September’s “Second Saturday” Zoom layout tour has been postponed a month, due to the joint NP/GN convention layout tours taking place across the region on Sept 14. The next Zoom layout tour will be held at 10am on Saturday, October 12, featuring local modeler Kevin Wills. Kevin’s layout is a freelanced mainline extension of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific lines through the western Sierra Nevada mountain area roughly set in the 1980s. His 33’x13′ basement layout transits three levels, with staging, main yard with turntable and engine maintenance facilities, switching in various towns and long mainline stretches of track. A train can take up to an hour to transit the entire layout at scale speed. The mainline is fully signaled with a full-hardware CTC panel. A branch line is included in dark territory just to make it more interesting. Scenery is about 75-80% complete. Please plan to attend if you can.
As usual, we will open the Zoom meeting at 9:30am for fellowship and tech rehearsal, and Kevin’s presentation will start at 10:00am and last about an hour. We plan to post a recording of the event afterwards on the 4dPNRMovies YouTube channel.
Here is the Zoom info to join the live meeting on Saturday morning:
The October “Second Saturday” Zoom layout tour will be held at 10am on October 12, featuring local modeler Kevin Wills. Kevin’s layout is a freelanced mainline extension of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific lines through the western Sierra Nevada mountain area roughly set in the 1980s. His 33’x13′ basement layout transits three levels, with staging, main yard with turntable and engine maintenance facilities, switching in various towns and long mainline stretches of track. A train can take up to an hour to transit the entire layout at scale speed. The mainline is fully signaled with a full-hardware CTC panel. A branch line is included in dark territory just to make it more interesting. Scenery is about 75-80% complete.
We will open the Zoom meeting at 9:30 for fellowship and tech rehearsal, and Kevin’s presentation will start at 10:00am and last about an hour.
As always, we plan to post a recording of the event afterwards on the 4dPNRMovies YouTube channel. To join the live meeting on Saturday morning, here is the Zoom info:
Join us next Saturday, May 11, for a continuation of Jerry Boudreau’s informative and humorous briefing on his HO Santa Fe layout in central Oregon. He will start with a brief overview of the layout, followed by details on how he organizes and runs regular operating sessions. He shows some interesting forms and methods that could you help take your own operations to a new level.
The meeting will open at 9:30am PST and Jerry’s presentation begins at 10am and runs for about an hour. We will also record it and post it to the 4dPNRMovies YouTube channel. If you missed his first presentation in March, here is a link to that presentation, well worth watching if you haven’t seen it (it is so good, it has already been watched over 3400 times!): https://youtu.be/sGjaFgxJeUA
The link to join his second presentation on May 11 will be posted here in the Grab Iron a few days before the meeting.
Join us at 10am on Saturday, April 13, for an update from Todd VonStup on his operations-oriented N scale MRL-era layout. The Montana Rail Link’s Columbia and Palouse 14th and 15th Subdivisions is an N-Scale multi-deck loop to loop proto-freelanced layout from Connell, WA to Missoula, MT with a division yard in Moscow, ID. Mostly prototypically modeled from the Palouse River in Hooper, WA across the Palouse to Troy, ID, where it’s then freelanced as if the NP had found its pass over the Bitterroot Mountains into Missoula, MT. Started in May 2021, this will be a progress update on benchwork (95% done!), working ABS signals, a large yard, and operations as the MRL would have worked this line based on their practices.
As usual, we open the meeting at 9:30am and start the formal program at 10:00am. Here is the Zoom info:
March’s 4dPNR Zoom layout tour is going to inspire you for sure! Long freights often exceeding 50 cars and 6 units, 14 car passenger trains with sparkling warbonnets in the lead, and southwest mountain scenery punctuate the Pasquinel Division of the Santa Fe Railroad. This 1200 square foot HO scale model railroad running thru the wilds of 1967 Arizona features a 650 foot mainline, large yard, and a number of smaller towns. The Pasquinel is fully operational and 14 person crews keep it humming once per month. Come join us next Saturday (March 9) for a trip thru the red cliffs and distant mountain vistas of northern Arizona. Jerry Boudreaux will show us his framing, track plans, electrical, scenery techniques, trains, operations forms, and even Santa Fe’s definition of a “Shooter!” This Zoom-only presentation will start at 10:00 am PST, and we will open the meeting at 9:30 for meet and greet. Here is the Zoom info to join the meeting:
Here is how to join us on February 10 at 10am for a layout tour by Chuck Lee, covering his HO scale Colorado Front Range RR. The pike is based on Denver, CO and features local industries such as the massive Coors operation, features 3D-printed and LED-lit models, such as Denver’s Union Station, and even includes a full-size CTC control panel for the dispatcher.
This Zoom-only presentation will start at 10:00 am PST, and we will open the meeting at 9:30 for meet and greet. Here is the link to join the event:
Join us on February 10 at 10am for a layout tour by Chuck Lee, of Puyallup, WA, covering his HO scale Colorado Front Range RR. The pike is based on Denver, CO and features local industries such as the massive Coors operation, features 3D-printed and LED-lit models, such as Denver’s Union Station, an oil pipeline under construction and even a full-size CTC control panel for the dispatcher.
This Zoom-only presentation will start at 10:00 am PST, and we will open the meeting at 9:30 for meet and greet. The Zoom link will be posted here and in the GrabIron a few days before the event.
Join us on Saturday, January 13, at 10:00am PST for a Zoom presentation by Greg Wright of Olympia, WA on what he’s learned from a series of operating sessions on his new back yard model railroad. As usual, the meeting will open at 9:30am for meet and greet, and last until about 11:30. We will also record the meeting for the 4dPNRMovies YouTube channel.
Here is the information on how to join the meeting:
Join us on Saturday, May 11, for a continuation of Jerry Boudreau’s informative and humorous briefing on his HO Santa Fe layout in central Oregon. He will start with a brief overview of the layout, followed by details on how he organizes and runs regular operating sessions. He shows some interesting forms and methods that could you help take your own operations to a new level.
The meeting will open at 9:30am PST and Jerry’s presentation begins at 10am and runs for about an hour. We will also record it and post it to the 4dPNRMovies YouTube channel. If you missed his first presentation in March, here is a link to that presentation, well worth watching if you haven’t seen it (it is so good, it has already been watched over 3400 times!): https://youtu.be/sGjaFgxJeUA
The link to join his second presentation on May 11 is here
For the April “second Saturday Zoom”, Todd VonStup will update us on his progress on his N scale MRL-themed layout. This Zoom-only presentation will start at 10:00 am PST, and we will open the meeting at 9:30 for meet and greet. Here is the Zoom link:
