southern Idaho Narrow Gauge Railroad
  • Dave Rakestraw’s HO scale PNW Railroad
  • Dean Cody’s N scale KD&S Railroad (first time participant)
  • Chuck Ricketts’ On30 scale Sherwood,Sheltonand Sarazen
  • Greg Wright’s 1:32n20 Consolidated Republic Mining Co
  • Brian Ferris’s HO scale Port Townsend & Southern
  • Jim Younkins’ N scale Mud Bay & Southern Railway
  • Scott Buckley’s HO scale Tehama Valley Railroad
  • Keith Newsom’s HO scale P&B Railway (first time participant)

This your chance to see a variety of layouts in various scale/gauge combinations that represent a wide variety of prototypical interests. A few of the layouts are in the early stages of construction; but all are operational. As with previous years, a few of the layouts will be open early, while a few will stay open later to give you the opportunity to see as many as possible.

If you are interested in visiting, you must email me in advance so I can email you layout descriptions, hours of operation, addresses, and a map. Please include your full name and the city in which you live. If you have already contacted me, you don’t need to do so again.

Olympia Clinic

Olympia Clinic Report: Brian Ferris Does It Again!

Written by Al Lowe
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Article & Photos by Jim Sabol

Olympia clinic members have come to expect highly informative as well as entertaining presentations from Brian Ferris at our monthly get-togethers. Brian’s February 15 clinic at Chuck Ricketts’ home was no exception: taking us PowerPoint by PowerPoint through the steps of creating a prototypical layout from conception to layout plan.

Keith Newsom and a full house have no trouble staying awake for Brian Ferris

Twenty-one happy modelers filled Chuck’s living room, kitchen, and dining room (an open plan with great sight lines) to learn from Brian how to pick a likely prototype area rich in modeling possibilities; research the geography, facilities, trains, commodities, and schedules for that area; and design a track plan that accommodates most of your favorite elements from that area and era.

Brian Ferris readies his PowerPoint presentation

Selecting the bustling Grays Harbor cities of Aberdeen, Hoquiam, and the surrounding communities, Brian presented slides of typical trains, an actual roster of train movements in and out of the area for a single week in the 1960s, and historical shots of the yard, locomotive, and industrial facilities served by the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Milwaukee railroads.

Brian finished with an HO track plan for a garage-sized room that effectively included most of the elements from the choices that make Grays Harbor a great place to model and would be a ton of fun to operate prototypically—which is a huge emphasis among the Olympia group. Brian’s CAD rendition of the layout even allowed for some effectively interactive kibitzing and reworking of the plan—something else at which this group excels.

There were even rumors of groups with torches and pitchforks planning to storm the castle and raze Brian’s current layout to be replaced by the one he just described. But the torches went out before the mob could get to Brian’s house, which is a considerable distance away. And their pitchforks turned out to be merely large swizzle sticks.

During the breaks, attendees had a chance to descend the stairs into the wonderful world of Chuck Ricketts’ On30 Shelton, Sherwood and Sarazen Railroad with its terrific scenery and multitude of scratchbuilt structures and funky narrow gauge rolling stock. (Not allowed to say “cute.”)

One of the happiest moments of the evening was welcoming David Halliday back home from six months of logistics support in Afghanistan. Dave was home less than a week but he showed up at the clinic. Now that’s our kind of model railroader! Welcome home, Dave!

Jim Sabol made a pitch for NMRA membership, handed out free copies of the NMRA Bulletin, and provided bargain, special offer, 6-month trial memberships for only $9.95. Sue Ritter was first to sign up.

Sue Ritter holds an entire tavern in her hands

Carrying out the prototype theme of the evening, the Most Popular Model was won by Sue Ritter with a beautifully scratchbuilt rendition of the Brooklyn tavern, an actual establishment more or less famous in the southwest Washington hills between Rochester and Raymond. Sue downloaded and weathered her signs from the Internet.

Once again everyone in attendance had a winning ticket in the door prize derby which included a copy of O. Winston Link’s pricy book of Norfolk and Western art photos donated by Ronnie Beghin, decoders donated by Walt Huston, calendars, key chains, and a variety of gizmos from trucks and track to switch throws donated by Charles Lundberg (who is cleaning out his parts bins). Seeing that everyone present held a winning number, Robert Grove was moved to exclaim, “It’s a muracle!”

