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NWRM Railway Education Center Dedication on Sat Oct 8

Peggy Barchi, Marketing/Events Manager

The dedication for the Northwest Railway Museum’s new Railway Education Center building is Saturday, October 8. The ribbon cutting will be held in conjunction with the 11:00 AM train excursion. This train will take guests to the dedication ceremony on the Railway History Campus, and following tours of the new building and the Train Shed Exhibit Building, passengers will ride to the top of Snoqualmie Falls before returning to the historic Snoqualmie Depot. During the special dedication train, guests will enjoy music by members of local band “Tinkham Road.” Light refreshments will be served as well. Passengers riding during other train ride times on October 8 will also have an opportunity to visit the new building.

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Pacific Northwestern Railway – Abandonment of the Line

Steve Haas

Update – Sat, Oct 8:

A big “Thank You!!” to those that helped with dismantling of Tom Enloe’s Pacific Northwestern today. Significant progress was made!

However … we still have a long time to go with the dismantling of the layout.

We are fortunate (thank you Tom!) that an individual with a 40’ trailer has stepped forward to haul away as much as can be salvaged, for potential future use in any number of future layouts! Any and all salvageable segments of track, scenery, bench work, etc. are being loaded into this trailer.

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Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic September 2016 Report, What I Did This Summer

Article by Rich Thom, Photos by Rich Thom & Jon Wilbert

Fig 1 – A Bigger than Usual Swap Meet - Tom Hawkins, Dick Haines and Curt Johnson (l. to r.) Look Over Offerings

Fig 1 – A Bigger than Usual Swap Meet – Tom Hawkins, Dick Haines and Curt Johnson (l. to r.) Look Over Offerings

The Skagit Valley & Whidbey NMRA Clinic got off to a great start for the season with 27 hobbyists filling our meeting room at the Oak Harbor Summerhill facility. Clinic Chair Rich Blake welcomed guests Frankie Bott and Chris Malmkar (spouse of new member Mark Malmkar) and we hope to see both again at our upcoming clinics this year. Rich reviewed some of the highlights of the short summer break: our annual BBQ hosted by John Marshall in Coupeville and op session on John’s ever-growing G-scale empire; our private tour of Nick Muff’s phenomenal layout in Sedro Wooley, organized by Susan Gonzales; and last (but not least) – Tom Hawkins earning his NMRA Golden Spike Award for his Port Thomas & Southern HO layout in Anacortes. (Click here to view the May 2016 Grab Iron post on Tom’s layout.) Rich encouraged new people to take up some of the clinic’s tasks, one in particular to be responsible for the drinks and snacks, which have been faithfully supplied by Phil and Susan Gonzales for several years. Thanks go to Cliff and Sue Aaker for volunteering to take over this role to prevent our members from starving, although few show any symptoms of it.

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Eastside Get Together North Branch (Redmond) Clinic Report, September 2016

Syd Schofield

4th Division, Eastside Get Together North Branch (Redmond) Clinic, September 15, 2016

David Cook brought the Eastside Get-Together Clinic for September 15, 2016 to order in the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center.

Russ Segner welcoming Richard Anderson, director of the Northwest Railway Museum, to the September 2016 Redmond Clinic.

Russ Segner welcoming Richard Anderson, director of the Northwest Railway Museum, to the September 2016 Redmond Clinic.

There were two “bring-and-brag, models of the month” displayed – a very small but nicely done and appointed house and a heavily enhanced vista dome passenger car.

A number of railroad books were made available as the result of an estate sale and several technical railroad historical documents were presented as door prizes.

Russ Segner presented Richard Anderson, director of the Northwest (Snoqualmie) Railroad Museum, who gave a slide show of the museum history and happenings as well as an overview of the museum plans and efforts.

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Hi-Railer Report for Lynden Model Train Show

Ed Ives

Overall the 4th Division O Gauge Hi-Rail Modular Group had a successful showing this last weekend (Oct 1st and 2nd) at the Lynden Model Train Show, my personal favorite of the year. Setup took the usual 7 hours but was aided by an early start of noon on Friday. We had but one glitch – an electrical cross-over that took a while to trace down – but eagle eyed Wayne found the issue, an air gap that had closed. We really ought to replace these gaps with hard insulators to stop this re-occurrence, perhaps a topic of a work program next summer. Success, no trains on the floor.

