NORTHERN CALIFORNIA DIVISION-TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION the NOR-CAL EXPRESS NEW NOR-CAL DUES STRUCTURE The Nor-Cal Board of Directors has been considering what to do about increased operating costs for more than a year now. We began to discuss this more than a year ago. The Spring Cal-Stewart Meet is now a break even event, but previously it has underwritten the cost of operating the Nor-Cal Division for a number of years with profits of $5,000 or more each year throughout the 1990 s. We hit a high point in the 1999 TCA National Convention with an infusion of some $16,000 in additional revenue from hosting that event. We have been living off of those profits ever since. That has carried us to where we are now. Cal Stewart attendance seems to have peaked and we are just covering expenses right now. It seems the right time to raise dues to cover what we spend on member services which include the monthly rental for meets for 10 months of the year, the quarterly PRESIDENT S MESSAGE by Michael Andrews It is soon approaching that time of year that started all this collecting and operating of those magnificent and mesmerizing little items called toy trains. My first exposure to trains was, like most people, at Christmas time. When I was very young, my sisters and I would wake up to find a Christmas tree with two American Flyer trains, an entire Plasticville village, and many presents. My parents must have stayed up until the wee hours of the morning putting the whole thing together! As I got older I started doing the layout and village, but that happened weeks before Christmas. We also had a family Christmas Party, usually at my Grandfather s house around December 21st, which was also his birthday. I remember the large Lionel layout he set up every year for the party. It was a very noisy place, as I recall. There had to be 40 to 50 people there, half of them Super Streamliners! Imagine you re an O-scale passenger standing on the station platform. On Track One is that weird-looking distillate-motored, aluminum-bodied job. On Track Two is that fancy new high speed steam outfit. Which train would YOU like to ride? (But, you ask, for such dissimilar trains, why are the coaches almost identical??) December 2002 newsletter the Nor-Cal Express, and the holiday party in December. We currently have approximately 500 members at $10 dues each. That s $5,000 a year in income. We need about $10,000 to break even. Continuing as we have in the past would be a drain on our bank account and would deplete our reserves. The new Nor-Cal dues structure is $25 per year which includes free registration for the Spring Cal-Stewart Meet (normally $30). So the net savings for a Nor-Cal member attending the Cal-Stewart is $15! Pay your Nor- Cal dues and you can then attend at no charge on Saturday and Sunday. Table holders will still need to register early and pay their table fees. Nor-Cal members can send in their Cal-Stewart Registration Forms in without a check, provided they have paid their division dues. kids, and three or four trains running. What excitement! We are having the Nor-Cal annual Holiday Party at Montera Middle School on Saturday, December 14. Spouses and children are invited but no guests will be allowed for this meet. We will be having a Show and Tell table. Please bring an unusual or rare item to show. Your Nor-Cal Board of Directors has approved a dues increase. The Board has been discussing this for over a year. (Continued on Page 2) MEET SCHEDULE M = Montera Middle School 5555 Ascot Drive, Oakland IH= Iron Horse Middle School 12601 Alcosta Blvd. San Ramon SC= Santa Clara Conv. Ctr. December 14, 2002 (M) Holiday Meet (no guests) January 11, 2003 (M) February 8, 2003 (M) Feb. 28, March 1 and 2, 2003 Cal-Stewart Meet (SC) April 12, 2003 (M) June 14, 2003 (IH) Set-up 8:30 AM Business Meeting 9:30 AM Trading 10:00-11:30 AM
Page 2 the NOR-CAL EXPRESS (President s Message continued from Page 1) Our current $10.00 dues do not cover all the expenses of running the club. The new dues will be $25.00 and include free registration for the Spring Cal-Stewart Meet. These dues will cover, among other things: free admission and tables at 10 monthly meets, free coffee at these meets, the December Holiday meet and lunch, the Nor- Cal Express newsletter, and as mentioned above, free admission to the Spring Cal-Stewart Meet. The increase will begin in January. I would like to again thank all of you for your generous and continued support of your Nor-Cal TCA. We are now looking for volunteers to help the club, especially at the upcoming Cal-Stewart Meet. This will be February 28 and March 1-2. Help is need at the (packet) stuffing party, at the registration table, and at the doors, among other things. Also we really need members to bring LAYOUTS to the meet. See you in December! THE CHICKEN WIRE FENCE by Fred Braun #67-1910 Left: Fred lifting out a section of his chicken wire fence on his Standard Gauge layout. It would be difficult for anyone under 50 to even visualize Christmastime in the Depression years following 1929. In the first place, there was a certain innocence and wonder that has long since disappeared in the huckstering of television and in the sophisticated technologies of space and electronics. To a boy in the 30 s, life was simply a sense of priorities. First was Christmas, then the Fourth of July followed closely by birthdays and the day the Circus came to town. Other occasions, save perhaps the day school was out, were only marked by a family get together. But CHRISTMAS it was in the air for days, even weeks before THE day! Those days were filled with the meticulous study of newspaper ads and catalogs (if you were lucky enough to get them) and visits to TOYLAND. And of course, to every boy, Toyland meant TRAINS. A city of 250,000, Toledo, Ohio had four major department stores. The leading store, LaSalle & Koch s, sold Lionel; Lamson s sold American Flyer; the Lion Store (in front of the entrance were two life-size bronze lions) featured Ives and Tiedtke s offered Dorfan. Four stores carrying almost totally different lines of merchandise. And in each store trains, as well as other toys, were not in sealed boxes or bubble packs but on display and operating. Arriving in Toyland you hardly knew which way to turn. The sights and sounds beckoned from every side. But a boy knew where to go and invariably made a bee-line for the trains. The big stores always had operating layouts with both O and Standard gauges. Accessories too were in abundance, with stations, signals and tunnels to supplement the list being compiled in each boy s head. A train display of those years simply had to be seen to be believed. But seen is all that was to be. Lying across between you and those wonderful trains, thwarting every attempt to touch and hold, was that never yielding chicken wire fence. Fastened to a solid wood frame, it was installed not so much as a deterrent to shoplifting but as a safeguard against damage and derailments resulting from clutching hands. To find those beautiful trains so close and yet so completely out or reach was utter frustration. That the experience left its mark was amply demonstrated when I built my Standard Gauge layout some 40 years later. My attic layout is situated in an alcove with only the front accessible from which to view. I guess something inside of me snapped when I planned the construction. Providing six pockets in the table front, I built a two-section, lift out, chicken wire fence and painted it red in the best tradition of the 1930 s. Viewing the completed product, my wife observed that it was a smart move to keep the hands of visitor s children out of some high-priced collectibles. Not the purpose at all I told her. Relating my boyhood frustrations, I explained that now, finally, I could remove that damned fence any time I wanted and play with the trains. My wife opined that her suspicions regarding the mental agility of train collectors was now confirmed. That shows you how much she knows!
WELCOME NEW NOR-CAL MEMBERS Page 3 Joined in last 12 months: Taylor D. Bailey, Santa Rosa Richard Boyen, Gilroy Mark Bradford Carry, San Rafael Larry Delucchi, Hayward Rich Dolan, Pleasanton Dan B. Haugh, Santa Rosa Horace O.Hayes, Los Altos Bob Klein, San Rafael Rich LaRussa, Kentwood Michael J. Maridon, San Jose Eric M. Pickel, Dublin John Pinson, Martinez Charlie Sosinski, Santa Clara Randall J. White, Moraga Darwin Williams, Kentfield Michael Stanton, Martinez Correction In the September 2002 Newsletter, on Page 2, Tribute to Karen Rodgers, the fourth paragraph should begin: For 15 years she organized the Cal Stewart Meet. After Don Church passed away, she stepped up to help when we desperately needed someone to bring it together quickly within about a month, she did it. EDITOR S RAMBLINGS #2 My HO gauge period lasted from 1950 until 1970. I built many kits Mantua, Athearn, Silver Streak, Varney, JC Silversides and others, and built several layouts. (Even into the 70 s and 80 s I collected old 40 s and 50 s locos and cars such as the Varney cast brass-boilered locos, the Mantua brass/diecast locos, and Varney and Mantua car kits). I enjoyed HO modeling, and would regularly scan the pages of Model Railroader for inspiration. During that time I was a regular visitor to the Lee s Trains store on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. Somehow, during many visits with Dave and Peg White, I never really paid much attention to all of those old Lionel trains on display on the upper shelves. (Later, in 1970-73 or so, I would have the opportunity to know Lee Hieronymous, the former owner and namesake of that store). My wife was in a thrift shop in Oakland in 1969, and noticed an American Flyer set for sale for $5.00. This was a very nice K5 Pacific set of around 1947 with a hopper, tank car and caboose, as well as track and transformer. She thought this might be a nice set for our young son, aged three. But she hesitated at the price. Then the salesperson informed her that it was Half-Price Day, so the set was actually only $2.50! Sold!! I set the train up that evening, and soon it was running around with smoke (still in the loco after how many years?) pouring out the stack along with rhythmic choochoos! Magic! I picked up some manual switches and extra track from the Trainatorium in San Francisco. But I didn t really get into toy trains until the following year. At that time my wife had started a new job and had the opportunity to rummage around in her employer s attic. She was surprised to find four large cardboard boxes full of toy trains! Well, the owner offered the whole lot to us for $40, and we were quick to accept, although I didn t really have much knowledge of what was being acquired. Among the trains was a Lionel #2328 Burlington GP7, three 6464 boxcars (including #6464-350 B.&O. Sentinel, -225 SP Overnight, and -250 WP silver), a 3-dome Sunoco tank car, a bay-window caboose, and more postwar cars; an AF prewar #1218 passenger set, a Lionel #752E silver City of Portland set, a #810 crane car, a #1666E (1938 gunmetal) freight set, and more. And all of these, except the #2328, the City of Portland and the crane car, were in excellent condition. I checked back with Dave and Peg, and they thought I might be interested in a train collectors club, the TCA. They put me in touch with Fred Braun, a TCA member, who told me about the club, and the fun the members had with the hobby, and told me how to get to the next meeting, at a bank building in San Anselmo. I joined TCA, and it was Up, Up and Away with prewar toy trains. The current HO layout was disassembled and given to a friend, and the HO trains were sold to several collectors and operators. With the help of members Carson Hardacre, Frank Lockwood, Fred Hines and others, I began to acquire a knowledge of prewar trains, both O and Standard, and to add to my infant collection. I also had some luck with an advertisement in the Contra Costa Times. What fun! Incidentally, last year I finally gave that Flyer K5 set back to my son! ALCO American Locomotive Company
