CALLBOARD. Happy Holidays. In this Edition. Message from the Front Office Page 4. Meet the Modeler Page 7. Tips and Techniques Page 9

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1 REDWOOD EMPIRE DIVISION OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2011 CALLBOARD In this Edition Message from the Front Office Page 4 Happy Holidays Meet the Modeler Page 7 Tips and Techniques Page 9 X2011 Winners Page 10 WP Fire in Portola Page 12 Hobby Shop Dilemma Page 13 Well, here we are again, almost the end of the year. I think this year has been a good one for the Redwood Division, and for many of its members. We had a very successful Sonoma Short Line Convention, followed up by a great showing at the NMRA X2011 National convention in Sacramento during July. Else where in this issue is a complete list of the winners with many pictures of the models that were entered. Congratulations to all the winning RED members for presenting such a high degree of modeling excellence. We actually took about 20% of the total number of awards presented. The only downside was our very poor showing at the Roots of Motive Power event in September in Willits. I know we've been there before but it is still a fun event. What happened guys and gals? PAGE 1

2 Our November meeting will be in a new location in Sonoma at the Creekside Village Club in the Temelec Subdivision on Arnold Drive. Great location for a big modular layout display unfortunately Creekside rules don t allow the facility to be open for public events. See map, on page 12 for time and directions. There are just a few more weeks to Christmas and New Years. Hopefully everyone has talked to Santa about what they want for Christmas, With all the great new equipment and highly detailed rolling stock and motive power, I am sure that Santa's sleigh will be overloaded. Also give some thought to those who have nothing under the tree and find a time and a way to give something to the less fortunate in our area. It doesn't have to be big or expensive, just that it comes with a good thought for those who are less fortunate. Finally let's look forward to a happy 2012 and give our volunteer officers the support they deserve to help make the Redwood Division even better. A Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Felize Navidad and a wonderful New Year to all of you. Dick Foster CallBoard Editor Last Mailed Issue As many of you might have already found out, this is the final printed edition of The CallBoard. It has been a problem for some time on how to keep our printing and mailing costs low. Each copy costs about $ $1.20 to print and mail out and postage is going up soon. This final edition is a little more costly since it has several pages more than the usual CallBoard. Our electronic version will, first, be in full color and we aren t limited by the number of pages for articles and how to do-it features. Second, since our costs for the electronic version are almost nothing, we can use these monies for better meetings, and clinics and keep our dues as they are nothing. Starting with the first quarter 2012 issue, the CallBoard will be available from our website by way of download. If you want a paper copy sent to you in B&W, it will cost $6.00 per year. Please let your editor know your preference and/or your address if you have one. We re trying to update that part of our roster. I am sure some of you may not have the resources for this increase and my suggestion is go to a friend s house who has an internet connection, the public library or other service organization to read the CallBoard. Remember that other RED information, such as meetings dates and special (Continued Page 3 Column 2) PAGE 2

3 PAGE 3 Empire Staff Roster DIRECTOR Carol Alexander 5307 Spain Avenue Santa Rosa, CA (707) carolnma@msn.com SUPERINTENDENT Steward Benson 131 Casa Verde Ct. Sonoma CA (707) CHIEF CLERK Verne Alexander 907 Grouse Lane Petaluma, CA (707) crapmanv@comcast.net CONTESTS Giuseppe Aymar 1330 Medical Center Drive Rohnert Park, CA giuseaymar@aol.com MEMBERSHIP Gus Campagna 1915 William Dr Penngrove CA campgus@earthlink.com NOMINATIONS Open ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM Giuseppe Aymar 1330 Medical Center Drive Rohnert Park, CA giuseaymar@aol.com ESTATE COUNSELOR Don Clauder 305 Garfield Park, Santa Rosa, CA (707) CALLBOARD EDITOR Dick Foster 219 Avenida Barbera, Sonoma CA announcements, are always available on our RED website at: The website is updated often with new information. A postcard announcing the meeting date and directions will be sent to all members, quarterly, at no charge. The BOD and your editor would like to hear from our members on how they feel, both pro and con, about this significant change. Maybe someone else can come up with an idea to help the situation in a positive way. Please let us know. Thank you for your support! Due to technical problems the Superintendent s message will appear in the next issue From the Director Carol Alexander First, thank you to all the members and clubs from the Redwood Empire Division who participated in the Home Show and Model Railroad Show earlier this month. Your participation helped make it a terrific show that entertained hundreds of our Sonoma County neighbors. Almost every scale and gauge was represented by an operating layout. The Hon3 layout and the Z scale layout running DCC really stand out in my mind; and who could forget CVL wonderful presentation? (Continued Page 4 Column 1)

