DUES (over) DUE!

The Gandy Dancer The Official Publication of the Alameda County Central Railroad Society

February 2006

Next Public Operation Session:

Spring Home and Garden Show

Our show season begins February 18th and 19th with the Home and Garden Show. Signup sheets are posted in the usual spots, and Courtesy Passes to the show for Spice and family are available from Club Officers.

Club News

DUES ARE DUE!

Paul Newhouse reminds everyone that the ACCRS imposes a monthly penalty on late dues. If you haven't paid yours by now, you're liable to get a shock when you do- so pay up soon!
Also Paul and Dan will be making up a new roster. What this means to you is two things: One, if your contact information has changed, now would be an appropriate time to tell us. Two, if your dues are delinquent, you may be left off the roster and e-mail lists when they are updated.

Rodent Traps Deployed

Due to recent structure damage and dropping discoveries, several large spring-type rat and mouse traps have been deployed around the layout room. The O Scale gang has also placed DeCon trays in a couple of tunnel portals. Most traps are well marked with signs at eye-level, but even so, use caution when reaching or stepping into areas that you have not visually scanned first. Even if you avoid the traps, you may find that a rodent has taken up residence or expired in your path. Bob Johnson has latex gloves available for dealing with the aftermath of a successful trap or poison tray, and there is additional peanut butter in the fridge if anyone feels the urge to rebait the mechanical traps.

Please do your part in discouraging the rodents by policing up your snacks, coffee cups and soda cans, and carrying food-related trash out to the dumpster before you leave. Besides, it's common courtesy.

Too, remember that we have been seeing a number of small visitors lately; keep an eye out for loose kids so they don't wind up tripping a trap, being bit by a rodent, or snacking on stale food or DeCon. By and large, parents seem to do their part, but kids are curious and very fast. A little attention by the rest of us is cheap and easy insurance against a tragedy.

Also, history shows that our layouts need careful attention to track cleaning in order to operate well during times of rodent infestation, so expect to spend a few minutes with the abrasive blocks before you run. Removing valuable locomotives and rolling stock from the rails between operations may be a wise move.

Upcoming Events

February

March

Business meeting:
March 3rd.
The Ancient and Honorable Order of Pyromaniacs will have their kickoff grilling session for 2006 before the meeting (weather permitting). As always, all are welcome to come early, toss something on the grill, and socialize.

OSH How-To Fair
March 4-5
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
We will be open the full hours of the show.

Goodguys 24th All-American Get-Together
March 25-26
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.(Sat.);
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.(Sun.).
We will be open from 10ish or so to closing time both days, but as is usual, early visitors may be expected to wander in as soon as the lights are on.

April

Business meeting:
April 7th.
Come early, enjoy the spring weather, and flop something on the grill!
We have no scheduled shows in April.

May

Business meeting:
May 5th.
Charcoal smoke will be once again wafting through the spring air. Won't you bring your favotite meat and join us in our feast?

Bob Johnson's sharp eyes noticed that the RV show scheduled for mid-May will be presented by the same group that put on the one in January. This may mean that our access for layout projects and pre-fair cooler tune-up and other work may be severely restricted, as the RV group seems to be quite willing to lock up the fence to control access, and ACF parking is unwiling to MOVE the fence to allow us into the layout room. An early discussion with GoodTimes Promotions (the RV people), the Fair and contingency planning may be needed before any work days or projects that run past May 12th.

Unofficial Minutes for February 10th, 2006 meeting:

President Gary Lewis was absent. In his stead, Vice President Henry Chandler called the meeting to order at 19:57 PST, 10 February 2006; approximatly 20 members attending.

Treasurer Paul Newhouse was absent. Secretary Dan Espinosa presented the treasurer's report, also presented to members via E-mail correspondence. The only activity was dues paid in, which are automatically split.

There being no action required, attention turned to the Upcoming Home and Garden show. Henry drew attention to the dates and hours, and mentioned that we have a supply of courtesy passes for our families.

Dan Espinosa indicated that he had been contacted by members of the Antioch club about scheduling reciprocal visit-and-run or operations sessions sometime during the spring. Discussion ensued centering around previous experiences, and the following concerns emerged: we have a busy schedule this spring; O scale might feel left out; we need to establish some ground rules and hold a briefing before letting visitors operate; and we might not be sufficiently experienced in operations to host an enjoyable session.

