The Gandy Dancer
The Official Publication of
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society
February 2004
Valentines Day Edition.
| The Gandy DancerThe Official Publication of | February 2004Valentines Day Edition. |
| 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 March issue will be Tuesday, February 24 with a goal of being mailed later in the 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 January 2004 Issue | Return to Gandy Dancer Index | Go to March 2004 Issue |
| General News | HO Scale News | O Scale News | Name The Railroad |
Dates and Hours: Saturday, February 14th, 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM and Sunday, February 15th, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Please note that our closing time will be earlier that the closing time for the show. Signup sheets for this event are available. Sign up today!
Friday evening February 20 is the informal "stop by" session, layout tour. The more "official" open house is on Sunday, February 22, from 11 AM to 3 PM, more or less. HO scale members are welcome to attend and run for this event.
Saturday, March 6 and Sunday, March 7. Hours are 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM for both days.
Good GuysSaturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28. 22nd All-American Get Together. Show hours are: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Sat.) and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Sun.). Please note that the club normally opens at 10:00 AM for Good Guys shows. |
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The opening day of the 2004 Alameda County Fair is Friday, June 25. This annual event runs seventeen days and closes on Sunday, July 11.
The February general business meeting will be held on Friday, February 6th. Big Bertha, will be fired up for the pre-meeting grilling session, weather permitting.
Membership Dues are Now Due.If you have paid your dues, thank you. If you have not paid yet, start looking for loose change in the sofa and under the car seat, please see the Treasurer, Don Pomplun, and ante up! Regular dues are $24 per year. Senior dues (65 and older) are $18 per year. Club bylaws state that dues become delinquent if not paid by the February Business Meeting. |
 Time is running out. |
For the benefit of those who might have missed this important announcement in the December and January issues this item is appearing again this month. Someone always fails to get the word… It was announced at the November business meeting that the combination for the locks on the doors to the club building would be changed in January. The combination will be given to members that have paid their dues for 2004. When you receive the combination please do not pass it along to anyone else, as only paid up members are to have the combination. It has been a number of years since the combination has been changed and we have had some turnover in membership, were the reasons given for this change.
A new club roster will be available once all the dues have been collected and it has been determined who is in the club and who is out of the club for 2004. If you need to change your address, phone or E-mail information please contact Dean Lewis, Club Secretary.
For the last few years, club members had the opportunity to purchase vests to be worn for shows and other club related functions. Since a number of new people have joined the club since the last vest order was sent in, we are exploring the idea of putting together a new order for club vests.
The cost of the vest is $25.00 and includes a railroad logo of your choice. XXL costs an additional $2.50. The vest features the RR logo in the left breast pocket area. The member name is in the right breast pocket area. The club initials are across the back of the vest. Members purchase their vests and the club pays for the embroidery of their name and ACCRS on the vest.
A variety of embroidered railroad logos are available including the following examples: Amtrak, Cotton Belt, Lehigh Valley, Milwaukee Road, New York Central, Northern Pacific, Pennsylvania, Rock Island, Santa Fe and Southern Pacific. Many other heralds are also available.
Those with Internet capability may wish to visit the vendor website: www.bcjunction.com
If you are interested in ordering a vest or want more information about the vests please see Dean Lewis. The order should be going to the vendor after the April Business meeting so that the vests will be available for the fair.
According to the calendar posted adjacent to the dispatch panel, which shows the scheduling of Analog and DCC running for Friday evenings, the schedule for February is as follows:
Analog: |
Friday, February 13 and Friday, February 27. |
DCC: |
Friday, February 6 and Friday, February 20. |
(The letter "A", on the calendar, denotes an analog run night. The letter "D", on the calendar, denotes a DCC run night).
Note: This schedule subject to change to allow for layout maintenance and upgrades.
There is a supply of NCE decoders available for purchase by members. Available units include D13SR which features wire leads, KRS-SR for Kato and Stewart and D14SRP. All are available at $20.00 each. These are leftovers from when DCC was introduced to the HO layout. If you are interested see Dean Lewis.
At the last HO business meeting, we discussed purchasing some more Intermountain wheel sets.
We have found a source that has a reasonable price for the wheel sets at approximately $50.00 per box (not including shipping). We may be able to get them at less than that if we order a case (12 boxes of 100 sets). Before the order for wheel sets is placed and we see what pricing we can get, we need to poll the HO members on what we should get. The sets come in 33" and 36" for the most part. Intermountain does make 28", but those are special use and I think that individual members can find those on their own.
We currently have orders for seven boxes of 33 inch and three boxes of 36 inch.
If you are interested in participating in this group order please contact Dean Lewis by the February business meeting.
There are now blank car cards and bad order sheets in the tower room. They are in a car card box on the DCC test track table. If a club car or loco is in need of repair, please use one of the cards to write the car/loco number down (i.e.: ATSF 123456, Box Car) and fill out the bad order sheet and slip it into the car card. Describe the problem on the bad order sheet (i.e.: coupler too low on brake end of car). Place the bad order car/engine near the card box (upstairs) and put the card back in one of the slots in the box. I will pick the items up and provide the necessary maintenance. Thanks.
Dean Lewis
Thanks again for the surge in support for getting the town into presentable condition for GATS.
There were several people who weren't part of the town committee who jumped in to help and now have gone back to their original projects. I guess I'm in the same boat to some extent, as I would like to get back to my original project of the highway viaduct and complete the bridge work. I guess most of us would rather be doing other things besides the town; otherwise it would have been done a long time ago. If we stick with it, it should be in pretty good shape by the Fair.