A new member, Gordon, a fellow Brit, paid us a visit with his London and South Western 0-4-4T locomotive and train, a vintage look but a modern train. We hope Gordon will become a regular attendee at the train shows.

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Pennsy Technical & Historical Society Oct 15 Meeting is Canceled!

David Yadock

The Oct 15th Meeting is Canceled!

Due to bad weather conditions expected for Saturday October 15th the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society meeting is canceled. Many members travel quite a distance to get to meetings and the bad weather will make it difficult for them to attend. The next meeting is expected to be in April 2017.

Original post:

The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society (Pacific Northwest Chapter) will meet Saturday, October 15th at 12:30 PM at the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive in Burien. Click here to see event information, including a map to the PNRA. We end around 5 PM. For those that want to go to dinner after the meeting we usually go to either Vince’s or Angelo’s restaurant. All are invited.

Anyone who is interested in the Pennsylvania Railroad or would like to learn more about the Pennsy, please come. If there are any questions please contact Jim Trunzo at jetrunzo@gmail.com.

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Eastside Get Together South (Renton) Clinic Report for September – 3D Printing by Chip Van Gilder

Cliff Green, Photos by Cliff and Russ Segner

It was a dark and stormy night, September 29th, 2016.

Chip Van Gilder at the Renton Clinic giving a 3D modeling and printing presentation. (Photo by Russ Segner)

Chip Van Gilder at the Renton Clinic giving a 3D modeling and printing presentation. (Photo by Russ Segner)

Actually it was a very pleasant evening, not dark and stormy, and I enjoyed seeing the brand new Renton Highlands Library (opened in 2016) for the first time. The library facility is big and bright and comfortable, although the Renton clinic organizers are looking for a permanent home outside of the library system (the KCLS meeting rooms can only be booked a couple of months in advance and are in heavy demand).

I joined nine other clinic attendees, settling in for a fine presentation by Chip Van Gilder on “3D Printing”.

Click here to read an overview of what 3D design and printing is about.

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Olympia Clinic on Oct 14, Chuck Ricketts On Using Computers to Build Paper Structures

Greg Wright

On October 14 at the Olympia Clinic Chuck Ricketts will be presenting: Using Computers to Build Paper Structures.

Chuck received an American Flyer electric train on his first birthday. He was running it himself by age three and received a Lionel train at the end of WWII. A few years later, he switched to HO scale. Over the years, he modeled in HO, N and HOn3. Since 2006, he has been in On30 and started his current home layout in Washington in 2007. He recently achieved the NMRA Master Model Railroader status (MMR number 562). His railroad, the Sherwood, Shelton and Sarazen, has been viewed by people from all over the world who attended the National Narrow Gauge Convention in 2012.

(Editor’s note: A photo of the wharf scene on Chuck’s layout is the first layout image on the 4D web site. Click here to see a previous Grab Iron post about operating on the Sherwood, Shelton and Sarazen.)

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Pacific Science Center Model Train Show Volunteers Needed, New Background Check

David Yadock

Notice!

To all volunteers that want to participate in the Pacific Science Center Model Train Show, the Pacific Science Center (PSC) is now requiring a background check for all volunteers. They will conduct the background check. This will require volunteers to provide a minimal amount of information to the PSC: full name, birthdate, and gender. It is easier for volunteers to provide that information prior to arriving at the PSC train show (see below). This will insure a fast and easy check-in when arriving at the PSC. I know this may be another hurdle for folks volunteering at the PSC train show but we must work together with the PSC staff to provide a safe show. Thank you.


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A Narrower View – Our Own Miniature World

Syd Schofield

Editors note: Welcome to the 15th article of a series on narrow gauge by Syd Schofield. In this article Syd writes about his personal interests and motivations for narrow gauge modeling. The previous article is available by clicking here, or by filtering with the category “Narrow Gauge”. Syd welcomes discussions and feedback, which can be made by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of the post.

Most of the model train hobbyists have a fascination, however slight, with the quest for travel across the great land masses. The motion from here to there and the machinery necessary to make that happen has been an interest as well as a necessity. Since man has wanted an improvement over foot sore, then animal-powered travel, he has looked at any and all machines for answers. The earliest means of movement across land sought a more level, firm, and direct path and the last one or two hundred years of progress in this effort find some interesting mechanical answers.

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