Dave Liesse wanted to let you all know, his dad (Ed Liesse) passed away earlier this week. He died of degenerative disease of the nervous system with adverse effects from a fall at the end October. No services of any sort are planned, but if that changes, I’ll let you know. This was expected, and they’ve essentially been without him for several months anyway, so there’s no great change to their routine and they’re all doing fine. It truly is a good thing all around.
We have lost a wonderful friend and fellow modeler in Ed. He and his wife Gay and his sons have been very active in the NMRA and 4th Division for many years. Ed ran all the inside activities at the last Seattle NMRA national convention in July 2004 and I had the pleasure of working closely with him at that convention managing the clinics. Ed received many awards for his service from the 4th Division, PNR and the NMRA. Condolences to Ed’s family in their loss of a wonderful man and role model.
I picked up a large collection of HO yesterday. It is four large tubs full, mostly GN. It includes rolling stock, mostly Accucraft, etc. in excellent condition in original boxes and many DCC equipped diesels, also GN.
I will hold an open garage sale next Saturday, the 6th from 10 AM to 2PM at my home in Newcastle. If interested, contact me at 206 200 2211.
The video of the Eastside Clinic of June 20 is now online in the 4dPNR Movies page of YouTube. Glenn Farley presents the new layout under construction.
Thursday nights program will be special. We a look at the newest layout in Everett, the EVERETT RAILROAD HERITAGE ASSOCIATION formerly known as the Swamp Creek Railway. They have a terrific space right next to the passenger platform at the new Everett rail station. They are building a museum quality layout featuring the historic Industrial waterfront.
Glenn Farley will present the full story of this exciting move by the former Swamp Creek Club from it’s old location in Edmonds. We will start with introductions, announcements and sharing what you are working on. Join us.
The room will be opened early at 6:30 and the meeting will start at 7:00 PM
Contact Russ Segner at russseg@gmail.com or 206 200 2211 if you want the link to our Zoom meeting.
Weeks of planning between two 4D Board members, Kurt Laidlaw and Bob Kenworthy and the staff at the NW Railroad Museum near Snoqualmie culminated in a day 4D attendees won’t forget. It started with a train ride from the old NP depot at North Bend to the museum in beautiful spring weather. We divided into groups to attend a clinic given by Greg Wright MMR, a tour of the museum Lionel and HO layouts and a behind the scenes visit to the museum restoration shop where we saw several engines/carts being restored. The museum staff also discussed their archives of equipment blueprints and drawings. There were two more opportunities for a layout or shop visit or attend Burr Stewart’s enjoyable clinics on videography of his layout and sage advice on achieving your goals in layout building. Burr has his own YouTube channel so you can check out those great videos.
At noon we then took a 30-minute lunch break to enjoy drinks and a delicious box lunch. Bill Messecar 4D Superintendent led the 4D Annual Meeting where he introduced the 4D Superintendent elect Mike Stepner as well as the current 4D BOD members. After the meeting we had a chance to explore the many museum exhibits and then boarded our train for the return journey to North Bend. To complete a great day of Model Railroading we had the opportunity to see four excellent layouts in the area.
Members wait at the museum for the return trip to the North bend depot after a fun day.NP Parlor Car undergoing complete restoration in the museum shops.Weyerhaeuser FM H-12-44 on display at the museum.NWRailway 4024 Baldwin 4S-RTC ready to pull our train to the museum.
If you were not able to make the spring meet this year—be sure to attend in 2025. It’s a great opportunity to meet local modelers and have a train filled day. This sort of event is one of the many benefits offered for your NMRA membership. Hope to see you next year.
We have a BIG SURPRISE for everybody who joins in our meeting. In addition to announcements and any sharing of your current model building, we get a FIRST LOOK at the NEW location of the EVERETT RAILROAD HERITAGE ASSOCIATION.
Glenn Farley will present the full story of this exciting move by the former Swamp Creek Club from it’s old location in Edmonds.
The room will be opened early at 6:30 and the meeting will start at 7:00 PM
Contact Russ Segner at russseg@gmail.com if you want the link to our Zoom meeting.
Congratulations to Mike Stepner and Ed Ives and a thank you to the 20% of our membership who voted. We also will increase the board membership from 3 to 5.
Candidate: Superintendent Mike Stepner: 42 votes 56.00% Mike Slease: 33 votes 44.00% Mike Stepner wins. Votes tallied: 75 Abstentions: 7
Candidate: Director Ed Ives: 79 votes 98.75% Brian Ferris: 1 vote 1.25% Ed Ives wins. Votes tallied: 80 Abstentions: 2
Option: Shall we increase the Board of Directors from 3 to 5 members? Yes: 64 votes 84.21% No: 12 votes 15.79% Yes wins. Votes tallied: 76 Abstentions: 6
John White, who passed away on March 21st at age 90, was well-known around the NMRA PNR’s 4th Division for serving as chair of the Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic for twelve continuous years, 2000-2012. During John’s leadership, average SV&W Clinic attendance doubled, drawing attendees from all of Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands as well as western Skagit and Whatcom counties. Eventually, due to the distances traveled and outgrowing our meeting room, the group divided into the current SV&W and Mt. Vernon Clinics.
Perhaps less well-known across the division was John’s On30 Skagit Valley Eastern (SVE). John was an outstanding modeler and went through a succession of prototypes and scales (as many of us do!), first modeling British prototypes in OO-scale, then the Great Northern in HO. Ultimately, he settled on modeling Skagit County short lines in On30.
