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Eastside Get-Together on Thursday, Bob Stafford is Guest Speaker

Written by Cliff Green
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JJ Johnston

Reminder: Thursday, 7:30 pm, Eastside Get-Together at Bellevue Foursquare Church in Bellevue. Guest speaker Bob Stafford’s presentation will be Weathering Structures With Bragdon Weathering Powders, including many examples showing how to weather structures and roads on his HO railroad. Bob will also demonstrate using oil stains and dry brushing before applying chalk. And more.

Plus the usual stuff as well. You know, door prizes, free coffee, models of the month, stuff to buy and sell and a lot of conversation. Featuring donuts for a buck. Hey, we have to pay for those fabulous name tags. 🙂

For Eastside Get-Together location and other information, see the 4D Clinics page.

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Eastside Starts the New Year

Written by Ken Liesse
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Article and photos by Ken Liesse

On September 15, JJ Johnston opened the 2011-12 Eastside Clinic season with introductions of VIPs, MMRs, and guests and welcomed everyone back to Bellevue. Many exciting things have happened over the summer. JJ was proud to announce that his wife, Pat, had won First Prize and Grand Champion in the doll house competition at this year’s Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup. (I saw the doll house — it’s very nice.) Frank Dekker pointed out that JJ’s layout graces the cover of this month’s Railroad Model Craftsman (autographed copies were available as door prizes) with an article written and photographed by 4D member Paul Scoles.

JJ & Russ

JJ Johnston & Russ Segner prepare for the clinic

Frank also reminded everyone that it is not too early to start thinking about the Pacific Science Center Show in January and that everyone should be considering volunteering for the show. The PSC committee is also looking for new ideas for the show, especially in the areas of children’s activities and other hands-on events. Email Frank your ideas at rekkedrails@juno.com.

Di Voss was looking for volunteers to help with the NMRA Conformance & Standards Group, assessing decoders to see if they meet NMRA protocols. By now he should have the one or two volunteers he was looking for.

Other announcements for the good of the order included Bob Beise’s reminder of the Lynden Train Show coming up October 1st and 2nd; Russ Segner’s announcement of the grand opening of the Northwest Railway Museum Train Shed; and Ed Liesse’s commentary on the upcoming Joint PNR-PCR Convention to be held in Medford, OR next May 2-5.

David Yadock station

David Yadock won Model of the Month with this station.

The Model of the Month contest had several very good and varied entries this month. Jim Sabol brought a couple of wall pieces for his O scale Tacoma Union Station that he was building with the help of Kyle Davis, a student at Washington State University. Bob Beise showed off a #6 double-slip switch that he built with Fast Track jigs — in only four hours. Ron Cole presented a 1:32 scale 70-ton 40′ flat car for which he had built all the masters. Ron plans on making several more cars from these masters. Stu Rogers displayed an N Scale Architect lumber mill, which requires that the builder supply his own instructions as the ones in the kit are inadequate. The winner of the contest was David Yadock, who brought in the combination station seen at left. The station is a Campbell kit with details and interior lighting added as well as a good dose of weathering. Nicely done, David.

Our presentation for the evening was given by Russ Segner. Russ gave an overview of some of the highlights of the recently completed Narrow Gauge Convention in Hickory, NC (attended by several 4D members). He then talked about next year’s convention, which will be held in Bellevue, although the brochures tout the convention as being in Seattle. (We won’t hold that against the committee; whoever heard of Bellevue, WA?) It is shaping up to be a great convention. Russ reminds everyone that you don’t need to be narrow minded to enjoy the Narrow Gauge convention. Registration for the convention, to be held at Meydenbauer Center, is $110. There will be a special trip to the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad as an $80 additional fare. Several of our area’s famous layouts will be open for tours and there will be a ton of clinics given by well-known national and international model railroaders. Visit www.Seattle2012.com for more details.

Next month’s clinic will feature Glenn Farley, although the topic of his clinic is yet to be determined. You’ll want to drop by though, as Glenn’s clinics are always informative and entertaining. See you next month.