On March 15 (the ides! no problem unless your name begins with Caesar), we’ll meet at Scott Buckley’s home, where—unless prevented—Robert Grove and Jim Sabol will reprise their clinic from the recent National Narrow Gauge Convention on the railroads and restoration efforts of the DuPont Powder Works.

Join this happy group to see slides of DuPont’s ocean dock with its narrow gauge railroad and aerial tramway. Learn how to make nitroglycerin. Win a door prize! We’ll leave a light on!

Grab-Iron, Olympia Clinic

Next Eastside Get-Together on February 21

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JJ Johnston

The next Eastside Get-Together will be February 21, Thursday, 7:30, Bellevue. We are excited to announce noted railroad modeler and artist Todd Gamble will be presenting a never before seen clinic on trees. As most of you know, Todd is the lead scenery professional working for Peter Hambling’s monster layout in Medina which most of us have visited for an open house. The incredible scenery was mostly built by Todd who continues to create scenery from photos taken by our friend Dave Hikel for this amazing project.

Todd’s Thursday presentation will be in two parts. He will do an actual demonstration of building a northwest conifer tree and he will bring materials for all of us to follow him in making a deciduous tree. Todd has presented for us before and his demonstrations have always been first rate. Don’t miss this great new modeling workshop opportunity and take home your own model tree.

Of course, we will offer all the other activities including model of the month, video rental library, the super mart for estate sale railroad items, free coffee and fresh donuts, plus door prizes from Steve Depolo’s Inside Gateway hobby store.

See you there!

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Eastside Get-Together January meeting report

Written by Al Lowe
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JJ Johnston

JJ Johnston welcomed 40+ attendees to the first Eastside Get-Together for 2013. He introduced several visitors as well as his usual “dignitaries” (as defined by JJ!).

Frank Dekker reminded everyone of the Pacific Science Center show coming up on Martin Luther King weekend. More volunteers would still be welcome. Russ Segner talked about the tentative plans for the 4D Spring Meet on May 11 with clinics and annual meeting on Saturday and layout tours on Sunday (but only for those who attend Saturday). He cautioned, however, that these plans were still in the development stage and could change. Stay tuned.

JJ reported that the donations collected in November and December were used to help several members of the church and he read responses from the recipients. The recipients were most grateful for the help provided.

The Model of the Month again had several entries. An old California Scale Models (now Alpine Models) freighthouse kit, which was modified greatly by David Yadock, took the prize.

After a short break, David Woodrell, MMR, gave a presentation he had done at the National Narrow Gauge convention inSeattlein September honoring the life of Brian Ellerby.

Brian was founder and owner of Evergreen Scale Models, the fantastic styrene we all use in our modeling. The presentation showed Brian as a young man chasing trains for photos (as we have all done) and ultimately building his own layout. We had a look at some of the early projects he worked on in building his layout for controlling his turnouts. Surprisingly, they were made out of Evergreen styrene! Quite ingenious! Most of us think of Evergreen styrene being used largely by model railroaders, but the community of users is much larger! The styrene is shipped all over the world to practically any company you can think of for all kinds of uses; modeling, project design, prototyping of new ideas, etc. David did a wonderful job giving an insight to the person Brian was and what he did for the hobby and the plastic industry. Thanks, David!

Join us on Thursday, February 21st for the next Eastside Get-Together. Watch the Digital Grab Iron for the announcement of the topic and presenter.

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Snake River Convention Special Model Contest

Written by Al Lowe
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Bruce McCosh

As part of the Snake River Special Convention, the 3rd Division will hold a special modeling contest, based upon a specific structure kit. Jimmy Deignan, of RailroadKits.com, has created a small HO structure called Marshall’s Shipping ($15 + $5 shipping).

Models entered in this contest must start with a Marshall’s Shipping kit from RailroadKits.com. You can modify, kit-bash or extend it in any way you choose but you can’t spend more than $25 on additional items (i.e., figures, details, parts, etc.) Signs, paint and glue are considered “free” and aren’t included in the $25 limit.

You can make your model into any business you want (i.e. dynamite sales, boat shop, bakery, coal dealer, etc.). The only limit is your imagination. Models may be entered with or without scenic bases. This will be a Favorite Vote contest.

