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Tacoma Clinic

Written by Al Babinsky
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by Al Babinsky / Photo by Ken Liesse

MMR Gene Swanson opened the clinic with 36 modelers in attendance and asked for suggestions of when and to whom we should donate the money that we collect every month for charity. It was decided that we would give the donation to the Northwest Food Network at our clinic on November 10th.

Under announcements it was mentioned that the NRHS would be held in Tacoma in June. In May 2012 the PCR and PNR will hold a joint convention in Medford, OR called the Siskiyou Summit 2012. For more information go to http://pcrnmra.org.

The TNW will hold their 1st annual swap meet and train show May 14–15 in Freighthouse Square in Tacoma. Sound Transit will have a Sounder there with its cab car open. Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad is providing train rides on the hour to 72nd Street and back.

What’s new at the Hobby shop was presented by Tacoma Trains which included items from Lionell, Kato, Atearn, Bachmann, MTH, Accurail, and Micro-Trains.

In the model of the month section, or “bring and brag” as we like to call it, we had a number of entries which included a Maerklin pre-war freight consist; a water tower; a Black Bear Co. bridge kit; a homemade easy-to-access drill index and paint brush stand; freight cars weathered with different media; a tree made from an azalea branch; a GP-39M with a depressed-center flat car and transformer load, plus caboose with a flashing red light; and a diorama with a Sierra West tool shed. The winner of the contest was Dave Faucett with his tool shed diorama.

The clinic, given by MMR Dale Kraus, was “What I Did on my Vacation.” It was a trip back in time while railfanning in the UK, beginning in London with a trip to York riding the rails behind steam power and then on to Wales to ride behind various narrow-gauge steam locomotives. A great slide show and very interesting equipment; thanks to Dale for great clinic just in time for summer to entice us to go and search for places to railfan.

Next month’s clinic will be presented by Scott Groff and Mike Shaw. We hope to see you there at our usual place, the Pierce County Library Admin. Bldg. at the corner of 112th Street and Waller Road, clinic starts at 7:30 PM.

The photo is courtesy of Ken Liesse, who has posted more photos here.

Tacoma Clinic

NMRA InfoNet News for May

Written by Al Lowe
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Gerry Leone, MMR, NMRA Communications Director

Election Results Are In! The new NMRA Canada Director will be Don Hillman, replacing Clark Kooning, MMR. The new Central District Director will be Peter Magoun, MMR, replacing Bob Beatty, MMR. The new Regional Advisory Council Director will be Stephen Priest, MMR, replacing Bob Ferguson. All new Directors will take office at the Sacramento Board Meeting.

This year’s Board Meeting will be held prior to the Sacramento x2011 Convention on Friday, July 1, 2011. Current plans put the meeting in the Beavis Room in the Sacramento Grand Sheraton Hotel. Tentative starting time is 9 am. Locations and times subject to change.

Sacramento x2011 Reminders: A special “Carpet Cutting Ceremony” (the indoor equivalent of a Ground Breaking Ceremony) for the Gallery Exhibit will be held Thursday evening of the Convention. All are invited.

Convention Registrations have passed 1,500 attendees, while attendance at the Advance Section over the weekend prior to the Convention is over 150 attendees. You can still register online at www.x2011west.org. You can also sign up for tours and operating sessions and purchase convention cars and shirts.

2012 Elections: Open for election in 2012: President, Vice President-Administration, Vice President-Special Projects, Eastern District Director, Pacific District Director, and At-Large North America Director. Please check the NMRA Executive Handbook, located here, for the extent of the districts affected and qualifications. All candidate names for consideration by the Nominations Committee shall be submitted to Didrik Voss, davoss@pvmtengr.com, no later than June 15, 2011.

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Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic

Written by Gordon Garnhart
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by Gordon Garnhart

There were 31 people gathered at the Summer Hill Retirement Community conference room on Wednesday, May 11th. The mini swap meet brought some interesting HO freight cars.

The meeting was opened by John White distributing copies of a tentative line-up of programs for the coming year. The proposed plan was well received.

The guest speaker for the evening was Glendale historian Craig Williams of the community organization Friends of Glendale and also the South Whidbey Historical Society. Glendale is a very small community on the eastern shore of Whidbey Island, near the south end below Clinton. His topic, “The Glendale Logging Railroad and other Whidbey Island Shortlines” was well received. Craig illustrated his presentation with many interesting slides, and described fascinating historical details of equipment, structures, operations and the careers of logging entrepreneurs.

Craig has been researching the history of shortline railroad operations on Whidbey Island for over ten years. He talked about the early logging operations on South Whidbey Island, how these activities shaped the community of Glendale and the logging railroad that once ran through the Glendale area. Most of his material covered the Glendale Logging Railroad which followed the ravine of Glendale Creek northwest and then north into what was, in the nineteenth century, a densely wooded area. He also discussed a less extensive logging railroad that operated in the Keystone vicinity. Very little evidence of these operations exists today  At the conclusion of his slide presentation, Craig passed around examples of old growth wood, a fish plate, a rail bolt and a length of chain used to link rail cars.

Craig is a founding partner of West Street Associates, and is a veteran of over 30 years of International Event planning and operations. He has held top management roles for Local Organizing Committees (LOC) of several International Sporting Events, including the Olympic Games, and currently provides specialist advice to Olympic Organizing and Bid Committees. Craig has a BA degree in History from UCLA and is a Board Member of both Friends of Glendale (FOG) and the South Whidbey Historical Society. His interest in local history and in the Glendale watershed combined when he discovered remnants of an old logging railroad grade on his property and on several local trails in the Glendale watershed. He has been researching the history of the area for over 10 years and has given presentations to the South Whidbey Historical Society and to history classes at South Whidbey High School. For additional info on FOG please visit the website at www.friendsofglendale.org.

