Author: Jeff Moorman

By Jeff Moorman

Join us on Thursday (May 2) for our next clinic. Our topic will be railroading in the 1930s.

Last month Tom K regaled us with a nice presentation on the Railway Express Agency (REA). Probably the overview of this organization is the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia article on the same:

The Railway Express Agency (REA) was a national monopoly set up by the United States federal government in 1917. Rail express services provided small package and parcel transportation using the extant railroad infrastructure much as UPS functions today using the road system. The United States government was concerned about the rapid, safe movement of parcels, money, and goods during World War I and REA was its solution to this problem. REA ceased operations in 1975, when its business model ceased to be viable due to the construction of the interstate highway system making the UPS business model cost less to the customers.

Tom’s father had worked for the REA for 35 years and Tom had lots of anecdotes with which to punctuate the discussion. There were railway-related express delivery companies in the U.S. back as 1839. And they flourished through the second half of the 19^th century. By 1900 there were 4 principal such companies, three of which were consolidated into the government-run REA in 1917.

In 1927 the REA began an air express division and in 1929 the REA was purchased back from the government by a group of 86 railroads who owned it in proportion to their express traffic volume.

Often REA offices were co-located in depots/stations, but large cities had their own buildings. The REA office (warehouse, really) in Seattle was located SW of the King Street station. It was torn down to make room for the King Dome. It would have been in the east end of the north parking lot.

Tom could remember going there with his Dad. He can also remember his Dad sneaking him aboard a train or two where REA crews would sort packages between stations, much as the Postal crews did in their mail cars.

At its peak the REA had 45,000 employees and some 30,000 offices. It was said that during WWII the REA had the largest truck fleet in the United Sates. It was quite a large organization.

Remember, if you are modeling a period before about 1970, don’t forget to include the presence of the REA.

Thanks, Tom, for an entertaining and informational program.

Just two folks brought stuff for show and tell:

• Bobj had a Milwaukee diesel, hopper, and caboose which he had used to practice his chalk weathering skills.
• Tom K provided several pieces of REA memorabilia, including a nice HO delivery truck.

Bobj’s Weathered Train

REA Memorabilia

REA Truck Model

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA, on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing Deseret. The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings, enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour and we’ll talk about that on Thursday. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is May 2. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Join us on Thursday (April 4) for our next clinic. Our topic will be the Railway Express Agency (REA). Tom K, whose father was a long time REA employee, will be our presenter.

Last month we took a video cab ride over Donner Pass in Southern Pacific Cab Forward #4274. The video was edited together from several different films shot during the last cab forward run over the pass in November 1957. You sure do get a great view looking out from the front of one of those engines. And there was some great scenery to look at. Also great were some super shots of #4274 and her train.

There were three folks displaying for show and tell:

• Dennis T brought a couple of N scale ore cars and a N scale Doodlebug into which he had installed a DCC decoder.
• I brought some photos of a 12 inches to the foot scale Colorado & Southern caboose I saw in Washougal, WA over Presidents’ Day weekend.
• Rob J displayed more of his seemingly inexhaustible collection of N scale resin vehicles.

Dennis T’s Ore Cars and Doodlebug – March 2013

Jeff’s Caboose Photos

More of Rob J’s N Scale Vehicles

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is April 4 and the one after that is May 2. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

Jeff Moorman

Please come join us on this Thursday, March 7, for our next clinic. Via the magic of video, we’ll be riding aboard Southern Pacific Cab Forward 4274 during its last run over Donner Pass on November 30, 1957.

Last month, our topic was using photography to improve your modeling. This wasn’t about photo backdrops, or creating building plans from photos, or using photo cutouts to mimic 3-D scenery. It was about the value of taking simple snapshots of your layout or individual models and studying them.

A photo stops time. When looking at a photo your brain is not distracted by what surrounds the scene, or is coming into view, or has just left the field of view. You have the opportunity to study the scene at your leisure.

During the clinic we slowly ran through about a dozen layout pictures Jeff took at the recent Pacific Science Center and Monroe Train Shows. So if you were an exhibitor at these shows, and your ears were burning the evening of February 7, it may have been because we were talking about your modeling.

