An early reminder: The Tacoma Clinic begins on Thursday, September 8. This fall we will be starting promptly at 7 PM at the Pierce County Library Admin center, 5107 112th St E, Tacoma (Parkland). Click here to view the Clinics page which has additional info including a map.
Now’s the time to get working and finish that summer project model so you can bring it to the clinic.
On the left is a 22 ton Shay waiting for restoration. Three foot gauge rolling stock is on the right, including D&RGW caboose #0582 and a Plymouth low cab locomotive used in mining.
The Olympia June Clinic Field Trip tradition continues! This time 26 of us visited a private collection in Tumwater, Washington. As we did not have a park available for “Hot Dogs by Jim & Mary Sabol,” we enjoyed great service, excellent breakfasts and Jim Sabol comedy in the River’s Edge Restaurant at the Tumwater Valley Golf course.
Kipert’s Korner Feed owner Craig Kinnaman has gathered several gauges of railroad equipment, 15 inch to 4’ 8 ½.” He also has old model trains, classic trucks, riding toys, large machinery, and much more.
4th Division, PNR, NMRA, Eastside Get Together North Branch (Redmond), 16 June, 2016 clinic
Dave Cook called the group gathering to order at 6:40 Thursday evening at the Redmond city library. About twenty people were in attendance for this last meeting of the 2015-2016 season.
The “Bring and Brag” items were a pre-fab production laser cut modular structure made in the UK, and a flat car with a specialized load. As usual, the items were of outstanding quality.
Brain Pickering gave a presentation of Digital Command and Control programming and operation with Decoder Pro from JMRI. Of the many features available with the several brands of decoders, Brian discussed and demonstrated some of the features and methods to simplify programming. The system has several hardware interface units available from different manufacturers with a common open-source (and available for free) software.
4th Division, PNR, NMRA, Eastside Get Together South Branch (Renton), 30 June, 2016 clinic
About a dozen folks came to the Renton over-the-Cedar-River library for the Thursday evening clinic. Russ Segner brought the group to order for the presentations of photos of model railroad interest. JJ Johnston brought an example of his craftsmanship in a small HO scale store building decked out with signs, merchandise and the proprietor.
We had pictures of layouts and railroad prototype examples suitable for modeling ideas. The layouts presented were in various stages of completion showing finished rolling stock, buildings, structures as well as different scenery techniques in process. There were the fixed installation chicken wire armature overlaid with a plaster cloth skin, wadded newspaper bulk covered with masking tape and a paper mache skin, and window screen patches covered with a slurry of gypsolite. These ground contour shapes could then be covered with rock castings and vegetation.
Another method of a light weight material allowing some portability from the work bench to the layout was the foam epoxy in a mold that was draped over supports during the curing process. If the final shape is undecided and some exploratory shaping is needed for visualization, there was an example of foam insulation planks cut to approximate ground contour and laminated with adhesive such as latex house paint. This allows some shape and study before the final “commitment” to the finishing process. Both foam material-based methods provide for a sturdy yet light scene construction.
There is going to be a talk at the State History Museum in Tacoma on September 2 at 3 PM. The title is Riding the Rails and the description is:
Chased from one town to the next while looking for work, many hobos lost life and limb traveling roads and rails. Come to this gallery talk with museum curator Gwen Whiting to hear more about those who rode the rails. Pass it on to others who might want to attend.
Click here for more information including directions.
My wife and I traveled to Salmon Arm, BC last month to take in the 2016 Selkirk Express PNR Regional Convention. The drive from Hope, BC to Kamloops and then on to Salmon Arm was a beautiful drive through some beautiful mountain scenery. The convention hotel was on the shore of Shuswap Lake. The view overlooking the lake was spectacular.
But what I found even more spectacular was that the 4th Division was well represented. It seems like everywhere I turned was a familiar face! Overall, I thought the convention was very well put together with a number of clinics that were historical in nature as well as covering a number of modeling topics as well. Although we didn’t go on any of the tours, I heard reports from folks that the tours were excellent. There were some incredibly well built models and great photographs entered in the contests.
Ted Becker receiving the 2016 Golden Grab Iron Award at the 4th Division Spring Meet.
On May 14th at the NMRA/4D Spring Meet, a surprised Ted Becker was presented with the 2016 Golden Grabiron Service Award for 2016 (formerly the Man of the Year Award). Called to the podium during the annual business meeting, Ted was presented with the award by a committee of the previous years’ winners Jim Sabol, Russ Segner, and Jim Younkins. In presenting the award, committee members remarked on how easy it was to unanimously and enthusiastically select Ted as his name kept popping up for all his many and continued services to the Fourth Division.
Among those clapping loudest for Ted were several previous award recipients: Scott Buckley, J.J.Johnson, Walt Huston, Ed Liesse, Gay Liesse, Al Lowe, Jeff Moorman, Jack Hamilton, Di Voss, Gene Swanson, Dale and Diane Kraus.
Paul Neumann and Dan Reilly, two Bremerton Northern Model Railroad Club members, will be missed.
Paul, 58, died of natural causes on May 3rd. Paul was a long time member of the BNMRR club. He was serving as Sergeant at Arms in the club at the time of his passing. Paul proudly served in the US Navy. He was a storekeeper and qualified in submarines. He retired from Puget Sound Naval Supply Center (PSNS) as a Chief Petty Officer. Paul served on board the USS Pogy SSN 647, USS Georgia SSBN 729 and the USS Louisville SSN 724. Paul was an avid railfan and was seen at hot spots taking pictures. I rode with him to the Monroe swap meet and I accused him of driving the railfan route. He was a collector and we always looked forward to his latest acquisition.
The Washington State History Museum in Tacoma is hosting an all-day video festival featuring the work of Tacoma railroad expert James M. Fredrickson (1926-2016) on September 10th, 2016. This festival is jointly hosted by the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association, Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive, and the Tacoma Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The event runs from 10 AM to 5 PM. Click here for location and directions.
A 4th Division position with high compensation is open!
I need help with Grab Iron and 4D web site content. There are two main reasons – continuous (and at times high) volume, and (more importantly) we should have more than one person “managing the pipeline” of 4D news and information through the Grab Iron newsletter and 4D web site. In particular, Grab Iron post notification is currently a manual process (through Constant Contact newsletters) versus the previous automatic e-mail notification process. When I’m not available to create the Constant Contact newsletter, time critical Grab Iron (GI) posts wait until I’m able to create the newsletter. We need more than one person managing GI content to improve this bottleneck.
So what is the compensation? It’s not money or stock options (hah!). I’ve been compensated with the connections and friendships I’ve made in (and outside) the 4D community (whether model railroading or prototype railfanning). I’ve been compensated with the satisfaction of spreading useful information within the 4D community. I’ve been compensated with learning about aspects of this hobby I would never have thought about.