REDWOOD EMPIRE DIVISION OCTOBER - DECEMBER

Transcription

1 CALLBOARD In this Edition Front Office Page 3 Verne s Report Page 4 Bill Murray Pix Page 6 Sturgeon Mill Page 7 NMRA News Page 8 Tips and Techniques Page 10 November 16th RED Meeting Well, we re back to our old meeting place after having a busy model railroading year and looking forward to a safe and prosperous new year. Doors wii be open at 12:00 as usual, with Mary and her helpers serving sandwiches, goodies and drinks. Enjoy old friends and meet new members who hopefully will show up as a result of our efforts to bring new blood to RED. As usual we ll have a raffle, Door Prizes and Show & Tell. Dave Grundman has lined up Giuseppe Aymar and Dave Croshere to bring us a clinic on the inside tips and how to participate in the AP program. Giuseppe is our new MMR 513 and Dave is skilled model railroad and a prize winning model builder from last year. Bring you models and cars for all to enjoy whether they are completed or under construction. See you on November 16th! 1

2 Director s Observations I thought the RED meeting at Sturgeon s Saw Mill was a great success. We had the opportunity to see the mill in action and sit around with our modeling friends. What could be better. I want to thank David Grundman and Superintendent Dick Foster for their efforts arranging the splendid day. Friday October 11th Ed Merrin and I drove down to San Luis Obispo to attend the Board of Director s meeting of the PCR the next day. The fall meetings are not all that eventful and this was no exception. The primary discussion involved convention management and the various ways it has been handle and how it might be managed in the future. The fall meeting is almost aways at the site of the next years convention. The 2014 convention is in San Luis Obispo a beautiful location. The one note all RED members need to be aware of is the Sands Inn and Suites in SLO is relatively small. To take advantage of the lower rates for convention goers I highly recommend you make your reservation now. I am quite sure the Sands will fill up quickly and surrounding area s hotels will not offer room the same competitive rates. 2

3 Our own Giuseppe Aymar is the guest speaker at the November 16th meeting at Monroe Hall in Santa Rosa. He is going to relate his journey through the Achievement Program to his becoming the latest Master Model Railroader #513. This is the highest achievement in the NMRA. Not only is Giuseppe a great modeler he is a amusing fellow. His talk will be very interesting and worth attending. Just to down play the bill he has asked me to join him in his talk. I think I m talking on how others might pursue this lofty recognition. Be sure and bring your latest modeling effort for show and tell on the 16th. See you there Dave Croshere Schellville 6/23/13 A Message from the Front Office Superintendent s Report Dick Foster Another year is rapidly coming to a close. It certainly has been interesting when you look at the many things that have happened in our country, in terms of politics and even in our own hobby. The cost of things have risen at an alarming rate and are not stopping. You could buy a new locomotive for the price of many cars that are available today. True, the details are fantastic and the locomotives of today are truly remarkable for their running abilities and the complex DCC circuits. A number of things haven t changed such as track gauge, scale, operations and scenery. How we approach these areas certainly has changed to some degree, but it still is model railroading. This is where we as a group can help ourselves and help the great hobby of model railroading. At meetings, trains shows and various conventions, we need to help the 3

4 younger people, and I mean kids 10 years old and older teens get involved and not think of the hobby as something for the old rich folks. The technology todays is what the younger people understand and want to work with. So when we are running our trains and we see younger kids watching, ask them if they would lie to control the train. It was great to see the smile on their faces, at the recent trains/home show in Santa Rosa. Our booth often had several kids watching the N gauge demo layout and when one got a chance to run a train it was truly exciting for them. This is just one way how you introduce younger kids to the hobby and make them confident that they too, can be part of this great hobby. We all had to start somewhere. I was glad to see the turnout at the picnic at Sturgeon Mill. Several faces showed up that you normally don t see at our meetings. We have the talent, I believe, to have more exciting meetings and good clinics with the experts that we have here on the West coast. Operations seems to be an area that is beginning to interest more and more of us since our layout may be finished or operational but what do you do with it now. I am hoping that we can get as few people to put together simple clinics on operations, working from the basics up to more complex aspects of operations. Only time will tell, but I am open to any suggestions for new clinics, meeting places and any ideas, no matter how crazy, that will make the RED the place for model railroading in Northern California. Dick Foster Superintendent REPORT OF THE CHIEF CLERK VERNE ALEXANDER 10/13 Our summer picnic meeting at the Sturgeon Sawmill registered right up at the top of both the interest and enjoyment scales. The 20 or so sawmill volunteers put on a real show, dressed as though they just stepped out of an old photo, except they were in color. One demonstrated tree topping by donning full gear and scaling his way up to the top of a redwood tree. A pair of fine Shire draft horses, driven by a single logger, demonstrated how logs used to be removed from the cutting area. They fired up a 1924 Dorris truck, with solid rubber tires. That thing did some serious clanking and barking as it moved into position to load hog fuel (bark and other wood scraps from sawing and edging.) The mill itself made wonderful sounds constant hissing and clanking and the scream of the saw as it took slabs off the big log being sawed. The men grabbed the just-sawn slabs, horsed them over to an adjacent table via the use of fulcrums, and the slabs became boards after being run thru the edger. When they emerged from the edger they were horsed over into a pile, again via the use of fulcrums, and then taken to the planer, which was outside the building and had a steam engine of its own. Whistle signals were frequent, loud, and welcome (to most of us). And it smelled right a mixture of steam, oil and sawdust. All in all, it was a glorious step into the past, and very much worth repeating. 4

