THE OIL CAN. HEADLIGHTS Merlyn Jarman, Superintendent THE GREAT TRAIN WRECK OF 2008

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1 Cincinnati Division 7 Mid Central Region NMRA THE OIL CAN Volume II Issue 6 JUNE 2008 The Oil Can is a publication of Division 7, MCR, NMRA, Inc. Opinions expressed herein are the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Cincinnati Division 7, the MCR, the NMRA, its officers, or its members. Space permitting, The Oil Can welcomes news items, articles and letters on Model Railroading and related topics. Deadline for submissions is generally the fifteenth of the month preceding the next meeting. HEADLIGHTS Merlyn Jarman, Superintendent Electronic Edition Back in the groove After the snow blitz that short-circuited our Spring Flea Market, the exceptional meeting with Div. 3 to see the last of the Allen McClelland s V&O model railroad, and the very recent Indy Special bus trip, it s time to get back to business on a regular basis. Our favorite Assistant Superintendent, Randy Kerka, now has a full slate of notable programs lined up for the remainder of It s sure to be a good time with some premier Clinicians, the always honest raffle, and monthly Photo/Model contest. We re always looking for layouts to host visitors from Division 7, so contact Randy if you can have your layout open after one of our monthly meetings. Where in the world is Division 7? Matt Lauer of NBC has nothing on us when Division 7 decides to get on the road! Much will be written about Division 7 s train ride at the Indiana Transportation Museum. I think it s along the lines of things that go bump in the afternoon. In any case, 48 Members and spouses enjoyed a wonderful day of layout visits and railfanning in Indianapolis. The private tours of business cars NKP #1 and FEC #90 were a real treat and steamer NKP #587 is slowly being put back together. A visit to the Museum is worthwhile and not too hard on the gas budget (on the web at Gone model railroading.. Long time 7 Member Ron Schuch passed away in April. Ron was well known to many in Division 7. A Memorial has been sent to the Kalmbach Library in Ron s name. Ron s son, Don, continues operations at Golf Manor s Hobbies. Convention time I will be attending the MCR Regional Convention in Cleveland in May and representing Division 7 at the Mid- Central B.O.D. meeting. Then, coming up in July, it s off to sunny California for the National. I ll have reports after returning from both of these events. Time to test drive a new car The new Allegheny Midland 3-bay hoppers should be here soon. Car Project Chairman, Jim MacKnight, will give us an update at the next meeting See you in June! Merlyn An Oil Can Exclusive THE GREAT TRAIN WRECK OF 2008 Read all about it Your Oil Can was the only member of the news media to have a reporter on the scene! Actual photographs of the tremendous devastation Story on Page 3 1 Oh the humanity!

2 The Electronic Oil Can - June, Page 2 SECOND SECTION Randy Kerka, Asst. Superintendent These Division meetings just keep getting better n better! Andy Lester s clinic on the laser kit business was great and the trip over to EnterTrainMent Junction was fabulous! I fear that maybe I am stepping on the toes of our esteemed superintendent by being a little too verbose [read: wordy] when it comes to talking about past meetings and events. In the future, that is to what I will confine my remarks the future! If you were not on the bus trip in May you will just have to ask someone how exciting it was to be a part of The Great Train Wreck of 2008! That is all I am going to say about that. June 8 th : Another new meeting place! The Colerain Township Senior Center opens its doors to us. I am especially excited to announce that Ron Gough, MMR, National NMRA Clinician will be our very special guest to present his Scratchbuilding 101 & 102 clinics. Ron is an outstanding modeler, dynamic personality and will easily hold our attention from start to finish. After the meeting, three layout visits are scheduled; Keith Corman, Bill Doll and John Miller. All these layouts are seldom seen and in close proximity to this great new venue. July 6 th : The meeting will be at Crossroads Community Church in Oakley. This meeting is moved up a week due to the sizeable contingent of Division 7 members that are making the run to the West Coast for the Anaheim NMRA National Convention. New clinicians Alex Kolesnikov and Rob Gruber, of DCCTrain promise a unique and entertaining look at one of our hobbies hottest topics what else? Digital Command Control. Following the meeting we will be dividing the rest of the afternoon between Gerry Alber s Virginian and Sam Swanson s Greenbrier and Lost River layouts. August 10 th : The meeting will be at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Kenwood. National Clinician and author Bob Chapman of Midland, Michigan will be here to give his Upgrading Old Brass Steam clinic. And if that s not enough September 14 th : Johnny s Toys in Latonia will host us for what is now becoming a very welcome yearly dose of Lin Young, Jerry Doyle & Bob Weinheimer. The boys will be highballing in from Gallipolis and are very excited to share their clinic entitled Operations on The G&G&PS. The rest of the year is on the Program Calendar in the Oil Can and on the Website. We still need layouts for August and September. Come on guys step up to the plate! That s all I have for now! I just spilled a Coke all over the keyboard and AlL KiNDs of weiird THingS arrrre HaaaaPPPPPenninGGG Geez, Bruce don t hit that truck. too late! See you on June 8th. Randy 2