Page 4 RARE GERMAN TRAINS the NOR-CAL EXPRESS These two O-gauge locomotives, each of an Austrian prototype, were manufactured on a very limited basis by Herr, of Germany, in the 1980 s. They are of stamped-steel construction. Colors: (top engine) medium orange and (lower engine) dark terra cotta; roofs are gray/silver. Note the tinplate flanges, Marklin-type couplers, tinplate-like nickelplated pantographs and handrails, and third rail pickup shoes. These are not reproductions of prewar Marklin trains although they are clearly Marklin-inspired; they are near-scale models. These were built to very high standards and are extremely rare. They were formerly owned by a local collector but they have now gone to the Midwest. So You Want to Play With Trains? Thank you Fred Braun, Ralf Parton and Mike Andrews for your articles. I m still hoping for submittals from other members. Also, how about some Letters to the Editor? I d like to have this as a regular feature. by Ralf Parton #HR-72-4280 You say YES, but your wife keeps saying NO to your using the attic, basement, garage, or her sewing room for a layout! You can put an end to this frustration! The Rossmoor Railroad Club in Walnut Creek is now in the planning stage for its 3-rail O-gauge layout. For a membership of just $12 a year you can help design, build and run this railroad empire. The clubroom s space is 12 feet by 26 feet, and the 3-foot wide benchwork is already in place for a projected two-level, multi-track layout, with a maximum 3% grade and minimum 6 foot diameter curves. Already on hand are lots of Gargraves track, including switches with motors, two MTH 400 watt transformers and a $3,000 budget. Does this sound interesting? Come to the OPEN HOUSE on Sunday, March 20, at 1:00 PM. You can see the club s already-built HO layout, with trains running, and you can enjoy complimentary refreshments. Call Nor-Cal member Ralf Parton for further information at (925) 256-7078. Notes from the Editor Artwork by Richard White
Page 5 LOOKING FOR 6464 s AT YORK Having been to York once before, I was better prepared for the trip last October. I had a list of wanted items with the values I was willing to pay. First on my list was the blue boxcar from the postwar Girls Train set. I have all the 6464 boxcars and many variations of most, but I was missing the 6464-510. On Thursday we started at the Holiday Inn pre-meet. I saw one 6464-510 at $1,500, excellent but the metal was pretty rusty. I saw many other 664 cars but nothing unusual except one guy had a red-lettered 6464-1 for $4,000 and a solid shield 6464-300 for $6,000. Friday, at the York Meet, I started out at the Silver and Blue Halls. I saw two Girls Train sets, one in good shape for $2,900 and one in a little better shape for $4,000. I would consider purchasing a set for the cars but they needed to be in better condition. Over the course of the day I looked at some 100 to 200 different 6464 cars. I found and purchased a few common type and color variations that I did not have and a few cleaner pieces to by Mike Andrews #95-41371 upgrade some of my current cars. The most interesting cars I found and purchased were a black-lettered 6464-175, a purplish-blue 6464-475 on a gray molding, and two 6464-125 s with both the gray and red painted. Other things of interest were a fake split door 6464-300 for $1,700, a real split door 6464-300 for $2,650, a 6464-150 with the MP seal in the first panel for $1,850 (I would have purchased this but I had already spent my money), and a blue feather 6464-100 for $1,400. One other thing of interest was the door on the blue letter 6464-1. I probably saw at least 20 and the door was always pushed open! I often think of how easy it must have been years ago finding variations of the 6464. As I walked the halls seeing the common cars and feeling like I am not finding anything, there pops up that special find. Although I did not find a 6464-510, it is the hunt that sometimes is better than the find! TRAINING FUTURE TCA ers by Richard White #70-3387 Well, if we want to have train collectors in the future we have to train them now! Jan Tomczak, a second-grade teacher at Highland Elementary School in Pittsburg, had requested that I construct a train layout for her class. I suggested a Lionel O layout, and she furnished a 3 by 6 ft. masonite-topped table. I painted the table with water base paints, then topped this with several colors of coarse turf from Woodside Scenics, then finished off with lichen bushes and O-gauge trees. Jan furnished Halloween trees from the dime store. The track is Marx 034. Dave Pfeifer donated a set of ceramic buildings and John April and Jim Havey donated uncoupling tracks. The 1946 train set, with a #1101 loco and whistle tender, came from Jim Havey. The inaugural run, with twenty excited kids, was made on November 8. Note how Ms. Tomczak enforces a clear distance around the layout!
