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Seattle-North Clinic – New Year Begins January 3

Written by Jeff Moorman
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By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us on Thursday (January 3) for our first clinic of the New Year. Our general topic will be doing historical research and a brief look at NW logging.

In December we looked at a film of rotary snowplow ‘OY’ in operation on the Colorado narrow gauge. It was interesting to see all the preparation that went into getting the plow, pushers, and crews ready. And the comments about the big storms of the past provided a lot of context. But the most fascinating, was seeing how the plow and two pushers worked the drifts using only whistles for communication.

Rotaries liked a slow steady pace, but when the snow got deep they had to go in, back out, go in, back out, etc. It was wonderful to watch. I couldn’t help thinking of trying to duplicate the process with models using DCC. You would need two pushers, operating independently. Their operators would have to be out of sight of the plow and each other, in order to best simulate communication with whistles. And you would need a plow operator with a whistle capability.

Show and tell had two participants, but multiple items each (all in N scale). Dennis T had 7 engines on display a few of which he spent considerable time on to rescue from their deplorable “as acquired” condition. He also had a few flat cars where he had utilized old N scale motors as loads. Rob J had an observation car and a GN caboose in custom paint. He also showed us half a dozen resin vehicles and a very nice overreach container lift.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is January 3 and the one after that is February 7. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

Seattle-North Clinic

10th Annual Olympia Model Railroad Layout Tour announced

Written by Al Lowe
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Scott Buckley

Be sure to mark your calendars for Saturday, March 2nd, as this is the date of the 10th Annual Olympia Model Railroad Layout Tour.

There will be at least eight layouts on the tour. Various scale and gauge combinations will be represented, including N, HO, On30 and 3/8n20. Some of the layouts have been featured in national publications, and some have been on national convention tours. Most of the layouts are in various stages of construction, which will give visitors an opportunity to see each builder’s construction methods.

As with previous years, a few of the layouts will be open early, while a few will stay open later; which will give visitors the opportunity to see as many layouts as possible.

We hope that you will take the opportunity to visit our layouts. As I say every year, there aren’t many chances to see these many layouts at one time without spending the money to attend a convention.

Additional information will be provided in late January. In the meantime, please email me if you have any questions.

Layout Tour, Olympia Clinic

Tacoma Clinic

Written by Al Babinsky
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Al Babinsky, Photo by Skip

Dirty Santa, MMR Gene Swanson, opened the clinic and greeted the normal crowd of 38 modelers. Due to the scheduled activities most of the normally scheduled items were cancelled. We did pass the cans and had our Bring and Brag (model of the month) there were a number of nice models and for the first and only time we had prizes for the first three places.

Walt Huston brought a long N scale auto boxcar and a bay window caboose. Gene Swanson a LaBelle kit old time gondola, Dale Kraus a ready to run 0-6-0 from Bachmann that was kit bashed into a 0-6-0T. Jim Murrey brought a building flat, John Pritzlaff Hardware Co made from DPM brick modules, the building flat is part of his Milwaukee Road passenger station scene. John Miller had 4 hoppers two those Varney models and a pull toy.

The model of the month winners was; Jim Murrey 1st place, Gene Swanson 2nd place, and Walt Huston 3rd place. After that we started our buffet consisting of croisanwiches, noodle salad, veggie and salami and cheese trays and for desert cake, pie and ice cream.

With all hands filled up, we started Dirty Santa and the first name drawn picked a Milwaukee Road jigsaw puzzle with NYC key and a $20.00 dollar bill attached, which was promptly stolen by Bob Ayers who in turn lost it to Jim Murrey. Scott Taylor pick a HO car with $20.00 gift certificate attached which was stolen by Gene Swanson and Skip stole it from him. A digital caliper and screw driver was stolen from Dave by Diane Kraus. Scott Taylor had to give up his present 5 times. As the first person to draw is allowed and the end to steal from all present he choose to reclaim the Milwaukee Road Puzzle.

We closed our clinic with a door prize drawing which had a number of gift certificates, calendars, models, and books.

Dave Liesse entertained us with his keyboard during the buffet and the accompanied the clinic crew while they sang “we wish you a Merry Christmas” at the conclusion of the clinic.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope to see you all at our next clinic January 10th at our usual place, the Pierce County Library Admin. Bldg. at the corner of 112th Street and Waller Road. The clinic will on Plaster less cloth shell scenery given by Jim Sabol. Hope to see you all there.

