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Grab Iron Posts

Skagit Valley & Whidbey Happenings this Summer

Written by Roger Johnson
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Text & Photos by Rich Blake

John Marshall’s Garden Railroad Potluck

Over 20 enthusiasts and significant others showed up for the annual John Marshall garden railroad potluck event August 13th, 2016 in beautiful Coupeville WA. We were treated to his fantastic railroad, lots of social time and some great food prepared by John’s daughter. It was a wonderful time as usual with great weather. Thanks to all who participated. To see a video of the day click here.

Climax #6 Rolling along on John's garden railroad.

Climax #6 Rolling along on John’s garden railroad.

The crew of Climax #6 makes a necessary stop.

The crew of Climax #6 makes a necessary stop.

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Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Mt Vernon September Clinic on Sep 8

Written by John O'Connell
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 by John O’Connell   Photo: 10News.com

BNSF Stack Train Stopped by Fire in Cajon Pass

BNSF Stack Train Stopped by Fire in Cajon Pass

Thursday, September 8, 7PM
Mount Vernon Senior Center
1401 Cleveland Street, Mount Vernon
Click Here for map & directions

The Program

You will be a big part of the program as we all participate in “What I did this summer.” Whether it involved model railroading or full scale, live railroading – share what you did this summer to keep your hand in the game. Bring JPGs or PowerPoint Slides on a pen drive. Ted will have his laptop booted up.

Al Carter will put on a Painting Primer to help us get in the mood for the next month’s airbrushing clinic. He’ll cover rattle cans, techniques and open the floor to questions and open discussion on anything painting related.

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Mt Vernon Clinic

Selkirk Express 2016, PNR Convention – A Special Report

Written by Cliff Green
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By Rich Thom, Photos by Rich Thom

Editor’s note: In this month’s Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic’s PDF newsletter is a special report on the Selkirk Express 2016 PNR Convention which was held in Salmon Arm, British Columbia this past June. This is a very nicely written article with many photos.

Rich’s special report has been extracted to a separate PDF (thanks, Al Frasch!), and is available at https://4dpnr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Skagit-Valley-Whidbey-SpecialRpt-SelkirkExpress.pdf.

As usual with PDF files your computer (or smart phone or tablet) may need to install an Adobe PDF viewer application (click here for the Adobe download link; I recommend un-checking the optional software offers).

Articles, Convention or Meet, Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

NW Railway Museum Hosts Grandparents Grand Excursion on Sep 10 and 11

Written by Cliff Green
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Peggy Barchi, Marketing/Events Manager

A reminder – the last full weekend of steam train rides for the summer season is upon us. On Labor Day weekend, the steam train will run on all three days, Saturday through Monday, September 3rd through 5th. Click here to view the previous Grab Iron post.

Special Weekend Event Pays Tribute to National Grandparents Day

Celebrate grandma and grandpa on National Grandparent’s Day, September 11! It’s the perfect weekend to take the grands for a ride aboard the Northwest Railway Museum’s antique train. On both September 10 and 11, a grandparent rides free when accompanied by a paying grandchild – of any age! Listen to the stories and share the memories of your family members. Enjoy a day together and experience the scenic beauty of the Cascade foothills aboard the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad.

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Northwest Railway Museum

Inland NW Railway Museum Grand Opening

Written by Cliff Green
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Alan Ashton

Editors note: To join the Free-mo e-mail list of Alan Ashton, e-mail him at inwafreemo@gmail.com. The previous Grab Iron post on 5th Division Free-mo activities can be viewed by clicking here. In particular, the previous post has an “under construction” photo of the Free-mo loop module shown below.

The grand opening of the Inland NW Railway Museum in Reardan was held on Saturday, August 27th, and there was a sizable Free-mo layout presented by the Inland NW Free-mo Modelers group. Representatives from Idaho were also there with both HO and N-scale Free-mo modules.

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Free-mo, Model Train Show, Railroad History

Seattle-North’s 2016-17 Clinic Season Begins September 1, 2016

Written by Jeff Moorman
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By Jeff Moorman

Next Clinic:

The next Seattle-North clinic is Thursday, September 1. Planned topics include: (1) review of the WHO RR show; (2) a short video of Union Pacific Frontier Days with the newly restored 844 FEF-3 steam locomotive; and (3) another video on Model Locomotive Maintenance. Also, if time allows, we’ll do another in our fallen flag mini-clinic series.

Last Clinic:

Our previous clinic was May 5 and included a short overview of Mexican railroads. We were also treated to a recruiting pep talk by the 4D membership chair. Thom K shared an audio-visual presentation on “Urban Transit” done by Dave Honan for Winter Rail. Dave was unable to attend in person as he has in the past, but we appreciate his making this piece available. You can check out more of his railroad-related photography on his website, davehonan.com.

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Seattle-North Clinic

Eastside Get-Together North Branch Clinic September 15th

Written by Roger Johnson
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By Alex Brikoff

We have a reserved room through June 2017 for the Eastside Get-Together North Branch Clinic at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center located at 16600 NE 80th Street in Redmond, WA. The clinics will be held on the third Thursday of every month with the first clinic being held on September 15 starting at 6:45 PM. Click here for clinic times and location, including a map.

Our first Clinic will be presented by Richard Anderson, executive director of the Northwest Railway Museum. He will be giving a presentation about all the current activities going on at the museum. Those activities include the construction of the new Railway Education Center, the restoration progress of the Chapel Car “Messenger of Peace” and its anticipated completion and dedication later this year. There will also be an update on the steam locomotive restoration program and the many other programs currently underway at the Museum.

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Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic, Northwest Railway Museum