4 I was really impressed that CVL was willing to feature several modules prepared by modelers under the age of 12; Way to go guys. The O scale layout demonstrated again why O is the King of scales. Did you find Waldo at the exhibit put up by the Garden Railroad group? I know that outdoors the live steam group was doing a land-office business in ride behind a beautiful scale SP diesel in Black Widow paint and at the same time they were running a second train behind a nicely built steam engine. If you like the smell of hot oil and steam you should have been there. Second, my term as your representative on the PCR Board is finished next May and PCR is going to be holding an election for Directors soon. As a director you attend two board meeting a year, select the member of the year from R.E.D., read a few s and help set the policies and programs that keep the PCR one of the best regions in the NMRA. So give it some thought will you? If you re interested in the job, corner me at the next meet and let me know; if you ve got questions, I ll try to answer them for you. If you don t come to me, you just might find me tugging your arm up behind your back Happy Railroading, PAGE 4 A Message from the Front Office Chief Clerk s Report MULLIGAN Verne Alexander This is not the do-over mulligan of golf; but rather the stew being brewed by the Bo s down by the bridge over the creek at the end of the yard. It is a mixture of ingredients from a multiplicity of sources. There is not a whole lot of specifically Chief Clerk material to be presented, so I will be writing bits and pieces concerning a multiplicity of topics. You see, our Callboard editor says I have to do this, and he is backed up by a number of nodding heads among the Board members. Our Board did meet this month. A number of matters were discussed, but the dual focus was clearly upon finances and programming. Regarding finances, the wolf is not at the door, but the howls of the pack can be heard. Our major expense is printing and mailing hard copies of the Callboard. We will be taking steps to reduce this expense by electronic publication of said Callboard. The needs of folks without will be taken care

5 of, but we can save much money if the bulk of the membership agrees to receive The Callboard electronically. Our last quarterly meeting of the membership, the annual picnic, was very lightly attended. Perhaps this may partially be explained because of it being held during vacation season. But folks, there are over a hundred and a half of us that hold membership in the RED, and our attendance at meetings is only about 10 15% of that number. Our Board is very interested in presenting the types of program that will lure more folks into attendance. You will find every Board member eager to hear from you regarding what sort of program would make you more eager to attend. One of the main attractions for me is seeing the various models that other members are working on or have completed. I apologize for stepping on some toes, and ignoring some positive values, when I write that I hate contests. I don t feel right having us compete with one another. I love sharing, seeing other people s work and hearing about it through Show and Tell. It is clear to me that if I want to see what you have done, I have to bring something that I have done. Therefore the Pullman depot and the Pullman freight house from my CRAP layout will occupy a portion of the display table on November 19. I hope you will bring something of yours for the rest of us to see. Doing model railroading in the company of others is a very rewarding experience at a number of levels. One of these levels is participation in a Round Robin group that meets on a regular and revolving schedule at the homes of members. Activities at these meetings can be a number of things, and on November 19 Elder Statesman Steve Skold will be conducting a clinic and discussion about Round Robin activities and how to get such a group established. I look for this to be extremely informative, and to offer an opportunity for individual members to ask questions, share opinions, indicate interests and perhaps even to put in motion preliminary plans to start such a group. Also on the 19th is the opportunity to walk a few houses down from the clubhouse in which we will meet and view the progress of Editor Dick Foster's, HO layout. An onsite layout tour! Remember a layout in the process of construction can be the source of many ideas regarding construction methods, operational scheme and other matters that folks who are building layouts or working toward the time when they can build can incorporate into their own plans. There is a remote possibility that a second nearby layout may also be opened for tour. And food. Free food. The exception that challenges the TANSTAAFL rule. This is being made possible by a benefactor whom I will not name at this point because I don t know if he wants to be identified. There will as usual be a door prize drawing. The big prize will be a gift certificate from Poggies Trains, LTD in Santa Rosa. A couple of other bigger-than-usual prizes are the subject of searches in the homes of their current owners, and may or may not make an appearance at this meeting! PAGE 5

