Category: Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Ed Liesse

JJ Johnston, our exuberant leader of the Eastside Get-Together, welcomed about 35 attendees for the March meeting. As usual, he did his introductions of the officers and committee chairs of the 4^th Division and the MMRs in attendance.

Asking for new attendees, he found three: Jerry Madsen who said he wasn’t new but hadn’t been there for awhile being busy as the VP of the Puget Sound Garden Railroad Society; Steve Kyle who is a “high-railer” came to see what we’re all about; Ben Wong who is looking for something to do after retiring! All were welcomed to the group and encouraged to join us again.

Announcements were made by JJ on the upcoming convention and the special building contest; Alex Brikoff, 4D Education Committee Chair, mentioned that the Video Library function was being moved to the Education Committee and looking for volunteers to help with the video library; Alex also hopes to create a database of clinicians and clinics; Rob Jones, 4D Membership Chair, said that membership was going okay so far; Ken Liesse mentioned that the Northwest Railroad Museum in Snoqualmie is looking for new volunteers for the conservation/restoration project they have going (both Ken and Russ Segner are volunteers at the Museum, Ken in Operations and Russ in Restoration); Rob mentioned that he could offer an additional discount on the items he brought from Eastside Trains.

Model of the Month had three entries: Mike Donnelly displayed pulpwood cars using real branches for loads; Rob Jones displayed fire trucks in N and HO using N’gineering Products for lighting; Bob Rorabaugh displayed a logging camp car kit with many details. The ultimate winner of the Model of the Month was Bob Rorabaugh.

After a short break for refreshments and voting on the Model of the Month and looking over the items Rob brought, it was time for our feature presentation.

We were privileged to hear from the 4D’s newest MMR, Glenn Farley. He actually had two different topics for presentation, one on Coal Loads and the other on Realistic Headlights. He had projected photos to show his methods and examples for us to see and, in some cases, handle.

For coal loads, he makes a base from blue foam to fit inside the car or tender. In his case, several years ago he happened on a sheet of thin blue foam which he claims he will never use up! He cuts a piece to fit the car then shapes the sides and the ends to look like the basic shape of a coal load. This shape goes back to before the days of the current flood-type coal loaders being used in the PowderRiver Basin in Wyoming and other locations. He then coats the load shape with an acrylic artist color to cover the blue foam. For coal, he finds a lump of coal (we won’t say where he finds it), puts it in a strong bag or several bags and proceeds to pound it to small pieces. He uses several plastic pipe end caps with holes drilled in the bottom to serve as filters for the coal, decreasing the hole size on each end cap until he has the size of coal he wants. When he has the right size of coal, he coats a small area of his shaped load base with Testor’s Gloss lacquer and sprinkles on the coal. Then he moves up a little on the load and repeats the lacquer and coal application and repeats this until the load is covered. After it has a chance to dry he comes back and repeats the process to fill in any holes.

For realistic headlights, he uses MV lenses and incandescent bulbs rather than LEDs. He finds the center of the lens on the back and drills hole just larger that the bulb size. He then checks the bulb for fit and glues it in place. This procedure works quite well for the diesels. For steam engines he turns down a Lucite rod to fit into the lens, uses a hot soldering iron to form a mushroom end on the rod (sort of a lens shape) and then places the bulb behind the mushroom end. All this goes inside the headlight housing! Luckily, with all the photos and the examples he brought, it was much clearer than trying to put it into words!

We hope to see you at our next Eastside Get-Together April 17. Don’t forget to file your income tax return before the 15^th!

Click images to enlarge

JJ Johnston

Once again our enthusiastic Eastside Get-Together chief honcho, JJ Johnston, welcomed about 50 attendees to the February meeting. He introduced/recognized the officers and committee chairs of the 4^th Division in attendance as well as the MMRs. Don and Beth MacLaren did a great job filling in for our Welcome Ambassador Clay Hanson with making sure everyone had a name tag and ballot for the Model of the Month and door prize drawings.

We had several new attendees with us: Mike Dziubinski modeling in N Scale; Pete Murphy modeling in HO Scale; Jim Linden modeling in HO Scale; Richard Moore modeling in HO Scale; Craig Jackson modeling in High-Rail; Lee and Nancy Marsh modeling in HO Scale. Lee will be presenting our clinic later.