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Eastside Get-Together Report

Written by Ken Liesse
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By Ken Liesse

JJ Johnston opened the evening with the announcement that our last get-together of the season in June will be a field trip to Chooch Enterprises in Maple Valley. There will be a small charge to help cover the costs of transportation, which will be determined in the coming weeks. We will be visiting the business, then going upstairs to view the layout. JJ will pass on further information when it becomes available. JJ also reminded everyone that ballots for open 4D offices need to be postmarked by May 20.

Ed Liesse made mention of the upcoming NRHS convention in Tacoma (June 20-26). Although most of us may not be able to participate (membership in the NRHS is required), there will be a lot of steam trains in the area during that time, including a trip over Stampede Pass behind SP 4449.

Ed went on to inform everyone that Pacific Northwest Region will be holding a joint convention with Pacific Coast Region next May in Medford, OR. Planning is still in the early stages, but hopefully there will be tours of Micro-Trains and Campbell Scale Models. There will also be clinics and a non-rail program. Siskiyou Summit 2012 will be held May 2-5.

Ken Liesse mentioned an item that showed up in the 4D mailbox: an announcement from the Port of Everett about an upcoming auction. They’re getting rid of two dioramas that they hope someone can re-use for modeling purposes. The auction will take place on June 2nd at the Port of Everett Conference Center. Watch for more information in the Grab Iron.

Stu Rogers brought the video library and mentioned that we now have all of Paul Scole’s videos in the library for member perusal. See the whole list of available titles on the 4D website.

There were five entries in the Model of the Month contest, which was won by Ron Cole with his scratchbuilt 1/32nd scale 12-1 Pullman. Other entries included the Washington Brewery (Di Voss), a switch tower with interior details (David Yadock), a display diorama (Bob Rorabaugh) and a handlaid, code 55, N gauge yard throat (Stu Rogers). Photos of the entries can be viewed here.

After the break, Russ Segner presented the clinic, which was an update on what’s happening at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie through a slide/video show. There has been quite a bit of progress since last June when Eastside held a picnic at the museum. Weyerhaeuser #1, the Fairbanks-Morse, has been pretty much completed and is now awaiting lettering. There has been much progress on Chapel Car #5, the “Messenger of Peace,” and the museum has a paid staff on hand to oversee the work being done on the car. Russ himself is continuing work on coach #218, a 1912 built Barney-Smith car. A lot of work has gone into this car, and the train crew is looking forward to adding it into the regular service. The other big news is that two items from the museum collection – WRL caboose #1 and GN caboose #001 – have been moved into the new Train Shed at the Railway History Center. These are the first exhibits to be housed in the Train Shed with many more to follow. (These cabooses were moved in Thursday afternoon between School Train runs and Russ had pictures of them to show us that night.) Russ reminded everyone that anyone who is interested in restoring equipment, teaching kids about railroading or even operating the railroad can volunteer at the museum. He will keep us up-to-date as progress continues.

At the end of the evening, JJ reminded everyone of the BOD meeting on 5/21 and Michael Kavanaugh reported that he was now cancer free. A great way to end the evening.

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Eastside Get-Together Report

Written by Ken Liesse
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Story and photos by Ken Liesse

On April 21st, about 30 folks were present when JJ Johnston opened the evening with words of welcome and recognition of our MMRs. A moment of silence was then held for 4D Superintendent Dennis Hill, who had unexpectedly passed away the previous week. We also had an update on the condition of Rev. Roger Ferris, who had suffered a stroke before last month’s meeting. Roger is resting at home and has almost full recovery of his extremities. If you’d like to leave Roger well wishes, you can write him at railfun@frontier.com. We hope Roger continues to have a speedy recovery.

JJ thanked all who donated door prizes (of which there were several) including Steve Depolo of Trains, Planes & Automobiles and Sue Van Gerpen of the Northwest Railway Museum. Sue donated a pair of tickets to ride the Snoqualmie Valley Railway. Ron Cole mentioned that the museum will be hosting “A Day Out with Thomas (the Tank Engine)” July 8-10 and 15-17. There will be an HO layout on hand for kids to run, and they are looking for people willing to help out with this project. If you are interested, contact Ron at 206-200-1059.

