By Jeff Moorman

Please come join us on Thursday (January 3) for our first clinic of the New Year. Our general topic will be doing historical research and a brief look at NW logging.

In December we looked at a film of rotary snowplow ‘OY’ in operation on the Colorado narrow gauge. It was interesting to see all the preparation that went into getting the plow, pushers, and crews ready. And the comments about the big storms of the past provided a lot of context. But the most fascinating, was seeing how the plow and two pushers worked the drifts using only whistles for communication.

Rotaries liked a slow steady pace, but when the snow got deep they had to go in, back out, go in, back out, etc. It was wonderful to watch. I couldn’t help thinking of trying to duplicate the process with models using DCC. You would need two pushers, operating independently. Their operators would have to be out of sight of the plow and each other, in order to best simulate communication with whistles. And you would need a plow operator with a whistle capability.

Show and tell had two participants, but multiple items each (all in N scale). Dennis T had 7 engines on display a few of which he spent considerable time on to rescue from their deplorable “as acquired” condition. He also had a few flat cars where he had utilized old N scale motors as loads. Rob J had an observation car and a GN caboose in custom paint. He also showed us half a dozen resin vehicles and a very nice overreach container lift.

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. For regular meetings enter the lower, left side of the church from the rear lot.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, except July and August. In June we usually do a tour. Doors open around 7:00 PM and the program starts at 7:30.

Remember the next meeting is January 3 and the one after that is February 7. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.