Grab Iron Posts

JJ Johnston

There were great December meeting gifts for everyone and lots of “stealing” under the official “Dirty Santa” rules. One notable exception was the absence this year of a white elephant gift. There was lots of really cool stuff.

David Yadock won Model of the Month for his mostly scratchbuilt HO station and was awarded first choice at the gifts.

Roger Ferris, who attended the NMRA convention in July, went to their Nonquet (which is what they called their banquet with no dinner) and won a door prize: a G scale Bachman 175^th Anniversary boxcar.  Roger, after much thought, generously awarded the boxcar to Eastside member Jim Easley in recognition of his leadership in spearheading an amazing outdoor G scale layout involving residents of the Emerald Heights retirement community where he resides. Dr. Jim explained that each boxcar on the layout was donated by a resident of Emerald Heights and every car has a special meaning to each person providing the car. Jim thanked Roger and let him know how special his car will be to their layout.

FUNDRAISING REPORT. Our annual fundraising effort to offer financial assistance to members of the church which furnishes our meeting space, provides room setup, and use of their coffee and supplies, was very generous. We raised a total of $887, which will be divided between three ladies. The first is a 75-year-old grandmother who cared for her granddaughter and then adopted her when her parent went to jail for drug abuse. She lives in the projects on a limited income, has health issues, and has attended our church since 2002 and always gets a ride to attend church. The second lady is a widow of three years with a child in the Philippines where she and her husband were missionaries. She is getting by on food stamps while searching for a job and lives in a home as a guest of a church member. The third lady has had several surgeries and has just undergone another surgery. She only has part-time employment and financial assistance is very meaningful and appreciated over the holidays as she is unable to work until she recovers.

JANUARY 19, 2012. Our first meeting of the new year will feature well-known modeler Ron Cole with a Show And Tell entitled, “What I Learned About Casting Resin Train Parts.” Ron will bring various models, some quite large, along with casting equipment and resin. He will actually cast a few parts during his clinic while showing useful techniques. He will bring train parts used in train kits he successfully produces. This is one of those presentations you won’t want to miss. Reserve the date now!

Happy New Year to everyone.

Photos and Article by Ken Liesse

JJ Johnston receives the Golden Grab Iron Award

About 30 members were present at the Eastside Get-Together on Thursday, 11/17 when JJ Johnston opened the meeting at 7:30pm. JJ started in his usual fashion by introducing members of the 4D and PNR leadership as well as any MMR’s that were present. He then turned the floor over to 4D Superintendent Ken Liesse, who in turn gave way to Ed Liesse and Walt Huston for the presentation of the 2011 Golden Grab Iron Award. The Golden Grab Iron is the 4D’s annual “Member of the Year” award and is decided on by the winners of the award the previous three years. Only past winner Gay Liesse wasn’t present as she was recovering from back surgery only a few weeks before. Much to his surprise, this year’s winner was Eastside’s very own emcee, JJ Johnston. (See previous article on the award in the Grab Iron.)

After the presentation, JJ opened the floor for announcements. Ed Liesse reminded everyone of the upcoming PNR-PCR joint convention and that the early bird special pricing would expire on November 30. Registration can be done on the convention website, PCRNMRA.org/conv2012. JJ then introduced Bill Mostellar from Virginia, who makes and sells decals for model railroaders. Check out his website. Ken Liesse let everybody know about two local hobby shops that have moved — the Electric Train Shop (from West Seattle to Burien) and Seattle Train Center (moved to Ballard). Ken also said that the upcoming 4D BOD meeting had been changed from December 3rd to December 17th. Bob Biese told us that member Jerry Kelso is not doing well; we will keep Jerry in our thoughts.

Frank Dekker wanted to make sure everybody remembered the deal 4D members could get to see the Imax presentation of “Rocky Mountain Express,” details of which appeared previously in the Grab Iron. Ken Liesse took the opportunity to solicit help for the upcoming Pacific Science Center Show, which will take place over the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, January 14–16.

Russ Segner brought in the last of Earl Mann’s estate and Bobj Berger brought the Mart, with a lot of items never before seen. Trading in the back of the room was brisk during the break.

The Model of the Month contest only garnered two entries this month, ensuring that a David would win. The two entries came from David Fausett and David Yadock. David Yadock won with his SS Limited Coaling Tower. JJ was also finally able to present Ron Cole with the certificate he had won way back in May for the Model of the Month.

Di Voss reprogams a decoder.

After the break, Di Voss was introduced as the speaker for the evening. Di’s theme was DCC, although he said it was meant to be more of a roundtable discussion on DCC rather than him just talking about it. After polling the audience, Di found he had a rather experienced crowd and so steered the discussion accordingly. He did run through the process of programming a decoder using JMRI’s Decoder Pro software. Being able to see what Di was doing projected on the wall was a big help to the discussion and many questions were answered. Di also mentioned that within a year (give or take), 8-pin connectors in decoders would be replaced with 21-pin connectors. This showed the evolution of decoders and that modelers were demanding more options with what they could actually do with their decoders. The highlight of Di’s presentation was a rotary snowplow that actually turned, thanks to a decoder. Di cautioned everyone on the growing practice of wiring a capacitor across the decoder to help trains across bad stretches of track. Although it’s okay on a small scale, too many capacitors may trick the power station into thinking there is a short somewhere and shut the whole system down. For the beginners in the room (there weren’t many), Di explained some of the common terms used with DCC. All in all, a very useful and well-received clinic. Thanks, Di.

Eastside’s next Get-Together will be on December 15th. This will be our annual “Dirty Santa” party. Bring a wrapped gift to the clinic marked with the scale of the item and join in the mayhem, er… fun.

Additional photos from the clinic can be found here.