Building flat 1st Place, Long and short 3nd place, LaBelle old time gondola 2nd place

Building flat 1st Place, Long and short 3nd place, LaBelle old time gondola 2nd place

Tacoma Clinic

4D Discount on IMAX Film

Written by Al Lowe
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Frank Dekker

4D members will save $2 per ticket on the exciting Rocky Mountain Express IMAX film, now playing at Pacific Science Center’s Boeing IMAX® Theater.

Rocky Mountain Express propels audiences on an exhilarating journey of a lifetime deep into theRockies along steep cliff edges, spiraling tunnels and through some of the most beautiful and rugged landscapes on Earth, while revealing the heroic human drama and epic engineering involved in shaping a nearly impossible transcontinental railway link.

It’s a great holiday film for the whole family and a perfect addition to the 39th Annual Model Railroad Show! Offer valid for tickets purchased at PSC with the code “GAP-I$2NRS”. Valid through January 21, 2013.

Member Ads

Speeder Rides at Iron Horse Express 2013

Written by Al Lowe
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Tom Crawford, IHE Registrar

If you have never been on a speeder ride through the Niles Canyon you are truly missing something. For those who don’t know what a speeder is, it’s a small gasoline engine powered “car” that runs on standard rails. Riding on one is an absolute blast!

The group that owns the speeders takes them all over the place. It’s like a motorcycle gang on rails. (Okay, I’m joking, but you got the idea.)

Enough speeder owners have volunteered their speeder so that we can have 15 people for each time slot.

The rides are on Thursday, April 4, and run times will be 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 2:00 PM starting at the Niles Canyon Railway’s Sunol Station. The rides are $25. We will carpool to the Station.

You can see a YouTube video of a velocipede in action here. By the way, the popping you hear in the video is not the velocipedes, but rather another rail car.In addition to the speeders we will also have two velocipedes and one hand pump car to operate in the Niles Station area while you are waiting for the speeders rides, or when you get back.

Speeder riders must wear long pants and closed shoes, preferably not tennis shoes. They will also be required to sign two legal releases, one for the speeders and one for the railroad.

To sign up for the speeder rides, you must be signed up for the Iron Horse Express 2013 Convention. Sign up for the convention, and the speeder rides, at the convention website under “Outside Activities.”

There are a limited number of speeders and seats. Whatever spaces are not sold by March 1 will be opened to the public.

Convention or Meet

NMRA InfoNet News for December

Written by Al Lowe
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Gerry Leone, NMRA Communications Director

Donations for “The Magic of Scale Model Railroading” Exhibit at theCaliforniaStateRailroadMuseum continue to pour in, including:

  • The World’s Greatest Hobby campaign has pledged $50,000
  • Cincinnati Division 7, in the Mid-Central Region, has pledged $15,000

Current pledge and donation now total over $200,000, but the NMRA still needs an additional $50,000 to meet the $250,000 matching challenge pledge by an anonymous donor. If you, your Division or Region, have any questions about the exhibit, please contact Howell Day Museum Committee Chairman Allen Pollock at 573-619-8532. You can also contribute at the NMRA website by clicking on “donation” near the top of the homepage.

The Winter Board of Directors Meeting will be held inAtlanta,Georgia, at the Sheraton Suites Galleria-Atlanta, on February 8–10. Although the Board meets in a closed caucus the evening of February 8, the rest of the meetings are open to all NMRA members.

Hasea.com, the model railroad association ofChinawhich has aligned itself with the NMRA, has invited the NMRA President and a few other NMRA officials to tour the new, highly-restricted Chinese High Speed Rail factory and facilities in February. No foreign visitors have ever viewed these facilities. Hasea is a network of 100,000 Chinese rail fans and modelers. The NMRA Board has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Hasea to share our standards and organizational knowledge.

The Peachtree Express 2013 website now lists all prototype, general interest, and layout tours. There are photos and some videos of the layouts. Watch NMRA Magazine for Peachtree Express 2013 layout features.

Bill Kaufman, Vice President of Special Projects, is spearheading a new eBulletin concept – an electronic communication sent regularly via email to interested NMRA members. The project is still in the planning stages and will be presented to the Board of Directors at the Winter Meeting in February.