Announcements were by: Rob Jones, 4D Membership Chair, described some new ideas to promote membership such as having a “membership chair” in each clinic and doing clinics at libraries or other venues; Jim Sabol touting the release of the new DVD West Coast Railroad Logging that he helped put together selling for $25 cash or $29.95 check (this is the DVD he talked about several months ago and treated us to some of the old movies being used in the DVD) and reminded everyone of the upcoming annual logging event in Elsie, Oregon; Bob Rorabaugh telling about the swap meet in Chehalis March 29 and 30; David Yadock thanking everyone who attended and/or helped out with the PSC show which had over 12,500 attendees for the 3-day weekend show and that the Science Center staff will be working to get things rolling earlier for next year in the way of announcements and posters and that he would like to see more smaller layouts made available to spread around the Science Center for more variety (all scales are welcome!); Roger Ferris commented that the last of the PFM materials were available in the Mart; Russ Segner mentioned that Joe Fugate, of Model Railroad Hobbyist, would be the speaker at the Convention banquet in June and that the election of two officers for 4D were coming up and, if you wanted to run for either of these two positions, to contact Mike Highsmith or himself.

David Yadock’s Santa Fe F-3s

RMC article on Jim Noonan’s layout

Model of the Month had four “entries”: David Yadock with an A-B set of Santa Fe F-3s found on his shelf and added a decoder, working Mars light, marker lights and a tune-up; Bobj Berger displayed an RMC article on Jim Noonan’s layout stating that the layout was available for sale and can be moved since it was built in sections; Bob Rarabaugh displayed “PUM”(Piles of Unusable Material) or a slash burn pile that he had made; Russ Segner displayed his “scratch built in no scale” cash donation box for the Bellevue library using mahogany, but had to build a bigger one. And the winner was … Bob Rarabaugh with his pile of trash!

“PUM”(Piles of Unusable Material)

Di Voss was asked to report on his evaluation of using “Bull Frog Snot” for traction on one of his engines. He applied it to a ten-wheeler which before application could pull 2 cars up a 2 ½% grade. After the application the ten-wheeler could pull 6 cars up the 2 ½% grade! He applied the “Snot” to only the gear-driven driver. He said it worked just like a rubber tire on the wheels.

After our break, Lee Marsh gave us a wonderful presentation on the construction of his layout, “Head of the

Lee Marsh

Rake – GN Cascade Division” in HO Scale.The layout is basically an L shape 12 feet wide at the base of the L and 32 feet long, built 51 inches from the floor with a 24” minimum radius. Being a civil engineer, the benchwork is very solid but includes some unique access hatches to get to hard to reach locations. Lee and his wife Nancy moved to WashingtonState in the 1980s and began exploring the StevensPass area where they encountered the BN line over the Cascades. All this scenery and complexity of getting the railroad through the mountains solidified the idea that he wanted to build a mountain railroad. He began developing a layout plan in the mid-1990s and knew he wanted a main line run through the mountains. He liked the late steam and early diesel equipment and eventually ended up on the 1951 time frame. Knowing he couldn’t include faithful reproductions of the features along the GN line he decided to freelance using Everett and the GN main line over the Cascades. He started construction in 1996 and figures it’s about 80% complete today.

The layout includes five staging tracks underneath the upper level permitting staging of the primary trains and two three-track stub yards for staging of local trains. The upper level is reached via two helices. One is near the end of Delta Yard in Everett and the other is at the other end of the layout going toward what would be StevensPass if the layout continued that far.

The scenery is hard shell which provides space beneath for the staging. The backdrop Is hand-painted from photographs taken in June north of Skykomish. Since this is mountainous territory there are a number of bridges and trestles all of which are excellently done. Naturally, there has to be a lot of trees of all sizes and shapes and Lee has been fortunate to find a company that can make any kind of tree he needs. When you see pictures of the layout, you really feel like you’re in the Cascades!

One week later, on Saturday March 1, Lee held a private open house of his layout exclusively for those who had attended his Thursday Eastside presentation. Very impressive and stunning scenery. Assisted by Mike Dziubinski, the trains ran very well and it was a great time for everyone to be able to spend some time admiring Lee’s work.

Lee will return to the Eastside monthly meeting on April 17 to present a clinic on the use of Helicon Focus, a software program which creates incredible depth of field photographs. Attendees will be invited to bring their cameras and use them in actual situations. Watch for more information.

JJ Johnston

Notice: Eastside Get Together announced a unique clinic presentation and a follow-up home layout tour. The monthly meeting  coming this Thursday, February 20, 7:30 pm of the Eastside group will feature an informative clinic never before seen in our region by noted local modeler Lee Marsh.

Lee’s clinic will feature his famous Great Northern Cascade Division HO layout covering layout construction from its conception to its nearly completed stage today. He will show unique features such as mock-ups, access, scenery details, rolling stock set-up, wiring and DCC conversion along with photos of his home layout which recently appeared in TRACKSIDE PHOTOS of Model Railroader magazine, July 2013 issue  You’ll witness the layout evolution into a sense of place as his Cascadian glides from Spokane through the mountains to Seattle and the trains into a sense of time in the Spring of 1950. The Great Northern Railroad Historical Society (GNRHS) has published an article on his Cascade Division and Lee has received permission to reprint the article as a handout to be distributed to those attending this meeting.

Lee’s Private Home Layout Tour. A future date has been established for a private tour of Lee’s home layout. You MUST attend the clinic presentation to receive the date, place and time of the event and complete a personal sign-up registration. The information regarding the layout tour will not be published after this announcement. Lee’s layout has not been seen by very many people and has not been on any open house schedule of local conventions. This is one meeting you will not want to miss.

Of course the Thursday meeting will feature our usual official greeting of all members, free coffee, donuts, Model of the Month competition, video rental library, railroad items for sale and fabulous door prizes donated by Inside Gateway’s Steve Depolo in Woodinville.

Meetings at Bellevue Foursquare Church, 2015 Richards Road, Bellevue, 98006.

JJ Johnston

The illustrious Eastside Get-Together chair, JJ Johnston, welcomed 29 attendees to this first gathering of 2014. He had the usual introduction/recognition of his “VIPs” attending (officers and committee chairs of the 4^th Division and MMRs. He then gave an update on the distribution of the Christmas collection to the church. The monies were divided between two ladies in need of help with their rent and other expenses. He read thank you notes from each of them.

Announcements included David Yadock on the Pacific Science Center show this weekend and the continuing need for volunteers to help out with the unloading/loading at the beginning and end of the show plus relief for other volunteers during the show; Russ Segner on the upcoming PNR convention at the Tacoma LaQuinta hotel from June 18 – 21, get registered, select your tours, and work on those contest models; Roger Ferris on an upcoming giant sale of 12 estates, PFM collection and many of Jim Noonan’s cars and engines as well as his layout!

The “Model of the Month” had two entries: Russ Segner displaying several pieces of wood (for identification purposes) from the Snoqualmie museum (also part of his later presentation) and Di Voss displaying a bottle of “Bull Frog Snot” which he explained he was trying on one of his locomotives to get better traction (report next month). Russ ultimately “won” the “contest” (?).

After the usual break, Russ Segner did a presentation showing the reconstruction work being done on one of the passenger cars at the Snoqualmie museum. In this case it was a Barney and Smith Day Coach #210. He got interested in working on the reconstruction just prior to the National Narrow Gauge convention in 2012 after a visit to the museum  He said there are about 8 volunteers working on the car on a regular basis but there’s a lot more restoration work to be done and the museum would be happy to welcome additional volunteers. Russ had a power point presentation with many photos to show indicating what the car looked like before restoration started and the progress since then. Unfortunately, the computer with the presentation and the projector did not want to cooperate with each other very well, so all the photos couldn’t be seen.  Russ promises to redo the presentation at a later date. However, what was shown provided a great look at what can be done in restoring old equipment to usable condition.

Come join us February 20 for our next Get-Together with a special clinic to be presented by Lee Marsh of Issaquah discussing how he designed and built his fabulous GN Cascade Division layout. A photo of his layout recently appeared in “Trackside Photos” in Model Railroader magazine.

JJ Johnston

REMINDER:

There will be an Eastside Get Together, this Thursday, Jan 16, at 7:30 p.m., at the Bellevue Foursquare Church.

We will have a special presentation by Russ Segner. Our 4D Superintendent will reveal the amazing progress from start to finish in the reconstruction of SPS day coach #218. Russ has worked extensively on this project at our local Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. With over 50 photographs, Russ will take us through the 6½ years of this historical car restoration. Come see local history being preserved in our backyard.

All the usual other stuff will happen, too. See you this Thursday. Happy New Year!

JJ Johnston

Remember: this Thursday, December 19, at 7:30 pm, is the Eastside clinic’s annual “Dirty Santa” Christmas Party at the Bellevue Foursquare Church.

Don’t miss your opportunity to get a special railroad gift. Or not. Or the opportunity to take a unique gift from one of your fellow modelers.  That is one of the rules for our annual gift exchange. The others will be explained at the meeting.

BRING A GIFT: In order to participate in the gift exchange, you only need bring a gift. It must be wrapped AND have the scale or gauge written on the outside. That’s it. Of course, “white elephant” gifts are also welcomed. Just kidding, but some do show up. What a fun evening to spend with each other.

