The Gandy Dancer
The Official Publication of
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society
August 2001
Summer Issue
| The Gandy DancerThe Official Publication of | August 2001
Summer Issue |
| Club Officers: | |
|---|---|
| President Gary Lewis |
Vice President Henry Chandler |
| Secretary Dean Lewis |
Treasurer Cathy Chrisman |
| HO Trainmaster Gerald DeWitt |
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 September issue will be August 21st with a goal of being mailed and uploaded to the website by August 23rd 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. |
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| General News | HO Scale News | O Scale News | Test Your Word Power |
August 24 (Friday), 25 (Saturday) and 26 (Sunday). 15th West Coast Nationals.
Hours: Friday 8:00 AM to 6:00PM, Saturday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Sunday 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Start time for the club display is normally 10:00 AM for this event.
The club is officially committed to being open for Saturday and Sunday of this show.
However, if enough members (to fully staff our facility) are interested in working on Friday during the day, then it may be possible to open our exhibit on Friday during the car show hours. Likewise if enough members are present, for full staffing, and they wish to open early on Saturday or Sunday that would be acceptable as well.
November 10 and 11. 12th Autumn Get Together. Hours: Saturday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Sunday 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Start time for the club display is normally 10:00 AM for this event.
November 25 and 26 (Thanksgiving weekend). Hours are 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
The following remarks are from the Club President.
This is just a short note to thank everyone who participated during the Fair. I realize it's difficult to be there so much and keep everything else going in your lives. I have the same issues to deal with. Something that happens when we spend so much time running the layouts and interacting with each other is that sometimes we get on each other's nerves. That sort of stuff is hopefully forgotten and we continue on. We all have different personalities and things that get under our skin. Just keep things in perspective and don't worry about the little stuff. This is our hobby. Remember, it's supposed to be fun (even though we get burned out at the Fair).
We experienced a significant increase in attendance this year, although the donations don't reflect it. The economy strikes home!! All the numbers will be reported during the business meeting after the BBQ.
Thanks again.
--Gary
The August general business will be brief, after the barbecue, with the next regular meeting being held in September.
The annual club barbecue will be held on Friday, August 3rd. Hors D'Oeurvres will be served between 6:30 and 7:00 PM. The club will provide the meat, beans, corn on the cob, beverages and bread.
The club will be supplying chili so members should please refrain from bringing beans. Members are encouraged to bring in a variety of salads and desserts. The signup sheet is located on the refrigerator in the locker room.
Break out that secret family recipe and share the fruits of your culinary skills with your fellow club members. Sign up today!
Monday, June 25, saw the first use of the emergency lighting installed earlier this year, at a public event. There were two instances where the fairgrounds lost power for a few seconds. The emergency lights worked perfectly on both occasions, supplying light until the fairgrounds generators were able to start and restore power to the fairgrounds. In both cases, there were several visitors present and everyone remained calm. As the fair wore on, the lights received an ongoing workout several times a day. Several members have commented that the lights have proved their worth during this fair, and that they were glad that the effort was made to acquire and install them. Thanks to Gerald DeWitt, Ann Meisner, Seth Abrahams and Bob Johnson for installing these items.
| ACCRS is now an international destination. |  |
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| Scotland | Denmark | Australia |
During the past few months we have had a number of visitors from outside the United States. During the recent Alameda County Fair a Scottish family from the Glasgow area visited us while on holiday. Mr. Hans Bach of Denmark also visited us earlier this year, during O Scale West I believe. Mr. Bach is a model railroader and reportedly has built some very fine O Scale locomotives from scratch. Last year we were visited by a gentleman, whose name escapes me, from Australia during the Friday preceding the Scottish Games.
Dean Lewis reports the supply of HO wheels has been exhausted. Our former vendor has retired and is no longer in business and a search for a new vendor is in progress. Until a new vendor is located and a new supply of wheels has been procured, members will be on their own.
Many of our visitors during the fair had very positive comments about our new drive-in movie theater. One of the most often asked questions, was "how did you make the screen work?" There were many mentions of the details such as the playground near the screen, the figures in the vehicles and around the buildings, as well as remarks by some visitors of their fond memories of some long gone drive-in where they grew up. The drive-in seems to be the single most popular addition to the HO layout for this year's fair. Participants in the drive-in theater project were, Gerald DeWitt, Linda Flannagan, Ann Meisner, Seth Abrahams, Dean Lewis and Bob Johnson. Special thanks go out to Don Pomplun, who donated the screen for the Drive In.
