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Reminder of this Saturday morning’s Zoom layout tour!

Written by Burr Stewart
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Join us for Bill Messecar’s last presentation on his fine Santa Fe HO layout, before he demolishes it next year! Bill will show us how he built both the building and the layout, and how he plans to take it apart. The Zoom meeting will start at 9:30am for chit-chat, and his presentation will start at 10:00am, on Saturday, December 14. Here is the Zoom info to join the meeting:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87210657142?pwd=ZHhIWnZGMUU0YnAwNVUvMENheEZSUT09

Meeting ID: 872 1065 7142
Passcode: 805577

Layout Tour

“Second Saturday” Zoom layout tour, postponed to October 12, will feature Kevin Wills

Written by Burr Stewart
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September’s “Second Saturday” Zoom layout tour has been postponed a month, due to the joint NP/GN convention layout tours taking place across the region on Sept 14. The next Zoom layout tour will be held at 10am on Saturday, October 12, featuring local modeler Kevin Wills. Kevin’s layout is a freelanced mainline extension of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific lines through the western Sierra Nevada mountain area roughly set in the 1980s.  His 33’x13′ basement layout transits three levels, with staging, main yard with turntable and engine maintenance facilities, switching in various towns and long mainline stretches of track.  A train can take up to an hour to transit the entire layout at scale speed. The mainline is fully signaled with a full-hardware CTC panel.  A branch line is included in dark territory just to make it more interesting.  Scenery is about 75-80% complete. Please plan to attend if you can.

As usual, we will open the Zoom meeting at 9:30am for fellowship and tech rehearsal, and Kevin’s presentation will start at 10:00am and last about an hour. We plan to post a recording of the event afterwards on the 4dPNRMovies YouTube channel.

Here is the Zoom info to join the live meeting on Saturday morning:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87210657142?pwd=ZHhIWnZGMUU0YnAwNVUvMENheEZSUT09

Meeting ID: 872 1065 7142
Passcode: 805577

Layout Tour

Spring Meet Registrations Status Update

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Kurt Laidlaw

Confirmed registrations for the Spring Meet on Jun 8th:

Kurt Laidlaw
David Falconer
Michael Donnelly
GregPrice
Dennis Terpstra
EDwin Ives
David Yadock
William Messecar
Dave Enger
Thomas Keyes
Bob Rorabaugh
Russ Segner
Scott Buckley
Greg Wright
Nolan Deardorf
James Younkins
Gregg Arndt
Cole Van Gerpen
Dan Kellogg
Joel Scott
Kimberly Ford
Bob
Robin Peel
Byron Osborn
Bob Kenworthy
Dave Thompson
Lee Marsh
ROBERT BRUCE LOVE
Burr Stewart
George Chambers
scott wiesemann
syd Schofield
John Thompson
Mike stepner
Mark Malmkar
Paul Rising
Bob Staffolrd
Bud Thompson

If you think you have registered for the Spring Meet and don’t see your name, please re-register. There is still plenty of time to register, but most of the shop tour slots have been filled There are only 10 slots left. Now is the time to pull the trigger and register.

For the full schedule and registration details visit the Spring Meet page.

Kurt

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour, Northwest Railway Museum, , ,

Register Today For The June 8 Spring Meet

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Bob Kenworthy

There are still spots available for the 4th Division’s 2024 Spring Meet on June 8th, 2024.  Event Address:  North Bend Depot, 205 E McClellan St, North Bend, WA 98045. Register today!

There is NO parking available at the Northwest Railway Museum.  Registration begins 7:30 AM.  Our special train to the museum leaves at 8:30 AM.

The following link will connect you to the registration form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfu2EpuEj0Te-YxzWX5KiT02uvC8uey41cSfjT7skO4rfPPTQ/viewform?embedded=true

For the full schedule and details visit the Spring Meet page.

Bob

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour, Northwest Railway Museum, , ,

Register Now For 2024 Spring Meet

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Bob Kenworthy

There are still spots available for the 4th Division’s 2024 Spring Meet on June 8th, 2024.  Event Address:  North Bend Depot, 205 E McClellan St, North Bend, WA 98045. Register today!

There is NO parking available at the Northwest Railway Museum.  Registration begins 7:30 AM.  Our special train to the museum leaves at 8:30 AM.

The following link will connect you to the registration form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfu2EpuEj0Te-YxzWX5KiT02uvC8uey41cSfjT7skO4rfPPTQ/viewform?embedded=true

The schedule will be:
7:30 to 8:30 am – Registration at the North Bend Depot
8:30 to 9:00 am – Train Ride from North Bend to Museum
9:00 to 9:10 am – Gathering Time
9:10 to 10:00 am – Clinics:

  • 1A – Shop Tour (maximum 12 people)
  • 1B – Clinic in Conference Room, topic TBA
  • 1C – Clinic in Foyer, topic TBA

10:10 to 11:00 am – Clinics:

  • 2A – Shop Tour (maximum 12 people)
  • 2B – Clinic in Conference Room, topic TBA
  • 2C – Introduction to Museum Archives (maximum 10 people)
  • 2D  – New O27 Layout at Museum

11:10 to 12:00 noon – Clinics:

  • 3A – Shop Tour (maximum 12 people)
  • 3B – Clinic in Conference Room, topic TBA
  • 3C – Introduction to Museum Archives (maximum 10 people)

12:00 to 1:00 pm – Lunch and Annual Meeting
1:00 to 1:30 pm – Free Time at the Museum
1:30 to 2:00 pm – Return Train Ride to North Bend
2:00 to 3:00 pm – Travel Time to Layout Open Houses
3:00 to 5:00 pm – Layout Open Houses

Attendance is limited to the first 80 people who register.  Attendees must be NMRA members.  You may attend the 4D PNR Annual Meeting in person during the Spring Meet or by Zoom.  A Zoom link will be sent prior to the annual meeting.

Please Note:  Parking at the Northwest Railway Museum is extremely limited and will not be available to Spring Meet attendees.  Please plan to park near the North Bend Depot.  There is a significant amount of parking available on the south side of the depot and some parking available on the north side of the depot.  The train ride and museum are ADA accessible.  If you need accessibility assistance, please mark the appropriate box when you register.

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour, Northwest Railway Museum, , ,

May’s “Second Saturday” layout tour Zoom is Jerry Boudreau’s briefing on operations

Written by Burr Stewart
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Join us next Saturday, May 11, for a continuation of Jerry Boudreau’s informative and humorous briefing on his HO Santa Fe layout in central Oregon. He will start with a brief overview of the layout, followed by details on how he organizes and runs regular operating sessions. He shows some interesting forms and methods that could you help take your own operations to a new level.

The meeting will open at 9:30am PST and Jerry’s presentation begins at 10am and runs for about an hour. We will also record it and post it to the 4dPNRMovies YouTube channel. If you missed his first presentation in March, here is a link to that presentation, well worth watching if you haven’t seen it (it is so good, it has already been watched over 3400 times!): https://youtu.be/sGjaFgxJeUA

The link to join his second presentation on May 11 will be posted here in the Grab Iron a few days before the meeting.

Layout Tour, Operations

April’s Second Saturday Zoom Layout Tour on April 13 on Todd VonStup’s N scale MRL

Written by Burr Stewart
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Join us at 10am on Saturday, April 13, for an update from Todd VonStup on his operations-oriented N scale MRL-era layout. The Montana Rail Link’s Columbia and Palouse 14th and 15th Subdivisions is an N-Scale multi-deck loop to loop proto-freelanced layout from Connell, WA to Missoula, MT with a division yard in Moscow, ID.  Mostly prototypically modeled from the Palouse River in Hooper, WA across the Palouse to Troy, ID, where it’s then freelanced as if the NP had found its pass over the Bitterroot Mountains into Missoula, MT.  Started in May 2021, this will be a progress update on benchwork (95% done!), working ABS signals, a large yard, and operations as the MRL would have worked this line based on their practices.

As usual, we open the meeting at 9:30am and start the formal program at 10:00am. Here is the Zoom info:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87210657142?pwd=ZHhIWnZGMUU0YnAwNVUvMENheEZSUT09

Meeting ID: 872 1065 7142
Passcode: 805577

Layout Tour,

March’s “Second Saturday” Zoom now posted on YouTube

Written by Burr Stewart
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If you missed the March 9 “Second Saturday” Zoom layout tour by Jerry Boudreaux, on his HO Santa Fe layout near Corvalis, OR, it is now posted on YouTube at this link: https://youtu.be/sGjaFgxJeUA

It’s well worth watching! Not only does he walk through his track plan with illuminating photos and videos, he also explains in some detail a number of his benchwork, wiring, scenery and trackwork techniques. It’s a layout tour and useful clinic rolled into one. We plan to have Jerry back for a “part 2” presentation on his operations techniques at the September 14 “Second Saturday” Zoom meeting.

Layout Tour

2024 Spring Meet Set For June 8th

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Bob Kenworthy

The 4th Division’s 2024 Spring Meet will be held June 8th, 2024.  The Spring Meet will be held at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, WA.

The schedule will be:
7:30 to 8:30 am – Registration at the North Bend Depot
8:30 to 9:00 am – Train Ride from North Bend to Museum
9:00 to 9:10 am – Gathering Time
9:10 to 10:00 am – Clinics 1 and 2
10:10 to 11:00 am – Clinics 3 and 4
11:10 to 12:00 noon – Clinics 5 and 6
12:00 to 1:00 pm – Lunch and Annual Meeting
1:00 to 1:30 pm – Free Time at the Museum
1:30 to 2:00 pm – Return Train Ride to North Bend
2:00 to 3:00 pm – Travel Time
3:00 to 5:00 pm – Layout Open Houses

Additional information will follow as plans are finalized.  Mark your calendar now and plan to attend.

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour, Northwest Railway Museum, , ,

PCR 2024 Convention Early Bird Registration

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Russ Segner

The great Early Bird convention rate will expire on January 15th, register now to not miss this offer. The 2024 PCR Convention will be hosted by the Coast Division at the Sonesta San Jose Hotel from April 24-28, 2024. The Sonesta is ideally located for great layout tours, prototype visits, and other activities. The hotel has great convention facilities, enabling a vendor and swap meet.

Register Now

To encourage members to register early, we are offering two prizes in a give-away drawing for all in-person attendees registered by January 15th. Register now so you do not miss out!

Early Bird Give-Away

All PCR 2024 attendees that have registered by midnight on January15th will be eligible for a drawing for two great prizes.
Prize 1 – Free Upgrade to a Sonesta Suite for up to 4 Nights
This prize will let the winner upgrade their room from the normal $139/night hotel room to a suite. This will be valid for up to four ($) nights during the convention. Win and you can not only sleep in style, but have a party with your friends in your suite!
Prize 2 – $50 Gift Certificate
This prize is a $50 gift certificate that can be used to purchase any item in in the Vendor, Swap Meet or PCR Consignment Depot. The prize will be in the form of 10 – $5 certificates that can be used with any of the vendors or swap meet sellers.

Russ

Convention or Meet, Layout Tour