I’d like to repeat this important news again this month: John Stevens, the NMRA Secretary, has announced the slate of candidates for the 2013 national elections. Ballots will be in NMRA members’ hands early next year. Candidates are:

At-Large Worldwide Director:
  • Stan Ames
  • Mike Brestel
  • Larry Smith, MMR
  • Leslie Eaton, MMR
Atlantic District Director:
  • Alain Kap
  • Kathy Millatt
Western District Director
  • Larry Alfred, MMR
  • Jack Hamilton, MMR

Western Director (and 4D member!) Jack Hamilton and his committee are working on a new Long Range Plan for the NMRA. Jack is seeking input from members. He writes, “The October edition of NMRA Magazine put out a general call to members for input for NMRA strategic planning. There have been a number of excellent responses to the call but not nearly in the numbers that might be suggested by the normal level of grousing and gripes about the organization. This is your opportunity to make a difference and have some direct say in the direction the NMRA takes into our future. This is your organization and your ideas and input will be treated with equal value and respect. Please read the October article and make your desires known to Western District Director Jack Hamilton via email or mail at10731 Warren Road NW,Silverdale,WA 98383.”

Lastly, on a personal note, I’ve turned in my resignation as Communications Director as of the Winter Board meeting. It’s been a fun run and I’ve enjoyed it. I don’t exactly know what the fate of these InfoNet News eblasts will be beyond January – that will be up to my successor. So if you or anyone you know would like to apply for the position, please email President Charlie Getz.

I hope everyone has a peaceful, restful, and wonderful holiday season!

News

Eastside Get-Together Christmas party this Thursday

Written by Al Lowe
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JJ Johnston

Remember, our “Dirty Santa” party is this Thursday, December 20, at 7:30 PM, at the Bellevue Four Square Church. Bring a wrapped gift to participate in our annual gift exchange. Be sure to MARK THE SCALE on the outside of the wrapped gift. The rules will be agreed to at the meeting. Bring a model of the month, sell or buy something, video library, plus our free coffee and $1- donuts.

If you have not had a chance to make a donation to our annual church collection to support the less fortunate who are members of the church, you may do so at the meeting. Our collection last month was very generous, so we ask everyone to participate to repay the generosity of the Church in allowing us to use their space and supplies at no cost.

See you there. Don’t miss the fun!

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Trains, Trains And More Trains! at PCR 2013 Convention

Written by Al Lowe
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Steve Wesolowski, Publicity

I like trains. You like trains. That’s why I’m writing and why you are reading this.

I often think there cannot be enough trains in my life. Maybe you agree but I’m sure some of those we’re close to think we are both “train obsessed.” Of course, we believe our good friends and family are mistaken; we just love trains more than they do and we enjoy and need train fun more than most people. So what? Train lovers are mostly harmless. So long as we continue to handle our other obligations, enjoying trains is not a real problem. Besides, I’m unaware of any 12-Step Program for train lovers to “cure” us of our train fun “problem,” so we all just have to deal with our train fun “problem” responsibly, by enjoying more trains.

Why bring all this up? Because if you like trains, you’ll enjoy spending more quality train time with other train lovers at the 2013 PCR/NMRA Convention, the Iron Horse Express. Everyone who loves trains should plan to attend.

The Iron Horse Express is your best, closest, and least expensive opportunity spend several days surrounded by, and totally immersed in, train fun with other train lovers. The more train lovers assembled at one place and time, the more train fun we will have!

I thank the IHX’s Convention Committee, most of whom have years of volunteer experience planning and enabling so many of us to enjoy many fun PCR & NMRA conventions plus the 2012 PCR/PNR convention.

Visit our website and register before February 1 for only $79. Save $10 to spend on more trains! Our website has the latest information, updates and changes.

We also have a $69 First Timer registration, for PCR members who’ve not attended our past five PCR conventions. (Note: my previous article in the Grab Iron was wrong; First Timer fares only apply to PCR members.) All registrations include full access to all clinics, layout tours, operating sessions, and Saturday’s Awards Banquet. The Youth registrations at $50.00 and One-Day fares at $35.00 per day do not include banquet admission.

Enjoy Unique Train Fun

Of course, every convention is unique and every train lovers’ gathering offers a mix of fun train activities. Each location has different local train lover’s resources to draw upon and Iron Horse Express is no exception to the rule.