Little Joe has restored the traffic signals at the two intersections in Granger to operation during the fair. The construction barricades are also once again flashing. The signals and barricades have been out of service for some time, prior to the fair.
Some discussion of changes to the available access from the central aisle to the Wills Point (Passenger Station) area was conducted on Friday, July 20. The removal of the old toprail and vertical supports was completed on Friday, July 27. Installation of the new window materials will begin in August, after the club barbecue.
The following remarks are from the HO Scale Trainmaster.
I would like to thank everyone for another successful fair. There were some bumps along the way but we all lived through it. Congratulations to all who participated. It is a pleasure to be associated with all of you.
--Gerald
The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.
Thanks to all the O Scalers who participated at the Fair. I think that we had the best turnout of members in quite some years. The layout was in very good working order, at least on the days that I attended. I ran some DCC, and understand that others did as well.
Reminder that the West Bay group will be visiting our layout on Sunday, August 5, for operations and a barbecue. Here is Bob Bunch's e-mail to me, which provides the details:
" I got a call from Neil Chichizola (Tue. Night Home Layout Visitation Group) this week and we worked out the details for their Sunday, August 5, 2001 visit to the Pleasanton Club. Neil expects about 25 - 30 people coming up. He will give us a better number about a week ahead of time. They are scheduled to arrive at 11:30 am and we will provide a BBQ Lunch at about 12:30 pm. They will bring optional deserts for the lunch. I invited them to bring equipment (both DCC and Analog) to run on the layout. Neil says that they are looking forward to coming up that Sunday."
Finally, don't forget that the Good Guys Nationals will be held on August 25 and 26. We will be running both days. Please sign up if you are able to help. Enter via Gate 12 off Valley Ave. (the off-track betting entrance), and show your club badge for both parking and gate admittance.
--George A Cumming, O Scale Trainmaster
Listed below are this month's questions about American railroad slang. Some terms refer to people and others to equipment, facilities or actions.
Well gang we made it through another fair, all 17 days of it. During this marathon event we survived: heat, cold, rain, repeated electrical power interruptions, some short staffing, electrical layout and equipment glitches, some frayed nerves, vented steam, fair food and a multitude of the same questions we are asked every year. I hope that everyone's sense of humor has come through unscathed. The most intense portion of the annual club events calendar is now behind us.
We still have a few events in the future, but these are some of the more fun, and smaller scale events. The annual club BBQ is the first Friday of August. The big Good Guys show is the last weekend in August. Then we will have a break until November when we have elections for club officers, the Good Guys return (early in the month) and GATS is here Thanksgiving weekend. In December the annual club holiday potluck is on the agenda.
Where do you ask does a vacation fit into all of this? Well for me it fit in about a week after the Fair. The reason the newsletter is a bit late this month is that I was gone on vacation for a few days. I did visit a few railroad related places, and many non-railroad places as well. In upcoming issues there will be information on some railroad items as well as some other interesting locations in Oregon.
The 105-year-old steam locomotive that is used to power the Tarantula Steam Tourist Train in the Grapevine Texas area was pressed into freight service on July 10th. It seems that the GP38-3 pulling a 30-car Fort Worth and Western freight stalled on a hill and needed some assistance. 4-6-0 # 2248 was dispatched to assist the diesel up the hill. This task was accomplished with some wheel slippage and lots of smoke from "puffy" as the steamer is known by local children. This was a modern day version of the early days of diesel locomotives, which were on occasion helped by steam power when the diesel broke down. -- Story originally reported on Altamont Press Newsline by Kevin Schelen.
| On the road with SP&S 700. | |
|---|---|
 Click on image for a larger view. |
Member Bill Wills was recently aboard the SP&S 700 Homecoming excursion with this beautiful 4-8-4. Bill rode the first leg, April 20th, of the four-day trip and reports that he and his spouse enjoyed both the train and the amenities that were part of the trip. More photos are available on the web at: SP&S 700 photo gallery. Photo courtesy of Bill Wills. |
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