First, Second and Third place popular vote winners will receive $75, $50 and $25 gift certificates for merchandise at RailroadKits.com.

By the way, the Convention’s website has been updated; check it out now at http://pnr.nmra.org/3div/2013.html.

Convention or Meet

S. V. & W. N.M.R.A. Liaison Retires

Written by Al Lowe
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Rich Blake / Photo by Al Frasch

Gordon Garnhart

After 8+ years of faithful service, Gordon Garnhart, our Skagit Valley and Whidbey Club NMRA Liaison, has handed over the reins to former 4D Superintendent Al Carter.

Gordon has provided monthly clinic reports for the Grab Iron and worked with the Division Treasurer to secure funding for our meetings. His efforts are directly responsible for growing our club from just a few members to now more than 35!

We also enjoy a fantastic monthly meeting venue in Oak Harbor at the Summerhill Activities Center due to Gordon’s efforts. Gordon also, on his own initiative, provides our club with a monthly personal presentation on current local and national publications and newspapers on railroad and modeling-related subjects. His articles are always a source of interest to club members. Gordon’s contributions and service to the club and the NMRA are greatly appreciated.

Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Operating on the Sherwood, Shelton, and Sarazen

Written by Al Lowe
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Jim Sabol / Photos by Dave Faussett and Jim Sabol

“How happy were they, Jimmy?”
“Happier than a model railroader, operating on a DCC layout, with a fresh set of batteries, a smooth locomotive, and a clear board from the dispatcher!”

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Layout owner Chuck Ricketts explains DCC controller to first time operator Dave Faussett

About once a month, a group of about ten guys, modelers in scales from N to 3/8,” gather at Chuck Ricketts’s home in Lacey to operate the Northwest-themed Sherwood, Shelton, and Sarazen Railroad in On30 scale.

At a typical four-hour Saturday afternoon session, the gang observes a twenty-four hour fast clock to run two first class passenger trains northbound (a.m.) and two southbound (p.m.), two through freights north and two south, a logger, a harbor local, and five or six extras. Yardmasters at Shelton and Oyster Bay drive their switch engines hard but prototypically to construct and deconstruct departing and arriving traffic, giving priority to livestock, perishables, and non-time-sensitive ladings.

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Jim Sabol works the dispatcher’s desk with timetable and fast clock

Station stops by the fast passenger trains are brisk but adequate for customers to board and disembark safely. All activity is charted and facilitated by a dispatcher with a timetable, lots of coffee, a sharp pencil, an OS sheet, and phone communication with station agents (who double as passing engineers OS’ing their arrival at each station). The dispatcher remotely operates working order boards at each station to confirm a train’s authority to proceed to the next control point, where the engineer again OS’s his progress.

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Layout owner Chuck Ricketts assigns duty to Yardmaster Greg Wright at Oyster Bay

The SS&S is no plywood central. Operators run their trains through beautifully executed scenery and backdrops, and a multitude of mostly scratchbuilt, appropriately dated and located stations, tipples, liveries, quarries, sawmills, water towers, docks, and warehouses. No matter what scale a person models at home, after ten minutes operating on the SS&S, a visitor feels as if On30 is the perfect scale—at least for today.

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Jim Elder checks out several of many structures he scratchbuilt for the wharf on the SS&S

Frequent operators on the SS&S include Scott Buckley, Ted Curphey, Mike Davidson, Josh Delp, Brian Ferris,  Scott Groff, Robert Grove, Ryan Bates, Charles Lundberg, Allan Manson, Roger Nulton, Sue Ritter, Jim Sabol, Marvin Schurke, Robert Scott, Doug Walters, Larry Williams, and Greg Wright, assisted by first time operators Lee Bishop, Dave Faussett, and John Phillips. Layout co-builders, maintainers, and troubleshooters include Jerry Barnes, Jim Elder, and Jerry Julian.

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The busy Sherwood sawmill was designed by Chuck Ricketts, scratchbuilt by Chuck and Jim Elder, with machinery built by Bob Staley

Chuck Ricketts’ Sherwood, Shelton, and Sarazen will be open to visitors on March 2 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. as part of the annual Olympia Layout Tours.

Olympia Clinic, Operations