The town "go forward" plan was discussed after the last HO business meeting as advertised by my e-mail in December. Several of the Town Committee members are continuing with the finishing of modules, a project which is still in the basic stage - that is sidewalks flush with the street and buildings vertical and at the appropriate level for the doors. Basically, it's got to make sense and look right. The buildings need to fit the modules. A couple of the modules were not to this stage for GATS and those are being reworked to get them there. Once we get the modules to the basic stage of completion, we can then look at streetlights and other street level details. Don Pomplun is still the "trolley guy" and is foreman of that job. We're trying to get the new trolley material back from Seth in Colorado to allow functional testing of the track and control system with the new trolleys. Seth had committed to painting the shells and returning them to us when complete.
Speaking of the highway viaduct, I will be repainting and adding some additional "I" beam supports under the viaduct using the "CALTRANS" green used on the bridges at the end. The highway connection to the coalmine will be done before the Fair.
Gary Lewis
The following remarks are from the HO Scale Trainmaster.
We are already into the New Year and progress has begun on the HO layout.
It's been reported to me that members Wayne and Garrett have replaced eight switch machines. Looks like training on this has task has worked out well thanks to our mentor Seth Abrahams. Our city project looks like it's moving right along as well.
We have the "Home and Garden Show" coming up in a few weeks. The sign-up sheet has been posted in the upstairs clubroom.
By the way, thanks to Gary and Dean for sprucing up the upstairs room recently. We all should try to keep it looking neat. . In the same vein, thanks to Wayne, who spent a fair amount of time cleaning up after the January Business meeting removing cups, cans and other trash left lying around. Wayne also organized the cabinet over the refrigerator.
Dean has announced that he will be placing orders for wheel sets. See him if you're in need for them.
We would like to welcome Scott McGhee as a prospective new HO Member. He has been in the hobby for twenty-plus years.
We can go over our priorities we want to accomplish for the upcoming shows at our next HO meeting scheduled for Friday, February 6th.
--Andy Herrera
-- HO Trainmaster
The signup sheet is posted in the usual place. Plenty of open slots available.
From the O Scale West website.
Dates: February 19 (Thursday), through February 21 (Saturday.)
Location: The meet will be held in the ballroom of the Westin Hotel in Santa Clara, CA.
Listed below are this month's questions about railroad slogans. The answers to these questions appear at the end of this issue.
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Club President Gary Lewis provides the editorial for this month.
Some random thoughts…
I don't know about the rest of you, but I view my time Friday night as a time to unwind from the workweek. We are involved in the hobby for relaxation. We all need a pressure relief valve and hobbies generally provide that. As in any group of people enjoying a hobby together there will be times when we disagree on the direction we want to go. Disagreement is fine as long as we respect the other person's position and treat each other in a civil manner. That hasn't always been the case. It's truly a shame when politics and personalities compromise our relaxation time. Remember, this isn't work and you don't treat people the same as you might have to at work. Also remember that in the layouts we are trying to create a realistic allusion and not all ideas are compatible with that goal. That's not to say they are bad ideas, just that they may not fit with the overall goal as well as some others.
Please remember that courtesy has a place in the club. We have tight quarters and may "step on each other's toes" (literally and figuratively) on occasion, especially if we're chasing our prized runaway train. Try to go back and apologize for the smashed toes after the rescue is complete. Those that may be offended by our lack of courtesy in those occasions should consider the situation and what they themselves might do if the tables were turned and it was their train in trouble. Just try to be patient and don't get upset. Reading the guy the riot act only hardens feelings and creates animosities. Sometimes the use of humor in addressing issues of this type can avoid hard feelings. Just remember, we don't need to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Just a few comments about "change". How many of you remember when the best locomotive drive you could buy was made by Hobbytown and the one you could afford was either Varney or an Athearn rubber band drive? (By the way, the Hobbytown drive is still a good piece of equipment.) How about the detail level available on kits? Of course it's getting so most of us don't have nearly the time we'd like to build kits so we now have ready to run. The quality, quantity, and detail of model railroad equipment have certainly improved over the years. DCC, sound, improved electronics PC's are all a significant part of the present day hobby. I'm glad the hobby is changing for the better and I think the improvements we have incorporated in the layouts has enhanced them. The most significant change was the incorporation of DCC. DCC has given both layouts a great increase in flexibility of operations, a lot of which we haven't even touched on. Personally, I look forward to exploiting the options which DCC and other technology improvements give the layouts. Change is a good thing.
On the subject of "change", there has been no additional information made available about a potential move of ACCRS. Also, the new ID badges from the Fair are awaiting a new Fair logo. They can't give us a date at this point. I'll stay in touch with them and relay any important information to the club membership.
Gary Lewis
The former Milwaukee Road 261 (4-8-4) is scheduled to pull a series of fourteen excursions in conjunction with The Grand Excursion celebration in June and July.
Efforts are underway, by the Central Coast Chapter and San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society to setup a springtime excursion with former Santa Fe 3751 (4-8-4) between Los Angeles and San Diego. Details, including dates, ticket prices and schedule, have yet to be announced.
As of press time the 3985 (4-6-6-4) is on display in Houston, TX. During the trip the locomotive was displayed in St. Louis, MO, where a problem with a circulator tube was discovered. To fix this problem required the fire to be dropped, boiler drained and the replacement of a section of the affected circulator tube. Following the repair, the boiler was refilled and the fire was rekindled. Departure from St. Louis was a couple of days after the originally scheduled date. The locomotive seems to be running well after the repairs.
Listed below are the answers to this month's questions about railroad slogans.
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