We look forward to Wednesday, June 8th, when Jack Hamilton MMR will visit our clinic and act as chief judge of our scratch built “Dilapidated Building Competition”. This contest was originally announced in September of last year, and promises some very interesting and unusual entries.

Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Board Meeting Next Saturday

Written by Ken Liesse
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Ken Liesse

There will be a meeting of the 4D Board of Directors next Saturday, May 21st. The meeting will be held starting at 1:00pm at the Yankee Grill, located at the corner of Rainier Ave. and Grady Way in Renton (just north of the I-405/167 Valley Fwy intersection next to the Holiday Inn). All members of the 4D are invited to attend the meeting.

Anyone who has business they would like to have discussed at the meeting should send their item(s) to Superintendent Jim Byerley before Thursday, May 19th to have it placed on the agenda.

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NMRA Data Sheets Available at NMRA.org

Written by Al Lowe
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M. David Johnson

The NMRA Data Sheets are a resource for modelers with information on General Modeling, Scenery, Trackwork, Motive Power, Rolling Stock, Structures, Electrical Work, Operations, and Prototype Information. The Data Sheets are available on the new Members-Only Section of the NMRA website.

However, many Data Sheets are out of date, originally prepared in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. For example, Data Sheet D4g (Diesel-Electric Locomotive Specifications) was first issued in April of 1960 and doesn’t include data on any locomotive newer than a GP-9. So the NMRA Data Sheets Managers are going to bring the Data Sheets up to date and add new sheets when possible.

We’ve already added four new Data Sheets which were published in the NMRA Magazine, two of which are also on the website and we’re working on three more.

If you have ideas for improvements or new Sheets, email me at mdj@bds-soft.com.

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Ballots for Directors

Written by Ken Liesse
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By Ken Liesse

Due to the passing of 4D Superintendent Dennis Hill, the process of getting ballots in the mail for the open Board of Director positions was derailed. The ballots are back on track and will be in the mail this week. Please read the instructions for the ballot carefully and return them according to the deadline printed on the ballot.

There are three positions up for election: Assistant Superintendent, Director Position One, and Director Position Three. Rob Jones and John Salzetti are running for Asst. Supt., while Al Lowe and Ethan “Stu” Rogers are seeking reelection for Director Positions One and Three respectively. Space for write-in candidates is available for all three races.

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Seattle-North Clinic Goes Back to Kindergarten (Next Meeting 5/5/11)

Written by Jeff Moorman
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By Jeff Moorman, Photos by Jeff Moorman

Introductions and announcements included a pitch from Bobj about the Rails Northwest (RAILSNW.COM) excursions on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad on May 21.

Talk then centered on the T-TRAK module kits. Those that pre-ordered picked up their kits and then we were able to find good homes for a few more, but there are still a couple left waiting for adoption. Those available are 2 HO corners, 2 N corners, and 1 N straight, which I will bring to the May meeting. They are $9.25 for the straight and $16.60 for the corners regardless of scale.

Show and tell brought out some interesting stuff. Rob had a beautiful brass N scale ditcher from Overland. He also had an old NP timetable and operators rule book. Michael showed a book about Lionel what was originally purchased in the Lionel store in New York City. Dennis had some N gauge electric locomotives and passenger cars from a Peruvian prototype. Finally Chris has some HO cars, but my notes don’t indicate what they were. Sorry.

After the break we got out the scissors and crayons and created some T-TRAK module designs. Everyone got a couple of one-half size outlines of N-gauge T-TRAK modules. The goal was to design the scenery and color it in using the crayons. Suffice to say it had been a long, long time since any of the participants had been to kindergarten, and it showed. There were some close calls, but everything got cut out without any blood being shed.

Then we started assembling the module drawings into various layout configurations. A couple of things became evident:

  • Even with crayon-colored paper modules, things looked better when there was preplanning with regard to scenic theme and railroad operation.
  • Some operation seemed possible even with a few modules, provided there were spurs and runarounds available. Furthermore, that operation could be point-to-point, not just around an oval of track.
  • Adding what the T-TRAK folks call a “junction module” made for some interesting additional possibilities.

Right now there are 3 things planned for the May meeting. First, Bobj has promised us a new DVD to preview. I think I heard it is about the Empire Builder. Second, we are going to do a sort of Operations 101 mini clinic. And third, we will start taking reservations for the June tour.

Remember the next meeting is May 5 and the one after that is June 2. The June date is for our annual tour, so attendance requires an advance reservation.

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) just north of 175th Street, between the Cadillac dealer and Deseret Industries. Note that there is still a lot of construction along this stretch of Aurora. Therefore, it might be best to be going southbound so you can make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. Plus in June we usually do a tour. Enter the lower level of the church from the parking lot at the rear. Doors open around 7:00 PM, announcements at 7:15, and the program starts about 7:30. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

Seattle-North Clinic

Chattanooga Tornado Affects NMRA HQ

Written by Al Lowe
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Gerry Leone

As you have undoubtedly heard, there has been a rash of devastating tornadoes all across the South. Chattanooga was not immune. A tornado ripped through the city on Wednesday, April 27th, taking some of our Headquarters’ shingles with it. Much of the city is without electricity; there are trees, fences, and power lines down all over. Many roads and highways are closed.

Fortunately, all our staff members were unharmed, although Chief Administrative Officer Jenny Hendricks had her house picked up, rooms ripped open, and the roof blown off. Our hearts and prayers go out to all of our staff, especially Jenny.

Please note that NMRA business will be interrupted for several days until things get back to a sem-blance of normality. If your call or problem can wait, please do so. Thanks.

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