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Seattle-North Clinic 2010 Layout Tour

Written by Cliff Green
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Cliff Green / Photos by Bobj Berger

Bobj and Roger organized yet another well-done and enjoyable tour to end the Seattle-North Clinic 2009-2010 season. Two layouts and a prototype railroad were toured by almost thirty people in two large vans.

The Eastside Freight railroad in Woodinville was our first stop, a small working railroad serving customers in the Woodinville area on a former NP (and later BN) line. Al Carter’s layout in Bellevue was our next stop, viewing the next iteration of his excellent Tabooma RR HO (and HO narrow gauge) scale layout, significantly expanded from his previous version. The last stop was at the McCrackin’s house in the Queen Anne neighborhood, a hi-rail layout featuring the Alaska RR.

I welcome other attendees to add their own posts or comments.

Layout Tour, Seattle-North Clinic, , , ,

Cascadian International 2010 PNR Annual Convention

Written by Al Lowe
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Rob Jones, Convention Chair / Photos by Rob Jones

The 4th Division is proud to serve as host of the PNR’s Annual Convention this September 16–18, at the Embassy Suites hotel in Lynnwood, WA. Rooms are still available, so reserve yours today. Even though you may live within driving distance, you’ll have a much better convention experience if you can stay at the host hotel. You can learn more about the convention at the 4D website, 4dpnr.com.

Wednesday, September 15, begins with an Ice Cream Social, Swap Meet and BBQ.

Clinics will be plentiful, with a wide variety by MMRs like Paul Scoles, Di Voss, Jack Hamilton, and Jack Burgess (of the famous Yosemite Valley Railroad) coming all the way from the Pacific Coast Region in California. Many other locals will also give clinics, including Walt Huston, Doug Bulger and Dennis Hill.

Prototype Tours will include Seattle’s St. Gobain Glass Co.; the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, (including a tour of the facilities plus a rail ride); a special rail tour of a local shortline with a 30-mile ride for the first twenty persons to sign up (a once-in-a-lifetime chance!); and a tour of Boeing’s Everett Plant.

Layout Tours will be in two flavors: Guided Tours and Open Houses. The Tours take you on a bus (for a fee), while the Open Houses are free (but you have to drive yourself or arrange your own carpool). There will be three Tours each day. Layouts on Tours include: Russ Segner’s Sn3 layout, JJ Johnston’s HO layout, and many more! Open Houses are scheduled separately and include: Tom Enloe’s HO layout on Saturday and Roy Cutler’s and Walt Huston’s N Scale layouts and more!

Operating Sessions are scheduled before, during and after the Convention and include Tom Enloe’s HO layout on Sunday and Roy Cutler’s N scale layout Friday evening.

Non-Railroad Tours and Events are also planned. There are many fine restaurants, entertainment, and shopping in the area. As always, see 4dpnr.com for complete information.

Friday morning’s PNR Annual Membership Meeting is open to all PNR members.

Saturday evening’s Banquet will be quite affordable and will feature as guest speaker John White on “The Inside Story on Developing Concrete Ties.” John was lead engineer in the development project. It begins at 7 PM.

And there’s loads of fun in-between. Hurry and register now so you don’t miss out! Go to 4dpnr.com, click on Cascadian International 2010 and follow the links. You can pay with Paypal or by mailing a check. For additional info or questions, contact Rob Jones, CI2010 Convention Chair, or Dennis Hill, 4D Superintendent, or any of the Committee members listed on the website.

This convention is for NMRA members only. You must be a member at the time of the Convention. So either sign up for regular membership or, if you haven’t been a member of the NMRA during the past two years, a RailPass will be included in your registration.

Convention or Meet

Seattle-North Clinic

Written by Al Lowe
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Bobj Berger / Photos by Bobj Berger

Our May Seattle-North Clinic required close attention from the roomful of attendees. Roger Ferris held the group’s attention with his detailed and enlightened history of model train development. This laid the groundwork for the remainder of his clinic about how to make your rolling stock dependable and compatible not only with your own rolling stock, but in being a responsible guest on other layouts. All of this from using common shake-the-box-kits to create quality rolling stock of which anyone would be proud, as well as working toward your AP qualifications. Great job, Roger, for this entertaining and informative clinic!

