This year 2019 has proven to be a very busy one for the Pacific Northwest On30 Modular Group. In January we participated in the Great Train Show in Puyallup at the Washington State Fairgrounds and then in February at the United Northwest & Snohomish Count 4-H Foundation show in Monroe at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. These are both very large and heavily populated shows and provide an important connection between the public and our model railroad hobby.

Overview of the PNW On30 Modular Group setup at the Sheraton Hotel in Bellevue WA.

A nice change of pace however was afforded to our group with an invitation to the 34^th Annual Sn3 Symposium at the Sheraton venue in Bellevue WA April 4-6 2019 from 4D Superintendent Russ Segner and Sn3 Symposium coordinators Robin Peel and Dale Kreutzer. This is a niche event that is similar to the National Narrow Gauge Convention but mainly focused on “S” or 1/64^th scale. Although the space was smaller than our usual huge open train show venues, PNWOn30 Superintendent and CAD expert Alan Murray managed to design a layout to fit in the space that allowed for a nice point to point configuration providing a lot of operating opportunities.

PNW On30 layout configuration for the Sn3 Symposium.

Alan along with PNWOn30 members Jerry Barnes, Jon Bentz, Rich Blake and Mark Clemmens set up the layout on Thursday April 4^th in a well lit private space in the hotel. Even though we are 1/48^th scale or O scale, the layout was a welcome attraction for the Sn3 Symposium participants and generated a lot of interesting discussion on modeling, construction of modules and DCC system control (we use NCE).

Chick Sweeny and John Dodds building up a train on Mark Clemmen’s yard modules.

Something new for the symposium and our modular group, was that we opened up the layout to guest operators on a fixed time schedule throughout the open viewing periods of the show. Normally we just operate with our own modular group members at shows but this time we opened up the layout as a bonus operating opportunity and ended up with twelve guest operators on the crew call list over the course of three days in five different sessions. Rich Blake ran the layout as Dispatcher/Trainmaster while the rest of the PNW On30 crew assumed yard and crew assistance duties for our guest operators.

Jerry Barnes and Byron Osborn reviewing their orders and switchlist at the busy Sawmill Siding area.

Bob Stafford switching the house track at Olympia Station.

We had several “old hats” as well as a few “noobs” to operations who learned a lot about this very intensely engaging aspect of model railroading. Our operating schema utilizes Time Table and Train Order rules typical of the early 1900s. We also use Java Model Railroad Interface (aka “JMRI”) Operations Pro to manage car inventory and generate switchlists for yards and industries. The operating style is laid back and slow moving but every train has a purpose and work to do. A typical job for a conductor/engineer two man crew would take about an hour to complete which was perfect for the time slots we had for guests.

Ron Auletti running the morning westbound mixed at Alan Murray’s Olympia Station.

Ed Roach enjoying his time working the Bay Lumber Company Camp 4 module.

Overall it was a great event and our group would especially like to thank all the enthusiastic operators who brought the layout to life as well as the coordinators of the Sn3 Symposium who provided the great space and support. If you would like to see our layout or are interested in operations, stay tuned here on the Grab Iron for show announcements or contact us via the Module Programs section of the 4D website or the PNW On30 website.

A few more shots from the event: