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New Fourth Division Clinic

Written by Alan Carter
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Al Carter

The Fourth Division has added yet another monthly clinic to better serve local NMRA members and other model railroaders. The Mount Vernon Clinic will have its first meeting on September 23, 2014, at the Mount Vernon Senior Center, starting at 7:00 pm. (Editor’s Note – the original clinic name was Skagit Clinic, but has been changed to prevent confusion. The date of the first meeting has also been updated and is correct in this blog post.) The Senior Center is at 1401 S. Cleveland Street, easily accessible from I-5 via the Kincaid Street exit.

A number of Skagit and Snohomish County folks were making the monthly trek to Oak Harbor for the Whidbey/Skagit monthly clinic and several of us decided to start a newer clinic closer to home. Our goal is to work closely with our fellow friends over in Oak Harbor to possibly share clinic agendas and clinicians, which seems like a win-win situation. We also hope to serve more NMRA members (and other model rails) in the Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom County areas.

As of this writing, Ted Becker has agreed to step up and be the first clinician and he has proposed several ideas. As we get closer to September 23, we will make a more detailed announcement in the Grab Iron. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions or suggestions, or wants to volunteer to be a clinician, feel free to contact me at tabooma@msn.com or 360-399-1226.  If you wish to be added to an email list for a clinic newsletter, just let me know.

 

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October Skagit Valley & Whidbey NMRA Clinic

Written by Tom Buckingham
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Tom Buckingham & Al Frasch / Photos by Al Frasch

Rich Blake kicked off the October Skagit Valley & Whidbey NMRA Clinic to more than 30 eager model railroaders by reminding everyone of the full slate of fall swap meets, expo’s  and clinics. Of note were the Pacific Northwest Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet “Rail By the Bay” on October 26th,  The Anacortes & Fidalgo Model Railroad Club’s 18th Annual Open House on November 2nd and 3rd,  The Boeing Employees Model Railroad Club Swap Meet on November 9th and finally the Burnaby, British Columbia  2013 Model Train Show & Meet November 9th & 10th.

The feature presentation was the much heralded Four Mini-Clinic Clinicfest. The first presenter was John White discussing “Dry Print Lettering for Rolling Stock and Buildings.” John had a nice handout of all the tools and materials required to do a professional-looking job. He started by the choices in fonts and colours (the spelling is out of respect to John). Though there are two good “railroady” font choices—Gothic and Roman, John urged us to choose only one or “inevitably a Gothic letter will end up in a line of Roman print.” Although the fonts are available in White, Black, Red, Yellow, Silver and Gold, John said he had had no luck with Gold with very high wastage. John WhitePerhaps the most valuable part of John’s comments were his tips that only experience can bring: Choose the name of your pike carefully—there are only two “V’s” per sheet; write down what you intend to decal—sometimes you have to spell backwards (try spelling Skagit backwards quickly without looking!); use a piece of blue or white masking tape to mark the edge of the lettering but be sure to cut off about ¼” so no “hairy” bits stick out on the original tape edge; don’t miss space between words; use a clean (preferably white) piece of paper towel to place on your workbench to prevent the decal sheet from picking up dirt form your workbench; and lastly check your work before burnishing the letters. John closed by discussing difficult locations and repairs.

The second presenter was Rich Thom with “Having Fun in a Cramped Space”  Rich talked about some problems encountered when he tried to cram too much operation—and too much track—in a small room: lots and lots of no. 4 turnouts; wye turnouts; tracks too close to layout edges; 4.5% grades, etc. Lack of planning also placed L-girders directly beneath a series of turnouts, so when he decided to use Tortoises to throw them rather than oversize ground throws, he had to make a number of simple brackets to extend the “reach” of the switch motors. They are simple and versatile and can be used in any situation where one needs to locate a switch motor some distance away from what it is moving. Rich wrote an article for the April 2013 Model Railroader on construction of the brackets (page 60).

