You are in for a treat next Saturday, January 8, at 10am, on Zoom! Our regular “Second Saturday Layout Tour Zoom meetings” will resume, with Michael Dziubinski’s spectacularly sceniked N scale layout, followed by Don Borden’s HO model of Cajon Pass on the Santa Fe, both of these layouts modeling the transition era of the early 1950’s. As usual, the meeting will open at 9:30am with the layout tours themselves beginning at 10:00 and 10:45, respectively. Mark your calendars (both for next Saturday and every second Saturday all year!) and join in if you can. If you miss it, we plan to post a recording of the presentations a few days later on the 4dPNR YouTube channel, which is www.youtube.com/c/4dPNRMovies.
The Zoom info for the meeting is: Topic: 4DPNR January Layout Tour Zoom Meeting Time: Jan 8, 2022 09:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
The Foss Waterway Seaport Maritime Museum will be holding their first Annual Rails to Sails Train Show on March 17 to 20, 2022 in their facility at 705 Dock Street, Tacoma WA. As one of the coordinators, I have contacted the 4DNTrak Group to bring their modules down and set up a 30′ x 36′ layout that will be running for the length of the show.
The Educational Department of the Foss Waterway Seaport, and their Events Dept are planning railroad related events that will be included the train show. If you would be interested in having a clinic or two that may be of interest to the museum visitors, I would like to discuss the possibilities with you. You can leave a message for me at 206-310-9414, or email at budmanthe3rd@yahoo.com.
I look forward to speaking with you about space and scheduling the clinics. Thank you.
The original presentation for this month has been postponed until January because more material is being added to make it a better program.
This month the clinic is an open forum. Share photos of what you have been working on. Show us any new tools and tips you have come up with. Ask questions on all subjects model railroading, there is a lot of expertise available to help.
In the holiday spirit bring some holiday treats and a favorite beverage.
4dpnrOrganizer MountVernon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Mount Vernon Clinic, December 2021 Time: Dec 20, 2021 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Eastside Virtual Clinic will be held on THURSDAY, December 16, 2021 at 7:00 PM (lobby opens at 6:45 PM) PDT
The Eastside Clinic is inviting everyone to the December Clinic to be held virtually on ZOOM this Thursday, December 16, starting at 7:00 PM with our virtual lobby opening at 6:45 PM. Be sure and save the date for the December Eastside Clinic this Thursday! The log in info for the clinic is below.
Topic: Eastside Clinic for December 2021
Time: December 16, 2021, 06:45 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
This month we’re having a special holiday, year-end presentation titled “Remembering Milwaukee Road’s Coast Division” narrated by Blair Kooistra. Blair has demonstrated his photographic expertise in creating this beautiful and exciting but somewhat sad tribute to the final days of the Milwaukee Road’s Coast Division. This video is a collection of images that document the last days of the Coast Division, narrated by Blair and set to background music. So come join us, take a break from holiday shopping and kick up your feet with your favorite holiday beverage and enjoy our December presentation!
Topic this week is bit, bytes, words, the corresponding lingo and how to do “bit fiddling” or “bit banging” with emphasis on how Ted uses it to build action codes to be transmitted on his network.
This will be the last session for 2021. We’re taking a break until next year. January 11 is the most likely date we will resume.
I’ll be honest, I am pretty much out of ideas on what to present. You are reading this because you are interested in Arduino. What is it you want to know? Are you wanting to apply Arduinos but can’t over some hump? Let me know what it is you want to know.
In the last update you were able to see the new access hatch that was placed in the town of Dry Gulch. For this update, I’ll show you how it works and how this type of hatch makes life a lot easier when conducting maintenance. I would assume that there is some interest in its construction and operation.
Most modelers use a variety of ways to gain access to areas of their layout that is inaccessible from an aisle. The most common type is the simple “lift-out” hatch, this type is a simple cover to a hole in the layout. These are easy and quick to construct but difficult to actually use. One must usually find a place to put the hatch while doing maintenance.
My sliding hatch operates using a simple 1 x 4 pine board that is housed in a shaft built from four pine boards of the same size. It uses a single L-shaped lift mechanism for simplicity. Since the weight/size of the hatch is not too heavy only a single lift support is used. When raised, the hatch is held in place with a nail. A hole was drilled at a desired height completely through the shaft and hatch support. A wide pen mark on the support rails notifies the user when full extension is achieved.
Photo 47 shows the access hatch fully extended to allow access for maintenance. You will also note that the access hole is rather large to allow easy movement for maintenance. This was necessary since there are several locations on all sides of the hatch that require maintenance access.
Photo 47
Photo 48 gives you an idea of the simple construction of the shaft. The shaft is not completely enclosed. This was done to save on wood and remove any possible binding issues of the hatch support.
Photo 48
Photo 49 is a close-up of the nail placement. This nail goes completely through the hatch support and shaft enclosure to ensure the hatch will not inadvertently drop down.
Photo 49
Photo 50 shows the line drawn on the hatch support. This acts as a guide when pushing the nail into the hole.
Photo 50
Photo 51 shows a trick I used to hide the hatch seam that runs along a roadway. I glued the back wheels of a large box van type truck to one side of the roadway that is on the hatch. The other side of the truck’s wheels are not glued down. This large truck straddles the seam and hides it quite well!
Photo 51
Photo 52 shows the hatch back in place. The dangling box truck from photo 47 is now back at rest on the roadway! Notice how that box van helped hide an offending seam.
Photo 52
Photo 53 has Santa on his way!
Photo 53
In the next update I’ll show you the new scenery additions to Dry Gulch. Progress is being made on the locomotive service facilities as well as other parts of the layout. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Topic this week is reading VL6180 distance measuring devices for end-of-track detection for dead-end hidden tracks. Mounting considerations will be discussed. Software example will include coverage of how messages are sent on Ted’s homegrown SIMBAAB network.
Larry Sloan did a clinic recently describing an industrial warehouse with a bow string roof structure. It inspired me to revisit an area I became very familiar with during my 40- year career as an industrial real estate broker. My clients included Foss Maritime, Olympic Stain, Colonial Cedar Products and Marco Marine.
Lake Union was once a very busy complex of warehousing and shipping served by rail and ships. The Great Northern served both sides of the Lake Washington Ship Canal with extensive trackage in the area now home to Amazon and fine waterfront restaurants. Many of the buildings along Westlake had rail service and Terry Avenue had significant trackage before the Terry Avenue Freight house there became a fine restaurant. So, let’s take a tour of the area using Google Earth and photographs I shot in the 1970’s of the many interesting structures and businesses.
There will be many locations that can inspire intricate trackwork, scratch-built structures and operational challenges. This is a chance to see buildings not available as Cornerstone kits.
