Category: News

Our Eastside meeting will start at 7PM with the Zoom open at 6:30

Introductions

Announcements

Program – Snoqualmie Museum Shop Tour

We will take a look at some of the past efforts to restore and preserve some of the historic railroad equipment now on display at the Northwest Railway Museum. Russ Segner was a volunteer for many years at the Conservation and Restoration Center. He will share many photos of his work on passenger cars and locomotives.

This will be a preview of meetings to be held there this summer. Here is the link to the meeting:
Russ Segner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Eastside Clinic April 17
Time: Apr 17, 2025 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88234031033?pwd=FrKhc21V2KDXVHltk8FCQDbGI0t2aV.1

Meeting ID: 882 3403 1033
Passcode: 951055

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Meeting ID: 882 3403 1033
Passcode: 951055

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kewRtEV8jM

With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of our dear friend and fellow Narrow Gauge modeler, Jim Brown of West Vancouver, BC, who left us February 14.

Jim was a valued member of our Northwest community, known for his passion, creativity, and dedication to Narrow Gauge modeling. Jim was a friend to many, always willing to share his knowledge and lend a helping hand. Amongst our local narrow gauge bunch known as the “Kirkland Cocktail Club” he was known to us as “Dr. Lenz” for his early adoption of DCC. His warmth, humor, and generosity will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Jim’s family and loved ones during this difficult time.

With deepest sympathy,

Russ Segner

Our clinic this Thursday will feature several of our group sharing something of their current model railroading.

Alex Brikoff will show photos of his Milwaukee Road layout of the Othello area. He will also demonstrate his new control system. John Thompson will share progress on his new HO layout featuring the Santa Fe in Victorville, California. He will also show photos of the layouts at the Tacoma History Museum over the holidays. Di Voss will show his latest project of creating an HO scale Streetcar, circa. 1900, that he printed on a 3D printer. Di now lives in an “Over 55 Retirement Community” in Arizona, where one club has a 5 color 3D printer. 

Finally, I share photos of my collection of HO steam D&RGW locomotives. Come join us and share what you have been modeling.

If you are not on our list, contact me at russseg@gmail.com or Doug Oldenburg at douglas.oldenburg@yahoo.com for the link to the meeting.

Sadly on behalf of the Pacific Northwest On30 Modular Group,  I must report that we have lost a friend in the 4D-PNR and Narrow Gauge Community – we received news that Paul Vaughn had passed away in November.

Paul was very active in many aspects of model railroading locally and nationally.  For anyone who did not know, Paul owned a cottage industry specializing in narrow gauge equipment at PVC-SN3.com which was very well regarded in the Sn3 community for his line of resin parts, 3d printed models and brass castings.   A lifetime NMRA member and seasoned traveler, Paul participated in many of the National Narrow Gauge conventions and  NMRA National/Regional events for decades.  He also had a vast wealth of knowledge globally on prototype railroading which included trips to South America and investigating the unique narrow gauge railroads down there.  I have sat with him many times reviewing his photos of all kinds of interesting critters and unique locomotives he found on his trips.  He really loved that stuff.

Paul had been with the Pacific Northwest On30 Modular Group for the last 10 years and was one of the core participants at every train show in the region that hosted our modular layout.  He brought a lot of energy and good natured humor to our group.  He was always the first guy in the door and never hesitated to lend a hand.  He was always super enthusiastic and motivated to be a part of the shows and gatherings.  He enjoyed running trains, being yardmaster and worked within our group operations to obtain an NMRA Chief Dispatcher certificate – of which he was very proud.  He built several different modules and had a handy quantity of locomotives and rolling stock equipment to share with the group.  At train shows he usually had some new item to run fresh off another kitbash, 3d print or resin casting.  Never a dull moment with Pauls equipment, always something interesting.  I can say after conversations with him that he was very happy to be an active member in our modules group and that it gave him much joy and satisfaction.  Paul contributed a lot of effort to our group and was highly appreciated, he will certainly be missed.  Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

There is no 4dPNR “Second Saturday” layout tour Zoom this month, so we can all be free to attend the Boeing Model Railroad Club’s annual swap meet at the Kent Commons at 9:30 am this Saturday, November 9. The next Second Saturday Zoom layout tour will be on Saturday, December 14, at 10am. Details to be announced later.

Dennis Terpstra

To build interest in model railroading among the younger generation, when a youngster shows interest, we give them a throttle, a few instructions, and let them run a train. When completed, we give them a signed Junior Engineer Certificate for them to take home. We have now had the same young person show up twice over the past two years at the Puyallup show to run trains. This coming January he’ll be ten years old… we’ll see if he shows up again. The idea is to encourage the young person and his family in model railroading. (We require a parent to join if a new member is a minor.)

The 4dNTRAK group is a modular N scale club with more than 50 modules, ranging in size from 6′ or 4′ long by 2′ or 1′ wide that we arrange in different configurations. We and the other modular groups can be seen at various public shows, including the Lynden Fairground and Maple Valley during October, the Washington State History Museum during the Christmas-New Year’s holidays, the Puyallup Fairgrounds during January, and the Monroe Fairgrounds during February. Because of our wide variety of available modules, we have created over 100 different configurations and have never repeated a layout at a show.During our various public shows, we always talk with visitors about the benefits of model railroading: talking with other train enthusiasts, learning a new hobby, improving skills in building and craftsmanship, and having fun running their own trains on a large layout. But we have discovered that sometimes visitors might not want to initially ask questions when walking by or just observing. Additionally, our club members need to be on the visitor’s side of the layout (not “in the pit”) to make visitors feel more comfortable when engaging in a conversation.

Our youngest club member was 9-years-old and now, at age 25, he continues to participate with us in show layouts. We have had several young people join our club this way.

With this in mind, Al Lowe and I created a tri-fold brochure to be displayed on our layout so that visitors can easily pick it up information without engaging us initially. It is printed in full color, with a QR code that links to our website.

Magnus Christerson – an active member of 4D – was awarded the ETE PNW Chapter’s Meritorious Service Award from Chapter President Chris Woodruff, in recognition of Magnus’ exceptional contributions to the ETE PNW Chapter over the past year.  Congratulations, Magnus!