Buy/Sell Send your personal ads to the Editor (or phone) the NOR-CAL EXPRESS Wanted: American Flyer 9-1/2 inch prewar freight cars with black frames and trucks, brass name/number plates 3210 tank car, 3207 gondola car, 3211 caboose. Also the 1940 style diecast caboose, and the #1625-type streamlined passenger cars in 2-tone green. I need all these in Excellent condition, please. John April (925) 254-4436 Wanted: Any French scale-like O gauge trains, including Marescot, Fournereau and Munier, incl. kits, parts, catalogs. Six-wheel Great Western tender for Hornby (O-gauge) County of Bedford. Bassett-Lowke or Leeds (LMC) locomotives and cars. Richard White (925) 376-5821 For Sale: Various Hornby O gauge accessories. Richard White (925) 376-5821 Wanted: Always buying Marklin, Hag, Fleischmann, and other European trains. Dennis King (530) 877-4392 Wanted: Someone to assist with wiring a Standard Gauge layout. Fred Braun (510) 522-2225 OCTOBER YORK MEET REPORT by Richard White #70-3387 The pre-york parking lot sales on Wednesday were dampened by heavy rain but this didn t affect the inside sales. It was soon apparent here, and at the TCA York Meet on Friday and Saturday, that most items and sets in excellent plus or better condition were priced at very high up to stratospheric levels. (It was my observation that most of these items went home with the sellers). Some examples: (B=individual boxes; SB=set box) 254E pea green/orange trim LN $850 254 set w/610-10-12 pass. cars, lt. olive LN/B/SB $1,250 763E Hudsons, E, in the range of $2,500 to $3,500 260E & 260T black/green frame G/VG $750 610, 610, 612 passenger cars, blue/silver E/B $1,800 3814 merchandise car (decal) E+ $995 225E and 2245W, black, E+ $600 Prewar 2323 Manhattan cars (4) LN/B $3,800 [no typo!] Postwar Illinois Central 2363 AB LN $825 Amer. Flyer #4907-AW K5 whistling set, E+/B/SB $675 Std. 318E w/309-10-12 pea green E+/B/SB $1,750 231 & 2231T switcher E+/B $5,250 810 crane (early colors) E-/B $895 Set of 807 (2-tone green), 805 (orange/maroon), 806 (pea green/terra cotta), all no-journal style, E/B $925 American Flyer S # 21922 MP A-A LN/B $525 Some items that were sold for reasonable prices (final, negotiated prices shown) included: 2679 boxcar E+/B $75 2677 gondola E+/B $75 1663 & 2201T (Magic Electrol) 0-4-0 switcher LN $350 251E with 710-10-12 pass. cars, RED, VG+/VG $1,000 AF City of Denver set VG/VG+/B/SB/4-rail track $1,500 249E & 265W satin black/nickel trim VG/E $250 814R (late colors) E $225 238 w/2225w black, LN $500 804 tank car (dark gray) VG $40 And as usual, there were many, many trains in fair to poor condition, or worse. (Why do sellers bring these?) The regular York Meet, beginning on Friday, was very well attended, with crowds of people jamming the aisles of the various halls. I looked in vain for French O-gauge, and talked this up with some of the foreign collectors (bringing chuckles). In the past I had made some wonderful finds (265E Silver Streak set, 226E set with 2613-14-15 green cars, etc., at decent prices) but nothing like that has happened for a few years! The Kiddie Area was very popular with younger children, offering a Ride-M-Casey setup, a riding handcar with steel track, and an accessible O-gauge setup on the floor. Kudos to the adult and teenaged volunteers here. Finally on Saturday, I enjoyed conversing with Jim Weaver of Atlas Trains, Norman Thomas of T- Reproductions and representatives for Third-Rail, and Weaver. The pre-production sample of Third-Rail s Pennsy P70 70-ft. coach (brass) was on display and it was a beauty! Similarly impressive were Weaver s new Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation (diecast) and semistreamlined American Flyer coaches (plastic w/diecast chassis). The TCA Museum in Strasburg (45 minutes from York) had its usual Open House on Thursday, with manufacturers showing off new items. This was great fun! Our group, John April, Dave Pfeifer, Jim Havey Bill Widman, and I also enjoyed some good Pennsylvania meals! We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in New Cumberland (about 15 miles north of York on Route 83). The room rate included a nice Continental breakfast. Recommended! The York Meet, which occurs every April and October, is still the ultimate toy train event, and should be experienced by every serious collector. Artwork by Richard White
