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Virtual Layout Tours resume Saturday, 9/11

Dave Yaddock MMR and Gary Jordan MMR kick off this fall’s modeling season for the fourth division with tours of their layouts on Zoom, on Saturday September 11 at 10:00am. As usual, the meeting will open about 9:30 for casual conversation, and then their layout tours will begin at 10am and approximately 10:45am. The Zoom info for attending the meeting will be posted in the Grab-Iron a few days before the meeting.

Dave’s HO layout has been featured in a series of Grab-Iron posts in recent months, and is called the “Dry Gulch and Western”. Gary’s layout is in O scale, and features interchanges between standard gauge, 3-foot gauge and 30 inch gauge trains, and he models the Gilpin Tram in the Colorado Rockies. Gary’s presentation will focus on how he had configured his layout for virtual operations during Covid times.

4DPNR Layout Tours this Saturday!

May’s 4DPNR Layout tours will take place on May 8, at 10:00 am PST, and will feature an HO NP home layout presented by Robert Richard, and the HO club layout of the PSMRE in downtown Tacoma presented by Steve Carter.

Bob Richard, a long-time model railroader and NP railfan, has focused his HO layout on the town of Easton, WA in the 1940’s, when heavy articulated steam and the new FT diesels ruled the cascade mountains. He is copying the prototype Northern Pacific track, buildings and operations as closely as possible, and his layout tour will show us a combination of prototype photos, layout photos, and a live video demo of trains in action. Expansion plans are also on his mind, and he’s looking for input from the rest of us.

The PSMRE layout tour will give us a chance to get behind the scenes of this large layout in a working museum in downtown Tacoma, how it has transformed over the years, and how the group organizes themselves and their operations. The Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers (PSMRE) layout is at the Washington State History Museum.  Built as a museum exhibit that also provides a challenging Operations environment, as it represents the Tacoma area in the 1950’s. Largely focused on the Northern Pacific’s operations, they operate trains from the Great Northern, Milwaukee Road and Union Pacific.

The zoom info for this meeting is shown below. As usual, we will open the meeting about 9:30am for technical checks and informal discussion, and start the layout tours at 10:00am. Please use your full name in your Zoom screen name, and add your division if you are outside the 4DPNR group, so we will know you are safe to let in from the waiting room. (As usual, this meeting will be recorded and posted on our 4DPNR YouTube channel for later viewing.)

Topic: 4DPNR Layout Tours for May 2021
Time: May 8, 2021 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88440554588?pwd=Z0Z1a21Qc0pBcHpJUG9tNVg0TVFZUT09

Meeting ID: 884 4055 4588
Passcode: 100460
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Meeting ID: 884 4055 4588

Extra Layout Tours This Saturday, Dec 5

By Burr Steward

We added an extra Zoom session on December 5 for you to see the two layout tours that were interrupted during the November 14 session. As usual, the meeting will start at 10:00am. The first will be Dave Woodrell with his Sn3 version of the Rio Grande Southern, and then Greg Wright will show us how he built an earthen “table” in his back yard over the summer to develop an outdoor layout. Don’t miss it!

We have improved the Zoom security procedures for all upcoming 4DPNR meetings, so as part of that, the Zoom info for the meeting will be shared with you in an announcement like this about 48 hours before the meeting is scheduled to begin.

Burr

Reminder – Virtual Layout tours Saturday Nov 14 @ 10am

By Burr Stewart

Join us Saturday Nov. 14 from 10am to 11:30 PDT for two 4DPNR layout tours. The first will be Dave Woodrell MMR, showing us his photogenic Sn3 RGS layout. He models the First District of the RGS, which was the northern end of the line from Ridgway, CO south to Rico, CO (His latest Gazette article appeared in the Nov/Dec 2018 issue). The second will be Greg Wright MMR, with a presentation on how he re-graded part of his back yard to make a “table” for a G scale outdoor layout. To join the meeting use this Zoom info:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6193553125?pwd=NHVZekUwa1RuOWdWazBOMTQ4dTRxQT09

Meeting ID: 619 355 3125
Passcode: 4DPNR

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As usual, if you miss the live presentations, you can watch them a few days later on the 4DPNR YouTube channel, along with most of our past 4DPNR layout tours during the Covid era.

