The annual Monroe Train Show is February 24th and 25th. The 4D will have three tables to show and sell many items donated to 4D by estates and collections of members and others interested in promoting model railroading.
The 4D had benefited substantially from these sales. I am looking for some help from members to set up the displays and provide help in the sales both Saturday and Sunday. If you can help, please contact me this week to set a time you can help. It will be greatly appreciated.
The great Early Bird convention rate will expire on January 15th, register now to not miss this offer. The 2024 PCR Convention will be hosted by the Coast Division at the Sonesta San Jose Hotel from April 24-28, 2024. The Sonesta is ideally located for great layout tours, prototype visits, and other activities. The hotel has great convention facilities, enabling a vendor and swap meet.
To encourage members to register early, we are offering two prizes in a give-away drawing for all in-person attendees registered by January 15th. Register now so you do not miss out!
Early Bird Give-Away
All PCR 2024 attendees that have registered by midnight on January15th will be eligible for a drawing for two great prizes. Prize 1 – Free Upgrade to a Sonesta Suite for up to 4 Nights This prize will let the winner upgrade their room from the normal $139/night hotel room to a suite. This will be valid for up to four ($) nights during the convention. Win and you can not only sleep in style, but have a party with your friends in your suite! Prize 2 – $50 Gift Certificate This prize is a $50 gift certificate that can be used to purchase any item in in the Vendor, Swap Meet or PCR Consignment Depot. The prize will be in the form of 10 – $5 certificates that can be used with any of the vendors or swap meet sellers.
Hello members of the 4th Division—my name is William Messecar the Superintendent of 4D, and I am planning to attend the 2024 PNR convention next year in Surrey, BC.
The PNR convention Surrey Excursion 2024 is the annual convention of the Pacific Northwest Region of the NMRA. This year the 7th Division of the PNR is hosting the convention in lieu of the Railway Modelers Meet of BC. The Convention will take place May 22nd to 26th, 2024 and will have clinics, layout tours, operating sessions, displays and much more.
The 7th Division is looking for clinicians as speakers at next year’s convention. Marc Simpson is the Clinic Coordinator for the upcoming 2024 Surrey Excursion PNR Regional Convention. They have had an excellent response to their request for clinicians, however they wanted to spread the word that they are looking for clinicians for the program. They are looking for a broad range of topics that will appeal to convention attendees. Whether you are an experienced presenter or a new clinician, it doesn’t matter. All you need is an interesting topic that clinicians are interested in sharing with others.
In addition to the regular clinics, we are looking for people interested in presenting a tabletop clinic. This is a shorter time frame, more hands-on type of presentation for those who don’t want to prepare a full clinic presentation. Any assistance in making the Surrey Excursion clinic program a “can’t miss” event is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact Marc Simpson, his contact information is listed below.
If there’s anyone out there who would like to carpool to Bellingham on Saturday, November the 4th, contact Bob Rorabaugh (Bothell & I-405), at 206-948-9511. The three layouts are:
Dale Bearden/Karl Kleeman, On30, Prototype of Main 2-foot, Alger Church, 1475 Silver Run Lane, Bellingham
BK Blackketter, On30, White Pass, Alaska, 4918 Columbus Av, Bellingham
Alex Coleman, On30, based on Colorado D&RGW (726′ of track, 67 turnouts, two levels), 4357 King Mountain Rd, Bellingham.
I will leave the Canyon Park area of I-405 about 8:30 a.m., and return back to Bothell, ETA, 4:00 p.m. My email is: rorabaugh@msn.com
Well that was a mouthful, forever now to be known as the Kelso show.
This, the fall show, was a one day affair and not our preferred event, spending as much time setting up and tearing down as the actual show itself. Our reasoning for attending this time was to assess the event and the facilities as to whether we might attend their two day show next May.
The show was held in Kelso’s Three Rivers Mall, in the former Macy’s store, providing ample space, lighting and flat and level flooring. The organizers were very helpful and saw to it that we were in need of nothing for the show. To be honest, the show was more of a very good swapmeet than a train show with few layouts but plenty of space for more. The 9 am Saturday opening did not start with a rush but more of a dribble but steadily built up during the morning to form a good crowd. We met members of the public attending this show from as far away as Oregon to the south and Olympia to the north.
For this writer I would give two thumbs up for this show in the future as an opening event to the train show season.
When the Bellingham Railway Museum closed a few years ago, among the items that the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie acquired was a Lionel O gauge layout, which sat unused for some time.
Over the last few years, the 4-D O Gauge Hi-Railers Modular Group (with a modest financial contribution from 4-D) has been helping the Museum get it back into running order. Members of the Group have got all three tracks operational, repaired some of the locomotives and rolling stock that came with the layout, and restored many of the accessories to running order, although sadly it has since suffered from an attack of vandalism.
Members of the Group have also supported the Museum by running the layout on days when the layout is operating. The layout is mostly used by the Museum in conjunction with the Days Out with Thomas that they run several times a year, and Group Members have also provided suitable Lionel “Thomas the Tank Engine” locomotives and cars to run on those occasions.
For the Days Out with Thomas, the train, with Thomas at the front (and a diesel locomotive at the rear), leaves the Snoqualmie Depot, and arrives at the Museum a few minutes later. The families can then go through a number of Thomas-related activities (of which the layout is one), and then return on the next train to the Snoqualmie Depot.
As you can see in the pictures, we had quite a few interested children. Many of them were very knowledgeable about the Thomas stories, and could recognize the locomotives and cars by name. Hopefully some proportion of them will go on to run Thomas models and eventually become railroad modelers. Maybe there are even a few future MMRs amongst them!
