Clinic Report – Mount Vernon – May 9 2019

By Dale Bearden & Karl Kleeman

Nick Muff’s “More Than” An HO Layout

May’s meeting was hosted by Nick Muff at his residence. We were privileged to visit Nick’s incredible” train room” and his Kansas City Southern HO layout. First, the “MORE THAN.” Nick has a full size F3 cab front end in his train room. It has the cab interior with all the original equipment. And if that is not enough, he has recreated part of a passenger car. The car was recreated but has an all-original interior. And he has the furnishings and accessories of the proper era.

Now we know that most of you have seen Nick’s train room more than once but perhaps all of you do not know the whole story. When Karl and I arrived at Nicks, we met Jim Betz, a new member of our group, and just like myself, this was his first visit to the layout. I’m sure I wasn’t the first who wanted to hear Nick explain the story of how he came to have a complete F3 cab in his basement. He set out to buy a locomotive throttle tower quadrant and possibly a brake quadrant to display. Nick learned they were scrapping locomotives at a Seattle salvage yard. He went down just looking for the throttle and brake units and was told by the owner’s son that an F3 was waiting to be scrapped. As I recall Nick’s story, Nick and the scrap yard worker set about recovering the throttle and brake units for Nick. Nick inquired about what would happen to the locomotive, and learned that it would be scrapped, so he asked about purchasing a portion of the cab. The yardman said, why don’t you just take the whole cab? Nick was hesitant so he made a deal for most of the cab, minus the nose. On the way, home his wife asked what would become of the nose. Nick replied, probably just make Toyota parts out of it. They looked at each other, decided that they really didn’t want that to happen so they turned around, and went back and made arrangements to purchase the full cab and it’s interior equipment. In order to transport the Cab economically, Nick had it cut into 3 pieces, and brought it home on a U- Haul trailer.

I asked Nick, how he got it into the basement. He said he had a slab poured and he had a friend with a crane so they lowered it onto the slab. We learned the full story of how it was reassembled, welded and painted. The question was asked what would happen to it when they move? Nick commented that one wall of the basement was specially built such that it was not a supporting wall and could be removed so that the full cab could be removed. A project like this would be intimidating for most of us. But you get the feeling nothing intimidates Nick.

This brief report cannot begin to do justice to Nick’s humorous and enjoyable narrative. I can’t remember all of the details; I was too caught up in the story to make notes. I’m sure Nick would be delighted to tell his story again and if you haven’t had the opportunity to witness his enthusiasm, and share in his joy for our hobby you are missing out.

And now for the HO layout…

New area being worked on
Nick still has a lot going on. He has one entire area yet to be built. He has a number of structures on paper. And he is doing fantastic things with his 3D printing. And he has new electric gadgets, for controlling sound and lights. So, we will have more great layout to look forward to seeing and much to learn from this master model railroader. We are waiting to see that building extension and a steam engine cab with its open cab toward us and all the controls and good stuff. What do you think Nick?

The layout was one of the most detailed we have seen anywhere. Dale said “I believe Nick is what a Master Model Railroader should be. He is a pleasant and humble person, very talented, willing to teach and share the things he’s learned.” We all enjoyed visiting his wonderful layout and Nick’s impromptu clinic. He answered many questions and after watching a few trains run, he invited us all upstairs for a fantastic dessert.

Local History Spot…..

The Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad was incorporated in June 1883. The railroad operated from New Whatcom (now downtown Bellingham), north on Railroad Ave. to Sumas on the Canadian boarder. For a while, the transcontinental Canadian Pacific passenger trains came directly into New Whatcom on the BB&BC rails. Later the BB&BC expanded its service into the Mt. Baker area to Glacier. It built lines to Lynden and Lake Whatcom. The railroad served Whatcom County until it was taken over by the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railroad in 1912. The Milwaukee operated it as the Bellingham and Northern until 1918 when the railroad was fully absorbed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific that operated it until 1980. Photo shows a couple of BB&BC locomotives double heading a train on Goshen Hill coming into the town of Goshen in Whatcom County.

Members’ layouts – Moose Creek Logging Company

Dale, Karl, Ron are members of the Moose Creek Model Railroad Club, recently incorporated. The layout has fourteen 5 ft modules that are put together in a straight 70 ft point-to-point layout with return loops at each end. Many of you have seen the Moose Creek Lumber Co. at train shows in the area. It is a logging operation with the logging camp on one end and a sawmill at the other end. Logs are hauled mainly by geared locomotives and delivered to the sawmill. The empties are then returned to the logging area for another load. It is On30 and quite detailed taking advantage of the larger O scale structures and figures, which enhance the viewing with many hidden animals. It will be shown at the narrow gauge convention in Sacramento in September and again at the Lynden train show in October.

Hey gang:
As our season comes to an end, so does my role as [Mount Vernon Clinic] Editor and more than likely … so does my ability to attend future clinics here in Mount Vernon. Most of you are aware that Annie & I will be moving soon and have closed down our little business of Xtrains. The house will be on the market soon, so chances are fair that we’ll have moved to Coeur d’Alene before next season starts.
I wanted to take just a minute to genuinely thank everyone for the comradery and the friendships that have been established since I joined the group a few years ago. I try to make an effort each meeting to go around the room and say ‘hi’ or shake hands before the meeting starts … and I was looking forward to doing that one last time at Nick’s house this last week. Our 7th Grandson however, decided that day was ‘his’ day to enter the world, so Annie & I spent the afternoon and evening down in Everett at the hospital with Mannen and his wife Katelynn for the special event. He was their first. Everything turned out great and grandpa can’t wait to buy him his first train set! (N Scale, of course!) J
I hope I get the chance to see everyone again at a future meeting. With two families in the area, we’ll be over occasionally to visit. Maybe the timing will work out where I can catch another clinic? If not … again … thank you for making me feel welcome in the group, welcome in the community and a special thanks from both of us for the great patronage that was shown for doing business with Xtrains!
Our goal after we move is to downsize a bit, fully retire and have a little extra time for things that we’d like to do before we can’t. The new house will have space for an expanded layout, so I’ll try and apply all the things I’ve learned from all of you these last few years and put them to good use.
Going forward, Annie & I want to wish everyone the very best. My contact info will remain the same, so feel free to touch base anytime. Happy modeling to all !
Respectfully, Mike O’Brien

Calendar Dates & Announcements

1. July 7-13: NMRA National Convention will be held in Salt Lake City. Here’s the link for more information: www.nmra2019slc.org
2. June – August: Summer vacation!
3. September 12 – MV Clinic: Mount Vernon Senior Center – Let the new season begin!

Dale & Karl