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This has been a very busy first quarter in the Fourth Division.
The Seattle Center Show in January was one of the best attended shows in years. In addition to the many fine modular layouts operating, this show featured many smaller demonstrations of modeling and operation reflecting a shift in emphasis from just running trains to helping attendees understand “how to”. We will see much more of this in coming years with a focus on education about railroads.
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Our next program will feature John Morrison. John has a very large garden railway at his home in Kirkland. He has scratch built many locomotives for his layout.
He will feature a PowerPoint slide presentation of the locomotives of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society in Melbourne Australia. This is an operating 30″ gauge railway which uses a 2-6-0 + 0-6-2 Garratt and a number of small 19th century Baldwin 2-6-2s.
G Class Engine found on The Puffing Billy web site
We meet again this Thursday evening, Feb 23rd at the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archives in Burien, from 6:30 to 9 PM.
The address is 425 SW 153rd Street, Burien, WA 98166. Additional info, including a map, can be viewed by clicking here.
We meet Thursday evening, February 16, at the Redmond Old Schoolhouse Community Center (Map) beginning at 6:45 PM.
Our program will be a description of the planning and construction of my layout, the Coal Creek Lumber Company, which was recently featured on KOMO TV. Here is the link:
http://seattlerefined.com/lifestyle/we-took-a-ride-on-a-tiny-train-and-loved-it-all-aboard/
Update: Here is a link provided by John Prentice from “Seattle Refined” with video and a picture gallery: http://seattlerefined.com/lifestyle/we-took-a-ride-on-a-tiny-train-and-loved-it-all-aboard
This Thursday, February 2, at 3 PM, KOMO TV, Channel 4, will broadcast a segment on local model railroading. The broadcast will feature the recent train shows as well as a segment of video taken of my layout, “The Coal Creek Lumber Co”. This is part of the “Seattle Refined” community show, in case you want to set your DVR.
Al Lowe, Fred Hamilton, and Dave Woodrell joined me in an operating session on my layout. The session lasted over an hour. No derailments or collisions. It was a lot of fun and I hope many of you can see it.
This is the first issue of a monthly article I will be publishing about the activities inside our 4th Division. I hope you enjoy it.
We have just completed the Pacific Science Center Model Train Show. Before that, many participated in the Christmas show at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, The Great American Train Show and last weekend the World’s Greatest Hobby Show in Puyallup. We are well into our operating season.
These shows are our major outreach to the public and, in the case of the Pacific Science Center Model Train Show, the source of our annual funding. Last year, we added support for one more modular group and funded a trailer for the OmNi-Rail modular group.
So what’s ahead? The Tacoma Layout Tour, the 4D Spring Meet (which includes our annual Division Meeting), Spokane Falls Express (SFX 2017, the PNR Convention in Spokane), the NMRA Annual Convention (in Orlando, Florida), the National Narrow Gauge Convention (which will be in Denver, Colorado this year) and all our local clinics including the new Burien Clinic at the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archives in Burien. Does that leave any time to model and work on our layouts? Well, from postings in the Grab Iron and on Facebook, many of us are doing a lot. Please keep sharing comments and photos.
Date: January 19, 2017
Time: 7 PM to 8:45 PM, doors open at 6:45
Where: Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, 16600 NE 80th Street, Redmond, WA 98052
Click here for additional clinic information including a map. There will be coffee and doughnuts for all. Bring a model or project to share.
Mark Allen will present a clinic on how to build model trees for dioramas and layouts. His On30 Diorama “Storm King” won Third Place for Modules at the recent NMRA Convention in Portland. He will demonstrate techniques and materials needed to make his convincing model scenes.
What used to be the Renton Clinic (also called Eastside Get Together South Clinic) for all of 2016 will now be the Burien Clinic. We have been invited to the home of the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archives. This will give us excellent space for 40 or more. There is good parking and we can use the room from 6:30 to 9:30 PM.
The first meeting will be Thursday, January 26 starting at 6:30 PM. All the subsequent meetings are set for the fourth Thursday of each month and they will start at 6:30. The address is 425 SW 153rd St, Burien, WA, 98166. Click here for additional clinic information including a map.
Our first clinic in Burien will feature Paul Vaughn demonstrating how he kit-bashes plastic cars to get exactly what you want when a specific car is not commercially made. Paul is not afraid to cut up a new car kit to make something else. Paul has made many interesting Sn3 cars out of HO kits. He will present methods to accomplish projects by making new castings out of cut up parts and integrating weights within the castings.
We will also have a presentation by Gary Tarbox, Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archives to help us get acquainted with the facilities and work at the Archives.
Bring models, finished or under construction!
We all like surprises, well, most of us do. So, join us this Thursday, Dec 15th at the Eastside Get Together Clinic in Redmond for our annual “Gift Exchange”.
The meeting begins at 7:00 PM, the location is the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center at 16600 NE 80th St, Redmond, WA 98052. Additional details including a map can be viewed by clicking here.
Bring a wrapped item, funny or otherwise, worth less than $10. Or, dig into your stash of unbuilt kits and/or parts. Mark on the package what scale is appropriate. The packages are put in a pile on the table at the front of the room. We draw names to see who goes next and so on until everyone has received a mystery “gift”. The trick is that once you have yours, the next names can take it from you instead of taking one from the pile. If yours is taken, you get to choose another one. Confused? We will explain the rules at the meeting. It turns out to be lots of fun and lots of laughs. And, a few of us end up with some neat things we can actually use.
Refreshments as usual. Bring a model to display. Winner goes first for the “Gift” drawing.
The next meeting of the Renton (Eastside Get Together South) Clinic will be Tue, November 22 at the Renton Highlands Library (versus the usual Thursday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday). The evening begins at 6:30 PM with getting acquainted, with the presentation starting at 7 pm or so. Parking is under the library. Additional details including a map can be viewed by clicking here.
Our program will feature David Yadock. His HO scale layout, the “Dry Gulch & Western”, is very large and reminiscent of John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid. David says “The presentation will explain techniques I use on my layout to hide unwanted items as well as making the layout room appear larger. I will also discuss how sections of the layout can be used for two purposes. Through the use of photos I will show some techniques that have worked on my layout and some that have failed. It should be of interest for both the experienced modeler as well as the newbie modeler.”