5 Lunch was catered, and was good. Every member was issued a chit worth $5 toward the cost of lunch, although not everyone used it. Twenty three did. On a more somber note, long-time member Bill Murray has passed away. (see following pictures) Not too many of us remember him, as he has not been around much lately, but he was apparently a very reliable volunteer for special RED shows. He was a modeler in HO scale, and had amassed an enormous amount of equipment. Shortly before he died he bequeathed all this equipment to the RED. Gus Campagna, periodically assisted by Mary Moore-Campagna, Dick Foster and Dave Croshere, sold most of it at the Train Show in late September, resulting in a big pile of money for the RED. There is more to come, as Gus saved out the more high-end items to be sold on ebay. Gus also set aside many items for use as door prizes at our meetings. Bill Murray kept a very detailed and nearly complete listing of his holdings, which was a big help for Gus in organizing the sale, but the task was still huge and we all owe Gus a ton of appreciation for the work he put in on this sale. Also prominent in the RED presence at the train show was our new N scale layout, which was tended by Carol Alexander. Carol involved a lot of folks, particularly younger folks, in running trains. Great exposure for the RED, and perhaps groundwork for future members. The most recent Paymaster report was in the 2nd quarter Callboard, showing a balance of $ Financial activity since then has consisted of: $ spent on the Callboard $ from May meeting $35.00 train show fee $67.50 RED share of NMRA dues $ for lunch chits at the picnic $6.00 fee for hard copy Callboard $54.18 for card mailing. $ proceeds from Train Show $ total expenditures $ total income CURRENT BALANCE: $ There is no need to rush out and spend this, but it does mean that if we think of some meaningful project, we do have resources to support it. Type to enter text Bill Murray s Conrail Bedroom Layout 5

6 Bill Murray s Conrail Bedroom Layout 6

7 Sturgeon Mill Tour 7

8 A Cleveland 2014 Update Build A Memory Project Information: In November, during National Model Railroad Month, the NMRA is launching a new endeavor that it anticipates becoming a yearly tradition. In conjunction with Athearn Trains, Woodland Scenics and Walthers, the NMRA is unveiling the Build A Memory initiative. This seminar is designed to show the public how one might start a model railroad layout for themselves. Everyone loves the holidays and everyone loves trains and the memories that they evoke. In concert with a national building and home center and the target date of November 16 th, this year s pilot program will be a Saturday How To class. The intent of the seminars is to show our guests how to build the basics of a starter layout that the owner can either continue to expand or use yearly as a holiday memory with expansion in the future. Please visit our website at NMRA.Org or contact our Marketing Representative at Marketing@HQ.NMRA.Org, The potential Divisions needed for this years event are being discussed and will be contacted shortly. Page Martin NMRA Marketing Manager Preparation for the 2014 NMRA National Convention in Cleveland is in full swing. The convention committee is working with the facility to ensure that clinics won't be spread out all over the building, and local modelers are prepping over 60 great layouts to tour and operate. Watch NMRA Magazine for a preview. Register for the convention as soon as possible at because tour registrations will be assigned by registration number. The following prototype tours have been confirmed. Most are not normally open to the public, so they'll fill up fast: Age of Steam Roundhouse General Electric Locomotive (Erie, PA) Ohio Loco Works Mad River & Nickel Plate Museum 8

9 Tires While adding a scrap yard to my layout I realized that a scrap yard is not a scrap yard unless it's loaded with a pile of old tires. I grabbed a set of wheels off an HO scale pick up truck and headed for the auto parts store where I found some automotive vacuum hose that was the same diameter as the tires from the truck. Two feet of the hose cost me a whole $0.65 and when sliced with a modeling knife makes a bunch of fantastic tires. Once piled up, glued together, weathered a little bit and some weeds planted in some of the outer ones they look great. Although I'm modeling HO I'm sure the hose is available in enough different sizes for other scales too. If not there is always fuel hose to consider. -Ed Mabesoone This scene is only 14 inches deep 9

10 Support Your Local Hobby Shop Mossey s Trains 100 Foley Street Santa Rosa CA STORE HOURS: Wed & Thu 10-5 Fri 10-6 Sat st & 3rd Sun % RED Member Discount All washed up and no place to go? Remember November 16th at Monroe Hall and RED 12:00 to 4:00 PM 10

11 OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2013 Coming Down the Line RED February 15th Meeting location to be announced RED May 17th Special Clinic Q & A Meeting Coastal Valley Lines - Depot Park Museum Sonoma. Train show Dec 6,7,8 and Dec 14, 15 Bring the kids for fun Open 12:00-4:00 PM Coast Rails Convention- Trains to Hadley Junction April 30th - May 4th 2014 San Luis Oboispo CA 11