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Maple Valley Train Show 10/16 – 10/17

By Ed Ives

The Maple Valley train show started by Henry Holwedell, a local resident and NMRA member, has run continuously for over 20 years, except in 2020. Henry is long gone and we need to keep this show moving if not in his memory. The show is quite small with about 10 layouts located in the Gracie Hansen Center, a gymnasium located in Ravensdale.

Volunteers Needed

The organizer, Steve Hiester has requested us to help and provide 2 or 3 volunteers for the event this year as follows:

Friday 10/15 – Provide security in keeping the public out (usually not a problem) during set up, helping participants find their location on the site map and assisting the one man participants unload their vehicle.

Saturday and Sunday 10/16 & 17 – Maybe collect donations at the door; count the public entering the show; assure public safety that electrical cords etc. remain taped to the floor.

Sunday 10/17 – After closing, provide security in keeping the public out of the building and assist where required in getting the participants and their displays out of the building and loaded in their vehicles. 

Please volunteer to help one day; two days or three, every bit helps.

Contact Ed Ives (gresley7@gmail.com) or Steve Hiester (hies_skel@hotmail.com)

Ed

Arduino Session, September 21, 2021

By Ted Becker

The next session will be held Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 4:00pm via Zoom. Topic this week will be controlling servos with two pushbuttons per servo.

Subscribe to: https://groups.io/g/MR-Duino for more information and discussions from these sessions.

4dpnrOrganizer MountVernon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Arduino Session
Time: Sep 21, 2021 04:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87031764665?pwd=ZTIwcHVjQmlkQXFtUHloQldPbFA5dz09

Meeting ID: 870 3176 4665
Passcode: 454971

Mount Vernon Clinic for Sept. 2021

By Ted Becker

The Mount Vernon Clinic for Sept. 2021 will be held VIA Zoom at 7:00pm, Monday September 20, 2021. Topic this month will be Nick Muff showing us how he put a F7 Diesel cab in his basement. Meeting will start sometime between 6:30 and 6:45.

Topic for October is TBD. Anyone who wants to share what they have been doing in the hobby is welcome to do so. Contact Ted Becker at rail.bird@att.net to let him know you have something to share.

4dpnrOrganizer MountVernon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: September Mount Vernon Clinic
Time: Sep 20, 2021 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88988836721?pwd=dlMxM0QyVnVVdE9xd0V1Mi9UcXRndz09

Meeting ID: 889 8883 6721
Passcode: 723075

Eastside Virtual Clinic for September 2021

Eastside Virtual Clinic will be held on THURSDAY, September 16, 2021 at 7:00 PM (lobby opens at 6:45 PM ) PDT

With the cooler days of fall beckoning, it’s time to return to our train rooms as well as the fall and winter line up of 4D sponsored Clinics.  So, I’d like to invite everyone to the first Eastside Clinic of the 2021 – 22 season to be held virtually on ZOOM this Thursday, September 16, starting at 7:00 PM with our virtual lobby opening at 6:45 PM.  Be sure and save the date for the September Eastside Clinic this Thursday!  The log in info for the clinic is below.    

Topic: Eastside Clinic for September 2021
Time: September 16, 2021, 06:45 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86560465420?pwd=L0M2ZWVURXhHRGUzZlI5SE1aYTE5dz09

Meeting ID: 865 6046 5420
Passcode: 170492

Our Clinic this month will be “Comparing HO and OO Scales” presented by Robin Peel.   Robin will be discussing and comparing the similarities and differences between HO and OO scales.  I’m sure that if you’ve ever wondered what the differences are between the two scales (because they are similar), then Robin will be able to clear up any confusion you might have. 

After the Clinic, there will be an opportunity for everyone to show off their latest model work that they’ve been working on over the summer in our “Show and Brag” event. 

Alex Brikoff, 09/14/2021    

Arduino Session September 14, 2021

By Ted Becker

The next session will be held Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 4:00pm via Zoom. Topic for this week is controlling servos with toggle switches for throwing turnouts.

Subscribe to the group at: https://groups.io/g/MR-Duino. Most communication concerning the sessions will be conducted via that group. Links to the sessions will still be posted here in the GrabIron.

