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Grab Iron Posts

HO and N Scale Items For Sale in Tacoma on Saturday, Sep 10

Written by Cliff Green
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Larry Sloan

Date: Sep 10
Location: 1801 N Hawthorne Dr., Tacoma, WA 98406 (Click here to view the location on Google Maps)
Hours: 9 AM to 3 PM

NMRA members Steve Cox and Mike Stepner will again be helping a lady in Tacoma sell off her father’s trains on Saturday, September 10th. We didn’t provide enough notice on the previous sale and attendance was limited.

The items are mostly HO scale with a small bit of N scale. The items include multiple used turnouts, DCC decoders and equipment, locos, and rolling stock. The rolling stock ranges from Tyco to Athearn Blue Box. The locos include Life-Like Proto 2000 (P2K), some with DCC installed. The DCC equipment includes DCC Specialties PSX-2 and PSX-4s, a couple of NCE cabs and a base station.

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BEMRRC Annual Swap Meet on Saturday, Nov 12th

Written by Cliff Green
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Bill Messecar

The Boeing Employees Model Railroad Club Annual Swap Meet is Saturday, November 12th from 9:30 am to 4 pm at the Kent Commons Community Center, 525 4th Ave. N, Kent, WA. Admission is $8 with under 16 free.

The BEMRRC Swap Meet is one of the best known and largest swap meets in the region. It started in 1979 as a fund raiser for the club. It’s a great place to find trains of all scales, as well as tinplate, artifacts, photos, videos, and more. Refreshments are available (coffee, donuts, sandwiches, sodas) and there are door prizes every hour as well as a grand prize of $125 to one lucky winner. Table reservations are available for $40 from Ed Sherry at swapmeet@bemrrc.com or 206-244-3884.

Member Ads, Model Train Show

August 28 Eastside Layout Tour – BEMRRC Layout Added

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner

We are pleased to announce that the Boeing Employees Model Railroad Club has agreed to have their layout open on Sunday August 28th from 10 AM to 3 PM. The address is 425 SW 153th St. in Burien (same building as the Pacific NW RR archive).

This is an addition to open houses at Al Lowe’s and Steve Depolo’s – click here to view the previous Grab Iron post with additional details.

Make a full day of it. Start with the Boeing Club in Burien (open 10 AM to 3 PM) and then head to Bellevue and Woodinville (layouts open from 1 PM to 5 PM). This is a great opportunity to see three excellent approaches to model railroading. For addresses and directions, email me at russseg@gmail.com and I will send maps and contact information.

Layout Tour

August Eastside Layout Tour Changed to Sunday, Aug 28th

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner

The Eastside Layout Tour has been changed to Sunday, August 28th (from Saturday Aug 27th)

Two of the layouts originally scheduled for the Eastside layout tour in August have had to cancel. (Mike O’Connell’s mother passed away suddenly and the service is scheduled for the 27th; my wife, Susan, will be recovering from major back surgery the week of the 27th.)

The great news is that we will have two very special layouts open to 4D members and guests on Sunday, August 28th. Steve Depolo invites you to tour his Sn3 Alaska Pacific Rwy in Woodinville. The theme is “Mining in Alaska”.

This is a very large layout with all trackwork finished and scenery almost complete. Steve has scratch built many large mining structures and two complete waterfront scenes. All locomotives have sound decoders and are controlled by NCE. This layout will inspire you.

Al Lowe is one of our NTrak leaders and will show us how he uses his modules in a home layout. When not setting up at local shows, Al has several of his modules organized as a layout in his Bellevue home. These modules are highly detailed. Al has a very creative way of setting them up in his garage.

Both layouts will be open from 1 PM to 5 PM. For addresses and directions, email me at russseg@gmail.com and I will send maps and contact information.

Note – there will be another Eastside layout tour in October in the Renton and Maple Valley areas.

4dNTRAK Modular Group, Burien Clinic, Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic, Layout Tour

Renton Clinic (Eastside Get Together South) Dates Set

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner

Space at the new Renton Highlands Library has been reserved for the fourth Thursday evening of September (22nd) and October (27th). If this location works for you, please join us at 6:30 pm for time to share and improve your modeling skills. Click here to see the clinics page with additional info including a map.

