The Gandy Dancer
The Official Publication of
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society
April 2004
Spring Issue.
| The Gandy DancerThe Official Publication of | April 2004
Spring Issue. |
| Club Officers: | |
|---|---|
| President Gary Lewis |
Vice President Henry Chandler |
| Secretary Dean Lewis |
Treasurer Don Pomplun |
| HO Trainmaster Andy Herrera |
O Trainmaster George Cumming |
| Newsletter Editor Bob Johnson |
Webmaster Jim Ferreria |
| Visit the club website | |
If you have any information that would be of interest to the membership please contact Bob Johnson, so that it may be included in the next issue. The deadline for submitting information for the May issue will be Tuesday, April 27 with a goal of being mailed and uploaded to the website later in that week. Members are encouraged to submit photos, announcements and other club and model railroad related material for use on the club website. Please contact Jim Ferreria with items for the website, or questions relating to the website. |
| Go to March 2004 Issue | Return to Gandy Dancer Index | Go to May 2004 Issue |
| General News | HO Scale News | O Scale News | Name the Railroad |
| Friday, June 25, through Sunday, July 11. | |
| Monday thru Thursday 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. | Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM. |
| Sunday, July Fourth 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM. | |
The new badges have arrived and members who were present on Friday, March 19 and Friday, March. 26. They will also be available at the April Business meeting.
The April general business meeting will be held on Friday, April 2. Big Bertha, will be fired up for the pre-meeting grilling session, weather permitting..
The last couple of years club members had the opportunity to purchase vests to be worn for shows and other club related functions. We currently have five orders for vests. The deadline for orders will be Friday evening, April 2.
If you are interested in ordering a vest or want more information about the vests please see Dean Lewis.
We had a nice turnout of visitors for this two-day show on March 6 and 7. There were 757 visitors on Saturday and 730 visitors on Sunday for a total of 1,487 visitors for the weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped staff the exhibit for this show.
The 2004 edition of the club roster is now ready and has been distributed electronically to those who have Email capability. A hardcopy of the new roster is included with the April newsletter for those who receive the newsletter via the U.S. Mail.
Due to changes in the club roster, a new bar tab sheet will be made. Outstanding balances will be transferred to the new bar tab sheet. The new sheet should be up at some point in April.
Jim Allen (Pleasanton Museum) and Jim Swofford (Pacific Locomotive Association) gave a presentation, at the March business meeting, on needs of the museum for displays this spring and summer. See the letter from them, with the meeting minutes for details.
Scott McGhee was voted in to regular membership having successfully passed his probationary period.
A new exhaust fan is to be installed near the front of the building. This should improve air circulation and allow more heat to escape from the building during those hot summer days. Don Pomplun and Henry Chandler will be doing the honors with this new item.
A calendar has been posted adjacent to the dispatch panel showing the scheduling of Analog and DCC running for Friday evenings. The letter "A", on the calendar, denotes an analog run night. The letter "D", on the calendar, denotes a DCC run night. The schedule for April is as follows:
Analog: |
Friday, April 9 and Friday, April 23. |
DCC: |
Friday, April 2, Friday, April 16 and Friday, April 30. |
The following remarks are from the HO Scale Trainmaster.
Hello "HO" Members.
Looks like we had another good turnout for the "OSH How-to Fair", although our DCC system wasn't very cooperative. Good thing we have the good ol' Analog system back up. Again I would like to thank those HO members who participated and kept us running through the 2-day run.
Can you believe we have about three months until fair time? Time does fly. Don't forget, it's a 17-day run and we will need your grateful participation for those days. We should have signup sheets posted early so you can plan ahead on what days you would like to take part. Last year we were pretty well covered for all the fair days.
I guess we can go over the projects we would like to have complete by fair time at our next HO meeting. Most likely it would be the city project and hopefully the trolley system. Please feel free to bring up other projects that should be on our list of priorities. Spring is here and that should motivate us to move on our busy tasks ahead.
Enjoy the spring weather and we shall see you at our Friday sessions.
--Andy Herrera, HO Scale Trainmaster
There will be a meeting of O Scale members on Friday, April 9, to discuss projects and maintenance, as we get ready for the Fair. Please attend if you can.
Bill Kennerley, our favorite certified NMRA Master Model Railroader, is a bit under the weather lately. Bill, everyone at the Club wishes you a speedy recovery, and we hope to see you real soon
--George Cumming, O Scale Trainmaster
Listed below are this month's questions about railroad slogans. The answers to these questions appear at the end of this issue.
Canadian Pacific 2816.
Canadian Pacific 2816 (4-6-4 Montreal Locomotive Works in December 1930) will be pulling a series of private company related trips in June and July in the upper Midwest of the US. On July 3 the 2816 is scheduled to double head on an excursion with Milwaukee 261 from St. Paul, MN to La Crescent and return.
Milwaukee Road 261.
Milwaukee 261 (4-8-4, American Locomotive COmpany 1944) will be pulling a series of trips in June and July in the upper Midwest. Additional information.
Santa Fe 3751.
A trip with former Santa Fe 3751 (4-8-4, Baldwin 1927, rebuilt Santa Fe 1941) that was to have run from Los Angeles to San Diego and return in May 2004 has been cancelled. Reportedly there are engineering issues with some of the wooden trestle bridges on the line to San Diego relating to locomotive weight. The bridges in question will be replaced, but not in the near term. More information.
Southern Pacific 4449.
Former Southern Pacific 4449 (4-8-4, Lima 1941) is scheduled to pull Montana By Steam II in October 2004.
UP Challenger to visit Texas and Denver.
Union Pacific's Challenger will be visiting Texas again in June. Reports indicate that the locomotive will be pulling some excursions for fundraising purposes for charities and for the George Bush Presidential Library. More information.
On July 24 the 3985 will be pulling the annual Denver Post Frontier Days excursion. Ferry moves to and from Denver are scheduled for July 22 southbound and July 25 northbound. More information.
UP 844 to return to steam.
Unofficial reports from a reliable source indicate that the 844 (4-8-4, ALCo, 1944) is expected to return to active status by late summer. The 844 was delivered new from ALCo in December of 1944 and there is an effort in progress to return the locomotive to service in time for its 60th anniversary. The 844 has been sidelined since a tube failure at Railfair 1999 in Sacramento, CA. It was decided to replace the firebox when the locomotive was being inspected after returning from California.
Athearn will be relocating from the location that they have called home for many years. There new facility will be a couple of miles from their old location in Compton, CA.
Under announcements on the Walthers website in the passenger train section is a long list of individual cars for the California Zephyr. Road names offered will include WP, D&RGW, CB&Q and PRR. The Pennsylvania had a single 10/6 sleeper for through service on the CZ. Cars will range in price from $65.00 for baggage, sleepers and diner to $70.00 for the dome cars. Additional information.
The Livermore Heritage Guild has a newsletter that features articles about the history of the Livermore area.
The March / April 2004 issue features a two page story, written by Gary Drummond, about the Western Pacific railroad. The article mentions the WP passenger station, which stood between North L and K streets from 1910 until it was demolished in 1956. In addition, the former freight house was relocated and is currently located somewhere along Vasco road, having been moved from its former location in down town Livermore on the North side of the tracks. The second page features a nice photo of the mission style Livermore WP depot during its early days.
A copy of the Western Pacific story is posted on the bulletin board by the bottom of the stairs.
Listed below are the answers to this month's questions about railroad slogans.
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