Thanks to a contact made by Sherm Stevens, we will probably have a field trip for our June meeting. Sherm contacted Mike O’Connell at Chooch Enterprises in Maple Valley, who agreed to host our group and show us his model railroad. JJ will be organizing carpools from our normal meeting place as parking at Mike’s is hard to come by. We expect a $5/person fee to help cover costs for drivers. Mike’s place is not handicap accessible. We’ll have more details on this excursion at the May meeting.

During the announcements portion of the clinic, Ken Liesse told the group that there are no current plans for a memorial to Dennis Hill. Dennis’ wife, Diana, would like to have a gathering at their house, but will wait for the weather to warm up a bit. Mark Anderson is again running the Issaquah Train Show in August. Details on the show will be forthcoming. Ted Becker is looking for anyone who would like to share a ride to Sacramento, CA for the NMRA convention, X2011West, in July. If you are planning on attending the convention and need a ride, contact Ted. Russ Segner brought in some photos from the Northwest Railway Museum showing the new track switch leading from the railway’s mainline to the new Train Shed as well as a 20′ solid oak beam that was being milled for use on the Chapel car.

JJ Johnston's BTS Log Dump

There were several models (and other items) presented for Model of the Month including a “stinky” diorama, a couple of N scale GPs with a short train, a very old postcard depicting the San Francisco Bay Area, a scratchbuilt N scale milling machine, some scratchbuilt sloping tree stumps, a trestle and a brass N scale ditcher from Overland Models. JJ Johnston won with his kit built log dump, which is part of a BTS sawmill. JJ figured it was about time he brought something in that he had built himself.

Following the break, CJ Riley, MMR, presented a slide show titled “Layout Development on a Prototype Theme.” Using research and his own personal knowledge of West Virginia, CJ demonstrated how he was able to develop a location for his Kanawha & Western Allegheny Railroad and how anyone could use the same techniques to come up with an idea for their own railroad. CJ showed the difference between four different approaches to designing a model railroad: shotgun, prototype, freelance and proto-freelance. Shotgun is where the modeler just builds and runs whatever appeals to him/her at the time. Prototype is as the name implies; following a specific railroad and its practices. Freelance is where one makes up their own ideas, but is a little more focused than the shotgun approach. Proto-freelance is modeling your own railroad, but following applicable prototype practices and basing the railroad on actual locations.

Master Model Railroader CJ Riley gives our clinic

CJ pointed to three words he uses when coming up with themes: Observation, Understanding, Selection. Observe the area in which you want to model, understand everything you can about the area (do your research) and select those items you really want to have on your layout. Use scenic markers for information on your area of interest and use authentic names that reflect the area you are modeling. Everyone enjoyed CJ’s presentation and the slides were quite interesting.

Next month, Russ Segner will be our clinician. His topic was not divulged, but you can bet it will worth seeing.

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Eastside Get-Together Thursday, April 21st

Written by Ken Liesse
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By JJ Johnston

Don’t forget the Eastside Get-Together, next week, Thursday, April 21, 7:30 PM at the Bellevue Four Square Church in Bellevue. Our group sends condolences to the Hill family and will take a moment of prayer to remember our friend Dennis.

TOPIC: Join legendary modeler C.J. Riley, MMR, for his clinic “Layout Planning On A Prototype Theme.” He will feature a slide presentation
illustrating the concept of modeling from the prototype to create a more believable model railroad. We’ll see prototype and model slides illustrating the concept of CJ Riley’s Kanawha & Western Allegheny RR. Further info is available in Allen Keller’s Great Model RRs Vol. 3, available from the video library. Video Librarian Stu Rogers will be there, so maybe he will bring some copies of this early video.

Of course, we will offer all the usual stuff that makes the Eastside group so popular; Stuff like free coffee, fresh donuts, the Mart with great prices on railroad items (bring some of your own to sell too), super door prizes donated by Steve Depolo, the red-hot Model of the Month competition and a great venue with convenient parking. See ya.