3 The Electronic Oil Can - June, Page 3 Fiction and Fact from Don s Almanac Quite Suburban Life Shattered by Speeding Train May 4 th, 2008 was a beautiful warm sunny spring day in the peaceful little town of Cicero, Indiana. As the innocent citizens of that sleepy little town went about pursuing their normal Sunday activities they little realized that just to the North of town, disaster was hurtling towards them at 6 miles per hour. The approaching danger was in the form of an Indiana Transportation Museum Fan Excursion train. Among the unsuspecting passengers on board were 48 Division 7 members and guests happily enjoying their vintage railroad experience. With a sickening crunch, this serene scene was destroyed in just seconds. Horrified bystanders screamed and scrambled to safety. The shaken passengers gasped and stared at one another in shocked silence and disbelief. Meanwhile, in the cab of the behemoth locomotive, the engineer calmly sat at the controls with a satisfied smile on his face. Witnesses said his only comment was, That ll teach them to mess with me. It is rumored, the person at the controls at the time of the accident was actually a member of the Division 7 contingent. For liability reasons, his name is not being divulged at this time but this reporter has it on good authority that if it was a Division 7 member, his initials might be B.K., otherwise known among his railroad cohorts as Casey. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured and after a lengthy delay while officials examined the carnage, the train was allowed to proceed to its destination. The investigation will continue for some time as the National Transportation Safety workers continue to puzzle over how this accident could have happened since from all appearances the parked pick-up truck involved seems to have been at least 10 feet from the track when struck. How he did it no one knows. (See pictures on page 5) Railroad Tracks: As most of you know or at least should know, the major rail lines in this country years ago settled on 4 feet 8.5 inches for what is now referred to as Standard Gauge. This rail spacing had come from England but had its origin in ancient Rome. It seems the Imperial Roman Legions were what could be considered the first mechanized army. Up to then, ancient armies either traveled on foot or rode horses and elephants but the Romans preferred to ride in their chariots. Evidently it made them feel more important. So, as the Roman armies traveled around Europe and England conquering, raping, pillaging and all the other fun things armies did in those days, they also built roads for their chariots. Since those chariots were usually pulled by two horses, they designed the chariots based on the width of two horse s behinds and that wheelbase determined the width of the road. As civilization progressed thru wagons, carriages, trams and finally railroads, they for the most part stuck with that same width. In fact it continues to this day. The next time you see a picture of the Space Shuttle sitting on its pad, notice the two solid rocket boosters or SRB s attached to the sides. Those SRB s are made at a factory in Utah and shipped by rail to the launch site. That rail line happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. Since the tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, which as we know, is about as wide as two horses behinds, the SRB s were designed to pass thru that tunnel. Thus a major design factor in what is arguably the most advanced transportation system in the world was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse s ass. It would seem those Roman horse s asses have been controlling things ever since. Now days we send our horses asses to Washington where they control everything there. Lord only knows what affect that s going to have on the future. 3

