Many commercially available freight and passenger cars, and almost all scratchbuilt cars are lighter that they should be for good tracking. For “house” cars (Boxcars, reefers, and the like) there is a simple, cheap solution. The weight of ten U.S. cents (pennies) is almost exactly one ounce (oz.). Therefore one-half oz. is 5 pennies and one quarter oz. is 2-1/2 pennies. Just stack them up, super-glue them together, and cement the stacks inside that too-light car.
Hello all,
Clinic date is Tuesday, August 14th
Title: “The Spruce Division in Clallam County, Railroads, Mills, and a Recycled Hotel” presented by Steve Hauff
Same time 7:00
Same place: United Way of Kitsap County 645 4th Street. Bremerton, WA 98337
As always coffee and cookies will be served.
Bring a friend and something you built to share.
A new modular group is forming for HOn3. So far, Barry Dupler, Burr Stewart, Syd Schofield and John Paschal have offered to join me in getting this started.
If you are interested or know someone who might be, contact me at 206-200-2211 or russseg@gmail.com.
A meeting will be convened in mid August.
On July 14th and 15th 2018, your newest PNR 4th Division module club – the Pacific Northwest On30 Modular Group, participated in the “Clamshell Days” celebration honoring the narrow gauge Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company history at the Pacific Columbia Heritage Museum in Ilwaco on the Long Beach peninsula. This is an annual event where a small model railroad exhibition is provided with several modular displays, railroad centric kids activities and tours of the various historic structures along the original line of the IR&N.
Vintage shot of the last run of the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company No. 2 hauling a mixed freight Sept. 1930.
There will be a meeting of the PRRT&HS this Saturday, July 21 at the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive in Burien, 425 SW 153rd St. For directions, see www.pnrarchive.org. The meeting starts at 12:30 PM, but the building will be open earlier.
This meeting will be a little different format. It will be about anthracite coal. It will be a group format and, anyone with information about this type of coal, its production, use, or other information with regards to the PRR, will be welcome to present. It will be very informal, so don’t be shy. The Pennsylvania Railroad was at one time the world’s largest coal hauler, so just what were they and others doing with all that coal? Come to the meeting and find out. If you have information come and enlighten the rest of the group.
There will be a movie about the anthracite hauling railroads which should be very interesting. As always, we even welcome New York Central fans!
After the meeting there is a no host dinner at a local restaurant.
Bill Scheef’s Wind River Railway logging layout
Most of us spend a lot of time planning and building our dream layout. Sometimes, however, it comes time to tear one down and sell or give away special parts. What do you do with pieces of a marvelous layout which is being taken down?
The incline lands in the Wind River yard.
As your Superintendent, I get frequent calls from families who need to dispose of a layout. Right now, some of us are removing parts of one of the very finest logging layouts I have ever seen. Parts of it will go to the Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad and Logging Museum. The mechanism, sound and lights are all intact.
Although it’s 11′ long, it is movable.
It has been moved once before and, although it is Sn3, changing the track to HO, HOn3 or On30 is all that is needed to make it the centerpiece of any layout. Contact me if you are interested at 206-200-2211.
The tram house is at the top of the incline.
Have you looked at Hon3 lately? This scale was a longtime favorite of model railroaders who were challenged by space too small. The growth of HO and advent of N and On30 has pushed Hon3 into the background. Now, with the introduction of Blackstone Models, good flex track and tiny electronics, Hon3 is enjoying a resurgence.
Jim Vail was a great model builder in Hon3 and his Glenwood & Black Creek railroad became one of the very best layouts. Jim filled his large layout in Santa Cruz with hundreds of fine structures and trackage that made operation a real joy.
We will look at some of his work in videos and photographs. I am lucky that I was able to visit his layout twice, once just a few years ago. And now, I have three pieces of rolling stock from his layout now being dismantled following his death early this year.
Come and see what he built and shared with us in visits to the layout and through the hundreds of articles he wrote over the years, particularly in the Short Line and Narrow Gauge Gazette.
Thursday June 28, Pacific Northwest Railroad Archives in Burien, 425 SW 153rd St
Doors open at 7:00 and program begins at 7:30.
Chuck Ricketts at the Spring Meet
Summer is here – put away the umbrellas and galoshes! It’s time to get outdoors and do some railfanning, ride a train, or visit one of our historic rail sites. I’m heading for Colorado again to ride the Cumbres & Toltec. Some are heading to Train Mountain in Oregon, others may head to Sacramento to the California Railroad Museum. Some will stay local and take the kids or grandkids to visit Thomas at Snoqualmie. In any event, get out there and check out some new rail location.
Make & Take Clinic
June has been a very busy month. The PNR meetings in Portland drew many of us to Jantzen Beach for some great clinics and layout visits. It was a chance to meet many of our fellow modelers from all over the Northwest. Jim Fugate, publisher of Model Railroader Hobbyist, was there demonstrating LokSound decoders and a really nifty control unit that emulates the control stand of the modern diesel engine.
The Pacific Northwest Region is one of the very best and most active regions in the entire NMRA. Your own Fourth Division is strong and very active. We just completed our Spring Meet in Redmond which was well organized and executed by Al Lowe and clinicians Alex Brikoff, Larry Sloan, Byron Osborn, MMR Bill Messecar, MMR Didrik Voss, MMR Max Maginness and MMR Chuck Ricketts. MMR Jack Hamilton, conducted a well-received Make and Take clinic building wood trestles. Make a point to attend in 2019!
Your Fourth Division is beginning a major effort to establish additional modular groups, at least one for HOn3 and possibly a Free-Mo HO group. Another group will begin building museum-quality dioramas to display at shows.
So, you have all summer to experience real trains, locally or around the world. Take lots of pictures and come back this fall prepared to share and perhaps present a clinic on what you have modeled or experienced. As a favorite beer commercial says: “One life right, don’t blow it. Mahalo!”
Bremerton Northern Model Railroad – 100% NMRA Club
Annual All Scale Model Railroad Swap Meet
June 16, 2018
West Side Improvement Club
4109 West “E” Street
Bremerton, WA
9 AM – 3 PM
Admission – $5.00, Children under 12 Free
POC: Bill Hupé, 360-621-5041 whopay@tscnet.com
The June 2018 Eastside Get Together Clinic will meet on June 21, 2018. This will be our last clinic before summer break! We will start up again in September.
As always, the Clinic is at the: Redmond Community Center at Marymoor Village, 6505 176th Ave NE, Rm. 202, Redmond, WA 98052-4930
Doors open at 7:00 PM and meeting starts promptly at 7:15 PM
We will begin by mentioning any noteworthy, upcoming model railroad and railfan events in the area for the summer months ahead. We will also have our Model of the Month contest and Rail Photo of the Month contest. So, please bring your best models and photos for the contests! Winners will have first choice of many fine items from our Door Prize table.
This month’s clinic will be “Railways in Brisbane” and presented by John Morrison. In his clinic, he will be discussing Australia’s three primary gauge railway problem, the history of this, and what’s being done to alleviate it. He will also describe the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane commuter rail systems, including some of their history and how dual gauge is handled in Melbourne and Brisbane’s main terminals. This promises to be a very interesting clinic.
We will have refreshments and snacks available as always. We’ll also have a great selection of Door Prizes to give away at the end of the clinic.
Have a great summer and see you here again in September!