“Show & Tell” produced some interesting items we have not seen before including: a huge and fascinating scale model of a coupler brought in by Bob Keeney; Rob Jones continued to share his great collection of nifty N-scale items, this time with brass caboose and locos; Bob Rorabaugh unveiling his newly-designed train display cases which he now builds commercially; and CJ Riley, MMR completing the pilot model of a Sears & Roebuck mail order house laser kit that Jim Bainbridge designed and is preparing for production.

For the June clinic we had our Annual Layout Tour Field Trip, viewing a couple of layouts as well as a 1:1 scale railroad in Woodinville. Sadly, in the past we had partnered with the Metro Employees Historic Vehicle Association, which would provide us with one of their restored vintage buses, so everyone could travel together for conversation and announcements. But this can never be done again because the Federal Government gave money to Metro and some private bus companies complained that they were being cheated out of revenue (that our 501.c.3 can not afford to pay!). Now those old buses owned by the group cannot be used for things like this. Bummer, as the vintage bus was a big part of the allure of the tours.

Have a great summer, get some railfanning done, and get ready to attend the Cascadian International Convention in Lynnwood this September 15–18. But first, I hope to see you at the September 2, 2010 Seattle-North Clinic, where we’ll share our annual “What I Did With Trains This Summer” and other fun stuff! One story for sharing will be from our June Clinic outing.

Remember, we’ll meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, just north of 175th and Hwy 99, on the west side, between the Cadillac dealer and Deseret Industries. We meet the first Thursday of each month, except July and August, in the lower level around 7 PM. We’ll be back with Roger and the MART; Chris with refreshments and “Show & Tell;” Jim with more door prizes; and Stu with the Video Library. As always: Be there or be an even-sided rectangle.

Seattle-North Clinic

Westside Local

Written by Al Lowe
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Marion Weston

The May 11 clinic in Bremerton saw 20 members and 3 guests in attendance. Steve Neupert presented “How to Create Small Bodies of Water on Your Layout.” Steve had models with different stages of detail so that we could see how things would look as we go along. It was very interesting.

Dan Weston won “Model of the Month” with a wooden bridge originally built by Ralph Wasmer, who died a few years ago. Dan has added ties and weathered rails. The bridge will be used on the branch line of the new layout for the Bremerton Northern Model Railroad Club.

Westside Local Clinic

Tacoma N Scalers

Written by Al Lowe
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Walt Huston

The Tacoma N Scalers met on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at the Fircrest Recreation Center. We reviewed What’s New in N scale and reminded everyone of upcoming shows and swap meets as listed in the Grab Iron. We went around the room and received updates on members’ layouts and other projects in which they are involved. We learned that The Seattle Train Center was once again sponsoring regular clinics to teach the basics to anyone who wants to learn. Contact them to learn more.

The clinic was an excellent presentation on how to do scenery using foam products … safely. Our presenter was Susan Evans and her presentation was very well received. Her clinic showed how to build scenery above and below the surface of your layout.

As usual, The Tacoma N Scalers will meet all summer long. By the time, you read this our June clinic will be history. Our July clinic is still planned to be “Painting Brass” by Tyler Whitcomb and Bob Judge of the Boeing Model Railroad Club. In August we will have Susan’s “Lighting Structures” clinic originally scheduled for June 3rd.

Also by the time you read this, Pacific Railway Hobbies will be very near closing their doors. Retirement has overtaken both Dale and Diane and we wish them well in their travel and other retirement activities. Thanks for the memories!

Come have fun with us. Our 2010 clinic schedule is available at our meetings, Online Trains, Pacific Railway Hobbies (for a limited time!), and Tacoma Trains. The Tacoma N Scalers meet the first Thursday of the month at the Fircrest Recreation Center, 555 Contra Costa, Fircrest.