4 The Electronic Oil Can - June, Page 4 Competition Results for April Models: Maintainance of Way Box Stock: 1st Pl. Charley Atkinson: N HV #A-109 Crane & Flat Car 2nd Pl. Jim Rollage: HO UP Crane, Flat Car & Gondolas 3rd Pl. John Listerman: HO Undec. Crane & Flat Car Kit Bashed: 1st Pl. Tom Brueggeman: HOn3 Pile Driver 2nd Pl. Don Phillips: On30 MOW Work Caboose 3rd Pl.(tie) Ron Gribbler: O Snow Plow # rd Pl.(tie) Jim MacKnight: HO CRR #168 Working Caboose Scratch Built: 1st Pl. Frank Hermanek: HO MOW Truck 2nd Pl. Frank Hermanek: HO IV Snow Plow No other entries Photography: Trains in Inclimate Weather Prototype Slide: 1st Pl. Jim MacKnight WM #82 in rain at Elkins, W.VA. No other entries Model Slide: No entries Prototype Print: 1st Pl. Jim MacKnight WM #82 in rain at Elkins, W.VA. 2nd Pl. Jim MacKnight BNSF Diesel in rain at Ft. Collins, CO No other entries Model Print: 1st Pl. Jim Rollage: UP Steam Loco #2302 in snow. No other entries Modeling: Senior Division 2008 Competition Point Standings (as of May) Photography: Senior Division Frank Hermanek 05 John Listerman 04 Charlie Atkinson 03 Tom Brueggeman 03 Jim MacKnight 03 Don Phillips 02 Jim Rollwage 02 Ron Gribler 01 Jim MacKnight 16 Jim Rollwage 03 Note: There was no competition in May due to the Indiana Trip June Competition Models: On-line dioramas (Max. of 432 square inches) Photos: Black and White images of steam and diesel locos. Way to go Charlie! Charlie Atkinson receives Master Model Railroader certificate # 404 from NMRA President Mike Brestel while Achievement Program Chairman Frank Koch and Frank Hermanek MMR # 360 look on. 4

5 The Electronic Oil Can June 2008-Page 5 The Indy Special Sunday May 4, 2008 Shoot quick. At $4.00 a gallon, I m only going to do this once. Old rail fans never die, they just go to Goodykoontz You kids Stay off the tracks I told you not to park there! Uh boss, about the company truck. 5

6 The Electronic Oil Can June, 2008 Page 6 Layouts we visited on The Indy Special Warner Clark s O scale Maumee Basin Lines Brad Philbrick s N Scale Illinois Central Tulip Trestle The famous layout in the basement Matt Hewitt s HO Shadowton Ridge 6

7 The Electronic Oil Can June, 2008 Page 7 Indiana Transportation Musum Awaiting restoration Something for everybody Restoration started Waiting for the train After restoration It wouldn t be a Division 7 trip without a car or two 7

8 The Electronic Oil Can June, 2008 Page 8 April 13th Layout visit. EnterTrainment Junction Entrance Lobby Immence Detailed Support Workshop Electronics 8 Production

9 The Electronic Oil Can June, 2008 Page 9 Division 7 Officers Superintendent: Merlyn Jarman Horizon Way Lawrenceburg, IN Mjarman1@comcast.com Asst. Super: Randy Kerka 8127 Fox Knoll Dr. W. Chester, OH jkerka@cinci.rr.com Secretary: Bruce Knapp 118 Cliff Rd. North Bend, OH Bruce_knapp@adelphia.net Treasurer: Jim Stewart 5510 Windridge Vw Cincinnati, Oh jebstewart@fuse.net Next Meeting 2 PM Sunday June 8 Colerain Senior Center 4200 Springdale Rd. Cincinnati, OH Directions: From Colerain Ave. (Rt. 27) West on Springdale Rd. to 4200 Colerain Ave. Rte 27 I-275 Board of Directors Bob Adams Charlie Atkinson Mike Brestel John Burchnall Rick Crumrine Roy Hord Paul Maciulewicz Jim MacKnight Don Phillips Dave Read Ed Swain Committee Chairs I-275 Colerain Senior Center Springdale Rd. Springdale Road Colerain Ave. Rt. 27 Achieve.Prog: Frank Koch Comm. Srvce: Jim MacKnight John Altshool Co. Store: Neil Rothe Contests: Jack Laubisch contest@division7.org Membership: Bob Adams Modelers Aid: Pat Homan Bruce Knapp Fall Show: Rick Crumrine crumrine@fuse.net Flea Market George Roos Editor: Don Phillips dwp66@cinci.rr.com Web Master: Ivan Baugh iwbaugh@insightbb.com Pres. V.Pres Secr. Trsr. Mid Central Region Officers Regional Trustee- Howard Smith Jerry Ashley 235 Franck Ave. Louisville, KY President@midcentral-region-nmra.org Dick Briggs 4397 Hidden St. Grove City, OH vp@midcentral-region-nmra.org Tom Atherton Newton Rd. Middleburg,OH secretary@midcentral-region-nmra.org Gary Sole 1837Farr sgardenpathwestlake,oh44145 treasurer@midcentral-region-nmra.org Cross County Hwy Around the Region 06/21-22/08 CPR&S Miami Valley Rail Festival Carillon Park Dayton, OH 06/28-29/08 KSONS World s Greatest Hobby Show Louisville, KY (All Scale Show in conjunction with National N Scale Convention The Derby City Express see below) 10/04-05/08 Div. 4 Carnival 08 Train Show Fair Grounds Berea, OH National 06/25-29/08 N Scale National Convention Louisville, KY 07/13-19/08 NMRA National Convention Anaheim, CA 08/05-10/08 NASG National Convention Lowell, MA 09/10-13/08 National Narrow Gauge Conv. Portland, OR 9