The consensus of the group was that we needed more information from Antioch, concerning number of visitors and quantity/type of visting equiment and level of operations desired. A motion was made by Dean Lewis (with several seconds) that Dan Espinosa pursue that information, whilst the rest of the club think about the logistics of hosting an operations session. Motion passed. Matter to be re-opened at March meeting.

Seth Abrams announced that Prospective Member Russ Trapani had finished his probationary period and was therefore eligible for full membership. A vote was taken, and Russ was approved for membership by unanimous vote.

There being no futher business, Seth Abrams moved to ajourn. Several seconded; meeting ajourned at 20:09.

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HO Scale News:

HO Scale Port Project Enters Scenery Stage

As of Sunday, February 12th, the HO main line has reopened for traffic. The re-aligned main-line is in, and Wayne Toigo has the new trackage wired into the power distribution system. Much remains to be finished as far as structures and additional trackwork, but progress appears to be steady. Already there are rock castings framing the path to the 'sea' and talk of an animated lighthouse shows that structure plans are in hand and progressing.

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From the HO Trainmaster:

Seth had nothing to say this month.

HO Scale Trainmaster

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O Scale News:

From the O Scale Trainmaster:

Hey gang-

So, The surveying is done, and the first load of materials has been delivered- We're embarking on the first major layout change of the Espinosa Regime. . . Seriously, I can't recall anything other than minor cosmetic improvements on our side of the aisle in the entire time I've been aware of the ACCRS. And now we're expanding the Trolley Line and getting ready to do signals and block detection. Exciting stuff. Especially for the Trolley guys (or at least Steve Colby, who we're suddenly seeing a lot more of) who have been griping about the constricted quarters they've been relegated to. I'd like to have the trackwork complete and tested well before the Fair, so that this year we can actually showcase some of the really nice electric equipment I keep seeing. While completing the scenery would be nice, the reality of our manpower situation says that we'll probably leave that for the winter. Anyone care to make a liar out of me?

SO! If you've been looking for a project to undertake, or you want to learn something about layout building, (especially handlaying track and doing neat and reliable wiring,) drop by soon and lend a hand or at least Kibbitz.

While I'm talking about layout imporovements, Henry recently scrounged up some new light fixtures; I'd like to put a couple under the layout so we can see the wiring and kruft that's stuffed under there well enough to actually do some work on it. The rest of the 'New' fixtures are earmarked for the 'Work Lights' circuit to fix some of the dead spots in our lighting. Mounting the new fixtures will be fairly straightforward work; and we have plenty of tools and supplies. We just need manpower. This means YOU! Also, can I have a volunteer to experiment with the 'daylight' compact fluorescents we kept hearing about at O Scale West?

As if all this improvement work isn't enough, we're looking at a busy schedule of shows. However, April and May look good for projects- So now is the time to start thinking about workdays. Please come to the March meeting with, say, three dates in mind that will work well for you. hopefully that way we can make some major progress without the distractions of club business and trying to beat traffic, etc on fridays. We'll also need an additional clean-up and shakedown day in June so we're set for the fair.

-Dan

O Scale Trainmaster

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General Hobby and Prototype News

WinterRail set for March

WinterRail, the annual gathering of West Coast railfans is set for Saturday, March 11, 2006, celebrating its 28th year. The 2006 installment will be held at the

Stockton Scottish Rite Center
33 W. Alpine Ave,
Stockton, CA

Details on the event are available from the official WinterRail site. Specific questions not answered by a sister site with lodging information and directions should be routed to:

Vic Neves
P.O. Box 23721
Oakland CA 94623-0721

or you can e-mail Vic at winterail at yahoo dot com.

More Modeling Madness

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The Gandy Dancer, a monthly publication of the Alameda County Central Railroad Society.
Last updatedFebruary 17, 2006.

Unless otherwise noted, this web page and all images and information it contains are
Copyright © 2004 - 2009 Alameda County Central Railroad Society. All Rights Reserved.
For more information, email Dan Espinosa at:
steelnomad2002 at yahoo dot com.