Cliff Aaker

Our third mini-clinic was by Cliff Aaker on “Making Hemlock Trees.” Using bamboo skewers for tree trunks, Cliff first runs a bead of glue along the skewer where he wants the branches to be. Next he takes fibers that he has separated from a hank of manila rope and cut to approximate limb length and sprinkles them randomly on the  now sticky tree trunk. After that dries, he trims the limbs to a reasonable and appropriate length and dips the entire skewer in a dark walnut furniture stain. When the stain has dried he rotates the tree branches in glue and then sprinkles them with his favorite tree foliage. Cliff had samples at the various stages in the process with him and it took an unbelievably short time to produce a very realistic hemlock.

Rich Blake

Finally, what do the following items have in common: the foil from wine bottles, aluminum cut from pop cans, coffee stir sticks from your favorite barista, plastic bottles, dog toy stuffing, pencil shavings, used guitar strings, short lengths of solder, rhododendron cuttings, and rotted wood? We found out when Rich Blake showed us how he does “Scratchbuilding with Common Materials.” Rich told us how as a young modeler he had little financial resources to buy the “proper” materials so he used his imagination and commonly available materials to get the job done—always at a cheaper price and often better looking that the “real McCoy.” One example was to make door hinges complete with bolt heads using the foil from wine bottles and a dulled map pin. Another was using pencil shavings colored with acrylic paint to make clumps of flaking foliage. Finally he showed how he used an old dead Walkman to scavenge parts that can be used on models.

All-in-all a fun night in Oak Harbor.

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Skagit/Whidbey Clinic, September, 2013

Written by Alan Carter
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By Al Carter / Photos By Al Frasch

Clinic attendees eagerly listening to Rich Blake start the new clinic season

Clinic attendees eagerly listening to Rich Blake start the new clinic season

The first Skagit/Whidbey clinic of the 2013/14 season found a group of about 30 attendees ready to get back to model railroading, after the wonderful summer we all experienced.  I know I didn’t get much done in the train room over the summer, but I have been surveying my back yard with respect to installing a garden railroad.  Nice summers will do that to you, you know…

Clinic Chairman Rich Blake welcomed folks, and acknowledged the contributions of several folks who work behind the scenes with Rich to make this clinic so successful.

Announcements included a reminder of the upcoming, September 28 group field trip to the Mount Rainier Scenic Railway (contact Susan Gonzales if you are thinking of maybe going – there may be some seats available).

Rich introduced several new members:  Elizabeth Marshall of Oak Harbor (1:48 scale), and three HO modelers from Anacortes:  Dick Schussler, Frank Thompson, and Bob Easton, all of whom live at Chandler’s Square, and came down to the clinic with Bob Fulk, resident manager at the facility.

Al #2 (Al Carter) spoke briefly about the upcoming PNR Convention in June of 2014, to be hosted by the Fourth Division.  Al also mentioned the special “Marshalls Shipping” contest at the 2013 PNR Convention in Boise, that he, Ted Becker and Jack Tingstad attended.  Al and Ted both entered this contest, in which entrants started with a Marshall’s Shipping structure from Railroadkits.com and altered it to create a different business.  Al made his into an “out of business” small engine repair company, and Ted made a boat building company that had expanded its product (the boat), but not the doorway to the building, so the boat was built but could not be removed from the building.  Ted won the Most Humorous Award with his structure – Congratulations!

Al #1 (Al Frash) showed off some N scale mailboxes he had built through Shapeways.com, a company that produces 3D-printed products in various scales.  Go to their website and check it out – this is an up and coming technology that is here now and rapidly expanding.

Bob Gilbert describing the beginning of the Tesoro Refinery Rail Expansion project

Bob Gilbert describing the beginning of the Tesoro Refinery Rail Expansion project

Our guest speaker/clinician for the evening was Bob Gilbert, Manager of Railroad Operations for the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes.  Bob regaled the attendees with some background regarding moving the Bakken crude oil from North Dakota to Anacortes, then Bob showed a number of photos of the actual construction of the facility.

Typically, railroads prefer to use a balloon (or loop) track arrangement to bring in the trains for unloading, but due to the available “footprint” of land available at the Tesoro plant, this new facility was constructed as a long and narrow plant.

Once the environmental concerns had been addressed (and there were a lot), construction started.  This is more than just some flat tracks laid out on the ground.  There is a vast network of underground piping, and a huge rubber membrane, plus various concrete vaults and retaining walls in place to both move the crude oil, and to ensure protection for the ground if there were a leak.