Comments ran the gamut from very positive to “this looks like it could be improved.”  We have some very fine modelers here in the Fourth Division. It is amazing how well their work stands up to the rigors of constant exhibiting – set up, tear down, store, set up, tear down, store, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So, not only is there some excellent craftsmanship, it is sturdy craftsmanship as well.

The only real criteria used for evaluating the modeling was whether or not it looked realistic, regardless of any special themes or the intended audience. Most of the items that caught the clinic attendee’s attention fell into one of three categories: (1) contrast of weathered versus shiny; (2) too sterile of an environment; and (3) unrealistic scenery.

There were several instances of a group of buildings where all but one or two were weathered. But those un-weathered structures stuck out like sore thumbs. Also we saw some examples of weathered sidewalls with very clean roofs. Nature seems to weather most buildings in the same locale uniformly. There were also cases of construction or mining scenes where some of the equipment was dirty and some pristine.

In one photo there was a little town at the edge of the layout. All the buildings were nicely modeled and uniformly weathered, the roads looked realistic, but there were no signs of habitation. There were no figures, no vehicles, no stray dogs, no trash barrels, or any other sign of life. The physical town was very well done, so it was a shame to see it just sitting there like an unused movie set. Similarly there were a couple of photos of industrial scenes with no trash, or clutter, or spare parts, or anything piled outside of the buildings. That doesn’t line up with what you see in the prototype world.

Most of the scenery issues were related to blending the ground into the backdrop. A 90 degree corner just doesn’t seem to cut it, particularly when the color hues do not match. Even background flats do not work well when you can see that 90 degree corner between the buildings, There was an example of a very nice forest scene, but as you approached you could see that all the trees were the same color and same shape, and were constructed in exactly the same way. And occasionally items in the photos just didn’t go together, like a beautifully modeled rocky hillside right next to a grove of plastic, toy trees.

Lastly, we found one of those classic model railroad situations where there was a bridge with no supporting pier.

The above makes it sound like there were all sorts of modeling issues. While there were certainly some opportunities for improvement, there was lots of nicely done work as well. So take a picture of your modeling and study the results. You might be surprised at what you find. And at what you might be able to improve.

Dennis T brought an N Scale Olympia Beer plug door refrigerator car to Show and Tell. It was pretty although no one was quite sure a prototype ever existed. BobJ brought some TT scale equipment he had just acquired. TT is 1:120 (one tenth inch to the foot) and had a fair following in the States before N scale became so popular. It still has practitioners, primarily in Europe.

To my eyes these TT cars looked just like HO scale models from the 50’s, albeit a little smaller. There was a coupler type I had never seen before, but other items were familiar. These included using a wrapper around the tank car, separately applied box car sides with printed detail, and zinc-like castings for the angle bracing and underframes of hoppers.

Dennis’ Oly Reefer

TT Scale #1

TT Scale #2

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA, on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location. The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings, enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June, we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is April 4 and the one after that is May 2. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us on Thursday (February 7) for our next clinic. Our general topic will be using photography to improve your modeling.

In January we looked at attendee’s favorite sources of data for researching railroad history, primarily for the period of the first half of the 20^th century. Certainly Google came up as well as the myriad of railroad books that have been published. Like everything else on the web, it is probably best to try and confirm the facts you get online.

A couple of less known sources were mentioned. Just as the NMRA Library is working on digitizing its archives, so are libraries, museums, and archives all over the word. And it is not just scans of pictures that are available. Old books are scanned to DVDs and some of these make their way onto the web. All sorts of paper documents are imaged as well. It was suggested you do a Google search for “digital archives” or maybe “photo archives” to find this material.

Of course not all archives are digital yet. Libraries and museums often have collections of photos, papers, and memorabilia that are not on regular display. It doesn’t hurt to ask at your local library. As an example the Bellevue Community College branch of the Washington State Archives has a 1930’s photograph of almost any building in King County. These were taken as part of a depression-era arts project, but are not available online.