Enjoy Great Clinics

Are you looking for new ideas, inspiration, skills, methods or just enjoy learning about railroads in their many different guises? The clinics at Iron Horse Express are just what you are looking for. We have a truly awesome lineup of clinicians covering just about every topic you might be interested in. So far we have:

  • Fundamentals of Backdrop Painting – Dave Biondi
  • Starting Over on a New Layout – Tom Blinn
  • Keeping Your Trains on the Track – Tom Blinn
  • Tools forModelBuildingandScratchBuilding- Jack Burgess, MMR
  • CaliforniaWestern Railway and Nav. Co. and Modeling It – Gus Campagna
  • Simple Car Cards – A Simple Approach – Guy Cantwell
  • Fast Forward – Ten years of Layout Construction in an Hour – Guy Cantwell
  • Practical ABS Signaling for Model Railroads – Chuck Catania
  • The San Ramon Branch of the SP – Dave Connery
  • Public Utilities and How to Model Them – Tom Crawford
  • Under table Positive Turnout Controller – Dave Croshere
  • Basic Structure Design with Free Software – Dave Croshere
  • JMRI Operations – Dennis Drury
  • Model Railroading with Arduino – Dave Falkenburg
  • How to Get Kids Involved in Model Railroading without Losing Your Sanity – M.C. Fujiwara
  • Layouts Portable, Practical & Palatable – M.C. Fujiwara
  • A Talk with the NMRA President -CharlieGetz
  • Website Design for Your Layout or Club – Dave Grenier
  • Basic Track Warrant Control – Steve “Breezy” Gust
  • Early West Coast Railroad Equipment – Randy Hees
  • Freight Car Trucks 1900 – 1960 – Richard Hendricksen
  • Prototype Operations in the Yard – Tommy Johnson
  • Prototype Operations on the Road – Tommy Johnson
  • Operating with Direct Traffic Control – Tommy Johnson
  • Random Thoughts on Prototype Operations – Tommy Johnson
  • The State Belt Railroad ofCalifornia- Bill Kaufman
  • Operations for Dummies – Bill Kaufman
  • Nn3 – An Overview – Thomas Knapp, MMR
  • Modeling the Pacific Coast Railway’s San Luis Obispo Facilities – Thomas Knapp, MMR
  • Modeling Trees – Brad Lloyd & Darrell Dennis
  • Copper on Rails – Don Marenzi
  • Creative Solutions to Common Modeling Problems – Frank Markovich
  • A Sense of Creativity – John Marshall
  • Introduction to LEDs and Their Use as Lighting Sources for Locomotives – Joe Melhorn Building and Implementing Working Searchlight Signals and Lower Quadrant US&S Semaphores – Joe Melhorn
  • The Northwestern Pacific in HO; Recreating the Railroad and its Operations – Ed Merrin
  • Control Panels with PowerPoint and Plexiglas – Seth Neumann
  • Radio Frequency Identification (RFI) in Model Railroading – Seth Neumann and Chris Drome
  • Creative Effects for Your Model Railroad – Paul Newitt
  • Adventures in 3-D Printing – Kermit Paul, MMR
  • Fall Creek Branch: Building and Operating a Portable Switching Layout – Bob Pethoud
  • Building turnouts – Jim Petro
  • Vintage Dated F Units – Jim Providenza
  • Bring them Back Alive from Past Photos using Google Sketchup to Create Plans –
  • Bill Schaumburg
  • Key events of the 20th Century East Bay Interpreted Through Aerial Views and Images of an
  • Electric Railroad – Stuart J. Swiedler
  • Modeling Transition-era Tank Cars – Tony Thompson
  • The Evolution of Scenes on My Glenwood & Black Creek Narrow Gauge – Parts 1 & 2 –
  • Jim Vail, MMR
  • A Look at Resin Casting – Tom Vanden Bosch
  • Layout Design Elements in Free-moN – Steve Williams
  • The Last Great Train Robbery – Bob Wirthlin, MMR
  • 35 years of the Sacramento Central – Dick Witzens
  • Open Loads – Dick Witzens
  • The Locomotives and Cars of the Central Pacific – Kyle Wyatt

Dave Connery still has a few TBD Clinic slots. If you’re interested in giving a clinic at IHX, please contact Dave at dgconnery@sbcglobal.net

Contests, Swap Meets and More

We’ve planned a Swap Meet, our Hobo Breakfast for anyone who’s attended a NMRA National Convention outside of PCR, plus all our usual Model, Photo and Crafts Contests. I hope every attendee enters the contests, to share your work with the rest of us. Our Contest Chair, Giuseppe (Joseph) Aymar, is looking for more volunteer judges to help us judge the contest. No previous experience is needed; Joseph and the rest of us will teach you to judge.

In addition to the many contest categories available for you to enter, there are many other fun train related activities, for both our Rail and Non-Rail attendees to enjoy.

