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Ed Liesse Passing

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Bill Messecar

Dave Liesse wanted to let you all know, his dad (Ed Liesse) passed away earlier this week. He died of degenerative disease of the nervous system with adverse effects from a fall at the end October. No services of any sort are planned, but if that changes, I’ll let you know.  This was expected, and they’ve essentially been without him for several months anyway, so there’s no great change to their routine and they’re all doing fine.  It truly is a good thing all around.

We have lost a wonderful friend and fellow modeler in Ed. He and his wife Gay and his sons have been very active in the NMRA and 4th Division for many years. Ed ran all the inside activities at the last Seattle NMRA national convention in July 2004 and I had the pleasure of working closely with him at that convention managing the clinics. Ed received many awards for his service from the 4th Division, PNR and the NMRA. Condolences to Ed’s family in their loss of a wonderful man and role model.

Bill Messecar
4D Superintendent

Ed Liesse, 2004
News

2024 Spring Meet Report

Written by Anton Faulk
2 Comments

By Bill Messecar, Photos By John Thompson

Weeks of planning between two 4D Board members, Kurt Laidlaw and Bob Kenworthy and the staff at the NW Railroad Museum near Snoqualmie culminated in a day 4D attendees won’t forget. It started with a train ride from the old NP depot at North Bend to the museum in beautiful spring weather. We divided into groups to attend a clinic given by Greg Wright MMR, a tour of the museum Lionel and HO layouts and a behind the scenes visit to the museum restoration shop where we saw several engines/carts being restored. The museum staff also discussed their archives of equipment blueprints and drawings. There were two more opportunities for a layout or shop visit or attend Burr Stewart’s enjoyable clinics on videography of his layout and sage advice on achieving your goals in layout building. Burr has his own YouTube channel so you can check out those great videos.

At noon we then took a 30-minute lunch break to enjoy drinks and a delicious box lunch. Bill Messecar 4D Superintendent led the 4D Annual Meeting where he introduced the 4D Superintendent elect Mike Stepner as well as the current 4D BOD members. After the meeting we had a chance to explore the many museum exhibits and then boarded our train for the return journey to North Bend. To complete a great day of Model Railroading we had the opportunity to see four excellent layouts in the area.

Members wait at the museum for the return trip to the North bend depot after a fun day.
NP Parlor Car undergoing complete restoration in the museum shops.
Weyerhaeuser FM H-12-44 on display at the museum.
NWRailway 4024 Baldwin 4S-RTC ready to pull our train to the museum.

If you were not able to make the spring meet this year—be sure to attend in 2025. It’s a great opportunity to meet local modelers and have a train filled day. This sort of event is one of the many benefits offered for your NMRA membership. Hope to see you next year.

Bill
4D Superintendent

Convention or Meet, News, Northwest Railway Museum, Superintendent’s Message, , ,

2024 G.O.P.H.E.R.S. Meet Succeeds 1000 Times Over!

Written by Anton Faulk
1 Comment

By Jim Sabol

The 16th Annual Greater Olympia Prototype History & Engineering Research Society met at the DuPont Museum on June 1 to inspect equipment from the last narrow gauge railroad in Washington State. 17 modelers and 6 guests heard presentations on the powder plant rail operations from former employee Jim Sabol, a review by Fred Foreman of restoration and renovation efforts by 4D members Russ Segner, Robert Grove, Roger Nulton, Jim and Mary Sabol and friends—especially efforts to save 21′ boxcar 506 used to carry munitions and explosives to the wharf–and Vince Mendenhall’s exciting videos of projects completed by his company, Historic Railway Restoration. Members were wowed by Chip van Gilder’s 3D models of #506 and lined up to buy kits. Jim’s grilled hot dogs failed to poison anyone, Don Melnick’s butterscotch brownies disappeared in a hurry, and the rain held off. When it came to pass the contribution jar as a memorial to our fallen brother member Chuck Ricketts, museum staff Zach Lyday counted $965.00 for 506 restoration. An observant modeler tossed in another $35 to make it an even $1,000.00 contributed by generous and caring Olympia area 4D members. 

Boxcar 506
2024 GOPHERS
Narrow Gauge, Olympia Clinic, Railroad History

Spring Meet Registrations Status Update

Written by Anton Faulk
1 Comment

By Kurt Laidlaw

Confirmed registrations for the Spring Meet on Jun 8th:

Kurt Laidlaw
David Falconer
Michael Donnelly
GregPrice
Dennis Terpstra
EDwin Ives
David Yadock
William Messecar
Dave Enger
Thomas Keyes
Bob Rorabaugh
Russ Segner
Scott Buckley
Greg Wright
Nolan Deardorf
James Younkins
Gregg Arndt
Cole Van Gerpen
Dan Kellogg
Joel Scott
Kimberly Ford
Bob
Robin Peel
Byron Osborn
Bob Kenworthy
Dave Thompson
Lee Marsh
ROBERT BRUCE LOVE
Burr Stewart
George Chambers
scott wiesemann
syd Schofield
John Thompson
Mike stepner
Mark Malmkar
Paul Rising
Bob Staffolrd
Bud Thompson

If you think you have registered for the Spring Meet and don’t see your name, please re-register. There is still plenty of time to register, but most of the shop tour slots have been filled There are only 10 slots left. Now is the time to pull the trigger and register.