Page 7 MONTERA Alco DL-109 image courtesy of Ken Houghton Rail Images NOR-CAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES Meeting of November 6, 2002 Meeting convened November 6, 2002, at 8:12 PM, Basil Leaf Café, Lafayette, CA Voting members present: President Mike Andrews, Treasurer Pete Goodier, Editor Rich White, Secretary Mark Boyd, Immediate Past President Cliff Jarrard. Not present: VP Bob Nichelini, Sac Sierra President Jack Ahearn Also in attendance: Bob Spivock, Jim McCarthy President Mike Andrews requested each board member to draft a job description in writing. Need to activate WEB page. Mark Boyd moved to appropriate up to a maximum of $500 to create Norcal WEB page. M/S/C Treasurer Pete Goodier will develop a cost analysis of annual expenses for operating the division for the next board meeting. A new division dues structure based on this information will be considered at that next meeting. An audit of Norcal finances will be completed by February 1st, 2003. Bonding the treasurer and board officers was discussed. The question arose, does the TCA National insurance pol icy cover division officer liability? Secretary Mark Boyd moved to approve $1500 to purchase a mint 1950 s 773 to be raffled. 100 tickets to be sold at $25 each. M/S/C Past President Cliff Jarrard moved to sell the Chicago Convention gondolas at the next monthly meeting at cost. M/S/C Cal Stewart mailing date to be determined at November meet. Meeting adjourned at 9:40 PM. Meeting of November 16, 2002 Meeting convened November 16, 2002 at 11:45 AM Montera Middle School, Oakland, CA Voting members present: President Mike Andrews, VP Bob Nichelini, Treasurer Pete Goodier, Editor Rich White, Secretary Mark Boyd, Immediate Past President Cliff Jarrard. Not present: Sac Sierra President Jack Ahearn Bob Nichelini moved Norcal Division dues for 2003 at $25 per member which would include free Cal Stewart registration for all 2003 Norcal Division members. M/S/C with one No vote. It was noted that current dues have not covered the benefits provided by the division for several years. Previously the division relied on profits from the Spring Cal Stewart Meet to subsidize then operation of the division. Since Cal Stewart is now a break even event, dues will be increased to cover the annual operating cost of the division which includes hall rental for 10 months of the year, the quarterly newsletter The Norcal Express, and the December Holiday catered luncheon. Meeting adjourned at 12:15PM. the Nor-Cal Express Richard White, Editor 7 Francisca Drive Moraga, CA 9456-1583 Phone: (925) 376-5821 Email:Toytrain13@hotmail. com Submit all address changes to: Secretary Mark Boyd norcaltca@spade.net Unless otherwise credited, railroad clip art used in this newsletter is courtesy of www.rrhistorical.com NOR-CAL DIVISION OFFICERS President Vice president Past president Sac-Sierra President Secretary Treasurer Newsletter Editor Michael Andrews Bob Nichelini Cliff Jarrard Jack Ahearn Mark Boyd Pete Goodier Richard White ONLINE NEWSLETTER! You will soon be able to view the Express online, in full color, on the Nor-Cal Website. The website is now under construction at norcaltca.com.
Left: #263E locomotive with 263W tender (1936-39) with #435 Power Station (1926-38) and #87 Traffic Signal (1927-42). Above: Detail of the Power Station indicates that it is a rare variation with EDISON SERVICE above the doors rather the usual POWER STATION. Michigan Central RR 4-6-0 Courtesy of Ken Houghton Rail Images The NOR-CAL EXPRESS