Article & Photos by Jim Sabol

Olympia clinic members have come to expect highly informative as well as entertaining presentations from Brian Ferris at our monthly get-togethers. Brian’s February 15 clinic at Chuck Ricketts’ home was no exception: taking us PowerPoint by PowerPoint through the steps of creating a prototypical layout from conception to layout plan.

Keith Newsom and a full house have no trouble staying awake for Brian Ferris

Twenty-one happy modelers filled Chuck’s living room, kitchen, and dining room (an open plan with great sight lines) to learn from Brian how to pick a likely prototype area rich in modeling possibilities; research the geography, facilities, trains, commodities, and schedules for that area; and design a track plan that accommodates most of your favorite elements from that area and era.

Brian Ferris readies his PowerPoint presentation

Selecting the bustling Grays Harbor cities of Aberdeen, Hoquiam, and the surrounding communities, Brian presented slides of typical trains, an actual roster of train movements in and out of the area for a single week in the 1960s, and historical shots of the yard, locomotive, and industrial facilities served by the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Milwaukee railroads.

Brian finished with an HO track plan for a garage-sized room that effectively included most of the elements from the choices that make Grays Harbor a great place to model and would be a ton of fun to operate prototypically—which is a huge emphasis among the Olympia group. Brian’s CAD rendition of the layout even allowed for some effectively interactive kibitzing and reworking of the plan—something else at which this group excels.

There were even rumors of groups with torches and pitchforks planning to storm the castle and raze Brian’s current layout to be replaced by the one he just described. But the torches went out before the mob could get to Brian’s house, which is a considerable distance away. And their pitchforks turned out to be merely large swizzle sticks.

During the breaks, attendees had a chance to descend the stairs into the wonderful world of Chuck Ricketts’ On30 Shelton, Sherwood and Sarazen Railroad with its terrific scenery and multitude of scratchbuilt structures and funky narrow gauge rolling stock. (Not allowed to say “cute.”)

One of the happiest moments of the evening was welcoming David Halliday back home from six months of logistics support in Afghanistan. Dave was home less than a week but he showed up at the clinic. Now that’s our kind of model railroader! Welcome home, Dave!

Jim Sabol made a pitch for NMRA membership, handed out free copies of the NMRA Bulletin, and provided bargain, special offer, 6-month trial memberships for only $9.95. Sue Ritter was first to sign up.

Sue Ritter holds an entire tavern in her hands

Carrying out the prototype theme of the evening, the Most Popular Model was won by Sue Ritter with a beautifully scratchbuilt rendition of the Brooklyn tavern, an actual establishment more or less famous in the southwest Washington hills between Rochester and Raymond. Sue downloaded and weathered her signs from the Internet.

Once again everyone in attendance had a winning ticket in the door prize derby which included a copy of O. Winston Link’s pricy book of Norfolk and Western art photos donated by Ronnie Beghin, decoders donated by Walt Huston, calendars, key chains, and a variety of gizmos from trucks and track to switch throws donated by Charles Lundberg (who is cleaning out his parts bins). Seeing that everyone present held a winning number, Robert Grove was moved to exclaim, “It’s a muracle!”

On March 15 (the ides! no problem unless your name begins with Caesar), we’ll meet at Scott Buckley’s home, where—unless prevented—Robert Grove and Jim Sabol will reprise their clinic from the recent National Narrow Gauge Convention on the railroads and restoration efforts of the DuPont Powder Works.

Join this happy group to see slides of DuPont’s ocean dock with its narrow gauge railroad and aerial tramway. Learn how to make nitroglycerin. Win a door prize! We’ll leave a light on!