Our presentation will be provided by Susan Gonzales on “Making your own flatcar loads”. This presentation will cover a variety of interesting flat car loads that can be made from products easily obtained at the dollar store, or your favorite online or boxstore retailer. As the price of purchased flat car loads has increased steadily over the past few years, I began researching what could be made at home. In doing the research I found some highly interesting and entertaining flat car loads. In particular, the Army and NASA seemed to have the same philosophy as the Priority Mail in that “if it fits, it ships”. Included in the presentation will be instructions on how to make your very own UFO which I built for a flat car load contest within our club.
Hope to see you all on Zoom!
Link:
4dpnrOrganizer SkagitValleyWhidbey is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: SV&W April Clinic
Time: Apr 14, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Fifth in the series on using Arduino in model railroading. Topics this week will cover Tortoise and Twin-coil switch machines, panel indicators, coding for multitasking and timing without using delay() function.
You’re in for a treat this Saturday, April 10, at our monthly Layout Tour Zoom meeting. The login details are below. First we will get an update from Bill Sornsin on the progress he’s been making on his huge HO version of the GN in the 1950’s from Seattle to Stevens Pass. Following that, Bob Stafford will give us a video tour of his now-dismantled HO version of the Lehigh Valley in PA. If there is time, maybe he will show us the plans he has for a new layout once his current home remodeling project is done. Here’s the Zoom info – be sure to log in with your full name as your Zoom screen name, so we’ll know to let you in:
Topic: 4DPNR April Layout Tours Time: Apr 10, 2021 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 845 6752 8229 Passcode: 507984 One tap mobile +12532158782,,84567528229# US (Tacoma) +16699009128,,84567528229# US (San Jose)
Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) Meeting ID: 845 6752 8229
You should have received by now an email notice with an electronic ballot.Al Lowe is running to continue as Assistant Superintendent. Alex Brikoff is running for a full two-year term after serving the remainder of Robin Peel’s term as a Director. Robin stepped down as Director but remains Treasurer. Robin will Chair the upcoming National Narrow-Gauge Convention in Tacoma next year. Dennis Terpstra is running for a Director position. Anton Faulk chose not to run again but will continue on as Editor of the Grab Iron and manager of our website.
Please do vote even though none of the candidate positions are contested. We are very fortunate to have capable people volunteering to fill positions of leadership. This helps us all enjoy our hobby all the more. The candidates listed above are examples of such leaders.
There are many moving parts to an organization like your Fourth Division. Some are more visible than others, but all are important. If you want to be more involved, please make it known to me, your Superintendent, or one of the others such as a Clinic Chair. We expect to be able to meet together soon in scheduled meetings and at some Train Shows. Now is the time to plan and prepare for display our modules and models. We will keep everyone tuned into activities as soon as possible.
Fourth in series on using Arduino in model railroading. This session will cover handling servos in an array, individual position settings for each servo, turnout control with a function, 16 buttons to one input pin and introduction to route indicator.
This April meeting of the North End clinic is Thursday, April 1, at 7pm.
For those of you who have been following Larry Sloan as he builds his new layout and are amazed at the quick progress he is making…be prepared to be amazed even further.
Larry will be presenting a clinic on how to build turnouts for your layout.
Why, you may ask, does someone hand build turnouts when they can easily be purchased? Well, as most modelers say, why not?!
Below is the Zoom link for the meeting. Doors will open by 6:45pm.
Third in series on using Arduino in model railroading. This session will cover controlling multiple servos with multiple pushbuttons with “brute force” SW methods then introduce more sophisticated SW approach. Ways to wire things together will be touched upon.
Not only have I been working on logging locomotives, but I have been adding some rod engines to my fleet. I even added one of those new-fangled diesel things! It seems that all model railroaders have the same problem, too many locomotives. I decided to join the crowd. Again, some of these engines were what I consider “basket case” repair projects. These have always interested me since they can either be used for spare parts or can be resurrected to operating status. I used to be able to obtain these locomotives for a reasonable cost off of Ebay. Over the years that has changed and now parts locomotives command about the same price as their fully functional counterparts.
Photo 7 shows my refurbished PFM 2-6-0 Boston & Maine B-15 locomotive. It was another “basket case” Ebay purchase. Someone tried to re-motor the locomotive but failed in their attempt. The drive assembly was a complete shamble. I installed a newer very small can motor along with a sound decoder and keep alive system. This locomotive has always interested me since it sports a highly detailed front snowplow. I changed out the front cast coupler for a working Kadee coupler on the plow. Doing so was an interesting task.
Photo 7
Photo 8 is my Boston & Albany Custom Brass 4-6-6 tank locomotive. Yet another “basket case”! The cab and boiler needed to be soldered back together (I can’t believe someone used epoxy to glue the two parts of the locomotive back together). It also had some driver issues. There was a short in just one of the drivers. It was located on the center driver and this type of short is a common problem, especially with this locomotive. The paper that is used as an insulator between the hub and wheel rim degrades over time and allows the passage of current. I replaced the paper with new friction tape and the short was eliminated. All the drivers needed quartering. When I purchased this locomotive, it came in pieces and was not put together, so I can understand the quartering issue. The front 4-wheel pony truck was not included, but I found a good substitute on a separate Ebay purchase. This locomotive has been a real challenge. It is still a work in progress since I am still tweaking that front lead truck. The back set of wheels hit parts of the main front frame of the locomotive. I have finally found a solution to the front truck problem but will require a complete disassembly of the locomotive to complete the work. Since I have just gotten the locomotive all put back together, I really do not want to tear it down! It also has a sound decoder and keep alive system installed.
Photo 8
Photos 9 shows my 0-8-0 switcher. This started out as an AHM import of a Rivarossi locomotive. As a plastic model with pizza cutter flanges on its drivers things needed to be changed. I bought this locomotive brand-new many years ago when I first started model railroading. This was from the good old days of code 100 brass track and saw dust scenery! This locomotive had lots of good aspects to it, so I wanted to make it be able to run on my train layout. To get it to that point a lot of work had to be done on this model. A new motor/drive system was constructed and installed. The flanges on the drivers were carefully ground down to follow RP-25 flange size. It had a sound decoder and Keep Alive capacitor system installed along with a sugar cube speaker. A new LED headlight was installed along with a LED flicker firebox light. Finally, a Tenshodo brass “clear vision” tender with booster truck was mated to the locomotive. This heavy locomotive will be used for switching duties in one of my railroad’s yards. I submitted a feature article for publication about the entire process of rebuilding this locomotive and hope to see it in print soon.
Photo 9
Photo 10 is a nod to all you modern diesel fans. This is my Oriental model of an Erie oil electric locomotive. This model was purchased many years ago and it sat in a box. It was in perfect shape. Originally it was to be cut it in half and used for a doodlebug project. I admit I really didn’t want to cut it in half, so that is why it sat in a box! As I was looking though my various locomotives for new projects, I opened this one up. I figured the Dry Gulch & Western needed to step into modern times! So, it now has a diesel. This one only needed paint, window glazing, lighting, addition of a sound decoder, and a Keep Alive system. I was able to use the original motor and driveline. This locomotive went from box to layout in less than a week. I have grown fond of this model since the locomotive was painted and detailed. The roof top vents and piping make it interesting.
Photo 10
There are several other rod locomotive projects that are still patiently waiting their turn for renovation. Currently on the work bench I have three 2-8-0 locomotives that are in the process of being refurbished. On one I have just finished installing the new drive assembly and motor. The boiler and tender have been painted. It is now ready for the installation of the decoder, speaker, and Keep Alive system. The other two are in various stages of driveline design or teardown. Yes, I do all these projects all while working on other projects on the train layout. It really does keep me busy and out of trouble! Next time I’ll begin my updates on the train layout. Quite a few changes have happened, new track has been added or adjusted along with a lot of new scenery.
Second in series on using Arduino in model railroading. The session will cover controlling a single servo with a toggle switch or push buttons, controlling a Tortoise with push buttons then move into controlling multiple servos and Tortoises.
Video of previous session is on an unlisted YouTube posting. Email Ted Becker for the link. rail.bird@att.net
4dpnrOrganizer MountVernon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Arduino Session, MV Clinic Special Edition Time: Mar 22, 2021 04:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
I have volunteered to be the Librarian (for lack of a better term) of the Fast Tracks tools that belong to the 4th Division. I had occasionally heard that there were jigs available, but getting to use them was another matter.
Anyway, I’m working on changing that. The first thing was to see what inventory we have. Now that I have them… there are fewer than I thought. We have four HO Code 83 jigs and some point form tools. I would like to increase that inventory.
Are there any 4D members that might wish to sell or donate some Fast Tracks tools to the division?
If you are interested you can contact me at: 206-963-7929 (mobile) larrylsloan@gmail.com
I do work a full-time job and usually don’t answer calls from numbers I don’t know-but leave a message and I’ll call back. Or text…
