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Clinic Report – June East Side Get Together

By Syd Schofield

NMRA, 4th Division, Pacific Northwest Region, East Side Get-Together on 6/20/2019

The Thursday gathering officially started around 7:15, Alex Brikoff, presiding.  Notable attendees were introduced and upcoming events of interest were announced.

The presentation for the evening was by Dan Kellogg based on his experience with the BNSF Northwest Division.  He had a slide show of his N-scale three-tier shelf layout.  The spare(d) 10×10 home bedroom was configured for minimal disruption in consideration of future restoration.  The layout was built on a lightweight modular design with that in mind.  Dan showed the work-in-progress of the layout with one level, the downtown Seattle area, almost complete.     

Dan Kellogg Introduces his Clinic
Clinic Attendees

The model-of-the-month was awarded to J. J. Johnston for his multi-story apartment building.  Photo(s)-of-the-month was given to Syd Schofield for his pictures of the restored and operating Virginia and Truckee Railroad McKeen motor car in Carson City.

The meeting concluded with the door prize drawings with the MOTM and the POTM winners getting first choices.

The regular 4th Thursday of the month meetings will resume in September after the usual summer break of July and August.  The summer railroad-related pictures and stories will then be presented and discussed.

Syd

Upcoming Clinic – East Side Get Together – June 20

By Alex Brikoff

The June 2019 Eastside Get Together Clinic will meet on June 20, 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 be making announcements about rail events that will be occurring in the next month and during the summer months.   We will also have our Model of the Month and Rail Photo of the Month contest.  Don’t pass up this opportunity to show off your modeling and photography skills!  Bring your latest scratchbuilts, kit bashes or plain cool looking models to compete with your fellow modelers for the coveted Model of the Month award.  Also, be sure and bring photos from your latest railfan trip!  Anyone go to Wyoming or Utah for the inaugural run of the UP 4014 to Transcon 150?  Remember, if it’s on rail and you have a photo of it, you’re good to go!!

This month’s Clinic will be: “Modeling the BNSF Northwest Division in N-Scale”.  Dan Kellogg will be here to present his clinic that shows how he is building an N-scale layout based upon the modern operations of the BNSF from Seattle to Bellingham and up to the Cascade Tunnel on Stevens Pass.  The layout will be a three level shelf layout connected by a helix.  The clinic will provide an orientation to the layout plan and update on progress to date.  The clinic will also feature the actual three-level fabricated aluminum swing-gate that will soon be installed in the layout room to allow access to the room, while still affording continuous model train operation on all three levels of the layout. 

We will have door prizes, refreshments and snacks available as always.  Alex Brikoff

North End Clinic’s Annual Home Layout Tour – June 6th

By Lisa Murray

This Thursday, June 6, will be the NMRA 4th division’s north end clinic’s annual home layout tour.

We are pleased to announce that there will be 3 amazing layouts on our tour this year. While it *may* involve a bit of extra driving on your part, it will be worth it.

The tour starts at 7:00pm at the Swamp Creek and Western layout which is located at the Edmonds Amtrak station. They have been gracious to be open and operate trains for us. If you haven’t seen this HO scale layout, you will be impressed at the level of detail of many of the scratch built structures. 
Swamp Creek will be open from 7:00 to 9:00pm.

Here is a link for more information about Swamp Creek:  http://scwrra.org
Maps and information for the other tour stops at the Swamp Creek location. The other two layouts on the tour are open from 7:00pm to 10:00pm. Here is information about the layouts, which are both located south of Edmonds:

  • The first is Burr Stewart’s Burrlington Railroad HO layout. Many of you have visited Burr’s layout before, but as train layouts are always a work in progress, there is always something new to see when you visit.  Here’s a link to Burr’s blog about his layout:  http://burrlingtonnorthern.blogspot.com

These tours are open to NMRA members and a guest. If possible, please RSVP to Lisa Murray at mattinata@outlook.com or 206.310.6778 so we can get a sense of how many will be attending. 

Upcoming Clinic – East Side Get Together – May 16

By Alex Brikoff

The May 2019 Eastside Get Together Clinic will meet on May 16, 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 be making announcements about rail events that will be occurring in the next month and during the summer months.   We will also have our Model of the Month and Rail Photo of the Month contest.  Don’t pass up this opportunity to show off your modeling and photography skills!  Bring your latest scratchbuilts, kit bashes or plain cool looking models to compete with your fellow modelers for the coveted Model of the Month award.  Also, be sure and bring photos from your latest railfan trip!  Anyone go to Wyoming or Utah for the inaugural run of the UP 4014 to Transcon 150?  Remember, if it’s on rail and you have a photo of it, you’re good to go!!

