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What’s happening now in the 4th Division
Many of us enjoyed the first day of the National Model Railroad Association Annual Convention today.
“Rails by the Bay” brings to us a lot of really good information and a fine experience with model railroaders all over the world. I urge you to check it out and get involved.
http://www.pcrnmra.org/NMRA2021/registration.html
Your 4dPNR Board recently decided that we didn’t want to run our regularly scheduled July Zoom layout tours on Saturday morning July 10 up against the NMRA’s virtual annual convention during that same time, so the layout tours are being rescheduled for future months. We highly recommend you consider participating in Rails by the Bay, which has a nominal registration fee, which will give you a variety of great content and discussion opportunities over a number of days next week and weekend. Here is the link to register online: http://www.pcrnmra.org/NMRA2021/registration.html
Here is the link to the meeting Tomorrow, Saturday morning at 10:00. Any member may attend.
Topic: Board of Directors Meeting
Time: Jun 19, 2021 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86149646690?pwd=SFVCMmIzZnhPV0J3SWFXd3NEM2NLdz09
Meeting ID: 861 4964 6690
Passcode: 650471
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Meeting ID: 861 4964 6690
Passcode: 650471
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ksqJKDO7
Russ
It has been a while since the last update on the Dry Gulch & Western. I’m sure you have been wondering what new things have been happening on the layout. I decided to continue this series with the completion of the Wapwallopen area. We last left off with the track completed but scenery needed to be added. Finally, the scenery and structures are in! As previously mentioned, I created this new town to add interest and some switching to my branch line leading out of Dry Gulch. So, let’s take a look at the new scenery.
Photo 17 gives the overview of the area. The vine laden stone wall acts as a scenery dividing point between the two towns of Dry Gulch and Wapwallopen. From the extreme left to right you can see the yellow painted coal pocket structure and the straining beam bridges that allow access to the coal pocket. They also support one of the two turnouts for the run around track. The red structure is a small cannery that will provide some revenue freight traffic. The brick structure across the tracks is a deceptive building since it is 3 stories tall and has access to a siding from the branch line as well as another siding from the town of Dry Gulch. The switching crew at Dry Gulch will need to pay attention to where cars are placed next to this building! The small Wapwallopen station with is large expanse of roof is a kit I purchased from Ed Liesse. Ed knows I like Pennsylvania Railroad items, and this is a fine model of a PRR whistle-stop station. Last, is the stiff leg derrick that loads granite slabs onto specially built flat cars. The slabs are lowered from a trolley crane from the granite quarry at the top of the mountain. The entire process is done on the siding from Dry Gulch.
Photos 18 and 19 show both wooden cranes for the granite operation. The stiff-leg derrick was constructed from a Sheepscot kit that I purchased from JJ Johnston. It features functioning spotlights on the spindly legs as well as interior lighting in the small building. The trolley crane in Photo 19 was completely built from scratch and fitted to the area. JJ, I now know why you didn’t build the Sheepscot kit! Instructions? Who needs detailed instructions?
Photo 20 shows a backside view of Wapwallopen and the straining beam bridges. This shot was taken from the access hole located in Dry Gulch. The two tracks leading under the straining beam bridge on the right provide the siding for the granite operation as well as the brick structure. The single-track siding under the second straining beam bridge allows for rail access to a fuel facility and its associated storage tanks.
Photo 21 shows the access hole that the previous photo was taken. The cover for this access hole is currently under construction off of the layout. It will feature several structures and scenery. It will be a sliding lift-up type of access hatch with the ability to lock in the upright position allowing me to do track maintenance. Directly behind the hatch area is the completed town of Raade Springs. This town has rail service provided by the branch line out of Dry Gulch. In the foreground is the Dry Gulch turntable and to the extreme left is the corner of the Dry Gulch engine house.
That completes this update on the Dry Gulch & Western Railroad. Over the next few updates, we will take a peek at the towns of Alpine, Potter Flats, and Raade Springs. All of these areas were completed over the past year along with the adjoining scenery.
David
There is still time for you to get your name on the list of volunteers for the “Day Out With Thomas” event at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie.
If you are young enough, or young-at-heart, or if you have young kids, you are certainly familiar with the “Thomas The Tank Engine” and “Thomas And Friends” series of TV shows which originated on BBC, and which show in the United States on PBS public television. At any of our public model railroad shows, you’ll see the kids streaming toward any layout that has a model of Thomas running. They all recognize Thomas, and enjoy watching him in action.
Well, there is a full-size ( prototype ) of Thomas, which tours the United States. It spends two ( 3-day ) weekends every summer riding the rails, hauling passenger trains on former Northern Pacific rails in Snoqualmie. This year, the dates are July 9-11, and 16-18, 2021. I’m told this has been happening for close to 20 years. And now, you can be part of the action.