Tacoma N Scalers Clinic

Ops Sessions on Mike McCrackin’s Alaska Railroad Layout

Written by Al Lowe
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Cliff Green / Photo by Rob Jones

Mike McCrackin’s hi-rail layout was viewed and enjoyed as part of the 2010 Seattle-North Clinic’s Layout Tour. Mike has gone on to that “great layout in the sky,” but his widow, Roseanne, would like to continue the enjoyment of his layout by hosting regular operating sessions. These sessions will be coordinated and run by George Chapman, who helped Mike design and build his layout, in the Queen Anne area of Seattle. If you are interested, contact George at 425.644.4842.

Operations, Seattle-North Clinic

Skagit Valley and Whidbey NMRA Clinic

Written by Al Lowe
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Gordon Garnhart

There were 27 people in attendance at the May meeting. John White opened the meeting by leading a discussion of the clinic topics lined up for next year. As usual, John has done an admirable job of arranging for an interesting array of speakers and topics. Several comments and suggestions were offered and a final version was accepted.

Our principal speaker was John Mann, who has made a thorough study of the purposes and functions of the many Configuration Variables associated with Digital Command Control. He described some of the many functions that can be modified by adjusting the settings of CVs. He also called attention to the use of specialized decoders for the remote control of turnouts and signals.

John has installed DCC decoders into a number of N, HO and O scale locomotives for himself and for others. His talk included many practical tips on accomplishing a successful decoder installation. He showed, discussed and passed around many examples of decoders, sound system speakers, connectors, insulators and useful tools. Although much of his experience has been with Digitrax controls and Tsunami sound systems, he is also familiar with other product lines. He followed his presentation with an informative question and answer session. The meeting was concluded with a drawing for several door prizes donated by Performance R/C Hobbies, Fairhaven Avenue, Burlington.

On Wednesday, June 9th, we will visit the home layout of Phil and Susan Gonzales.

Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Tacoma Clinic

Written by Al Lowe
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Al Babinsky / photos by Al Babinsky

MMR Gene Swanson opened the clinic with 45 attendees including several newcomers and a couple of youngsters. Dale Kraus reminded everyone that his hobby store is closing on June 15th and items are selling fast. If you see something, you better buy it, as it may be gone when you come back. Since the May Grab Iron was not out yet, there were no announcements to be made.

“What’s New at the Hobby Shop” was presented by Bill from Tacoma Trains and included a number of buildings, building kits, and prefab kits from Lionel and Woodland Scenics, rolling stock, motive power, and people to populate your layout.

In the “Bring and Brag” (model of the month) category, we had a number of items including a Bantam hydrocal and laser-cut wood kit; an N scale freight train; a building kit modified into a hunters’ cabin; a couple of gondolas weathered with rust by filling the gondola with water and adding rusty scraps of iron and some salt; a depressed-center flatcar with a ship’s propeller load (the propeller being an R/C boat propeller); and our winner: a dock scene diorama.

After the break, MMR Max Maginness and Jim Sabol presented their clinic on yard throat design involving a diode matrix to operate the switch machines. The entrance to the yard has two tracks which need to access all yard tracks. This is done with a double slip switch which can route the trains coming in on either track to any part of the yard. You can have two trains, one on each track, enter the yard together and go to their respective sides, or they can cross over and go to the opposite side of the yard.

After the clinic, Herb Buhl announced the “Model of the Month” winner was Tony Bentley’s dock-side diorama consisting of a scratchbuilt T-shaped dock with code 55 rail track. Tied up to the dock is a tugboat and several fishing boats.

The two attending youngsters won our door prize drawings. It is always nice to see newcomers win, especially young persons.

Our last clinic prior to the summer break will be June 10th, 7:30 PM at our usual location in the Pierce County Library Admin. Bldg. at the corner of 112th Street and Waller Road. I hope to see you there.