Bob Rorabaugh will also have the “Buy ‘n Sell” table available during the evening.   So if you’ve got anything model railroad related you’d like to find a new home for, contact Bob and he’ll help you do that.

This month’s Clinic Topic will be: “Building Super Elevation into Trackwork”.  Robin Peel will be here to present his clinic that shows the techniques and methods that Robin uses to build super elevation into his track work to improve appearance and performance.

We will have door prizes, refreshments and snacks available as always. 

Alex Brikoff

Clinic Report – April East Side Get Together

By Alex Brikoff

The April gathering of the Eastside Get Together Clinic at the Redmond Community Center was started promptly at 7:15 PM Thursday evening by Alex Brikoff.  VIPs in attendance (4D PNR Officers and Master Model Railroaders and new attendees) were introduced.   

Some of the significant gatherings and conventions coming up this spring and summer are:

Kootenay Express, PNR Regional Convention, May 29 – June 2, 2019 in Cranbrook, BC

4th Division Annual Spring Meet, June 22 at TCC Science Building (Tacoma Community College) from 9 AM to 4 PM

NMRA National Convention, July 7 – 13, 2019 in Salt Lake City, UT

National Narrow Gauge Convention, September 4-7, 2019 in Sacramento, CA

Bob Rorabaugh brought several estate sale model railroad items for adoption at the “Mart Table”.  He also mentioned that the “Mart Table” will be open at every Eastside Clinic going forward.  If you have something you’d like to sell or, possibly trade to contact Bob at the clinic for more information.

The evening’s clinic was a given by local model railroad craftsman, John Paschal, on “Building and Detailing Specific Scenes”.  John presented some of his acquired knowledge of researching and modeling specific scenes from prototype information.  He presented slides to demonstrate the more critical aspects of gleaning information from historical documents, photos and maps to accurately reproduce railroad-related scenes as is practically possible. 

Mitch Schoonejans and John Owens each displayed several railroad photos.  Photographer and author, Alex Brikoff, brought in a copy of his published book on photographs of Kansas.

Model of the Month was awarded to John Paschal for his HO scale early 20th-century wood frame store. 

The next Eastside Get Together Clinic will be on May 16, 2019.  Don’t forget to check the 4th Division Grab Iron at https://www.4dpnr.com for more details!  

Alex

Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society Meeting Saturday March 30th

By David Yadock

Yes, this year starts off with celebrating the 165th anniversary of the Pennsy Horseshoe Curve!  At the time this was an engineering marvel and is still in operation today allowing freight to quickly move across the mountains of Pennsylvania.  The meeting is held at the Northwest Railroad Archives building in Burien.  The Archives location is at 425 SW 153rd Street in Burien.  The meeting will be held on Saturday March 30th and starts at 12:30 PM.

Al Baker will do the honors of presenting a condensed version of the History of the Pennsylvania Railroad from the perspective of an Altoona native.  This is the presentation he gave at the 50th annual meeting of the PRRT&HS last year.  He will also provide videos of the Horseshoe Curve as it was when he was in high school.  This presentation was well received at the Annual meeting and should provide a wealth of information about the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Horseshoe Curve, and the local Altoona area.

Mike Bergman will be bringing several books to the meeting.  These will all be for sale.  If you want books about the PRR, NYC, EL, B&O, or LV now is the time to get them.  The proceeds will go to the National Railway Historical Society.     

As always, everyone is invited to attend.  There is no cost to come to the meeting.  The meeting goes to about 5 PM.  After the meeting there is a no-host casual dinner across the street at Vince’s.

Upcoming Clinic – East Side Get Together – March 21

By Alex Brikoff

The March 2019 Eastside Get Together Clinic will meet on March 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

We will begin by mentioning any noteworthy, upcoming model railroad and railfan events in the area.  We will also have our Model of the Month and Rail Photo of the Month contest.    

Bob Rorabaugh will also have the “Buy ‘n Sell” table available during the evening.   So if you’ve got anything model railroad related you’d like to find a new home for, contact Bob and he’ll help you do that.

This month’s Clinic topic will be our much anticipated: “Eastside Get Together Mini Clinic Event”.  There will be four of us presenting six mini clinics on various model railroading topics.  These mini clinics are designed to give you a glimpse into some of our favorite modeling techniques.  Although they may be just quick techniques, it is still something that is useful to share with our fellow modelers.

Syd Schofield Wheels and Rails at the Interface  A close-up explanation of how rail and wheels interact with each other at point of contact.
Syd Schofield Rock Casting Tools and Materials Tools and materials needed for creating rock castings.
Syd Schofield Track Guard Rails Turnouts and Crossings Bridges, Tunnels and Trestles
Russ Segner Layout Design Designing layouts for operation
JJ Johnston Easy Roof Shingling Overview, tools and technique
CJ Turner Using Acrylic Paint Overview, preparation and use

We will have door prizes, refreshments and snacks available as always. 

Alex Brikoff

Venue Change – March 14 Mount Vernon Clinic

By Al Carter

For this month’s clinic, we are unable to meet at our usual location due to circumstances beyond our control. Fortunately we have found an alternate location – a room in the Burlington Public Library.  Here are the directions:

Burlington Public Library
820 E Washington Ave.
Burlington, WA 98233

Highway 20 to Fairhaven Avenue,
East on Fairhaven Avenue (past Suzy’s old hobby shop),
Right on
Anacortes,
Left on East Washington Avenue

Enter through the front doors, conference rooms are off the lobby.  We are in the Skagit River Side room.

REMINDER! 4D Election Nominations close March 1st

By Kevin Klettke

Three positions will be on the ballot:
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT and two DIRECTORS.

The duties of these positions are as follows:
The ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT shall perform all duties assigned by the Superintendent and serve in the Superintendent’s absence.

DIRECTOR. Serve as the direct representative of the members. Act in the best interest of the members in the management of the Division.

The Board of Directors currently meets 6 times a year, generally in the area of Tukwila or Kent. The meetings usually last for about two hours.

This is a great opportunity to serve the 4th Division and at the same time, earn points for you Volunteer Certificate in the NMRA Achievement Program.

If you or someone you know is interested and willing to serve, please contact one of the Nominating Committee members:

Kevin Klettke   wnrr@comcast.net
Burr Stewart   burr.stewart@gmail.com
Ted Becker   rail.bird@att.net

Names must be received and certified as eligible prior to March 1, 2019.

If you have questions, please refer to the Members Section in the 4D website titled: By-Laws and Executive Handbook

Kevin

Clinic Report – East Side Get Together – February

By Syd Schofield

East Side Get Together Clinic Report, February 21, 2019

The February gathering of the East Side Get Together Clinic at the Redmond Community Center was started promptly at 7:10 PM Thursday evening by Alex Brikoff.  VIPs in attendance (4D PNR Officers and Master Model Railroaders and new attendees) were introduced.   

Clinic Introduction

Some of the significant gatherings and conventions coming up this spring and summer are:

28th Annual United Northwest Washington State Train Show (Monroe Show)February 23 & 24, 2019

Sn3 Symposium, April 4 – 6, 2019 at Bellevue Sheraton, Bellevue, WA

Kootenay Express, PNR Regional Convention, May 29 – June 2, 2019 in Cranbrook, BC

4th Division Annual Spring Meet, June 22 at TCC Science Building (Tacoma Community College) from 9 AM to 4 PM

NMRA National Convention, July 7 – 13, 2019 in Salt Lake City, UT

National Narrow Gauge Convention, September 4-7, 2019 in Sacramento, CA

Russ Segner brought several copies of a local early railroad publication assembled by the Northwest Railroad Archives staff.  Copies of the very professionally done book was for sale at $20 and contained very detailed descriptions and illustrations of the Seattle and southeast King County area’s formative years of railroad activity.  Bob Rorabaugh brought several estate sale model railroad items for adoption.  He also noted the application of desktop computer keyboard boxes as storage containers for HO-size rolling stock.  He passed out some free samples of these as well.

The evening’s clinic was a given by local model railroad craftsman, Paul Vaughn, on scratch building a Gauntlet Track.  Paul bestowed his acquired knowledge of scratch building these very unique turnouts without using Fast Track jigs.  He presented slides as well as several colorful large teaching aids to demonstrate the more critical aspects of the necessary turnout construction accuracy based on NMRA Standards.

Paul Vaughn’s Informative Displays And Presentation

Model of the Month was awarded to William Alexander for his two “A” F-unit Spokane, Portland and Seattle HO scale diesel locomotives.   

The next meeting will be on March 21, 2019.  Don’t forget that our next clinic will be the much publicized Mini Clinic Event!  Stay tuned for more details!  

Syd