The Museum not only has Thomas running. It also has a full prototype museum of full-size trains, as well as a display of model layouts in both O and N scales. During the high-turnout weekends of the Thomas trains, they need extra volunteers to run those model layouts, and help in the prototype museum.
Click on the Volunteers Needed For Day Out With Thomas posting for details. Emily Boersma tells me there are still time slots open for volunteers. And although there is not “official” food service, the Museum is negotiating for Food Trucks there, and coupons will be available for volunteers. With the right amount of negotiating, you might even be able to get tickets for your kids to ride the Thomas train. Annie and Clarabel will thank you.
Day Out With Thomas Press Release
Dan
Eastside Virtual Clinic will be held on Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 7:00 PM (lobby opens at 6:45 PM ) PDT
Our next Eastside Clinic will be held virtually on ZOOM this Thursday, June 17, starting at 7:00 PM with our virtual lobby opening at 6:45 PM. I would like to extend an invitation to all the 4th Division to virtually attend this Thursday. So be sure and save the date for the June Eastside Clinic this Thursday, June 17 at 6:45 PM! The log in info for the clinic is below.
The Eastside Clinic is inviting you to a scheduled 4D-PNR Zoom clinic:
Topic: Eastside Clinic for June 2021
Time: June 17, 2021, 06:45 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Clinic at:
https://zoom.us/j/99880801234?pwd=T0l0RkpKNitHc3dTZE82bXNJU3BWUT09
Meeting ID: 998 8080 1234
Passcode: 478281
Our Clinic this month will be “Techniques for Building Better Buildings” presented by Greg Price. Greg will lead us through his presentation and discussion of his techniques for building structures on his layout. I’m sure that everyone will be able to take away something new and useful for their model building!
After the Clinic, there will be an opportunity for other folks to show off their latest model work in our “Show and Brag” event.
Alex Brikoff, 06/15/2021
Topic this week is a presentation of a model railroad control network based on Arduino. Simpler and less expensive than commercial LCC products for those who can do some C/C++ coding.
This is the last of this series on using Arduino. Whether or not these sessions resume at some future date remains to be determined. If there is enough interest something can be done. Email Ted Becker with questions, comments and suggestions at rail.bird@att.net .
4dpnrOrganizer MountVernon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: SIMBAAB, Tinkerers alternative to LCC
Time: Jun 14, 2021 04:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/93496077242?pwd=RHA4eE02U0h0aFhUUlVUcjJTZTZCQT09
Meeting ID: 934 9607 7242
Passcode: 521556
Update to the clinic tonight. This should be a very interesting clinic as we have a wide array of fantastic modelers to show off their train backside – the Caboose!!!
Thanks to all the volunteers who stepped up for this unique event.
Presenter Line-Up
Rich Blake
Ted Becker
Phil Gonzales
Ron Hopkins MMR
Lee Marsh
Gary Jordan MMR
Jon Bentz
Jake Swaney
Terry Kandzor
Zoom Link:
Topic: SVW June Clinic
Time: Jun 9, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92342184361?pwd=eUtkQ2p3d2ZLZGRjTEp2dEUxN1RwUT09
Meeting ID: 923 4218 4361
Passcode: 576499
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Meeting ID: 923 4218 4361
Passcode: 576499
June’s 4DPNR Zoom layout tour will be presented by Scott Calvert (from 7DPNR near Vancouver BC). Scott has been building a large operations-oriented HO layout modeling a mountain section of the Canadian Pacific mainline, and his layout tour will be presented in two segments – the first is a tour of the layout and its scenery based on prototype scenes, and the second is how he sets it up for operations. You can get an idea for the scope of his layout beforehand by visiting his his web page, which is https://www.cprboundarysub.ca .
The link for joining the Zoom meeting on Saturday morning is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83676128886?pwd=SEJvZWRIVDdCeEVkMHR1QUVoRGNrZz09
As usual, we will open the meeting around 9:30am and start the formal presentation at 10:00.
To watch recordings of our previous 4DPNR Zoom layout tours, visit www.youtube.com/c/4dpnrmovies
The year we honor Burr Stewart for his very significant contribution of skill and time to make our virtual world of meetings effective. Burr has tirelessly worked to record, edit and display the many layout tours produced within the Fourth Division over the last year. He has worked to organize and train many of us in conducting our meetings online. This takes a lot of time and requires patience with us as we have learned the necessary computer skills.
While doing all this, he has been actively producing many fine videos of his own extensive HO layout. His creative skills include many videos on one screen showing multiple views of the same scene, including onboard cameras. He has hosted several remotely controlled operating sessions with operators working trains from different locations. Count on him to lead the way in adopting new and more effective ways we can share our hobby.
Thank you Burr on behalf of all of us in the 4D.
Russ Segner, Superintendent