Train Walks, Bike Rides

Convention goers interested in improving their health will have an opportunity to walk or bike on the nearby Iron Horse Trail, the roadbed of the San Ramon Branch of the SP. We will have a sheet available explaining how to get to the trail and how to take a combined bike and BART trip that includes the trail. So, plan on grabbing a train buddy or several and get out to enjoy exploring some local SP roadbed!

Food for Trains?

We know nobody wants to skip any nourishment breaks (aka meals) required to re-fuel our pursuit of train fun. We assure those not obsessed with health thatDublinhas one of the densest concentrations of fast food outlets anywhere, all within easy walking distance of the convention hotel. A list and map will be provided. No munching on layouts!

Or, for non-fast food, the Holiday Inn Dublin is adjacent to both highways 680 and 580, so you can jam off to many restaurants offering more varied cuisines. Model railroaders like to eat; you’ll have plenty of opportunities nearby.

Local Train History

For those modelers interested in train history, your registration includes our Saturday banquet, where our guest speaker, Beverly Lane, will speak on the Electric Railroads Serving Contra Costa County before BART.Mrs. Lane is a noted local public official and historian and an entertaining speaker.

Rails around the Bay

If you want a self-guided rail tour of the Bay Area, you can spend part or all of a day using a wide variety of public rail transportation to go fromDublin, completely around the Bay, and back. It’s a fun way to spend a day.

You may want to arrive early or stay after and enjoy your rail journey before or after the Iron Horse Express. That way you won’t miss a day of visiting layouts, enjoying clinics, or the other IHX activities that won’t happen again.

Visit New Layouts

We will have many awesome layouts to enjoy visiting and operating trains upon. Every layout I’ve seen has been unique every visit: I always see and learn something new. Layouts evolve as their builders learn, change and grow.

At the Narrow Gauge Convention in Bellevue, WA this year, I visited some layouts. One was a deja vu experience, because I’d seen it during PSX 2004! That’s not unusual, but the layout was totally new because the owner had changed scales! Paul Scole’s layout re-visit was wonderfully new again because I saw and learned different ideas. A third layout builder described his layout changes since it was in RMC recently, plus his religious conversion to prototype operations during PSX 2004 inspired him to hand excavate a 20×40 foot basement for his new Ops layout that replaced his 12×25 oval upstairs.

2784 at Snowflake -- photo by Jack Burgess

I look forward to visiting every layout possible during IHX, including Andy Schnur’s C&O Railroad, shown here in a photo by Jack Burgess. If you visit the IHX website, you’ll find many others just as good. We’re lucky to have so many modelers willing to share their talents with us.

Operating Sessions

All registrants, layout tour hosts, ops session hosts and crews for the IHX Convention may also participate in ops sessions, with the intent that many who normally do not operate will take advantage of this chance.

No previous experience is necessary, just a desire to run a model railroad as if it were a real transportation system. This is not a special club or special interest group event; it’s open to all convention attendees and tour participants. Even though I’ve only participated in one Ops session so far, even I know every train lover should try it.

More Outside Activities

In addition to traveling by rail around the Bay, visiting layouts and enjoying clinics:

Thursday, April 4

Speeder, velocipede and handcar rides on Niles Canyon Railway tracks in the morning and afternoon. Limited tickets available for $25 until March 1, first come first served.

(Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility tours have sold out. Sorry.)

Friday, April 5

Steam Train Excursion on Niles Canyon Railway, $25, from about 9AM until 1PM, including a photo run-by at historicFarwellBridge.

Saturday, April 6

8:30 and 11:30 AM tours of Jacques Littlefield’s Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (www.mvtf.org) in Portola Valley, with 240 restored WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam era military vehicles of all types situated in four football field-sized buildings. You’ll enjoy close up looks at light, medium and heavy tanks, recovery vehicles, trucks and more vehicles from the USA, USSR, Germany, England, France, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Israel and more. Two trips leave the hotel by bus and return 4½ hours later. Seating is limited. $50.

For more information, visit our Outside Activities page

Volunteer

The experienced volunteers organizing IHX have planned much rail and non-rail fun. Of course, our convention only happens because of its many volunteers. I encourage everyone who attends to volunteer your time to help others enjoy more. So, to enjoy IHX the most, email our Volunteer Coordinator, Karen Kiefer.

I hope you’ll join us for a few days packed with train fun in Dublinat the Iron Horse Express, April 3-7, 2013!

Convention or Meet

The Next Seattle-North Clinic is December 6

Written by Jeff Moorman
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By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us on Thursday (December 6) for our next clinic.

