The Pacific Science Center Show is coming soon. January 18, 19 and 20. Our modular groups will be there as well as several individual members with their displays.
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We have some extra room this year and want to set up several demonstrations of the skills and techniques we use in our model building. We already have one offer to demonstrate a N scale module under construction; trackwork, wiring and scenery. I am looking for someone to demonstrate kit construction and perhaps special scenery techniques; rocks, trees and water.
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If you are interested or know of someone who might also be interested, please contact me as soon as possible. This is an opportunity for individuals or teams to show how it’s done.
Thanksgiving weekend was a great success led by Ed Ives for the second year. Three of our modular groups: 4D-Ntrak, HO, Hi-Railers and several additional small layouts and displays participated. The feedback from MOHAI staff has been very positive and we expect an even better event next year.
Here are some shots of the activities:
On30 switching puzzle
HO module
NTrak
On30 layout
Wooden Trains
Wooden Trains
Hi-Rail
HO kids layout
Operation Life Saver
Bob Stafford N scale
Dan Kellogg N scale layout
NTrak
NTrak
NTrak
NTrak
Coming up next weekend on Friday December 20, many of the same groups will be at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma for 11 days. This is a great show and I encourage you to go and attend to support this effort. The displays are very well done and it is a chance for all of our 4D members to share time together.
Please bring your dioramas to the Boeing Swap Meet. If they are not fully detailed, that’s ok. You will be able to take them home and can continue to work on them before the Science Center Show in January.
Please bring a 3×5 card telling something about it and your contact information. We will need to look at them by noon and you will be able to take them back by 2pm. I will have tables in the Gymnasium where they can be displayed.
Thanks for your efforts and thank you for sharing.
Ken Liesse just posted this. Ken speaks for all of us in our appreciation of Gene Swanson
“It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my friend, Gene Swanson, MMR last Friday in Tacoma, WA. Gene was a fixture in 4D/PNR and had just won the President’s Award from the NMRA in June of this year. Gene ran the Tacoma Clinic for over two decades and was instrumental in building the popularity of that meeting. He was also a member of the Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers and built several of the structures on the layout, mostly from scratch. Gene preferred to work in wood, but would “stoop” to plastic on occasion when necessary.
My own association with Gene began when I started attending the Tacoma Clinic. Gene’s welcoming nature brought me into the group and made me feel at home. His layout was the first I assessed for MMR and I was very happy to be on hand when he was awarded this honor. He also invited me to help out with a traveling museum exhibit, which culminated with me doing the figures and animals for a traveling display depicting how the railroads tamed the west that visited several museums around the country.
Ever a high school sports fan, Gene was very encouraging to my son, who was a budding high school sports photographer when they met. They formed a friendship of their own, and Gene ended up commissioning my son to do a photo book of Gene’s layout, which ended up with four separate printings.
I am aware of several who are building dioramas for display at the Boeing Swap Meet November 9. There is still time to get one ready. Rules are simple:
12″ by 24″
Railroad theme
Any scale
Give it a try to show off some of your skills and challenge others to get those kits out of their boxes and built.
Questions? Contact me at 206 200 2211. Russ Segner
The recent Narrow Gauge Convention featured many very interesting things. There were great clinics, many fine layouts and several prototype attractions. There were also several award winners from our area: Greg Wright and Harry Avis of Olympia both won awards as was previouslyreported.
Mark Allen from Roche Harbor won two 2nd Place awards; one for his module Mystic Mine and one for his Parlor Car “Cascade”
Don Rose of Gig Harbor won 1st Place Motive Power Rod Locomotive a CB&Q Consolidation
I saw several fine layouts
Jeff Reynolds – Mears Madness is a famous HOn3 layout which has been relocated to Nevada City, CA in the hill country northeast of Sacramento. It is in it’s own 30′ x 40′ building. It is one of the largest HOn3 layouts in California.
Aaron Splawn – Nighthawk Branch of the Copper River & Yukon Railroad
Aaron has restored the best parts of Brian Ellerby’s famous Copper River and Yukon Sn3 layout. When we had to dismantle Brian’s layout, we were able to keep the beautiful Nighthawk scenes intact. Jimmy Booth of PBL was able to truck it to California where it is now located. It is possible that this famous layout will ultimately move to the California Railway Museum in the new Model Railroad Section.
California Railway Museum
This is one of the finest railway museums in the world. A major portion is dedicated to the history of the rails through the Sierra’s. Beautiful 4-4-0’s are displayed alongside one of the Southern Pacific cab forwards.
A new section on Model Railroading is open now in October. We got a preview.
I certainly hope many of you will get to Sacramento to visit this fine museum. Plan to spend the day viewing all the exhibits and the nearby historic Old Town.
Next year, the National Narrow Gauge Convention will be in St. Louis and the Convention will be in Seattle in 2022.
Once again we are going to provide a public show at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) over the Thanksgiving weekend. This is another great opportunity for members to share with the public our interest and skills in model railroading.
Last Year
N-trak Setup
N-trak
HO
HO
On30
Hi-Rail
Hi-Rail
Hi-Rail
We will have three main layouts; the N-trak; the HO and the Hi-Rail. In addition to their layouts, the HO and the Hi-Rail will be hosting two separate child friendly displays located adjacent to their main layouts. There will also be six one man displays including: the 4D switching layout, a small On30 operating display and Operation Lifesaver. All of this will need volunteers to run all day each day of the show.
The modular layouts, of course, will have their own members to operate. But, since we will be operating over several days, there will be opportunity for others of you who are not regular members of these groups to join in and run trains. So, here is where you can join in and help:
Modules – N-trak – HO – Hi-Rail
Small displays
Switching layout
If you can volunteer for a four hour shift in the morning or afternoon, please contact either:
Time to get busy. Remember that our contest to build a diorama is for display at the Pacific Science Center Show next January. Here are the guidelines: 12” x 24” maximum footprint – use a 12” x 24” piece of ¾ inch pink foam or equivalent. Home Depot has 24” x24” pieces which can be cut in half with the balance used for the terrain you want to add.
The rules are very simple:
Any scale
Must have a railroad theme
Should exhibit skills and techniques common to model railroading.
May be animated and/or lighted. No external power will be available.
Have you looked at the 4D website lately? On the right side of the menu is a drop-down titled “Get Inspired”. I hadn’t looked in there for some time and when I did recently, I discovered that there is some really helpful material there. The Articles & Presentations are written by many of our members you will recognize as very active and talented model railroaders. I had read some of the topics when they were first presented and recognize some of them as a write up of presentations at clinics. There is some really good stuff there!
So recently when Larry Sloan showed me his new corner modules he had made for his modular club, I asked him if he would write an article describing what he did and how others could use his techniques to make two very clever corner modules. They are not your typical corner. Take a look here. It’s the one titled “45 Degree Free-mo Module”. Great job, Larry. Thanks for sharing.
