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Eastside Get Together North (Redmond) Clinic Report for November – Elements of Layout Design

Written by Cliff Green
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Article and Photos by Cliff Green

Dave Enger's tugboat, a Revell 1:108 scale model

Dave Enger’s tugboat, a Revell 1:108 scale model

The carpool I rode in to the Redmond Clinic (“The Bothell Express”, Alex Brikoff driving) was full and lively, and I specially enjoyed meeting Mark Allen for the first time and chatting about his marine salvage company (Underwater Admiralty Sciences). Syd Schofield, the Eastside Get Together Clinic Reporter (both Redmond and Renton) was sick and unable to take notes, so I was happy to fill in as temporary clinic reporter.

The date was November 17th, 2016, and the clinic was well attended with 22 people, including one for the first time (welcome, Zack Newman!). After David Cook provided a clinic welcome and discussed events happening around the area, Alex Brikoff talked about the “Photo Contest of the Month” he will be organizing for the Redmond Clinic starting in January – click here for details.

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Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Seattle-North Next Meeting – December 1, 2016

Written by Jeff Moorman
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By Jeff Moorman

Next Clinic:

The next Seattle-North clinic is Thursday, December 1.

We’ll do another installment of our fallen flags mini-clinics, discuss things to consider if we are offered the chance to acquire someone else’s model railroad, and maybe view a little video on winter railroading.

Last Clinic:

Dennis T presented a mini-clinic on the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway (or SP&S, reporting marks SPS). Interestingly the railroad was chartered in 1905 by James J Hill and never laid tracks anywhere near Seattle. The line mostly ran between Portland and Spokane, following the north shore of the Columbia River for a good part of the way. The story goes that Hill added the name “Seattle” to confuse his business rivals.

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Seattle-North Clinic

Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic November 2016 Report – UK Railfanning, Nebraska Layouts, and the Palace Car Co

Written by Cliff Green
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Article and Photos by Rich Thom

Fig 1 - Dave Clarke's GN Class F8 2-8-0

Fig 1 – Dave Clarke’s GN Class F8 2-8-0

The Skagit Valley & Whidbey (SV&W) NMRA Clinic’s November meeting, held on Nov. 9th at the group’s Summerhill venue in Oak Harbor, attracted 24 participants and rewarded all with a diverse evening of both prototype and model railroading. The clinic included a detailed look at the products of new clinic member Mark Malmkar, who with wife Chris recently moved from Nebraska to the Pacific Northwest – quite a transition for sure! – to be closer to family who had gravitated to this corner of the country.

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Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Eastside Get Together South (Renton) Clinic on Tue, Nov 22

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner

The next meeting of the Renton (Eastside Get Together South) Clinic will be Tue, November 22 at the Renton Highlands Library (versus the usual Thursday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday). The evening begins at 6:30 PM with getting acquainted, with the presentation starting at 7 pm or so. Parking is under the library. Additional details including a map can be viewed by clicking here.

Our program will feature David Yadock. His HO scale layout, the “Dry Gulch & Western”, is very large and reminiscent of John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid. David says “The presentation will explain techniques I use on my layout to hide unwanted items as well as making the layout room appear larger. I will also discuss how sections of the layout can be used for two purposes. Through the use of photos I will show some techniques that have worked on my layout and some that have failed. It should be of interest for both the experienced modeler as well as the newbie modeler.”

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Burien Clinic

Redmond Clinic (Eastside Get Together North) this Thursday, Nov 17

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner

Our regular meeting will be held at the Redmond Old Schoolhouse Community Center on Thursday, Nov 17th. We will meet at 7:00 PM. Additional details including a map can be viewed by clicking here.

A new feature for future clinics will be announced by Alex Brikoff (Rail Photo of the Month contest – click here to view details).

I will be giving the presentation, titled “Elements of Layout Design”. This will be a discussion of examples based on your interests in theme, scenery, operation, and time period.