10 The Electronic Oil Can - June, Page 10 Knapp s Notes Apologies I actually owe two apologies, the first obviously was missing our April 13 th meeting; I was performing on a combined concert with both the Mount s community band and the Sycamore Community Band. Jack Laubisch, who plays bass-trombone in the Sycamore group attended the April meeting and Don Phillips took minutes in my absence. The second apology is a more serious matter, because it represents letting a good friend down. I was scheduled to assist Bill Edwards with his modeling clinics at Johnny s on weathering. I neatly forgot that our scheduled joint appearance was same day as our joint NMRA meeting with Division 3. I became aware of the conflict thanks to Jim Gaines. I am not sure there is any way to make it up to Bill, except make this apology public. I admit I screwed up royally. Music Many model railroaders have music as either a vocation or an additional hobby. I note that bandleader, David Rose, singer, Frank Sinatra, composer, David Holsinger, and many other famous performers and musicians enjoy model railroading. Among our division 7 members who perform on a regular basis are Jack Laubisch and Paul Gahn. I finally retired from full-time teaching in December of 2005, but am still active as a performer and clinician. Occasionally I find myself having to balance my hobbies demands. Music, like model railroading, gets in the blood. May Jaunt to Indy Mr. Jarman and Mr. Burchnall did it again; we had another highly successful Division 7 trip. We were treated to 3 excellent layouts, a museum visit, a train trip [complete with taking out a Ford F-350] and a super meal. We all had a great time and look forward to next year s field trip. If you haven t done one of our [in]famous spring trips you have missed a great time. I can t wait to embellish on our wreck. Progress on the Raton Pass, Part III I have made some real progress on cleaning the storage and railroad room. I took a ton of stuff to Dan Miller for auction; I also gave several brass pieces to Mike Koslovsky for Ebay. Mike also assisted with erecting the engine facility at Trinidad. The facility was saved from John Altshool s Santa Fe Southwestern. Of course with nice weather I have some more restoration work to do on my C&O caboose. I will keep you posted on my progress. See you in June.. Happy Modeling UÜâvx Membership Chairman Bob Adams is presented with his Association Volunteer Certificate from Achievement Program Chairman Frank Koch. 10

11 The Electronic Oil Can - June, Page 11 The Oil Can Coming Down The Line Cincinnati Division 7, Mid-Central Region, NMRA 2008 Schedule NOTE: ALL REGULAR MEETINGS START AT 2 PM (Unless otherwise notified) Month Date Location Program/Speaker Layout Visit Contest Topic June 8 West Colerain Township Senior Center Scratch Building 101 & 102 Ron Gough MMR Keith Corman Bill Doll John Miller Models: On line Dioramas Photos: Black & White shots Steam & Diesel Locos July 6 East Crossroads Community Church Oakley Digital Command Control Alex Kolesnikov Rob Gruber Jerry Alber s Virginian Sam Swanson s Greenbriar & Lost River Models: Rolling Stock with Graffiti Photos: Personnel Workin on the Railroadt Aug 10 Northeast Good Shepherd Church Kenwood Upgrading Old Brass Steam Bob Chapman TBA Models: Off line Dioramas Photos: Shots of Members Layouts Sept 14 South Johnny s Toys Operations on the G & G &PS Lin Young Jerry Doyle Bob Weinheimer TBA Models: Weathered / Damaged Freight cars. Photos: Trains on Trestles / Bridges Oct 12 East Anderson Senior Center TBA TBA Models: Passenger Cars Photos: Signs and/or Oct North Lakota West High School 41st Annual Fall Train Show Show Layouts No Competition Modeling Problems? Member aid Committee Pat Homan ( ) Bruce Knapp ( ) Cincinnati Div. 7 Hotline (513) 662-RAIL Div 7 Web Site - MCR Web Site - As of May, 2008 Division 7 s membership stands at