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Clinic Report – East Side Get Together – November 2019

Article & Photos By Syd Schofield

The NMRA/PNR Fourth Division Redmond Clinic for November was held Thursday evening at the Redmond Community Center, Alex Brikoff presiding.  The gathering was brought to order at 7:15 PM.  Notable attendees were introduced and upcoming events of interest were announced.  The Grab-Iron newsletter will furnish schedule and content particulars.

***PLEASE NOTE:

One important announcement was regarding the day change of the Eastside Clinic.  Beginning in JANUARY 2020, the Eastside Clinic will be held on the 3rd WEDNESDAY of every month at least until June.  The meeting room and start time will remain the same.

Model of the Month was by Dan Kellog.  He showed an HO scale diorama of the Chittiden Locks railroad bridge that will be used on his layout.  John Paschal showed three photos of steam locomotives at the East Broad Top Railroad repository/storage facility for Photo(s) of the Month. 

Model of the Month – Dan Kellog’s diorama of BNSF bridge no. 4
Photo of the Month – John Paschal’s photos of East Broad Top Railroad repository

The evening’s clinic was by Russ Segner.  He presented an excellent clinic on the basics of model railroad scenery.  He discussed scenery design and considerations of technique based on his Sn3 home layout.

“Basic Scenery Techniques: Theory and Practice” presented by Russ Segner

The winners of the Model of the Month and Photo of the Month were the first to select from many great door prizes that were available that evening.  The remainder were dispersed with the usual blind jar drawings, manned by Anton Faulk.

C. J. Turner was kind enough to once again provide our refreshments.

The December gathering will be the yearly tradition “Dirty Santa” gift exchange.  Everyone is encouraged to bring a railroad-related, identified by scale (if applicable) and unidentified on the wrapper.  The random pick drawing is for these items of approximately $10 in value.  The somewhat complicated and resultant, occasionally gentle chiding process will be explained at the meeting.  Side negotiations for redistribution are permitted.  

The meeting concluded by 9:15.

Syd Schofield

Maple Valley Show

By Russ Segner

Several of our 4D Modular Groups recently participated in the Maple Valley Train Show. Thanks to John Schmidt of Covington for sharing a video he made while at the Maple Valley Show. Here is the video:

This is an example of what will be seen at the upcoming show at MOHAI over Thanksgiving weekend. Our Hi-Rail, HO and N-Trak groups will be there. Tom Stevenson will have his wooden “Brio” like trains and several small displays will also be there. If you are not already involved with one of our modular groups, here is a chance to get involved and run some trains.

We will be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Let me or Ed Ives know if you will join in and help. How about a four hour shift?

Russ – 206 200 2211 russseg@gmail.com
Ed Ives – 425 391 3313 gresley7@gmail.com

Upcoming Clinic – Eastside Get Together, Thursday 11/21

By Alex Brikoff

The November 2019 Eastside Get Together Clinic will have its monthly meeting on November 21, 2019.

The Clinic will meet at the:
Redmond Community Center at Marymoor Village
6505 176TH AVE NE, Rm. 202
REDMOND WA 98052-4930

Doors open at 7:00 PM and meeting starts promptly at 7:15 PM

Besides bringing everyone up to date on the noteworthy model railroad and railfan events coming up, we’ll also be announcing some major changes coming to our clinic after the first of the year. You’ll definitely want to make note of those changes! We’ll also have our Model of the Month contest and Rail Photo of the Month contest. So, please bring your models and photos for the contests! Winners will have first choice of many fine items from our Door Prize table.

This month’s clinic will be presented by Russ Segner and will be the first of our new “Back to Basics Clinic Series”. Russ’ clinic will be entitled “Basic Scenery Techniques: Theory and Practice”. Russ will present his thoughts and ideas about basic scenery techniques which will include “geo-forming” hills, rock cliffs, creeks and other water features followed by how he installs ground cover, ballasting, shrubs and trees. He will then actually demonstrate these ideas and techniques on a small module that he has been working on.

We will have refreshments and snacks available as always. We’ll also have a great selection of Door Prizes to give away at the end of the clinic.

See you there!!

Alex Brikoff

Continued Generosity of Spirit at the Tacoma Clinic

By Kurt Laidlaw

For the ninth year in a row the Tacoma Clinic donated to the Emergency Food Network at the November meeting. Leo Scafturon, who has run the donation program from its beginning, presented a check for $1,300.00 to the Executive Director. That equals 6,500 meals for Pierce County residents in need.

Emergency Food Network provides 13.9 million pounds of healthy, nutritious food annually to 76 food pantries, meal sites, and shelters for distribution to families and individuals in need. There are 1.3 million visits to food pantries and meal sites in Pierce County each year – and 56% of these visits are children and seniors! Emergency Food Network makes sure these hungry families and individuals receive the nutritious food they need to stay healthy.

Thank you to all the participants at the Tacoma Clinic for your continued generosity.

Kurt Laidlaw
President, Pacific Northwest Region, NMRA

MOHAI Volunteers

By Ed Ives

I have learnt over the years that things just do not happen without volunteers, be it the PTA, Boy Scouts, junior Baseball or commercial operations such as Boeing. They, Boeing, need volunteers in order to conduct the evacuation testing and certification of a new airplane. So for us, the 4th Division, we must have volunteers to man the events such as the Spring Meet, the Science Center show, the MOHAI show and others or they just DO NOT happen.

