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Mt. Vernon January Clinic Report

Written by Al Turnbull
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by John O’Connell

Ted Becker opened the Clinic with 15 attendees including a guest, Dale Bearden. Welcome Dale and we hope you will join us on a regular basis.

Announcements

Congratulations to Mark Malmkar for achieving the distinction of Master Model Railroader! He will carry the “MMR” designation in all future references! Well done, Mark!

Mark Malmkar presenting his Passenger Train Consist Clinic in 2017.

Al Frasch is moving to the warmer climes of Arizona and is planning the dismantling of his layout. Ted asked for the level of interest in a last and final visit to Al’s stellar layout before its demise. Stay tuned for date and time.

Ted’s announced the new NMRA program, called the NMRA Partnerships. It’s a member benefit that truly has a tangible payback. The NMRA has partnered with model railroad manufacturers of all sizes, giving them exposure on the NMRA website in return for providing generous discounts to NMRA members all year long. The link and a reminder will appear in future Newsletters in the Sponsorship section.

Looking ahead, the popular joint clinic with Skagit Valley / Whidbey Island is planned for Saturday, April 14. Rumor has it one table will have an enrolled agent from the IRS to pre-audit your valuation of charitable contributions of model railroadiana. Hold the date and stay tuned for more details.
Ted also floated the idea of a season ending field trip to Lake Whatcom Scenic Railroad in May. There was significant interest…details to follow.

Mike O’Brien has volunteered to take over as editor of the Newsletter and Clinic Report next year. Thank you, Mike!

Coming Events

February 8 Mt Vernon Clinic: Rich Blake, “Logging Speeder Evolution of the Pacific Northwest”
February 24, 25 WA State Model Train Show, Monroe
March 8 Mt Vernon Clinic: Dale Bearden, “Scratch Building Wood Structures”
April 12 NO MT VERNON CLINIC, SEE SATURDAY, APRIL 14
April 14 Joint Clinic, Mt Vernon Senior Center
April 15 4th Division Spring Meet, Bellevue
June 7 – 10 NMRA Pacific Northwest Region Convention, Spokane
September 15-19 Great Northern Railway Historical Society Convention, Bellingham

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Mt Vernon Clinic

February 2018 Eastside Get Together Clinic – Redmond

Written by Al Turnbull
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by Alex Brikoff

The February 2018 Eastside Get Together Clinic will meet on February 15, 2018.
Don’t forget our NEW LOCATION at:
Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Redmond Campus
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. 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!

Our clinic this month will be “Milwaukee Operations Near Bellingham and Whatcom County” by Jonathan Fischer. This clinic will be a historical slide show that will take us on a trip back to the 1970’s to tour Milwaukee Road operations in and around Bellingham, WA and Whatcom County. Jonathan is involved with the Milwaukee Historical Society and has shown this and other Milwaukee themed presentations at their meetings.

We will have refreshments and snacks available. We’ll also have a great selection of Door Prizes to give away at the end of the clinic. See you there!!

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Burien Clinic Report

Written by Al Turnbull
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by Syd Schofield

After a two-month hiatus due to end-of-month holiday conflicts, the NMRA 4dPNR Burien Clinic was held at the Northwest Railroad Archives on January 25, 2017. The gathering was informal with a round-table discussion of visits to railroad preservation sites and model railroading activities. For the Show-and-Tell portion, Dave Yadock brought an HO scale trestle and Syd Schofield brought a brass HOn3 locomotive undergoing restoration.

Round Table Discussion


Show and Tell

News

Eastside Get Together – January

Written by Al Turnbull
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by Syd Schofield

The January 2018 East Side Get Together was convened Thursday evening January 18, 2018 at seven-fifteen PM By Alex Brikoff. The new(est) venue for the NMRA 4dPNR Redmond Clinic is the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, second floor, 6505 176th Ave. N.E, Redmond, next to Marymoor Park. We expect this location for the foreseeable future.

After welcoming all, special introductions of notables, coming events and general happenings anticipated, Didrik Voss gave a presentation some aspects of digital command and control (DCC) systems for model railroading. Di is the focal for some of the NMRA technical specifications. Max Maginness supported with his electrical engineering expertise.
DCC involves electrical, electronic and digital logic with most of the tedious and rigorous aspects taken care of by the several popular equipment vendors. However, there are some special trackwork considerations requiring special attention that Di addressed.

After a short break the several entries for model-of-the-month (or Bring and Brag) were presented as well as photo of the month. Winners of these categories were then allowed first pick of the many door prizes. Richard Moore was recognized for his Interlocking railroad operations buildings and SW-2 diesel switch engine re-motor project. George Chambers showed several color (it was color photo month alternating with black and white photos) for that competition.

News

Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic

Written by Al Turnbull
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Article and Photos by Rich Thom

January Meeting – Working with Stripwood

Clinic Chair Rich Blake welcomed 28 modelers to the first meeting of the new year, including three from our “sister” Mt. Vernon clinic group, and guests BK and Nancy Blackketter. Rich along with Program Chair Susan Gonzales reviewed some of the plans for the remainder of the season: in March, a program about the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, a 3-foot gauge line that ran for over forty years from the bar of the Columbia River up the Long Beach Peninsula; April, a joint meeting with the Mt. Vernon clinic at their venue; and in May, a tentative field trip to the Lake Whatcom Railway in Wickersham.