Bring a model to share. As usual, CJ will have refreshments for us.

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Tacoma Clinic Report for November

Written by Al Babinsky
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Al Babinsky, Photos by Dale Kraus

3D printed items by Chip Van Gilder

3D printed items by Chip Van Gilder

The clinic was opened by MMR Gene Swanson with 40 attendees including two newcomers, both of them N scalers. Gene asked that the attendees raise their hand when their military branch of service was announced and thanked them for their service. Helen McGovern was presented with an $1800 check for the Emergency Food Network. The contribution was made by the clinic attendees throughout the year.

I (Al Babinsky) asked for a volunteer to take over the clinic report due to the fact that my night time vision is not the best anymore (specially when it rains). It is a once a month job that requires taking notes during the clinic and creating a digital Grab Iron post (adding text and uploading pictures, typically supplied by Dale Kraus).

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Tacoma Clinic

Photos of Eastside Layout Tour on Oct 1

Written by Cliff Green
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Cliff Green

Port scene on Kevin Klettke's Washington Northern HO scale layout (Cliff Green photo)

Port scene on Kevin Klettke’s Washington Northern HO scale layout (Cliff Green photo)

The 4th Division (PNR, NMRA) is fortunate to have a large number of excellent layouts, and I try to view them whenever there is a layout tour or open house. In particular, I’ve attended the well organized Olympia Layout Tour many times (thanks go to Scott Buckley and others for putting this together every year), and view as many layouts as I can on PNR Regional Conventions and other open house occasions.

Russ Segner organized an Eastside Layout Tour this year, split into two separate days, and I was able to attend the second tour on Oct 1. The Grab Iron post for that event, which contains descriptions of each layout, can be viewed by clicking here. There were four layouts open on that day, ranging in location from Fife to Newcastle, WA.

This is a selected set of photos that I took that day (I will upload photos of a couple of my Olympia Layout Tour visits in a future post). As is always the case on Grab Iron posts, clicking on the small image in a post will display the larger sized (and more detailed) image.

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Layout Tour, Narrow Gauge

Rail Photo of the Month Contest at Eastside Get-Together North Clinic (Redmond)

Written by Cliff Green
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Alex Brikoff

The Redmond Clinic (Eastside Get-Together North Branch) will have a new way for you to gain peer recognition for your best model and prototype photographs. In January 2017, we will be starting a new Rail Photo of the Month Contest.

Rail Photo Categories

There will be four rotating categories of photos. Each month will feature photos from one of the four categories. The categories are:

  • Prototype – Color: January, May
  • Prototype – Black and White: February, June
  • Model – Color: March
  • Model – Black and White: April
Entry Requirements
  • The photograph(s) must be originally taken by the person entering them in the contest.
  • The photograph(s) must be either originally taken on film or digital capture and presented as an unmounted or loose print.
  • The minimum size of print should be no smaller than 5 x 7 inches.
  • The entry (or entries) should have the owner’s name on the back of the print(s).

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Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Request for Photos of the HO Scale Rawlins, Lincoln, and Greeley Railway in Olympia

Written by Cliff Green
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Robert L Grove

Turntable on Robert Grove's HO scale Rawlins, Lincoln, and Greeley Railway layout (Cliff Green photo)

Turntable on Robert Grove’s HO scale Rawlins, Lincoln, and Greeley Railway layout (Cliff Green photo)

The Rawlins, Lincoln & Greeley Railway was one of the HO scale layouts in Olympia, Washington. It has been dismantled in preparation for a move. After dismantling most of the 9’×13′ three level core of the plan, I realized I had not taken any photographs in the past few years.

Anyone who visited “Central Wyoming in the summer of 1950” who has photos they are willing to share may e-mail digital copies to me at grove25@comcast.net. The RL&G was open during the 2015 and 2016 layout tours and open houses in Olympia. Your help will be appreciated and whatever you have will be accepted with joy.

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Layout Tour, Member Ads, Olympia Clinic