6 REDWOOD EMPIRE DIVISION! Don t have a layout and don t see how you will ever be able to, and yet you enjoy building structures or doing scenery or running trains? Reread the paragraph above about the Round Robin Clinic. In addition, there are many layouts under construction and/or operating in this County. Many of the owners could really use some help. Be proactive and contact one of them and discuss how you might fit into what he is doing. The person you contact may just think he has been showered with manna from Heaven! Here is something to think about for our February 25 meeting at the Napa Club. We are always invited to run their equipment, or to bring NMRA standardscompliant equipment of our own to run on their layout. Their layout is now capable of running both on DC (as in the past) and DCC. BUT, not both at the same time. We need to decide in which mode we would like to operate. Think about it, and register your preference with a Board member at our November 19 meeting. Finally, a Plug for Poggies. They are a fullline N, HO and O scale hobby shop in Santa Rosa. They are my source for specialty items that few other shops carry. These are HO and O scale US flags, in both 48 and 50 star configurations, and period billboards constructed of wood. They are fine people, and are more than willing to assist their customers in finding the items they need, and to special order anything that is not currently in stock. They have been willing and generous supporters of our RED activities through providing gift certificates for our meeting door prizes. If you have not already done so, give them a look. They are at 100 Foley Street, just PAGE 6 OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2011 off Cleveland Avenue on the West side of 101, south of Coddingtown and north of College in Santa Rosa. (Editor: More to follow in next issue due to space limitations)

7 3rd Annual Home and Train Show This article reported by Steve Skold The train show was held on October 14, 15, & 16 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. RED Chairperson Steve Skold was assisted by Carol Alexander, Dick Foster and John Barry. We signed up one new member and several others took the application for NMRA home with them. Several new members came up and had questions which we tried to answer. At the last minute, we were moved along with NWPRRHS into the small room just south of the Hall of Flowers. It would not have been too bad except we were there with Zippy the Clown and a Lionel display that were both very LOUD. If we are going to do this again next year, there will have to be better arrangements made. It is to be hoped that someone else will step up to chair this event. Many of the clinicians at the Sacramento convention have uploaded their handouts or full presentations as PDF files to the x2011 Website at Anyone can download them. Just look for the Clinics tab, then Clinic Handouts. PAGE 7

8 . Meet The Modeler In this article We ll feature model railroaders from all the counties that RED covers. This month we visited with Tom Swearigen in Santa Rosa. When I first met Tom, at a BOD meeting in 2010, he was to all appearances, a quiet and pleasant man. When I went to his home for this article he was to all appearances a quiet and pleasant man, BUT with a great deal of patience and talented in a number of areas outside of model railroading. I asked Tom when and how he got into enjoying model railroading and his answer was like many other people I have met some of his family relatives were involved in railroading in the 50's and 60's and passed their love of railroading and the hobby down to Tom. In a way I guess you could call Tom a loner in that he didn't belong to any clubs, attend any NMRA conventions or anything of the sort until about Over forty years in the world's greatest hobby and finally joined forces with others! He commented about a variety of layouts from the simple plywood board, to converting an attic in a condo, to having a train under the bed when he first got married! (Even the honeymoon was train oriented in the Sierras.) After graduating from UC Berkeley Tom tried several different career paths until he settled on law enforcement in Northern California. After serving in a number of positions in Petaluma and Santa Rosa, Tom retired in 2007 and turned his attention to model railroading and began his other artistic endeavor painting. The painting came as a result of wanting to paint a backdrop for his garage sized HO layout. According to Tom it turned out to be an oil painting disaster. Only repainting the background blue and starting again would save Rembrandt! Looking at his recent works, Tom was a quick study and has turned out some fine and prize winning paintings. Tom's understanding spouse allowed that he could have the garage for his train room activities, but as usually happens things ooze into the main house. Just in the last month the foundation for an art studio attached to the garage train room has been started. As Tom says, he won't have to share his art with sawdust and diesel fumes. PAGE 8