For the full schedule and registration details visit the Spring Meet page.

Kurt

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour, Northwest Railway Museum, , ,

Register Today For The June 8 Spring Meet

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Bob Kenworthy

There are still spots available for the 4th Division’s 2024 Spring Meet on June 8th, 2024.  Event Address:  North Bend Depot, 205 E McClellan St, North Bend, WA 98045. Register today!

There is NO parking available at the Northwest Railway Museum.  Registration begins 7:30 AM.  Our special train to the museum leaves at 8:30 AM.

The following link will connect you to the registration form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfu2EpuEj0Te-YxzWX5KiT02uvC8uey41cSfjT7skO4rfPPTQ/viewform?embedded=true

For the full schedule and details visit the Spring Meet page.

Bob

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour, Northwest Railway Museum, , ,

Register Now For 2024 Spring Meet

Written by Anton Faulk
1 Comment

By Bob Kenworthy

There are still spots available for the 4th Division’s 2024 Spring Meet on June 8th, 2024.  Event Address:  North Bend Depot, 205 E McClellan St, North Bend, WA 98045. Register today!

There is NO parking available at the Northwest Railway Museum.  Registration begins 7:30 AM.  Our special train to the museum leaves at 8:30 AM.

The following link will connect you to the registration form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfu2EpuEj0Te-YxzWX5KiT02uvC8uey41cSfjT7skO4rfPPTQ/viewform?embedded=true

The schedule will be:
7:30 to 8:30 am – Registration at the North Bend Depot
8:30 to 9:00 am – Train Ride from North Bend to Museum
9:00 to 9:10 am – Gathering Time
9:10 to 10:00 am – Clinics:

  • 1A – Shop Tour (maximum 12 people)
  • 1B – Clinic in Conference Room, topic TBA
  • 1C – Clinic in Foyer, topic TBA

10:10 to 11:00 am – Clinics:

  • 2A – Shop Tour (maximum 12 people)
  • 2B – Clinic in Conference Room, topic TBA
  • 2C – Introduction to Museum Archives (maximum 10 people)
  • 2D  – New O27 Layout at Museum

11:10 to 12:00 noon – Clinics:

  • 3A – Shop Tour (maximum 12 people)
  • 3B – Clinic in Conference Room, topic TBA
  • 3C – Introduction to Museum Archives (maximum 10 people)

12:00 to 1:00 pm – Lunch and Annual Meeting
1:00 to 1:30 pm – Free Time at the Museum
1:30 to 2:00 pm – Return Train Ride to North Bend
2:00 to 3:00 pm – Travel Time to Layout Open Houses
3:00 to 5:00 pm – Layout Open Houses

Attendance is limited to the first 80 people who register.  Attendees must be NMRA members.  You may attend the 4D PNR Annual Meeting in person during the Spring Meet or by Zoom.  A Zoom link will be sent prior to the annual meeting.

Please Note:  Parking at the Northwest Railway Museum is extremely limited and will not be available to Spring Meet attendees.  Please plan to park near the North Bend Depot.  There is a significant amount of parking available on the south side of the depot and some parking available on the north side of the depot.  The train ride and museum are ADA accessible.  If you need accessibility assistance, please mark the appropriate box when you register.

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour, Northwest Railway Museum, , ,

Grab Iron Email Changes

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Anton Faulk

This week some changes to the Grab Iron emails are being rolled out.

Blog Post Emails (Grab Iron Emails)

  • Blog Post emails (also known as grab iron emails) will be sent once per day provided something was posted that day. If multiple posts are added on the same day there will be one email listing all the posts for the day.
    • Post authors: Please note that if you want your post email to go out on the same day you need to complete your post by 6PM otherwise the email will be sent on the following day.

4D Upcoming Events

  • Do you miss the “WAZZ UP?” emails? Then I have good news for you! A new automated email with subject “4D Upcoming Events” will be sent out every Sunday listing the events for the next 10 days.
    • Clinics organizers: Please find a volunteer from your clinic to keep the 4D calendar up to date with the correct clinic dates and descriptions. Have your volunteer contact gi_editor@4dpnr.com to get the necessary permissions to edit the calendar.

Email Provider Change

  • The underlying system that the 4D website uses to send emails will be changing. This should be a transparent change. But if you notice the emails start going to you junk folder please contact gi_editor@4dpnr.com.
    • The underlying email system is changing to MailChimp so you may notice their logo at the bottom of the emails.

Anton

Grab-Iron, News