The September program will include:

  • Get acquainted
  • Share Model Building Ideas
  • Discuss Rail Fanning Locations
  • Model of the Month

If you have a program you would like to present, please contact Russ Segner at 425-228-7327 or russseg@gmail.com.

Come and join in.

Burien Clinic

Special Labor Day Steam at the NW Railway Museum, Santa Tickets on Sale

Written by Cliff Green
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Peggy Barchi, Marketing/Events Manager

A reminder – Snoqualmie Railroad Days is coming soon (19th thru 21st), click here to see the previous Grab Iron post.

Take it Easy and Ride the Steam Train this Labor Day!

The Northwest Railway Museum pays tribute to America’s workers this Labor Day with a special weekday steam train run of the Museum’s antique train on Monday, September 5th (as well as all of Labor Day weekend.) This is in addition to the railroad’s usual weekend steam train schedule. The Northwest Railway Museum offers scenic train excursions through the Cascade foothills of the Upper Snoqualmie Valley, including a ride past the top of Snoqualmie Falls and a splendid view of the valley below.

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Northwest Railway Museum

Operating Sessions and Work Sessions on the PNWRR and Cherry Valley RR

Written by Cliff Green
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Steve Haas

Operating sessions are continuing on (the late) Tom Enloe’s Pacific Northwestern Railroad and Cherry Valley Railroad (located in Duvall, Washington), although our remaining time to take advantage of the layout is limited. Carol Enloe will be placing the property on the real estate market in late August or early September.

As a result, we will have an Ops Session on the second Saturday in September, the 10th. This is of course subject to an early sale and closing on the property. Doors will open at 10 AM, we will try and start the clock at 11 AM. Beyond that, operations will tentatively continue on a month to month basis, subject to the sale of the property and the closing of the sale. Please be aware that any given Ops Session on the layout could become the last, with very short notice. Come on out and enjoy the layout one, two, or a few more times – Tom would have wanted that!

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Operations

Westside Clinic in Bremerton on Tuesday, Aug 9th

Written by Cliff Green
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Bill Hupé

Tuesday August 9th is our next 4th Division Westside Clinic.

For our newcomers the clinic is held at the United Way of Kitsap Building in downtown Bremerton (647 4th Street) at 7:00 PM. Additional details (including a map and contact info) are on the Clinics Page.

We may have two clinic presentations this month. First clinician is Steve Hauff. He will be presenting his clinic on “Making Your Own Decals”. Steve presented this at this year’s NMRA National Convention. Second clinician is Jack Hamilton. Jack said he will give us his “How a Steam Engine Operates”. He wasn’t sure if he would have it ready or not.

Bring a friend!

As always bring in your latest project to share and refreshments will be provided.

Please contact me if you have any related question at whopay@tscnet.com or 360-621-5041.

Westside Local Clinic

Web Site for Narrow Gauge Railroads of Western North America

Written by Cliff Green
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Syd Schofield

For narrow gauge fans, check out the information at http://www.pacificng.org/. From the web site home page:

“Welcome to PacificNG.com, dedicated to the history of narrow gauge railroading in western North America. Our goal is to create a central hub for accurate data, history, imagery, and reference materials relevant to fans of narrow gauge railroading west of the Great Divide.”

If any of these are within road trip distance, check out museums and visitor centers along the way. They have more information (maps, books, pictures, displays, etc) of interest.

Narrow Gauge

Clinicians Wanted for 4D Clinics

Written by Russ Segner
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Russ Segner

The 4th Division fall clinic season will soon begin. While most of our area clinics already have their lineups set, there is always a need for additional clinics ready to present.

If you have a topic you think would be of interest to model railroaders and would like to share it, please let me know. We definitely have openings for the Eastside Get Together (both the North Branch in Redmond, and the South Branch, currently in Renton).

Topics of interest: Prototypes, building structures, scenery, trackwork, interesting and special tools, electronics, track planning, and operations. These are just a few. Let me know if you are willing to share. Presentations are about 45 minutes and we supply the projectors at all locations. I can be contacted at russseg@gmail.com or 425-228-7327.

Burien Clinic, Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic, Superintendent’s Message