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Eastside Get-Together Report

Written by Ken Liesse
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Article and photos by Ken Liesse

Thirty-nine members and one guest were in attendance as JJ Johnston presided over the St. Patrick’s Day version of the Eastside Get-Together Thursday evening. Most members were dressed for the occasion by wearing something green, especially Bobj Berger and Jim Easley. Bobj sported huge, bright green glasses while Jim brought some class to the event with a green bow tie (yes, it coordinated with the rest of his outfit).

Several people had announcements for the good of the order, starting with JJ’s reminder of the upcoming Olympia layout open houses. Ed Liesse let everyone know that if they change their email address, to make sure the new address is given to the NMRA headquarters with Ed copied in, or just sent to Ed and he will forward the new information to National. (eeliesse@aol.com) Please pass this information on to others, as those who have changed their addresses may not be receiving the information.

Bobj Berger announced that Rev. Roger Ferris suffered a stroke on March 15. Roger is still in the hospital and Bobj was not sure when he would be going home. Bobj brought several estate sales for the mart, augmented by some items Russ Segner supplied from Earl Mann’s estate.

Mark Anderson let everyone know that he will again be heading up the train show in Issaquah, which is now set for August 13th from 10 to 4. Russ reminded everyone of the upcoming NRHS convention in Tacoma and its accompanying steam trains, including Daylight 4449. He also mentioned the upcoming steam special at the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway on May 21st. Bobj said that NMRA members could get a discount for this trip by purchasing tickets from RailsNW.com (www.railsnw.com).

JJ announced the passing of long-time Eastside participant Paul Miller. Paul had recently been diagnosed with cancer and entered the hospital shortly after last month’s clinic. Peter Ormiston brought a card for members to sign and will present it to Paul’s family. We then held a moment of silence for Paul, Roger and the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan.

Bring and brag had six great entries this month. Jim Easley won with a G scale model of a building at Bernina Hospiz in Switzerland. Jim’s building was made mostly from Styrofoam and was a lot lighter than it looked. Other entries included Di Voss’ mockup for a brewery he’s building for his Everett & Monte Cristo, Bob Biese’s loaded gondola, a 1935 American Flyer train brought in by Jim Martin, and a Campbell fire station from David Yadock. The field was rounded out by John Socha-Leialoha’s latest creation, an HO scale model of a slag cart. Additional pictures of these models can be seen at https://picasaweb.google.com/ken.liesse/EastsideClinic31711#.

After the break, Jim Sabol presented a brand new clinic on the nuances of how real railroads move cars from A to B, including a look at why they would want to in the first place. The focus was the importance of freight yards to the real railroads and how we can use them in our modeling. Jim showed how it was possible to have realistic operations with a yard made up of just two tracks. As was appropriate for the day, the featured load in Jim’s clinic was a boxcar full of beer. We all assume it was green fro St. Patrick’s Day.

Jim then passed out plans for the yard on his own layout; a 10’ x 55’ monster built in O scale. Even though the tracks are not complete, Jim already has the operation of the yard mapped out and is ready to implement operations on his layout from the first day of “power on.” We thanked Jim’s wife, Mary, for bringing Jim with her to the meeting to present a wonderful clinic.

The program for April’s meeting has not been determined, but JJ is looking into the possibility of having the June meeting at Chooch Industries in Maple Valley. More information on this will be forthcoming.

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Eastside Clinic Report

Written by Ken Liesse
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Article and photos by Ken Liesse

35 members and guests were on hand for the Eastside Clinic held Thursday night, February 17. JJ Johnston kicked off the evening with announcements, including that of the stolen equipment from the Monroe train show (see details in another section of the Grab Iron). He also announced that Bob Beise has earned AP certificates in Civil, Electrical and Volunteer. Only four more and Bob will earn his Master Model Railroader.

Frank Dekker mentioned that 4D was in possession of several concrete pier blocks that had previously been used at the Pacific Science Center show. The blocks have brackets to hold 2x4s and are now surplus. Anyone having use for such blocks should contact Frank.

Jim Sabol let everyone know that there will be several opportunities to see mainline steam action in the northwest this summer, with the National Railroad Historical Society convention being in Tacoma. In addition, the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway should be firing up Baldwin #70 this coming week. If the engine passes her boiler certification, she will be part of the triple-header run at the railway in May.