The rail yard was built on top of all of this, and laid out as four separate unloading tracks.  The track is CWR (Continuous Welded Rail), 136 lb/3 ft, and there is over 29,000 feet of track in the rail yard, laid on concrete ties (John White was beaming at this news).   The only non-concrete ties on site were used under turnouts, which were pre-fabricated on site and slid into place (They looked like Atlas Code 100 to me).  The unloading “pad” is all concrete and measures 110’x1600’.  There are two more tracks alongside the unloading pad that are used to reassemble the 100 car trains for their return journey across the country.

About the trains:  BNSF runs 8 trains in continuous “loop” service between Anacortes and North Dakota, and each train is 100 cars long, with 4 locomotives, 2 on each end in a “push-pull” arrangement.  In a somewhat unusual arrangement, though, Savage Rail, Inc, an on-site contractor, takes over control of the unit train at the gate, and handles the actual switching – the train is broken into 4 segments, 25 cars each, for the afore-mentioned unloading tracks.  A train can be unloaded in about 12 hours.

More fun facts:  Each train has 2 “buffer cars”, one at each end, and each train is 1 ¼ mile long, and each car carries 680 barrels per car (so my math tells me that each train hauls 68,000 barrels of oil).  These tank cars were built new for this rail service, and are double hull and have double shelf couplers.

The company “UTLX” is contracted for on-site repairs, as any defective or damaged rail cars must be repaired before being allowed to leave the facility.  Bob regaled us with his humor and description of some of the challenges that were faced.  Truly a great clinic!

Next month’s topic is “Mini Clinics” that will feather a number of our members giving brief clinics on a variety of topics.  November’s clinic will be on building hydrocal structures by Al #2 (Al Carter).

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Skagit/Whidbey Clinic

Written by Alan Carter
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Al Carter, Photos by Al Frasch

 

Rich Blake makes opening remarks at the Skagit/Whidbey January 9 clinic

There were over 30 people gathered at the Summer Hill Retirement Facility in Oak Harbor on January 9th for the first Skagit/Whidbey Clinic of 2013. The topic of the evening was locomotive tune-ups by John Mann. John’s co-clinician, Tom Hawkins, wasn’t able to attend, so John ably filled up the allotted time, talking about basic tune-up procedures on both diesel and steam locos. John emphasized the need to not over-lubricate loco’s, as it results in a build up of gunk and crud. John recommends products from Hob-E-Lube as lubricants. For cleaning loco wheels, John’s method is to use a hemostat to hold a folded piece of paper towel soaked in 91% alcohol (the 70% type contains too much water), and running it over the wheels. Another tip: for adding weight to your locomotive (and rail cars, for that matter), check out the Pinewood Derby displays, as they often have products for weighing race cars, in many sizes and shapes, including tungsten paste (moldable).

John Mann describes techniques to tune up a locomotive

A couple of new folks showed up, including Al Jones from Samish Island (recently transplanted from Connecticut), Eric Erickson of Anacortes, who gave a clinic last spring on logging railroads, and Tom Buckingham from Camano Island. Years ago, before his move to Camano Island, Tom used to attend the Eastside Clinic. Welcome, guys!

Jay and Sally Huff dug deep into their closet and found a whimsical model of an Auto Train diesel (U-Boat, I think) that Jay had, ah, modified way back in the mid-70’s by adding oversized “slicks”, as well as a high performance engine and exhaust. This was a “back at you” barb directed (way back then in the early days of the Whidbey Island Model RR Club) at Al Carter, who, being a diesel fanatic, had painted a small 0-6-0 steam engine, pink. Touche, Jay!

Jay Huff's highly modified diesel

Jay Huff’s highly modified diesel

The clinic in February will be on modeling streets, roads, highways, etc, including modeling street trackage, by Al Carter. The date will be February 13, at the Summer Hill Retirement Facility in Oak Harbor, and the clinic starts at 7:00 pm. All are welcome, and all are welcome to get together at San Remo’s restaurant in Oak Harbor at 5:00pm for dinner prior (no host). Hope to see you there! For more information, call Al Carter (360-399-1226) or (tabooma@msn.com), or Rich Blake (360-632-6220) or (slugmasher@oakharbor.net)

Al

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