Other sources for early 20^th century information are reproductions of Sears’ mail order catalogs. They will show you what fashion and household products were in vogue, as well as prevailing prices.

Show and tell had the same two participants as last month. Dennis T had a pile driver in On3. Although not this regular scale, he “rescued” the car some years ago and has been working at making it look presentable again.

Rob J had a selection of rail maintenance equipment all from resin castings. They made an impressive display. Rob also had a log car and 2 resin fire trucks. I’m of the opinion that Rob might just have an inexhaustible supply of N-scale resin vehicles.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is February 7 and the one after that is March 7. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

More From Rob

Robb’s RR Maint Equip

Dennis' On3 Pile Driver

By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us on Thursday (January 3) for our first clinic of the New Year. Our general topic will be doing historical research and a brief look at NW logging.

In December we looked at a film of rotary snowplow ‘OY’ in operation on the Colorado narrow gauge. It was interesting to see all the preparation that went into getting the plow, pushers, and crews ready. And the comments about the big storms of the past provided a lot of context. But the most fascinating, was seeing how the plow and two pushers worked the drifts using only whistles for communication.

Rotaries liked a slow steady pace, but when the snow got deep they had to go in, back out, go in, back out, etc. It was wonderful to watch. I couldn’t help thinking of trying to duplicate the process with models using DCC. You would need two pushers, operating independently. Their operators would have to be out of sight of the plow and each other, in order to best simulate communication with whistles. And you would need a plow operator with a whistle capability.

Show and tell had two participants, but multiple items each (all in N scale). Dennis T had 7 engines on display a few of which he spent considerable time on to rescue from their deplorable “as acquired” condition. He also had a few flat cars where he had utilized old N scale motors as loads. Rob J had an observation car and a GN caboose in custom paint. He also showed us half a dozen resin vehicles and a very nice overreach container lift.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is January 3 and the one after that is February 7. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us on Thursday (December 6) for our next clinic.

In November we talked a bit about stripwood. Jeff’s still looking for a foolproof and inexpensive (i.e. cheap) way to weather stripwood that doesn’t involve strong dyes or smelly fumes. Yes, there are about a billion ways to weather wood for modeling purposes, but this is what he does.

He has had some success with diluting acrylic craft paint to about 1 part water and 3 or 4 parts paint. Running the stripwood through a folded cloth soaked in the paint works fairly well for simulating painted wood. But it provides too even a coat for weathered wood. For that it is better to dab the diluted paint on the wood with a large fluffy paintbrush. Then after it is dry, go over it with a thin wash of diluted India ink in isopropyl alcohol.

It doesn’t seem to make a big difference if you physically distress the wood before or after “staining.”  However, if you use the India ink wash, roughing up the wood before that step seems to work best.

If there are a billion ways to weather scale wood, there are two billion uses for it on the layout. But what sort of simple modeling projects could you do with just a single piece or two of stripwood? Some suggestions were as follows:

• Use a “plank” of stripwood to bridge a ditch between yard tracks, so your switchmen can get around easier.
• Model a fence in the making. Cut fence posts from a suitable size of stripwood. Drill holes where the posts will go and install a few. Leave the remaining posts beside their holes, awaiting installation.
• On a tarpaper roof install an inverse “V” of small-sized stripwood over a doorway to prevent rain/snow from sliding down.
• Use a piece of stripwood to prop up a leaning building, fence, retaining wall, or orchard tree.
• Take a few scraps of stripwood and scatter them on loading docks, flat cars, or gondola floors to represent old shipping crates, braces, and chocks.
• Affix a “timber” along the edges of loading docks on masonry buildings, so trucks will not be so badly damaged when backing up to the dock.
• Build a low retaining wall or just use a single board like a landscape timber to outline parking or lawn areas.

Show and Tell had three participants. Bobj showed a very nice large European train station originally build from a plastic kit. This was part of the building collection he brought, which we’ll talk more about later. Stu R had a MoW car and transfer caboose built from the same N scale wood kit and, also in N scale. Rob J  brought a circus truck, a time machine, and a caboose.