The SVE, set in the late 1920s, was loosely based on the Skagit River Railway built by Seattle City Light to haul men, equipment, and a lot of cement to several dam projects on the Upper Skagit River. As John himself described his SVE: “Much poetic license has been used in the type of traffic and scenery!” The layout also incorporates two fictional SVE subsidiaries, the Sauk, Oso & Western Railway and the Wickersham and Chuckanut.
The 14 ft x 44 ft layout consists of four legs, each 2 ft wide and made up mostly of 6 ft x 2 ft modules. Two of the legs comprise the SVE, the third the SO&WR, and the fourth the W&C. All four legs are connected by an oval behind the scenery which permits any train to go from any leg to any other leg. A partition wall down the long dimension of the room divides the layout space in two and supports hand-painted backdrops.
Concrete engine terminal with Skagit Portland Cement looming in the background
The largest town modeled is Concrete, spanning about 30 ft of one of the two legs representing the SVE. Here is a station, engine house, turntable, a Seattle Light & Power powerhouse, and a representation of the town’s vast Superior Portland Cement plant, which John re-imagined as Skagit Portland Cement. Concrete, near extensive limestone deposits, produced enormous quantities of cement over several decades.
The daily Great Northern passenger service arrives in Concrete; the prototype Skagit River Railway connected with the GN at Rockport, WA
The locomotive roster and rolling stock consist mostly of Bachmann products. To many, John added additional details from sources such as Backwoods Miniatures. Of all the elements that make up a model railroad, John enjoyed building structures more than any other; most were scratch built. Just a few of them are illustrated in these photographs. For his larger buildings, John utilized Gatorboard as a structural base for its rigidity and humidity resistance, gluing siding and roofing material to it. John described his methods for building structures, his standardized 6 ft x 2 ft modules, scratch built turnouts, and many other topics at SV&W clinics over the years.
The cement plant dominates John’s town of Concrete, as it did in the prototype; a Precision Craft Models Goose provides transportation for local schoolchildrenThe Sauk, Oso & Western Railway’s daily passenger train awaits its departure time from OsoSVE Climax #6 has wandered onto SO&WR rails with a work trainThe SO&WR’s biggest shipper in Oso is Hawkins Dairies Inc.Business is leisurely at Gould Bros. Coal & Coke in OsoA one-stop shop for all your printing needs
John’s Skagit Valley Eastern was frequently opened for visitors, including at least once for the Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia “NG Open House” event coordinated by Dave Kreitler. SV&W Clinic members were fortunate to be able to keep up with the layout’s progress during other open houses and, later, operating sessions. The op sessions utilized written train orders and switch lists, a dispatcher, trainmaster, and up to four crews to keep an equal number of trains moving over the railroad.
John and his wife Valerie also hosted a “Wassail” party in British tradition each December, offering food, drink, and camaraderie in their Anacortes home, open to all SV&W Clinic members and all other modelers in the area. The SVE was of course fired up, too. The Wassail was held for at least nine years and was always one of the best events of the year.
John was an active member and supporter of the NMRA and the 4th Division. He was the Guest Speaker at the September 2010 Pacific Northwest Region Convention Banquet, where he described the history and technology of the concrete tie business in North America in which he was an industry pioneer. John received the NMRA 4th Division Superintendent’s Award in 2012 for his exemplary service as the SV&W Clinic Chair.
John makes up a train in Concrete during one of the op sessions on his Skagit Valley Eastern (photo: Al Frasch)
We were saddened to learn of the passing on April 8th of local model railroader, magazine publisher, and N scale master, Kirk Reddie.
Kirk grew up and lived in Shoreline, Wash. He began with an American Flyer train set, shifted to HO in eighth grade, but switched again to N scale in 1975 after reading Jim Hediger’s article “The NTRAK Story.”
Kirk published N Scale Railroading magazine from September 2000 through January 2020, after which it continued as a free bi-monthly downloadable PDF until October 2022. It had subscribers all over the world. He knew N scalers everywhere! Kirk was fortunate to combine his two life passions: writing and model railroading.
Kirk’s home layout, the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound, was housed in a 9,200 sq. ft. building and was the subject of many articles in N Scale Railroading. It was featured in the November 2022 issue of Model Railroader. Set in the Pacific Northwest, circa 1950, the layout modeled five railroads (Great Northern; Milwaukee Road; Northern Pacific; Pacific Coast RR; Spokane, Portland & Seattle; Tacoma Belt Line; and Union Pacific) between Argo Junction and Black River Junction, south of Seattle.
Kirk attended Shoreline High School and the University of Washington, where he received a bachelor’s degree in accounting, his CPA license, and later a master’s in business. Kirk loved to learn and excelled in school. In high school, he was an Honor Society member, a wrestler, and a trumpeter and drum major in the band. Kirk also played in the UW Marching Band and inspired those around him to share their talents. He said, “Hobbies are great in many ways; in one sense, they don’t matter and in another, they reflect who we aspire to be.”
Kirk Reddie passed peacefully at Northwest Hospital on April 8, 2024. He will be deeply missed. Per his request, there will be no services, but a celebration of life will be held this spring. Donations may be made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation or to your local food bank. Arrangements: Beck’s Funeral Home, Edmonds (425) 771-1234.
4D members are invited to leave comments about Kirk below.
This month, the Eastside Clinic will look in on the Friday night Olympia Clinic. The information on the Olympia Clinic is posted in the Grab Iron. Here is the link:
Time: Apr 19, 2024 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
