Gordon Garnhart

There were 27 people gathered at the Summer Hill Retirement Facility on Wednesday, October 12th to participate in our first “Panel of Experts.” John White opened the meeting with an introduction of the panel moderator, Rich Thom. Rich, in turn, introduced the panel members, and invited each of them to say a few words about what their emphasis has been in the hobby. The panel consisted of Al Frasch, Dick Haines, Bill Harper, Tom Hawkins and Jack Tingstad, all very accomplished model railroaders.

Although Rich had come prepared with a series of questions in advance, he did not need to use them. There was immediate and enthusiastic participation from the group, and thoughtful, good natured and informative responses from the panelists. Questions varied from how to keep trackage clean, how best to apply ballast, and how to select and install remote turnout controls, to safe reliable power distribution for room and layout lighting.

John closed the meeting with the announcement of a rolling stock modeling contest. Rules will be printed and distributed at the November meeting, and judging will take place next spring, probably in May.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, November 9th at 7:00 PM in Summer Hill Retirement Facility and will feature Mr. Martin Burwash, a local historian, who will talk about the avalanche disaster at Wellington on March 1, 1910. This promises to be a very interesting program. See you there.

By the way, the Anacortes & Fidalgo Model Railroad Club will hold their 16th Annual Open House on November 5th and 6th from 10 AM to 4 PM. They are located at 419 Q Avenue in Anacortes. Enter the basement at the north end of the building. Check it out.