Roger Ferris brought five cases of the Mart for member perusal, and mentioned that member Al Robinson (who attends the Shoreline clinic) would be selling off his collection of brass engines and other equipment for health reasons. Anyone wishing to learn more about this sale should contact Roger at railfun@frontier.com.

We had two entries in the Model of the Month contest.

CJ Turner's Model of the Month winner.

First place went to CJ Turner for a model that Di Voss brought in! The model was a Bar Mills kit to which CJ had added an extensive interior, including billiards tables and shooters. CJ had built the model for Di, hence Di bringing it in to show. The other entry was from Rob Jones, who brought an extensive collection of N-scale equipment, some of which Rob had just purchased at the Monroe show. George Chambers also brought in a collection of old model railroad catalogs for folks to see.

Di Voss announced that a proposal is being put before the NMRA BOD to possibly have the 2015 or 2016 national convention on a cruise down the west coast. Details of the trip are still being fleshed out, but the cruise would probably leave from either Seattle or Vancouver (meeting the international port of call rule) sail to San Diego, possibly stopping in Portland and San Francisco. If anyone has any ideas on this proposal or would possibly like to help put it on, please contact Di.

Ed Liesse reminded us that this year’s NMRA convention is being held in Sacramento, CA, July 3-10. This is a good opportunity to visit a national if you’ve never been before as it won’t be out this way again for another four years.

After the break, Jim Easley gave a presentation on the garden railroad he helped build at the Emerald Heights Retirement Community in Redmond. Jim and his wife are residents of the community, and Jim wanted to build an outdoor layout around the duplex in which they live. After approaching the management at Emerald Heights, it was decided that this should become a community project with a central place for the new railroad. Jim agreed to head up the project and held his first meeting, thinking he would get a handful of his fellow retirees to help out. Turns out fifty couples showed up for that first meeting! Committees were assigned, plans were drawn up (including a neat little profile model of the area where the layout would be built) and construction commenced. During the planning stage, it was decided that the group would model the Seattle & Lake Shore, since it ran through Redmond. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) was used for the sub-roadbed, with all LGB track. Even a shed was built to protect the equipment and make it easier for the “engineers” to get at their equipment (no bending). All in all, Jim estimated that over 250 residents of the community took part in the building of the railroad. This included folks who were interested in construction, planning, gardening, and even a guy who bricked up the lone tunnel in the plan. At the end of construction, the CEO of the community presided over a “Gold Spike Ceremony,” and officially opened the railroad.

Emerald Heights is an extremely active community, and their in-house TV station made a documentary on the process of building the railroad. Jim presented this documentary to us at Eastside, and everyone was in awe of what the community has accomplished. Jim is also now working on the layout he wanted in the first place, which will be a replica of Swiss railroading, a subject dear to Jim’s heart.

At this time, we do not have a program lined up for the March meeting, but rest assured JJ will come up with something. If you would like volunteer to give a clinic, contact JJ (jj@jtwice.com). He’ll be more than happy to sign you up. Additional photos from the clinic can be viewed at https://picasaweb.google.com/ken.liesse/EastsideClinic21711#

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Learn To Build A Garden Railroad

Written by Al Lowe
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by JJ Johnston, photos by Ken Liesse

Eastside Get Together. Mark your calendars for next Thursday, February 17, at 7:30 pm. The legendary garden modeler Dr. Jim Easley will describe the steps to design and build a garden layout. His work with residents at the Emerald Heights retirement community is a model of taking a group of people with varying talents, working together to create a stunning achievement in garden railroading. Jim’s presentation will also include a time-lapse video of this marvelous layout from start to the golden spike finish.

Thanks to Di Voss and Bob Beise for their informative January clinic on making turnouts with FastTrak jigs. Model of the Month was won by Jim Sabol and his almost all scratch built O scale 2-6-6-2. Due to the length of our program, door prizes were not awarded so this month we will have double door prizes. Plus the mart is always available for you to buy and sell railroad items, free coffee and fresh donuts. Join the fun.

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