September 2007 - the 4th Division â¢ PNR â¢ NMRA

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Page 4 Issue 492 • September 2007 4D News Boeing Club’s Annual Swap Meet Scheduled will be held Saturday, November 10 th from 9:30-4:00 at the Kent Recreation Center, 525 4 th Ave N, Kent. For more information, contact Ed Sherry, 206-244-3884, edward.r.sherry@boeing.com or ersherry@comcast.net. OLY-OPS 2007 Announced Want to spend a day operating trains on some great model railroads? Plan to be in Olympia November 3, 2007. The Olympia Swap Meet spring open house modelers are going to host the first ever OLY-OPS, from 9-5. Each participant may operate on two of three model railroads: Jim Younkins’s basement-sized N empire, and either Brian Ferris’ HO mainline layout or Greg Wright’s 1:32 narrow gauge mining tram line. All three use Digitrax DCC, two have been featured in national magazines, and two have sound-equipped locomotives. Hosted by Jim Sabol, OLY-OPS 2007 is open to only the first 20 model railroaders to respond! You must bring at least two cans of food for the Thurston County Food Bank. Questions? Call Greg Wright, 360-352-5386, gregorywright2002@yahoo.com. To register, email Greg now, indicating your preference for the HO or 1:32 scale railroad. They will try to accommodate your choice. If you are one of the first 20 to respond, you will be emailed details. If not, your name will be placed on a waiting list. Please RSVP only if you are committed to attending. No tentatives, please. They need the right number of participants to make things work. 100% Club Web Pages Updated Gerry Leone, NMRA Membership Department The “100% NMRA Club” web pages on the national NMRA website have been completely revised and updated by the program’s new coordinator, Chuck Diljak. The pages now contain a listing of benefits clubs receive when everyone is an NMRA member, a list of qualifications needed to be eligible, and a new FAQ. Learn about the insurance benefits (among others) of being a 100% NMRA Club at nmra.org/100Club/100Club.html The Late Great Grade Escapade Jim Sabol “What shall we do for a June clinic with all this sunny weather?” “How about a field trip?” Thus began the planning for an expedition organized and led by Jim Younkins to explore the old grades of Mud Bay Logging Co. and Mason County Logging Co. around Capitol Forest, west of Olympia. A sunny, warm June 3rd saw 16 modelers, spouses, and guests poring over old topographic maps, archival photos, and a planner by Jim Younkins. Jim, Ron and Carol Beghin, Scott Buckley, John Cummings, Robert Grove, Dr. James Hannum, George and Betty Hansen, Pete Replinger, Gordon Robinson, Jim and Mary Sabol, Hal Smith and Ryan and Arwyn Todd viewed the remains of the log dump pilings where both railroads offloaded their logs for towing to Everett mills as late as 1941. After a short drive into the peaks of Capitol Forest, a hike up the long abandoned grade to the remains of a trestle and the possible site of MBL Camp 2 where we found a tie plate in the right of way. Another short ride took us to the location of a main line junction and the probable site of Camp 3. Standing on an old grade in 2007 and viewing a photo of that same place as it looked 80 years ago is an exciting and powerful inspiration to prototypical modeling. Jim Sabol grilled hot dogs at Mima Mounds and everyone chipped in with drinks, salads, chips, desserts, and watermelon for our dinner picnic. No way was this group going to starve in the forest. After leaving the campground cleaner than we found it, the group enlivened the trip home with a short jaunt to the site of the old milling town of Bordeaux. After checking out the remains of the gigantic company store vault with its ghostly presence looming in the brush, the hardy group forded the nearby stream to examine and climb over the footings of the huge mill complex that once occupied the area. Flues from the dry kiln and rails from the mill sidings lurked under every fern—all invisible from the road but waiting to be discovered by those with old maps and the inclination to investigate our railroad heritage. The memories of our June adventure in industrial archeology will be hard to beat! The 4D web site now contains more than two years of back issues of the Grab–Iron. And passwords and NMRA membership numbers are no longer required! Stop by today.
