By Jeff Moorman, Photos by Jeff Moorman
Next Clinic:
The next Seattle-North clinic is this Thursday, April 7. The main topic will be Track Warrants. Come learn about this scheme used by railroads to control what train is allowed on what track and when. Depending on the era and prototype you model, track warrants can also be applied to operations on a model railroad. Time permitting the program will also include another installment of our continuing series on fallen flags.
Last Clinic:
Last month our fallen flag mini-clinic was on the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway (reporting marks SLSF) and more commonly known as the FRISCO. Among other things learned was why Frisco High School in Frisco, TX (named for the railway, by the way) has the “Fightin’ Raccoons” as a mascot.
Some time was taken to discuss the future of the Pacific Science Center model railroad show. Yes, the show will continue. But, like a lot of things these days, its nature is being shaped by outside forces, notably shifting demographic and economic trends. The key for the Division would seem to be to concentrate more on how to make the show more relevant in today’s environment, and less on preserving how it was done in the past. That is not to say all prior things were bad or that all new things are good. There needs to be a balance.
The Show Committee did a quick survey of several hundred attendees of the last show. The results seemed to indicate a couple of things: (1) the show has about the right amount of activities for kids; and (2) older attendees would like to see some bigger layouts and more about how things are done.
There are plenty of challenges going forward, the two biggest being space and volunteers. Since we are unlikely to be getting more space in the future, we will need to make better use of the spaces we have (or can create). Tucking exhibits into more little spaces and creating more ways to “demonstrate” the hobby is one to make good use of the space and this will take more volunteers. Of these two, the volunteer issue is likely the more critical, since the current volunteer slots are already difficult to adequately fill.
Lastly we took a brief look at the NMRA EduTRAIN® program, which is basically a way to share model railroading clinics throughout the organization. Hopefully that leads to more knowledge sharing and consistency, plus a reduction in the effort needed to create clinics locally from scratch. As an example we looked at the “Weather or Not” clinic by Bruce DeYoung. However, this wasn’t presented as a traditional clinic. There was no presenter. Instead the slides were scrolled though and attendees added their experiences/expertise to the provided material. Everyone seemed to enjoy this way to do a “clinic” (at least for a small group).
EduTRAIN clinics are available via the members only section of the NMRA website. If you prefer some hardcopy help, page 49 of the March 2016 edition of ‘NMRA Magazine’ has a little piece explaining how to access these clinics. These are not just for groups. Individuals can see them online or download them for later viewing.
Show & Tell had a couple of N scale entries. First, David brought an example of Atlas’ re-run of their 2-truck, standard gauge Shay. It is only available in DC with no sound, but is still an impressive little model. Dennis T brought a Con-Cor standard gauge Galloping Goose (lettered for the Pennsy, no less). These were available some years ago, but finding them now is harder. Dennis was pretty happy to have latched onto this one.
David’s Shay – Right Side
David’s Shay – Left Side
Dennis’ Goose
The last item wasn’t N scale at all. One of our attendees found a set of BNSF route maps online. He was able to download them and print them on a large format plotter. We got to look at some pretty interesting maps and take home any we were particularly interested in.
Directions: We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location. The parking lot is at the rear of the church. From the lot go up the steps to the main entrance. Once inside, the room where we meet is on your left.
Maps and additional clinic info is available on the clinics page.
Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, usually September to May. In June we often do something different, so there is no “regular” meeting. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the program will start at 7:30.
Remember the next regular evening meeting is April 7, 2016. The meeting after that will be May 5. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.
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