The evening’s topic was Working with Stripwood, and several brought in models either finished or “in progress” and described some of the methods used. We’ll show a sampling; your reporter apologizes for not getting photos of them all.

Fig 1 – Alan Murray’s Olympia Station


Fig 2 – Olympia Station Interior

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News, Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

January Tacoma Clinic Report

Written by Dale Kraus
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Dale Kraus

photos by author

An enthusiastic group of almost 40 modelers, including 5 first-timers,  got together at the Pierce County Library administration building. to hear achievement program honcho Jack Hamilton  present a  clinic on “painting” structures and rolling stock .  The “paint” he used was dry pastel pigments, tints, and shades by  PanPastel ™.  There are 92 colors available from www.panpastel.com. Since they are dry colors, the will not leak, splatter, dry out,  or spill like traditional “wet” paints.  If some gets on your clothes, it easily washes out .  Application is easy using cosmetic sponges and brushes from your drugstore. Ask Jack about them. He’ll be glad to fill you in.

“What’s New” was presented by  Rob of Rob’s Trains & Hobbies. Visit him at 5423 South Tacoma way, Tacoma WA 98409.  (253) 678-1544

Five models were presented in the modeler’s showcase.

An HO/OO London Midlands Scottish RWY  Beyer-Garratt from yours truly.

An HO Tourist Trap by Greg Price

A scratchbuilt section house/Shanty in O scale by Bobby Gallaher

A pair of HO U50s from Warren Kerr

An O scale store scratchbuilt by Mark Peita

The next meeting will be Thursday, February 8 at the usual hangout.  We will have to find a new location in the Tacoma area before April as budget constraints have forced the P.C. libraries to “evict” us.

 

 

 

 

News, Tacoma Clinic

Science Center Show This Weekend

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner, 4D Superintendent

The 4th Division is a big part of all that goes on at the Pacific Science Center this weekend. Thousands of kids will bring their parents to see our trains and how we build and run them.

 

 

David Yadock is our chairman for this event and if you want to help, contact him at 206 399 0247 or hi61izq@hotmail.com.

This is our major fund raiser each year, so it’s a chance to help the 4D and you get to meet and share some time with many of our best most active model railroaders.

 

News, Superintendent’s Message

Eastside Get-Together – December Report

Written by Al Turnbull
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by Syd Schofield

December 2017 Eastside Get Together Clinic Report

 
Eastside Clinic   Eastside Clinic

 

The gathering was brought to order at about 7:20 on the first day of winter by Alex Brikoff. The program for the evening was the annual Dirty Santa Gift Exchange, after the usual Show-and-Tell presentations and recognition of notable attendees.

Here is a summary of the December 2017 Eastside Get Together Clinic held on Thursday, 12/21.
 
Bob Rorabaugh, being acquainted with the building trades, presented a mini-clinic after the break and explained his rebuilding of a sizable engine house/factory building. The goal was to rebuild the model to eliminate some sub-standard construction practices of the original. He was subsequently awarded model-of-the-month honors for first pick of the blind gift assortment.

Model of the Month


 
In the long-standing tradition of the Dirty Santa Christmas Gift Exchange, the order of participation was by the usual pick of the door prize jar ballots, after the model-of-the-month winner. To create some additional interest and drama, the concealed wrapped gifts, identified only by appropriate model scale, are not necessarily kept by the original selectee. Upon choosing the package of unknown contents, the package is then unwrapped and shown to the group. This will allow assessment for further trades (up to twice) for subsequent ballot drawings. This year’s Gift Exchange was unusually without contention as all the gifts went unchallenged.
 

PLEASE NOTE: Starting with the January 2018 Eastside Clinic, the location will change to the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Redmond Campus at 6505 176th Ave. NE, Redmond, Washington.
The day and start time will remain the same. Stay tuned for further details as we get into January.

A Happy New Year to all.

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Eastside Get Together (Redmond) January Clinic

Written by Al Turnbull
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by Alex Brikoff

The January 2018 Eastside Get Together Clinic will meet on January 18, 2018.
Please note our NEW LOCATION is:

Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Redmond Campus
6505 176TH AVE NE
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. 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!
Our clinic this month will be “Wiring Your Model Railroad For DCC” by Di Voss. This will be an updated and encore presentation of the clinic that Di presented last spring at the 4th Division Spring Meet. This clinic will cover the different aspects of wiring your layout for DCC from planning and research to surveying the market for the various components and, finally, to implementing and installing on your layout. Di’s home layout, the Everett and Monte Cristo, is an outstanding layout where Di honed and perfected many of the techniques that you’ll be hearing about during this clinic.
We will have refreshments and snacks available. We’ll also have a great selection of Door Prizes to give away at the end of the clinic. See you there!!

**Check the “Clinics” page for the map to the new location.

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic, News