Issue 492 • September 2007 Page 5 Skagit Valley Clinic Gordon Garnhart Our June 13 meeting was unusual. 23 people gathered at the home of Diz Schimke, on 8 rural acres near the town of Bow. We enjoyed a pleasant picnic of submarine sandwiches as Diz, born in 1961, entertained us with many interesting historical details of logging in Skagit County. His 99-year-old grandfather has been a inspiration and source of legend and lore. Diz has a life-long interest in narrow gauge railroading, with a collection of over 200 railroad lanterns and other related memorabilia. Diz has built an excellent 2' gauge 4,000' rail line looping his property. He has restored a Porter locomotive and delights in operating it. The venerable machine started service in 1896 for the Hecla Mining Company in a silver mine near Wallace, Idaho, running on compressed air, on 18" gauge tracks. It was converted to wood-fired steam about 1937 for surface duty, and then converted to 24" gauge. In 1950, it was sold for its scrap, but was salvaged and stored until 1993. Diz has carefully restored the old engine and followed all certification procedures required by law. A young man in our group, Dan Stokes, is serving with the U. S. Navy in Iraq but expects to return in a few months. He sent a recent e-mail message saying, “My time here is winding down and I’m really looking forward to getting back home and spending some time with my family and, of course, my trains!” Email him at stokesda@hotmail.com. On Wednesday, September 12, 7:00 PM we will be visiting Al Frasch’s excellent N scale layout in Freeland. Parking is limited, so please carpool if possible. Hope to see you there. Our first clinic of the new season is Summer Adventures 2007 on Friday, September 21, at 7PM at Scott Buckley’s home. Share summer rail adventures and watch presentations by local railfans. Door prizes, popular vote model contest, and lots of interesting discussion as usual. So, bring a modeling project and join us for an evening of fun and adventure! For directions, call Scott Buckley, 360-357-9185. As this table shows, we have a full year of activities planned. Note: the * indicates a date that’s differs from our normal meeting night. Clinic & Modular Group Reports Olympia Clinic Date Program Location September 21 Share summer adventures, June field trip review Scott Buckley’s house October 19 Tools and Jigs, show and tell, bring your favorite tools George Hansen’s house November 16 Railroad videos shot by Clint Brown Clint Brown’s house December 14 * Christmas party, gift exchange Robert Grove’s house January 18 Prototype Railroad Presentation Roundtable Pizza February 15 Hands-on layout construction Jeff Shultz’s house March 21 Layout Tour Preview TBA April 18 Slide Presentation by Scott Buckley Scott Buckley’s house May 16 Weathering Freight Cars Clint Brown’s house June 8 * Picnic/Field Trip TBA Seattle-North Clinic Bobj Berger For our June clinic, we rented a historic 1963 Seattle Transit Flexible bus from the Metro Employees Historical Vehicle Association, and with driver and MEHVA Board Member Douglas Thomson, set off for a “Three Hour Tour” of six model railroads in four stops! First was Ethan (Stu) Rogers two layouts, the Enumclaw, Tahoma & Anacortes Railroad, Humptulips Division and a great Brio layout. The ET&A is an N-scale freelance Northwest railroad, with DCC, double main, handlaid code 40, 55, and 70 track and turnouts, and handpainted backdrops (as we’ve seen in his clinics). As we were leaving, Joe Farnik pointed out that Stu needs to do a clinic on his workspace tool holder! Our second layout was Burr Stewart’s freelanced, 1970s era Great Burlington Northern Railroad, a nicely sceniced HO and HOn3 layout, selectively compressing GN/NP/BN from South Seattle to Bellingham and east toward Stevens Pass. It is double and triple decked, with 1,000+ feet of track and over 150 turnouts. It even has a “Lego Town” on its lower level that had the kids enamored. Another bonus is his N scale layout upstairs. He even had some O-scale trains on display. Some enjoyed operating his new On30 engine. Everyone was dazzled by the many trains and rolling stock running throughout the basement layout! Check it out at http:// www.burrstewart.com/. Our third tour was MMR Paul Scoles’s fabulous Pelican Bay Railway & Navigation Co., a Sn3 layout set in 1895 Northern California mountains and forests running to seacoast, as a common carrier of mining and forest products. His layout has been featured in Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette, Model Railroad Planning (in 1996 and 2000), and 70+ other magazines (with 18 covers!), and in Green Frog videos.
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September 2007 - the 4th Division â¢ PNR â¢ NMRA

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September 2007 - the 4th Division â¢ PNR â¢ NMRA