There was no traditional Mart, but Bobj had brought 6 or 7 large cardboard boxes filled with European-style buildings. There was everything from houses to industrial buildings and factories to schools to train stations and bridges. These had all once been part of a holiday display at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard. All were HO scale, although a few appeared to be selectively compressed to TT.

Seattle-North was the first group to get a look at these buildings. There was definitely an air of anticipation as Bobj unpacked the large boxes and brought out the contents one structure at a time. It was interesting seeing some the models after looking at them in the Walthers catalog for so many years.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is December 6 and the one after that is January 3. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

Stu's MoW and Caboose

HO Train Station

European Buildings - HO

Bobj Berger

The first Thursday in November is Seattle-North Clinic night. And if you attend tomorrow night, you will be among the first to view two new collections.

First, this will be this clinic’s first look at Roger Ferris’ personal collection, now that he and Ida have relocated to a much smaller home. Much brass, and quality train items collected over the past 50+ years.

Secondly, this will be the first viewing ever of a collection of around 150 quality-built HO structures from a local museum collection. This was part of an annual Christmas display for many years and has been in storage for some years. There were 18 large cardboard boxes of built plastic structures. Homes, stores, city buildings, churches, HUGE Baden depot (list price over $140 in Walthers). We have been told the structures are Faller, Heljan, Pola, etc. The boxes have been opened, but the structures will be removed for the first time at the Seattle-North Clinic on November 1st.

A couple of photos follow. Be there or be an even sided rectangle.

Click to enlarge photo

Click to enlarge photo

By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us this Thursday (November 1) for our next clinic.

I am not yet 100% sure, but I anticipate will be talking stripwood – weathering and using it for simple projects around the layout.

Last month Rob J gave us an update on the new OmNi-Rail N scale module standards, but since I couldn’t be there, I do not have any more details.

I do owe you an update on September’s activities, though. There was no clinic presentation per se, but rather a round robin on attendee’s railroad related adventures over the summer. The stories were numerous and varied.

Show and tell was also varied. I had an Enkay brand “Helping Hands” soldering station. As a soldering station it was OK, but it had a very nice battery powered, lighted magnifying glass with excellent depth of field. Dennis T had three nice N scale flats with lumber loads. Stu had an N scale transfer caboose he had made. A most amazing thing happened with that display. A ladder had come off the caboose sometime between when Stu arrived and when it was placed on the show and tell table. And, later on we actually found that ladder. I cannot always find a pair of pliers I lay down on my own workbench, yet` this N scale ladder was discovered on the other side of a large meeting room. Like I said – amazing!

Bob (I think) had a very nicely done HO pump house kit he had built. And Rob J had some old time HO cars he had come across. They sure brought back memories for some in attendance. One was an Ideal wrecking crane and the other an Ambroid snow plow. By the way, that is not a typo – Rob actually brought some “HO” equipment.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is November 1.

Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us this Thursday (October 4) for our next clinic.

I apologize for not getting this write-up out sooner, and for not including a description of what happened in September. You can look forward to a double report next time.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is October 4.

Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us this Thursday, September 6, for the first clinic of the new season. The Mart should be there with the promise of some “freebies,” but they didn’t provide any specifics.

Bring your summer modeling projects and we can all admire your work during “show & tell.” And come prepared to talk about what you did this summer (railroad-wise, that is).

At our last meeting, Bobj regaled us with tales from his railroad tour trip to Cuba. It sounded like quite the trip. Based on what I heard, Cuba seems to be defined by four things: (1) some wonderful people; (2) an inconsistent bureaucracy; (3) some marvelous older American cars with jury-rigged, non-American power trains; and (4) some very interesting railroads (of all sorts). The pictures of the sugar cane mill railroad operations were particularly interesting.

Glenn F was there to give a presentation on the upcoming National Narrow Gauge Convention. This convention is being held September 12-15 right here in Bellevue. It is still not too late to register. Their website is www.seattle2012.com.

“Show and tell” had two displays. Dennis T showed an N scale VO-1000 switcher and a Doodlebug. Rob J brought an N scale modern fire truck.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175^th and 185^th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is September 6. And the one after that is October 4.

Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.