DONATION: If you have not had the opportunity to make a donation to our annual collection for the benefit of a church member or two in need , you may bring your donation to the meeting. So far we have collected $599. Thanks to all of you for your generosity.

MORE: Of course CJ will bring Christmas donuts to go with the free Christmas coffee, Clay will be there to greet you, Stu may bring the library, and we’ll have a model of the month competition to see who goes first for the gifts. Maybe even some stuff for sale. See you there.

JJ Johnston

Thirty-two attended the Eastside Get-Together. We had the normal introductions of JJ’s VIPs and three new attendees introduced: Jack Hunter from Bellevue with American Flyer S gauge; Paul Koren, recently moved from Portland to Mount Vernon, in HO; and Aaron Hunt, getting started in HOn3. Aaron also became a door prize winner later in the meeting!

Announcements included: an update on Pacific Science Center show activities from David Yadock; Rob Jones is now working at Eastside Trains and offers a discount to NMRA members; Russ Segner commented that the 2014 PNR convention already has about 25 registrations, three prototype tours available, and the website up and running, including online registration; Russ also mentioned he was doing a model railroad presentation at the Newcastle Library on this weekend at the request of the library. As new 4D Superintendent, Russ said that he’s looking for way to improve communication among the 4th Division members and is setting up a small committee to look at ways to do it.

As usual at this time of year, the group took up a collection to help repay the Church where we meet for their great hospitality in providing the room and kitchen facilities for us. Our donation goes to help several needy members of the Church, especially at Christmas time.

JJ also reminded us that next month would be the Dirty Santa gift exchange and to bring our “gift” wrapped and marked as to category: N, HO, S, O, any or whatever.

George Chambers, MotM Winner

The contest had three entries: David Yadock with a modified HO Proto-Lifelike flat car with a corrugated pipe load made of aluminum foil wrapped around a carriage both and very carefully “unscrewed”; George Chambers with a modified Bachman On3 steam donkey mounted on a modified Rio Grande Models flat car; and Bob Rorabaugh with a UP switcher that needed a lot of work to get it working – hand-made handrails, clean wheels, rewiring, etc. The winner was George Chambers.

David Yaddock’s scratchbuilt freight station

David Yadock also brought in a scratchbuilt freight station model for AP assessment and earned a Merit Award after Di Voss, MMR, and Max Maginness, MMR, evaluated it. Congratulations, David!

Brian Pickering, Decoder Pro Expert

Our clinic was “Decoder Pro How To,” presented by Brian Pickering. He explained that Decoder Pro was a free program designed to take the mystery out of programming decoders. It translates Configuration Variables (CV’s) into English and uses various screens for the programming. An interface box of some kind (depending on your DCC system) is required to connect your computer to your DCC system. He used the example of assigning or changing the address of an engine. Using the computer and projector, we could see the Decoder Pro screen and the ease of making the change. He also demonstrated the changing the direction of the engine in case the wiring on the motor was reversed without having to rewire the engine by letting the decoder handle it. Brian answered any questions as they came up and also showed how the lighting on engines could be programmed using Decoder Pro. He emphasized that once the changes are done on Decoder Pro, they are saved in the program so you always have that record. There was more Brian wanted to demonstrate, but we ran out of time so he will reschedule a date in the next several months to continue.

Door Prizes

Here’s a picture of our door prize selection for the evening. Something for almost anyone!

Next Eastside Get-Together will be on December 19! Don’t forget your “Dirty Santa” gift!

Brian Pickering

At the last Eastside Get-Together Clinic I didn’t have time to complete the presentation on Decoder Pro, so I’m making it available online (it has been online before when I presented it for the HO Modular Group).

If you have questions, feel free to e-mail me (Brian) at bpickeri@gmail.com.

The presentation (in PDF format) is available by clicking here.

JJ Johnston

We collect donations at our November meeting to give to needy members of the Church where we meet in recognition of the Church allowing us to use the room at no charge for our monthly clinic meetings, use their kitchen and their donation of coffee and condiments at no charge, and provide a young man to set  up the room each meeting with our tables and chairs and then clean the room and return it to a classroom for the school which uses the rooms daily.

Each year we work with the Church to identify a family or an individual who can benefit from a financial boost. The stories we have shared about the amazing things we have been able to do with our modest amount is significant. I’m always asked what is a good amount to donate. Last year, our donations amounted to an average of almost $20 per person who attended the November meeting. It would be meaningful if we could do that again this year. Of course donations are tax deductible and checks can be made payable to Bellevue Foursquare Church. We appreciate your consideration. See you this Thursday for a great DCC clinic and more.