Here are all the entries in this month’s MotM:

Tacoma Clinic

Eastside Get-Together

Written by Al Lowe
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JJ Johnston

Summer is coming and we are on hiatus until our October meeting. June is our big event at the Snoqualmie Railway Museum (see articles on pages 4 & 7). No clinic in July or August; September is our PNR convention. Our May meeting, attended by over 30 folks, heard an amazing and humorous clinic about operations on the Apple Route presented by Dave Liesse (of the famous Liesse model railroad family). Dave’s photos, his handout, and his discussion were quite informative for those of us needing more knowledge about operations. Thanks, Dave! We also took a special moment of silence and prayer to commemorate the life of modeling legend, Brian Ellerby, who recently passed. Brian owned Evergreen Scale Models, Inc. and meant much to our hobby. God bless you, Brian.

Our Model of the Month included entries from CJ Turner, John Salzetti, Jim Sabol, Rob Jones, Bob Beise and our winner, George Chambers. George shared his marvelous model of an S scale house.

I would like to thank all in our group for their continuing attendance at our meetings. We set an attendance record of 52 a few months ago and we continue to be blessed by the involvement of all our clinicians, who give so generously of their time and talents, and our own group volunteers. I would like to thank in particular CJ Turner for always having the coffee brewing and a wonderful assortment of hand-selected donuts each month. Clay Hanson has done a great job being our greeter/ambassador and making sure everyone has a ballot for the door prize drawings and Model of the Month voting. Many thanks to Stu Rogers for bringing the video library and for single-handedly converting all those VHS tapes to DVDs. We are always indebted to Roger Ferris and Bobj Berger for bringing their estate sale items to us at extremely attractive pricing, for hauling it all in and out, and for adding their anecdotal comments to our meetings. I also appreciate 4D Superintendant Dennis Hill’s attendance at our meetings, along with our 4D treasurer, Sherman Stevens. Ed Liesse serves in so many ways, we thank him and wife Gay for all the time they give our Division. We truly appreciate the support we get from MMRs Max Maginness, CJ Riley, and Di Voss (who also serves as NMRA Conformance and Standards Chairman). Of course, special thanks to our friend and modeler Steve Depolo, owner of Inside Gateway Hobby Store in Bellevue, for his very generous donations of our valuable door prizes each month. Please thank Steve when you are in his store. The Eastside Get Together rocks the house.

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

The Alaska Section

Written by Al Lowe
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Marty Quaas

This summer is shaping up to be quite busy for model railroaders here in Alaska. In Fairbanks, the Tanana Valley Model Railroad club, located in the Alaska Railroad depot, will be in operation every morning during the tourist season from 7–8 AM to entertain passengers waiting for the daily southbound passenger train. If you are touring Alaska this year, stop by and say “Hi.” Their regular meetings are Tuesday evenings at the depot. For more information, call Ron at 907-479-0651.

In Anchorage, the Northern Lights Model Railroad Club, located in Russian Jack Springs Park, 5200 DeBarr, will continue to hold its monthly public open house on the fourth Sunday afternoon of the month. The next Open House is Sunday, June 27, (followed by July 25 and August 22). Regular meetings are Friday evenings. For more information, call me at 907-746-6414.

The Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry (MATI) opens their extensive collection of railroad equipment daily from 10 AM to 5 PM. The weekend of June 5–6 will be the “Blast from the Past” and the Mooselip Display Railroad will be in operation in the Barn. The Museum is located about 3 miles north of Wasilla, about a mile off the Parks Highway. For more information, call 907-376-1211.

The Alaska Live Steamers are located next door to MATI, with regular run days on the 1st and 3rd weekends. June 5-6 is a special “Blast from the Past.” For more information, call 907-373-6412.

This year the Annual Consolidated South Western Railroad Open House will be the weekend of September 11–12. This annual event is now in its 15th year and is always well attended. It is located near Palmer, in the Knik River Valley, about 45 miles north of Anchorage. For more information, call me at 907-746-6414.

Grab-Iron, The Alaska Section