Jeff Moorman
First, I must apologize for no write-up last month. My computer and my wireless home network have declared war on each other. I am not sure it will last, but we are currently in a state of cease fire.
The big news from September’s meeting was that I would be taking over as conductor of the Seattle-North “train.” For the record, I distinctly said that this was not “forever,” like many of the 4D volunteer jobs seem to be these days. Dennis Terpstra graciously volunteered to be the assistant conductor and the rest of the crew were willing to continue their assignments.
We talked a bit about what we did this summer, railroad-wise, that is. There were several museum and convention trips; and one bike trip over an old roadbed that seemed to be more detour than regular right of way. Roger regaled us with tales from the NMRA national convention in Milwaukee.
To prove that DCC is really getting quite easy Roger brought the components of HO DCC layout in a cardboard box about 16 by 16 by 4 inches! When you opened the box there were a couple of turnouts, a few pieces of straight track, a DCC equipped diesel switcher, a DCC controller, and precious few instructions except for the controller. As technically challenged as the Seattle-North crew can be at times it only took about 10 minutes to have things running. Now that is pretty easy! By the way, all the components in the box were from Bachmann.
Here’s what happened at the October meeting. After the usual announcements and introductions we discussed the recent Regional Convention in Lynnwood. All those that attended thought it was a worthwhile experience. I have run into a couple of modelers who skipped the banquet because they had no interest in concrete ties. To many that presentation was the highlight of the convention.
Next was a mystery contest in which three groups were given random pieces of plastic and asked to come up with a good use for them on a model railroad. Most of these “parts” came from packaging for HP commercial printer toner cartridges. The group led by CJ Riley won for their rather fanciful mail crane. Although the plastic disposable bridge abutments was in the running.
There was some interesting stuff on display for show and tell. Jim Bainbridge, owner of Sound and Northwestern LLC, showed us the firm’s first kit. It is a HO scale kit for a Sears catalog home called the Rodessa. Many attendees didn’t know that Sears sold these homes as 12 inch to the foot scale kits via their catalog in the early part of the last century. They offered lots of different designs. The buyer could order supplemental kits for luxuries, like indoor plumbing or electricity. Jim’s kit has over 200 pieces and looks pretty interesting. The only local retailer currently carrying it is North End Trains.
Next up was Chris Fife who showed some partially painted UP passenger equipment. Chris’ point was that there doesn’t appear to be a standard UP yellow. Even the prototype exhibits different shades, especially if it has been out in the weather for some time. Model-wise the shade is dependent on the primer color, plus the brand and thickness of the color coat. All agreed that the primer versus final shade ‘thing’ could be the subject for a nifty future clinic.
CJ Riley, MMR, brought along his “Two Stumps” diorama, which won awards at the recent Regional convention. Since we meet in a church, we were not subjected to the authentic outhouse odor CJ used at the convention, but he did show us how he did it. He did explain how this diorama was his attempt to do a model with scratch built everything, except (maybe) the odor.
Rob Jones completed this part of the meeting with a bunch of 30 year old color photos of railroading around Tacoma and the Northwest. My, how things have changed!
Lastly, we discussed what we’d like to see happened in future meetings. The group was open to having a couple of mini-clinics each month instead of one bigger presentation, although the latter remains an option. The group also wants to continue the practice of visiting layouts for the June meeting, but maybe not stay out so late.
There was a considerable amount of rhetoric around doing something physical at the meetings, as well as trying to recruit new members (especially young folks) into the hobby. Both ideas were deemed worthwhile, but there was no consensus on how they could be accomplished.
Modules were proposed as a way to work on something at the meetings, which could also be used as a display to assist recruitment. So, we are going to explore that at the next meeting. Are modules something the group should pursue? If so, what are the options? Which scale and standards best met the group’s goals?
If you have strong feeling on the module approach and/or want to persuade us to use a particular scheme, come to our November meeting.
I ran across the following quote, but it was not attributed to anyone. I have a little prize for the first Seattle-North Clinic attendee that can show me documented proof of who first came up with it. “The human brain is like a railroad freight car — guaranteed to have a certain capacity but often running empty.”
Next meeting is November 4 and the one after that is December 2. In November one of our attendees has promised us a mystery mini-clinic. Our other mini-clinic will be an exploration of various module types and whether they might serve as the basis for a group project. The Mart should be there and don’t forget to bring something for show and tell.
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. Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. 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.