4dpnrOrganizer MountVernon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Arduino Session
Time: Sep 14, 2021 04:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84827701865?pwd=dW9WU2JrRldLRWR1SlA2SjZBRTBHUT09

Meeting ID: 848 2770 1865
Passcode: 348414

September’s 4dPNR Layout Tours this Saturday, 9/11

September’s 4DPNR Zoom layout tours will be presented by Dave Yaddock MMR and Gary Jordan MMR. Dave has been building a large scenery-oriented HO layout modeling a mountain section of the west, based loosely on John Allen’s famous layout, and Gary’s layout is a relatively small O scale layout in which he managed to fit three different track gauges while modeling the Gilpin Tram in the Colorado Rockies. Gary’s presentation will focus on how he has set up his layout for virtual operators running his trains remotely from their home computers.

The link for joining the Zoom meeting on Saturday morning is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82255870159?pwd=c3RsRU1LbFh3R3FaOHF6UDVydzhSUT09

As usual, we will open the meeting around 9:30am and start the formal presentations at 10:00.

To watch recordings of our previous 4DPNR Zoom layout tours, visit www.youtube.com/c/4dpnrmovies

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.

Arduino Session September 7, 2021

By Ted Becker

The Arduino sessions are starting up again. A dozen people have shown interest by subscribing to the IO Group set up for these sessions so I am going forward with them. Subscribe to the group at: https://groups.io/g/MR-Duino. Most communication concerning the sessions will be conducted via that group. Links to the sessions will still be posted here in the GrabIron.

The first session of the new season will be held Tuesday, September 7, 2021 at 4:00pm via Zoom. Topic this session will primarily a discussion of what topics to cover in the future.

4dpnrOrganizer MountVernon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Arduino Session, Sept. 7, 2021
Time: Sep 7, 2021 04:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81867226920?pwd=cWl4VEhIZmdyS01JVTg3V0M4TkJPUT09

Meeting ID: 818 6722 6920
Passcode: 384614

A Really, Really BIG Show



The website for the Seattle 2022 National Narrow Gauge Convention, to be held in Tacoma, WA next September 1-4, is now live at seattlenngc.com. If you haven’t done so already, take a look. We plan to have a very full program of layouts, vendors and clinics. The 4th Division is participating in a big way.

I am the Clinics Coordinator. So here is a chance for you to present a clinic on a national stage. Not a narrow gauge modeler? Well, structures, trees, people and water work for any gauge and some of our members here are outstanding modelers.

Are you interested in presenting a clinic? Please let me know. I am available to chat online most anytime to answer any questions.

Russ Segner
russseg@gmail.com

Steam Still Runs – Continued

By Dan Peters

My personal thanks to everybody who provided feedback to the previous article about the “working steam engine” on the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad, at the Northwest Railway Museum. And especially to those whom I spoke with at the Snoqualmie Railroad Days festival over the weekend. Just my personal opinion, but we cannot have too many working steam engines here in Washington state. As modelers, preserving railroad history is what we do all the time.

Because of a scheduling conflict, there were too many authorized steam crew members on Saturday and not enough on Sunday. So there were no photo run-by’s on Sunday. But the good news is, those extra crew members have made themselves available for continued operation through the fall. Problems with the tender water tank have been fixed, but there is still work needed on the air brake system before Northern Pacific number 924 is certified for passenger train operation.

So, if you missed it this past weekend, you still can see our “working steam engine” in operation this fall. Plans are for the Northwest Railway Museum to continue brake testing, and photo run-by’s, on the first Saturday in October ( October 2nd ) and November ( November 6th ). As always, it’s smart to call the museum first at (425) 888-3030, or check the web site at https://trainmuseum.org.

If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to run a prototype steam engine, the museum is always looking for volunteers. Steam engine crew members must be certified to run the diesel train first, and then go through additional training on the steam engine. But heck, our grandpa’s and uncles did it, why can’t we? For more information, contact Emily Boersma, Volunteer & Program Coordinator, at Emily@TrainMuseum.org or 425-888-3030 x 7203 or 425-772-8870. You can tell your grand-kids you ran a steam train “back in the day”.

Before picture of the NP 924:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1264131

After picture:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5431490