9 modeling and painting of all the details and ever increasing refinements in his artistic work. Our hat s off to Tom as The Modeler of the Quarter. Show & Tell RED Style By Giuseppe Aymar Tom took me on a brief tour of his point to point HO layout which is still in the midst of construction. It is operated by a car card system worked out by Tom and the other members of the HighBallers operations group. To most people that would satisfy them for a long time, but Tom is always thinking into the future. Soon the layout will be no more and a new double deck walk-around layout will take its place. It was agreed that duck-unders were going to have to go since some operators were getting a pain you know where during operations. Now the second bedroom/studio/office would be returned to Tom's better half. Asked what Tom sees for the future, he said that the new layout and advancing his painting career will keep him occupied for a long time to come. I think many of us can be envious of Tom with an early retirement, the time and space to pursue your interests and the immense amount of skill and talent he puts into his work. I am sure we ll see a great layout with great Most of you have realized by now that RED is focused on giving its members the best of what the railroad fraternity has to offer. Meetings are set up quarterly with the intent of bringing to the modeler clinics, show & tell of models, layout tours and camaraderie that will foster interest in our hobby and create friendships leading to mutual respect and cooperation. All the above are indeed seedlings waiting to germinate; what is needed is the tender hand of the farmer to make sure that the crop is a healthy one. Who might the farmer be? You ask! Well, you are. You the reader of this column. Your participation in attending our RED meetings is vital, for You are the one listening to or giving the clinic, entering one or more models in the Show & Tell, going to or opening up your layout to tours, meeting and greeting other modelers and creating those friendships. You are RED. It has been through attending these meetings that my own involvement and participation in RED has escalated; and PAGE 9

10 so has my own enjoyment of the Hobby. I have grown by leaps and bounds thanks to You, my fellow modelers, who have encouraged me, helped me and given me ideas whether you are aware you did so. For those of you who attend these fantastic and enjoyable meetings I extend my sincere thanks. I encourage you to attend RED s next meeting in Sonoma ( see more about this in the Callboard). I promise you a fulfilling couple of hours; by the way, suggestions are always welcome on subject matter and personal hobby interests that we can address. Now that you have decided that yes, you will participate, let me ask a favor of you: please bring a model ( structure, car, loco, photo or railroad related item) to our Show & Tell. If you do not feel comfortable talking to the group, let me know at the beginning of the meeting and I will describe the item for you and give you the credit you deserve. I promise you a feeling of pride and joy from the experience. Besides, one gets an extra free ticket toward the drawing of prizes for bringing stuff to the Show & Tell. All this in a positive, caring environment. Be a dreamer! Let RED lead you to make your dreams a reality. GO RED, GO RED Thoughts on the Achievement Program The Achievement Program ( or simply AP for short) has been set up by the NMRA ( your National Organization) to help those modelers who want to aspire at becoming MMR ( Master Model Railroader).At first glance this would appear as a pompous, self-promoting, self congratulatory and egocentric behavior for those individuals who need recognition to feel important. By the way, these are comments I have heard from fellow members who do not understand the program. Actually what AP does for those who undertake the journey, is to give them a good, solid foundation to become good modelers which then obviously accentuates one s enjoyment of the hobby; improvement of any of our skills leads to better looking models (locomotives, cars, structures etc.), better electrical knowledge and thus smooth operating sessions, better track construction which increases realism of our layouts. Operators will want to come to play on your layout because it works flawlessly all the time and thus spend the time running trains instead of becoming frustrated due to lack of electrical conductivity, poor track-work that results in constant derailments of our trains and PAGE 10

11 having to shove trains all the time; you know what I mean, you all have experienced it! AP allows you to become proficient in writing about your exploits or allows you to help others with your own ideas through the written word or electronic media ( videos, clinics, YouTube etc). It encourages participating as a volunteer helping your fellow modelers enjoy the hobby; haven t we all been pleased when we attend any function to be the recipient of a well put together program, tour, clinic, auction. Well, how do you think all that came about. Magically? No, it was the work of volunteers. Thus AP rewards those volunteers. Do you get the picture? AP is nothing more than a rewarding program for your efforts and at the same time brings the enjoyment of our hobby to a new level for both the giver and the taker. In Corporate America that is referred to as a WIN- WIN situation. I am pleased to say that in our own RED there has lately been an up surge in interest in the Achievement Program. A number of you have contacted me already and have begun the journey. I can definitely tell you it will be a fun, fulfilling adventure. I would like to congratulate Dave Croshere in his latest achievement. He completed the requirement for Chief Dispatcher and NMRA sent him the corresponding Certificate of Achievement. Well, done Dave. ( I know for a fact that Dave is on his way to receive two more certificates very soon). Like Dave was telling me: I like to have my railroad run hassle free so everyone can have an enjoyable operating session. This program pushes me in that direction. I know there are some of you who have yet to come onboard ; you have completed some or all the requirements for a Certificate of Achievement but do not realize as such. If so, contact me and I will be more than happy to work with you making sure the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed. Very simple to do. All it takes on your part is a simple phone call or to me. That s it! Or using two of legendary New York Yankees and Mets manager Casey Stengel s famous words of wisdom Now all you fellers line up alphabetically by height, and better yet they say you can t do it, but sometimes it doesn t always work RED counted for 56% of PCR winners in the Model Contest and 20% of entire NMRA winning entries. Not bad for our little RED. RED winners include: Peter Hess, Stewart Benson, Giuseppe Aymar PAGE 11