In November we talked a bit about stripwood. Jeff’s still looking for a foolproof and inexpensive (i.e. cheap) way to weather stripwood that doesn’t involve strong dyes or smelly fumes. Yes, there are about a billion ways to weather wood for modeling purposes, but this is what he does.

He has had some success with diluting acrylic craft paint to about 1 part water and 3 or 4 parts paint. Running the stripwood through a folded cloth soaked in the paint works fairly well for simulating painted wood. But it provides too even a coat for weathered wood. For that it is better to dab the diluted paint on the wood with a large fluffy paintbrush. Then after it is dry, go over it with a thin wash of diluted India ink in isopropyl alcohol.

It doesn’t seem to make a big difference if you physically distress the wood before or after “staining.”  However, if you use the India ink wash, roughing up the wood before that step seems to work best.

If there are a billion ways to weather scale wood, there are two billion uses for it on the layout. But what sort of simple modeling projects could you do with just a single piece or two of stripwood? Some suggestions were as follows:

  • Use a “plank” of stripwood to bridge a ditch between yard tracks, so your switchmen can get around easier.
  • Model a fence in the making. Cut fence posts from a suitable size of stripwood. Drill holes where the posts will go and install a few. Leave the remaining posts beside their holes, awaiting installation.
  • On a tarpaper roof install an inverse “V” of small-sized stripwood over a doorway to prevent rain/snow from sliding down.
  • Use a piece of stripwood to prop up a leaning building, fence, retaining wall, or orchard tree.
  • Take a few scraps of stripwood and scatter them on loading docks, flat cars, or gondola floors to represent old shipping crates, braces, and chocks.
  • Affix a “timber” along the edges of loading docks on masonry buildings, so trucks will not be so badly damaged when backing up to the dock.
  • Build a low retaining wall or just use a single board like a landscape timber to outline parking or lawn areas.

Show and Tell had three participants. Bobj showed a very nice large European train station originally build from a plastic kit. This was part of the building collection he brought, which we’ll talk more about later. Stu R had a MoW car and transfer caboose built from the same N scale wood kit and, also in N scale. Rob J  brought a circus truck, a time machine, and a caboose.

There was no traditional Mart, but Bobj had brought 6 or 7 large cardboard boxes filled with European-style buildings. There was everything from houses to industrial buildings and factories to schools to train stations and bridges. These had all once been part of a holiday display at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard. All were HO scale, although a few appeared to be selectively compressed to TT.

Seattle-North was the first group to get a look at these buildings. There was definitely an air of anticipation as Bobj unpacked the large boxes and brought out the contents one structure at a time. It was interesting seeing some the models after looking at them in the Walthers catalog for so many years.

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location). The parking lot is at the rear of the church. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is December 6 and the one after that is January 3. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

Stu's MoW and Caboose

 

HO Train Station

 

European Buildings - HO

Seattle-North Clinic

PCR to host Iron Horse Express 2013

Written by Al Lowe
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Al Lowe

The annual banquet is included in your Iron Horse Express 2013 registration fee. The banquet will be held in the Convention Hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, in Dublin, CA, Saturday evening, April 6. It will start with a no-host cocktail hour at 6:00 PM, with dinner served at 7:00 PM. The guest speaker will be Beverly Lane, who will speak on Electric Railroads in Contra Costa County before BART. You may not realize it, but at one time, both steam and electric railways servedDanville and theSanRamonValley.

Mrs. Laneis eminently qualified in this topic, currently serving as Curator of theMuseumofSan Ramon Valley, located in the ex-Southern Pacific depot inDanville. She is also president of the Contra Costa County Historical Society.Mrs. Lanehas been a member of the East Bay Regional Park District Board of Directors since 1994 and has been recognized nationally for her role in the creation of the Iron Horse Regional Trail through Central Contra Costa on the original SP right of way. She served as a member of the Danville Town Council and was Mayor of Danville for three terms. A graduate of Occidental College (BA) andCaliforniaStateUniversity, Hayward (MPA), Beverly has authored a pamphlet onContraCostaCounty’s electric railroads, as well as books on the 150-year history ofDanville, and a pictorial history of theSanRamonValley. The annual PCR and contest award presentations will followMrs. Lane’s talk.

This is truly an evening you won’t want to miss. Additional banquet tickets are available through registration for $45. (Note that the banquet is not included in Youth and Day fares.)

Sign up for the convention, or purchase additional banquet tickets on the website.

Convention or Meet