We need your help at the MOHAI show during the Thanksgiving weekend with the equivalent of a minimum of six persons all day for each day of the three day show. So far I have but three volunteers for part of one day each. Part of a day volunteering is great but I need a lot more of you doing just that.

So what would a volunteer be asked to do?

We have a number of owner operator displays where the operator will need some relief from time to time during the day. You could be attending temporarily to the BRIO display or the switching display or running a train on a small seasonal display. You will be selling nothing, just keeping trains off the floor and engaging in light hearted conversation with the public.

Volunteer by writing to Ed Ives Gresley7@gmail.com

Puget Sound HOn3 Module Group

By Syd Schofield

The Puget Sound HOn3 Modular Group is underway with the first two modules being constructed. The theme for those two modules is the Newcastle coal mine-to-Lake Washington connection. These are being built by Russ Segner and John Paschal. Interfacing modules may have other themes as determined by their builders.

Matching track locations for other modules have yet to be determined and may take some coordination. Russ and John have taken the lead on the module design, so the general specification may be strongly, yet not finally determined by their efforts.

A proposed specification, subject to close scrutiny, slings and arrows, is available upon request from the undersigned.

As Interim focal and contact, I can collect comments from all interested parties at:

sydsg@gmail.com
(425) 235-4911 home
(425) 523-4685 cell

Syd Schofield

Clinic Report – East Side Get Together – October 2019

Article & Photos By Syd Schofield

The National Model Railroad Association Fourth Division of the Pacific Northwest Region (4d PNR NMRA) Eastside Get Together Clinic for October was held Thursday evening at the Redmond Community Center, Alex Brikoff presiding.  The gathering was brought to order and the program began at 7:15 PM.  At that time, notable attendees were introduced and upcoming events of interest were announced.  The Grab-Iron newsletter will furnish event times, schedules and other event details.

For the model of the month, Chris Cooney showed several HO scale buildings to be used on his HOn3 layout. 

Chris Cooney’s model of the month winner

Syd Schofield had a photo of #478, the narrow-gauge steam locomotive, one of three ALCO K-28 type on the Durango and Silverton railroad, the prototype of an On3 model he showed earlier this year.  Bob Rorabaugh showed a model tree typical of the massive trees brought down in the early lumber harvest in the Sierras and Cascades.

Syd Schofield’s photo of the ALCO K-28 on the Durango and Silverton railroad

George Chambers presented pictures and stories of his summer trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, and the Alaska Railroad.

Bob Stafford showed pictures of his recent Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive excursion from Cheyenne, where it was restored, to Ogden for the 150th Trans-Continental railroad Golden Spike anniversary.  There was a huge gathering along the entire way and massive attendance at the Promontory Point Historical Site. 

First choice door prize selection model of the month and photo of the month.  The remainder were dispersed by the usual drawing method, manned by Anton Faulk.

C. J. Turner was kind enough to once again provide our refreshments.

Syd Schofield

Skagit Valley Children’s Museum

By James Harvey

The Skagit Valley Children’s Museum located in the Burlington Outlet Mall (Old Bass store) is building a hanging G Scale model railroad with over 700 feet of track as an interactive display. The main layout is suspended 9 feet high due to the other museum structures. There will be false building fronts and wall murals depicting that area of the layout, farm land, city, industrial etc. The trains will be controlled by push buttons and the kids will be able to view the trains from cameras inside the cabs. A lot of items have already been donated for this project and grants from BNSF have been given. This project is ready to begin. We need volunteers to build this layout. If you work with wood, wiring, landscaping and painting, we need you. Click here to see the drawing of the layout. If you would like to participate in this project, please contact me.

James Harvey
(360) 914-7714
James.c.harvey@comcast.net

Upcoming Clinic – Eastside Get Together, Thursday 10/17

By Alex Brikoff

The October 2019 Eastside Get Together Clinic will have its monthly meeting on October 17, 2019.

The Clinic will meet at the:
Redmond Community Center at Marymoor Village
6505 176TH AVE NE, Rm. 202
REDMOND WA 98052-4930

Doors open at 7:00 PM and meeting starts promptly at 7:15 PM

We will bring everyone up to date on the noteworthy model railroad and railfan events coming up in the area for the fall months ahead. We’ll also have our Model of the Month contest and Rail Photo of the Month contest. So, please bring your models and photos for the contests! Winners will have first choice of many fine items from our Door Prize table.

This month’s clinic will be a “twofer”. The first portion will be devoted to George Chambers and the conclusion of his presentation about his trip on the “White Pass and Yukon Railway” this past summer. The next portion of the clinic, titled “U. P. Memories”, will be a personal retrospective of somewhat recent Union Pacific history and operations presented by Bob Stafford. It will be a combination of slides and digital photos of UP operations in the western United States. This special presentation will be highlighted by photos of Bob’s chase of the UP 4014 across Wyoming to Ogden, UT this past spring.

We will have refreshments and snacks available as always. We’ll also have a great selection of Door Prizes to give away at the end of the clinic.

See you there!!

Alex Brikoff