Burr

4DPNR Virtual Layout Tour on Saturday, October 10

Join us this Saturday, October 10, at 10:00am for another 4DPNR layout Zoom tour. This week features two of the region’s finest narrow gage layouts – Dale Kruetzer of Port Orchard and Ron Hopkins of Edmonds. Dale’s layout is an Sn3 version of a portion of the RGS, and includes detailed photo backdrops, hand laid track and scenery and structures that just don’t quit. Ron has a smaller but very fine On30 layout depicting the Olympic peninsula, and he will be showing us a number of structures he built next to photos of the prototypes that inspired them. Here is the zoom info to join the meeting:

Topic: 4DPNR Layout Tours
Time: Oct 10, 2020 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89029709298?pwd=N1Q1QjBobVN3bXVBTGFFcHRRT1lxdz09

Meeting ID: 890 2970 9298
Passcode: 461488

4D Layout Tours On June 20th

By Burr Stewart

The next Fourth Division layout tour will be held on Saturday, June 20, from 10:00 – 11:30 am. It will feature virtual layout tours by Joe Green and then Byron Osborn. The Zoom info will be sent in a Grab Iron email on Friday at noon.

Joe Green’s C&O Ryder Gap Subdivision is an HO scale, proto-freelanced switching layout set in the mountains of Virginia in May 1974. Four crews are responsible for serving the subdivision’s industries, including Back Creek Paper, Mill Gap Lumber, and Highland Chemical. The railroad uses scenes, track plans, and modeling that is heavily inspired by the prototype’s operations in Covington Virginia, Thurmond West Virginia, and Cass West Virginia. The layout is located in a large garage in Sequim, WA, and holds periodic operating sessions.

The Boeing Club layout is an HO layout 26’ by 50’ in size covering two decks of the fictional NW railroad Seattle and North Cascades during the 1950s. Construction began in 2011 with track work completed several years ago, operations with NCE DCC using car cards and way bills and scenery about 60% complete. The layout is located at the Pacific NW RR archives in Burien. Operating session are held twice a month but are on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic. The presentation will be made by club President Byron Osborn.

Burr

June 2020 Eastside Get Together Clinic

By Alex Brikoff

Announcing the Eastside Virtual Get Together Clinic to be held on THURSDAY, June 18, 2020 at 7:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time

Hello, everyone!  Yes, the Eastside Get Together Clinic is alive and well during the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.  Although for the time being (and that may be a while), the Eastside Clinic has become the Eastside Virtual Get Together Clinic.  Our first virtual Clinic will be held using ZOOM next Thursday, 06/18, (We are switching back to Thursdays by popular demand!).  One of the benefits of virtual clinics and meetings is that the barriers of geographic distances (and traffic woes) are removed.  All you need is a computer and an internet connection!  So I would like to extend an invitation to ALL of the 4th Division and ESPECIALLY our fellow 4th Division members in the state of Alaska, to join our Clinic next Thursday, meet some of the modelers here in the Puget Sound area and see some outstanding model work that has been done in this area.  Here is the log in info:

Check your Grab Iron email for the Zoom meeting information.

Our virtual Layout Tour will feature Lee Marsh’s outstanding layout depicting the Great Northern Railway’s Cascade Division during the transition era of the early 50’s.  Lee is an outstanding modeler and that certainly comes out in his layout.  Of late, Lee has gained additional notoriety by having his layout featured in the June 2020 Model Railroader magazine. 

After the Clinic, we will have some time for other folks to show off their latest model work in our “Show and Brag” segment.  The Clinic will wrap up with some administrative comments and quick discussion about our virtual Clinics. 

Alex Brikoff

4D Board Meeting Followed by Virtual Layout Tours

By Russ Segner

Topic: Board meeting
Time: June 6, 2020 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) The meeting will be chaired by Russ Segner, Superintendent. It is open to the membership of 4D PNR. This is a budget meeting.

The virtual tours will start at the conclusion of the Board Meeting, approximately 11 AM. These are layout tours of Bill Sornsin (HO) and Janice & Barry Dupler (HO/HOn3)

Check your Grab Iron email for the Zoom meeting information, or contact Russ at 206 200 2211.

Russ

Layout Tours – June 6 Sorinsin and Dupler

By Russ Segner

This Saturday on June 6 we will feature two impressive layouts.
These are virtual layout tours of Bill Sorinsin (HO) and Janice & Barry Dupler (HO/HOn3)
These follow our scheduled Board Meeting.

Time: Jun 6, 2020 – The virtual tours will start at approximately 11 AM.

Check your Grab Iron email for the Zoom meeting information.

If you need help, call Russ at 206 200 2211

Russ

Tacoma Layout Tours Postponed

By Kevin Klettke

Hello Model Railroaders,

The Tacoma area layout tours which had been scheduled for the weekend of April 18th & 19th are being postponed until further notice. The current situation with the COVID-19 virus makes it imperative that we do our part to be responsible and take every measure possible to prevent possible exposure of our membership, our families and our community. We will discuss rescheduling this event when circumstances allow.

Please be safe.

Kevin