12 Big Red s Workbench Tips and Techniques This is a short series of tips and techniques that have come from our fellow members as well as from some of the best craftsmen in our hobby. result. If you are using LED s for structure or yard/street lights, sanding the LED with sandpaper will make the light shine more like a bulb. LED s are made to throw their light in a straight forward beam. By sanding the LED you get an all around light shine. Figure 1 shows a regular LED on the left and a sanded bulb on the right. Figure 2 shows how sanding makes the right hand LED spread its output in a more circular fashion, similar to a regular miniature 12 volt bulb. Figure 1 Figure 2 (Continues on next page) Is it real or is it a model? PAGE 12

13 REDWOOD EMPIRE DIVISION OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2011! Here are several tips, courtesy of Bar Mills, that might help when working on a laser cut structure for your next Show & Tell. When working on basic wall assemblies for laser cut kits, sand all the edges fog the walls, especially plywood. Glue will stick better and will square up corners better. Use something like an 80 grit sanding stick. First off pre-paint everything. That way any glue that snuck out and dried won t affect the paint adhesion. One way to limit the potential ooze it to roll the glued wood onto the siding in the direction away from the side you don t want glue on. See the the the figure to the right. Instead of using expensive wood clamps try using cheap old clothes pins. Sometimes you an stick a clothes pin through a window or door to clamp the walls in the middle. Make a bunch of backward clothes pins. These pins have a longer reach and can fit in narrow spaces. Be sure to wipe out any glue that may squeeze out in the little trough where the corner trim will go. A toothpick is a good tool to use for this. If you have a trick or technique that you would like to share, please send your idea to the CallBoard Editor. PAGE 13

14 Historic Hospital Destroyed in Massive Portola Fire The old Western Pacific Hospital in Portola, CA, burned to the ground on September 7th. The Feather River Rail Society and the Western Pacific Railroad Museum of Portola, the owners of the property, were offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the fire. It was later reported that a suspect was under arrest by Plumas County Officers. Fortunately nothing of great value was stored in the old buildings which the Society was planning to restore as part of the museum expansion. The hospital was the only railroad hospital in North America to be on the National Historic Register. DRASTIC TIMES CALL FOR DRASTIC MEASURES Above is the headline on a press release handed out by Dollhouses, Trains and More. I m sure we have, over the years, all shopped in the trains section of this Novato store. Well, guess what? You ll have to be a member, like Costco, to shop there after the first of the year. It seems that the theft rate in the store has risen to such an extent that the owner, Linda Becker, has come up with this plan. They will be a membership store although it will not cost anything to join, but you must give your name, address, phone number, and a copy of your driver s license. A card will be presented to you with your ID number. You will need to show the card or give your ID number to enter the store. Linda Becker said, What we hope to gain with our customers is more time to help them with their needs and not to be so focused on theft. We want our customers to enjoy their time in the store and buy something if they wish and not feel they are being watched PAGE 14

15 Support Your Local Hobby Shop POGGIES TRAINS 100 FOLEY ST SANTA ROSA, CA % RED Member Discount RED MEETING LOCATION November 19th - Doors Open 12:00 PM New meeting location in Sonoma Creekside Village Club House 159 Avenida Barbera Off Arnold Drive just south of Leveroni Big Door Prize Drawings Surprise Special Lunch OPS Clinic with Steve Skold & Friends New Layout Tour PAGE 15

16 Coming Down the Line November 12-13th International RailFair Roseville Saturday 10-5 PM Sunday 10-4PM November 19th - Fall Meet - Creekside Village Clubhouse - Sonoma November 25-27th - Holiday Train Show - Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society Friday 2:00 to 10:00 PM. SaturdaySunday 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM December 25th - Christmas Train Fest - Your Home February 25, Winter Meet - Napa Club - Fairgrounds Napa - Details to follow May 2nd - 5, Siskiyou Summit - PCR/PNR Joint Convention - Red Lion Inn - Medford, OR May 19, Spring meet - Monroe Hall Santa Rosa CA CallBoard 219 Avenida Barbera Sonoma CA, This is Your Last Printed Issue! See details Page 2