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Grab Iron Posts

Tacoma Events

By Kurt Laidlaw

The PNR 2023 Convention is just around the corner, but as part of the larger celebrations of Tacoma’s 150th anniversary and the Northern Pacific Railroad 150th anniversary, the Tacoma Historical Society is putting on a series of events throughout the year. I wanted to share some of these with you, especially if you live in Tacoma or nearby cities.

First is the free ongoing exhibit at the society’s building highlighting 150 years of the NP in Tacoma.
The exhibit is filled with railroad memorabilia and looks at the impact the railroad had on the various groups of people living in the area.

The second item is a special event, which also is a major fund raiser for the Tacoma Historical Society—Dinner with Teddy Roosevelt ($150 per person) on April 29th. While not to everyone’s taste (pun intended) or within everyone’s budget, it should be an exciting evening if you can make it.

For more upcoming events tied to this year’s celebrations check the website WWW.NP150.ORG.

Kurt

Eastside Clinic April 20 at 7PM

We will continue our discussion of various ways to handle backdrops and blend them into the foreground. We will also look at some of the framing techniques used by Brian Ellerby and others to create view blocks.

Join us at 7PM next Thursday. The link will be sent to all who have joined us before and are on our mailing list. If you want to be included, please email me at russseg@gmail.com

Russ

Mini Swap Meet May 6

By Al Carter

Once again, the Mount Vernon Clinic is holding a spring “Mini Swap Meet”. Hop in your car and make the drive up to beautiful Skagit County, spend some time visiting other railroad modelers, buy some goodies, and maybe do a bit of railfanning (Mount Vernon is, after all, home to the 1-mile-long Mount Vernon Terminal Railway). Here are the particulars:


Date/Time: Saturday, May 6, 10:00am to 3:00pm. (Doors open at 9:00am for vendors.)


Location: Mount Vernon Senior Center, 1411 Cleveland Street. Easy access via the Kincaid Street exit from Interstate 5.

Admission: Free, but donations are highly appreciated, with the proceeds being donated to the Mount Vernon Meals-on-Wheels program, as in past years.

Entry: Enter through the rear (parking lot) door, south side. No entry through the front door.

Table Rental: $10 per table (limit 1 per person), payable only in cash on the date of the event. No checks or credit cards for table rental. You may request an additional table, and you will be notified 1 week prior if additional tables become available.

Table Reservation: To reserve a table, email Mark Malmkar at: plm99mfg@gmail.com

Lunch: There are limited options nearby for food, so brown bagging is highly encouraged. The kitchen facilities at the Senior Center are not available for use this year.

Questions? Contact Mark Malmkar at: plm99mfg@gmail.com or Al Carter at: tabooma10@gmail.com

April’s “Second Saturday” Zoom (4/8, 10am PDT) to feature Bill Adkins on the life and works of Brian Ellerby

April’s “Second Saturday” Zoom will feature Bill Adkins, from Bend OR, giving a talk and slide show about the layouts of the late, great, Brian Ellerby. Bill was a friend of Brian’s and has some interesting slides to share with us. As usual, the meeting will open at 9:30am and the program will start at 10:00 am PDT. Hope to see you there!

The Zoom info to join the meeting is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87210657142?pwd=ZHhIWnZGMUU0YnAwNVUvMENheEZSUT09

Meeting ID: 872 1065 7142
Passcode: 805577

Freedom with Free-Mo at the North End Clinic Thursday, April 6, 2023

The April North End virtual clinic will be held tomorrow night, April 6, at 7pm PDT.

This month Larry Sloan will be presenting a clinic called Free-mo: Modular Model Railroading with Flexibility.

In last month’s meeting some folks asked about what is entailed in building a module. Tomorrow night you will not only learn about module construction but also what differentiates a free-mo modular layout from a standard modular layout.

After the presentation, we can also talk about the different modular groups that are in the 4th division and answer any questions that you may have about membership, etc.

PLEASE NOTE: From now on, the Zoom link will be emailed to the regular attendees of the clinic. If you are not on the email distribution list, please email Lisa Murray at northseattle_organizer@4dpnr.com or (preferably) text your request to (206) 310-6778.

Thanks & looking forward to seeing you there!

Lisa Murray
Clinic chair

Election of Officers – April, 2023

Al Lowe

A Nominating Committee has been appointed to receive nominations for the upcoming election of the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT and two DIRECTORS. The duties of these positions are as follows:

The ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT shall perform all duties assigned by the Superintendent and serve in the Superintendent’s absence. He is usually responsible for the annual Spring Meet.

DIRECTOR. Serve as the direct representative of the members. Act in the best interest of the members in the management of the Division.

The Board of Directors currently meets about six times per year by Zoom. These meetings last for less than two hours.

The current holders of these positions will be asked if they wish to continue and if so, their names will be placed on the ballot together with any others who come forward and are qualified. If you know of someone interested and willing to serve, or if you wish to nominate yourself, contact Al Lowe at 4dPNR@allowe.com.

Eastside Clinic Video

Here is the link to the March 16 Eastside Clinic. The meeting lasted a little over 90 minutes. The video has not been edited. It includes specific presentations from Lee Marsh, Terry Dillon, Jake Swaney, Larry Sloan and others. There is lots of chatter just like a live clinic, so it’s worth taking some time to enjoy.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhBTSQSpn0dnibR2XHu7VUtE7TSqGw?e=z4BHGB

Russ

Eastside Clinic

Scenery Solutions – How to Handle Difficult Areas

We will follow our discussions of backdrops with various solutions many of us have used to deal with problem areas of our layouts. If you want to share ideas, contact me and be prepared to illustrate your solution with a couple of slides.

If you are not a regular attendee of our Eastside Clinic and would like to be added to the regular invitee list for the link, contact me at:
russseg@gmail.com


For security reasons, we require everyone to sign in with their real name, no clever nick names, please.

Russ

206 200 2211