Last Issue? See Page 2. February Meet at Art and Diane Sylvester's La Patera & Pacific RR

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1 February 2011 Upcoming Meets : Saturday February 19 Last Issue? See Page 2 11 AM 3 PM Art and Diane Sylvester February Meet at Art and Diane Sylvester's La Patera & Pacific RR Goleta Art sez: (805) RAIN DATE FEB 26 Call if the weather looks iffy Please bring: A-G Salads H-O Desserts P-Z Appetizers March 19 Bussing March 26 Siegel April 23 Morgan What's new on the La Patera & Pacific since our last meet there over two years ago? Well quite a lot! Thirty feet of new and rebuilt trestles, new bridges, and a 150 foot extension across the deck into the center part of the yard, all with enhanced, but incomplete, landscaping. Track or battery power OK. Be advised that one 280 curve is 8 feet in diameter, anything wider than 6 ½ inches may have some tight Meet schedule questions or changes should be directed to Jim Eldridge. (818) Sylvester' s meet: Directions and map omitted from on line edition. Please call meet host for directions. squeezes, an 18 foot long grade exceeds 5.5%, and that one of the underpasses is only 7 ½ inches high, Both the steep grade and the low bridge can be bypassed. Wheelchair accessible, plenty of street parking or in the school lot down the street. Rain postpones until Feb 26, so call it the weather seems problematic. Thanks, Art, that should bring out a crowd. That new extension sounds intriguing. I can't wait to see it.

2 Time to Renew? The Very Last Notice for 2011 Year End Clean Up If you were trying to put off renewing until the last possible moment, then congratulations, you have succeeded. But now is the moment of truth: Do you want to continue wasting a whole hour each month reading this drivel, or do you want to get a life? I meant to have an article in the December issue about what our out of town members were up to, but I just didn't have room then or in the January issue. So, with apologies for my tardiness to all those who so kindly responded to my queries, here is what I heard. If you are getting this newsletter by , and if the accompanying cover letter says Dec 2010, and you want to continue receiving this newsletter every month, please send $10 to Bruce Kuebler at the address on the back page. If you are getting the hard copy issue of the newsletter, please check the mailing label on the back page. If the date is after 2010, you can relax and skip to the next item. On the other hand, if it says 2010, and you are not getting out of garden railroading, please send a check for $20 to Bruce Kuebler at the address on the back page. For everyone else, relax and keep those trains running. Bob Cage Sends a GRRR!!! Last month I said that Bob Cage, our member in Bentonville, Arkansas, had sent some pictures of the Gardenland Express Christmas layout at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, MO. Well, I sure heard about that from Bob!! He had not mentioned the location, and when my search turned up the one in St Louis I didn't even think to wonder how many Gardenland Expresses there might be. The answer: two. The actual location was the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, AR. It's a couple dozen miles from Bob, and about 340 miles from St. Louis. The top photo is an actual picture of Bob in his natural habitat: hiding from the camera behind a layout. Thanks to Charles Shep Sheppard for sneaking up on Bob and getting that picture. The layout he is hiding behind is the one in the lower photo. It's at the Gardenland Express in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Thanks for keeping me honest, Bob. Mike McClain and Sharon Conte Mike wrote to say they are still in northern Arizona. They seem to be settling down in their new careers in real estate. Mike is learning about green building techniques, so if you need solar panels or wind power, you know who to contact. Their dreams of moving to Costa Rica and of building another layout, are all on hold for now. Mike is making do with a Christmas train running on an oval in the spare room. Steve and Cheryl Vendt Steve and Cheryl are still living in Surprise, Arizona, but apparently Hawaii has left its mark on them, as they are planning to move back whenever Cheryl retires. In the meantime, Steve has torn up his garden railroad, and is selling off the whole collection, including all the buildings and track. But, he renewed his membership for 2011, so maybe he will come to his senses and start again. His previous layout was pretty ambitious; occupying most of his back yard. Maybe a smaller layout would be possible. Paul and Christine Jennings Paul and Christine are our members in Peterborough, UK. Paul wrote to tell us that he is no longer working at the water district, so he has a lot more time to work at the Nene Valley Ry and on his steamroller and his layout. The last time we heard from Paul, his steamroller had bent its crankshaft. He found a company that was able to straighten it, and it is now back in place. With the extra time, they were able to take it to even more shows than usual. Paul is fixing up an RV to live in when they go to shows. Paul is also an engineer on the Nene Valley Ry, and was looking forward to a very busy Christmas season, driving several engines, including the first full sized Thomas. Lots of pictures here: Bob Cage Bob is also a member of the Northwest Arkansas GRS, and hosts a workshop every January where the attendees build a model. Bob provides an excellent set of drawings and all materials precut. This year they built a flatcar.

3 Larry & Bonnie Lowenberg's Meet The weather was stellar, of course, as it always is near New Years Day. You can ask the Chamber of Commerce. Better yet, you could have come to Larry & Bonnie's as so many did. I really love what Larry has done with his trees and lineside structures. He has packed a lot of interest into what is essentially an oversized flower box. The indoor layout was running around the Christmas tree, but the weather was too nice to be indoors. A lot of people brought something to run, but only John Power had a new locomotive. And he couldn't wait for Santa, so he bought it himself. That would be his Accucraft Mason Bogie. Long time readers may recall that John Lyans and I have been building our own MB's since shortly after the real Mason went out of business (1890) so we were drooling over this beauty. It runs extremely well, too. proved to be a popular train as several other engines were seen taking a turn on the point. Georges Arseneault ran his Colorado & Southern Mogul and some very Charlie Richard brought his SP GP-7 colorful cars. and a short train. I think Don Asher must have been late for something else, because he appeared to be trying to set the land speed record for LGB Porters. Roy Lewis, who is not a member yet, but is on the fence, ran an LGB Forney in Bee colors. John Power and Andy Speidel brought the largest engines of the day, a pair of D&RGW C16s. They got into a Mine's bigger than yours match, to seeing whose engine was louder. The winner: John. By a lot. After that, they Rex Davis brought the Christmas train doubleheaded for awhile, which would that was featured in the last newshave been more impressive if they had letter. It looked great here, too. Rex been pulling more than one car and also brought that little green one caboose. Bachmann Davenport gas mechanical. Thanks to Larry and Bonnie for Richard Hanson brought an LGB another wonderful meet. Orenstein & Koppel and some gondolas filled with reindeer. This Beaver ran his and a short string of cars. This is a great little engine, not least because of the powered tender and details that Beaver added.

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6 The Arseneaults Throw a Shovel Party Georges Arseneault is expanding his 1/12 scale ride-on layout to run around his whole yard. It will also include a covered storage area along the west side if the yard, which is the side in the pictures here. Even if you have been to their meets, you've probably never seen this part of their yard, as it is behind the combination train station garage. Here is a before picture with the brush cleared out, and the grapefruit tree chopped down to a stump. But before laying track, he had to level the grade just like the big railroads. This entire section is all cut while the fill is on the mountain for his future logging and mining layout on the opposite side of the yard. Georges decided it wouldn't be fair for him to hog all the fun, so he put out a call for volunteers for Saturday, January 22. Joe Bussing, Rex Davis, Jim Eldridge, Steve Pronovost, and I showed up at the crack of 10 AM and got to work. The second picture is one of only two that shows the whole crew together. And no, Joe Bussing is not showing off his manly abs; he is wearing a leather back brace. The next picture shows the depth of dirt that we were removing. Not so much on the yard side, but nearly a foot and a half next to the fence. You can also see a small or- ange tree behind Georges. We will be revisiting that tree soon. What you can't see are the concrete roots of a long demolished fence that used to run beside the existing fence. It looked like the builder had used a whole bag of concrete in each hole, and it was built to last. Unfortunately, the wood had rotted away years ago, so the bases were just an unpleasant reminder of what used to be. The other picture I have of the whole crew together is the one of all of us having lunch. Whatever illusions any of us may have had about sitting back and admiring our handiwork were quickly dashed after lunch, as we got right back to work. Luckily, the grade will come up at this point, so there was a lot less dirt to move. We took out not only the orange tree, but also a large stump and a grape vine that you can't see here and the old fence. So, if you have a large or not so large construction project on your layout, just let us know, and we will be glad to come and pitch in.

7 GCGRS Membership Application Form Membership in the Gold Coast Garden Railway Society is open to anyone who is interested in outdoor model railroading. Dues are $20 per year if you need a printed copy of the newsletter mailed to you; or $10 if you can take the newsletter via . New members, please add $6 for each name tag that you want to have. Membership runs from January to December. Make checks payable to Bruce Kuebler for GCGRS. Bring this application and payment to any meet, or mail it to: Bruce Kuebler Encino Dr Oak View CA First Name Last Name: Spouse/Partner/Other(SPO) First Name: SPO Last Name, if different: Street Address Newsletter: Gary Olmstead (805) garyolmstead AT earthlink DOT net Membership: Bruce Kuebler (805) pbkuebler AT sbcglobal DOT net Meets: Jim Eldridge (818) sjeldridge AT earthlink DOT net NOTE NEW web site: City State Zip Home Phone: ( ) I enclose $20 because I love to receive a printed newsletter in the mail I enclose $10 because I want to get the newsletter two days earlier by I also need name tags, so I have added $6 each For new members: Would you like some help designing and/or building your layout? (Yes/No) If yes, what would you like help with? Gold Coast Garden Railway Society Encino Dr Oak View, CA Webmaster: John Albin jtalbin AT aol DOT com Please put GCGRS in the subject line of any correspondence.