The Gandy Dancer
The Official Publication of
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society
June 2001
Flag Day June 14
Fair Starts June 22.
| The Gandy DancerThe Official Publication of | June 2001Flag Day June 14 |
| 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 July issue will be June 15 with a goal of being mailed and uploaded to the website by June 17. 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 May 2001 Issue | Return to Gandy Dancer Index | Go to July 2001 Issue |
| General News | HO Scale News | O Scale News | Test Your Word Power |
| Friday, June 22 thru Sunday, July 8. | |
| Monday thru Thursday 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. | Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM. |
| Wednesday, July Fourth 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. | Sign up today! |
August 24, 25 and 26. 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 June general business meeting will be held on Friday, June 1st, Big Bertha the club BBQ, will be fired up for those wishing to bring your own meat for the self-service grilling session prior to the meeting. This will be the last of the Friday evening cooking until after the Fair is over.
The annual Alameda County Fair is only a short time away. The time is fast approaching when projects must be completed and the club building cleaned up for the fair. Pre-fair preparations are always hectic, and additional help is always appreciated. Find out what needs to be done and lend a hand in getting the facility and layouts ready for this major event on the club calendar.
Signup sheets for the annual Alameda County Fair are available in the upstairs meeting room. There are three shifts for each day:
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Monday through Thursday: First shift is 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Second shift is 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Third shift is 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. |
Friday, Saturday and Sunday: First shift is 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Second shift is 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Third shift is 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. |
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Wednesday, July Fourth: First shift is 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Second shift is 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM. No third shift, on the Fourth of July as Fair will be closing at 6:00 PM. |
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Please note that in prior years we have closed early on a couple of evenings during the small animal changeover. We are required to close, as our front door must be closed during changeover, and fire regulations do not permit us to be open to the public with only one building exit available. We will not receive information on the dates for changeover until the Fair starts, or just before. The club membership will be advised as soon as the dates and times for changeover are known.
The following remarks are from the HO Scale Trainmaster.
The track is laid on the town base and the electrical wire is soldered and nearly ready for hook up to a control system. The structural base is nearly done thanks to Carlo and Seth. Linda has been working on building support bases. Don and Seth have been cooking up a scheme for the drive in movie theater screen. Don has some thoughts on the control setup for the trolley but we may only have a loop running by fair time. Some scenery base is in and Dean will be trying out some gauze plaster over it to start on the final scenery appearance. Linda is ordering materials for buildings and city details. Check with Linda if you can build a structure for the project. All in all it's coming along, but we have a substantial ways to go.
The DCC base equipment has been ordered. The next meeting is decoder order finalization. If you have some special amount or type come to the next meeting to get on the same order. Don Pomplun has been busy on his DCC set up and I have to say it looks pretty complete. The combination of Don's and the North Coast are going to be a killer combination. Don has put a lot of thought and effort into this.
I've watched a little while O-Scale has been setting their DCC up. It doesn't look too bad, some electrical work is required of course but seems pretty much as we expected on the HO side. They used a different jack for their hand held controls, but ours will work just fine. I've now seen some e-mail indicating the radio set up for real walk around use is closer to reality, so maybe we won't be using our jacks long anyway.
Yes indeed, it's that time again. Just so everyone is aware the fair starts FRIDAY JUNE 22 and runs through SUNDAY JULY 8.
Seventeen days at three shifts per day (except 7/4/01) for a total of fifty shifts. We should have a minimum of three HO people per shift and preferably four. This works out to be one fifty to two hundred individual sign ups needed to staff just the HO side and the front or rear donation spots.
We have around 30 active HO members, so in fairness I'm asking each member to sign up for a minimum FIVE shifts. Sign up for more if you can. If we all can work seven then we can be sure to have enough people to allow some breaks for each other. Sign up sheets are posted upstairs.
Thanks all, — Gerald
The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.
Installation of the DCC system is proceeding well, most recently via a workday on Sunday, March 20, for which Errol Spangler has provided some pictures. The wiring, power units, etc. should be finished shortly. Many thanks to those who turned out Sunday--Errol, Bill Brisko, Bob Bunch, Al Estabrook, Dick Stark, Yours Truly (BBQ Chef) and a chap from Lodi whose name I did not catch. Sorry if I forgot anyone. DCC photo supplement.
We will have another DCC workday on SATURDAY June 9, beginning at 9:30 a.m. This is mainly for the purpose of installing decoders in your locomotives, programming them for use, and understanding how to operate one or both mainlines in DCC mode. If you want to run DCC at the Fair, it is IMPORTANT that you participate. Please let me know if you can do so. We are tentatively scheduling the workday on Saturday to get in more time, and allow time on Sunday if we need it. June 9 is about our last chance, as the Good Guys show will be the following weekend, and ACCRS is "dark." If everyone pitches in on the final "push," we will be running DCC at the Fair, and in record time. Think about it. We will have at least 3 trains running, even if one of the loops stays in "Analog" for non-DCC participants. If both loops are DCC, we can run 4 trains minimum. This will be great for children and parents.
Bob Bunch has graciously volunteered to hold DCC clinics at his home on Thursday evenings. He will help you with installation, programming and operation protocols. This is truly an offer you cannot refuse. Call Bob to schedule an appointment, especially if you cannot attend the workday in June. Francis McDormond's line in "Fargo" is irresistable: "Thanks a Bunch!"
--George A Cumming Jr. — 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.
Two months ago, a poll was announced to gauge member interest in having a club picnic at a location other than at the club facility on the fairgrounds. This event would be in addition to the annual club BBQ.
A sheet to find out the level of member interest was posted on the bulletin board, two months ago. To date only three members have expressed a preference of location, this is the same number of members as a month ago. The preference sheet will remain up for a while yet, if you have any degree of interest please express your preference for location on the poll sheet. If there is not enough interest expressed we may not proceed with this activity.
The following editorial is as a result of observations from many years of participation in club events.
The fair is once again almost upon us. This annual event consists of many long hours for the members who volunteer their time to staff our exhibit. In a effort to "share the pain" of staffing our exhibit, the club has devised a series of shifts so that no one is required to work an entire 12 hour day.
The fair schedule requires that our exhibit be open and manned from mid morning until late evening. Since we have a limited number of members that are retired or are willing to work the morning and afternoon shifts, this often means that the "day shift" has put in seven to eight hours by the time that the "evening shift" shows up to begin their session.
There is nothing that is more irritating to the "day staffers" than to have an "evening staff member" walk in the door, say "I'm here, but I need to go eat first", and then disappear for 30 to 45 minutes while the day staffers are forced to stay on duty, often tired, hungry, or in need of other forms of "relief". This is even more irritating if the "evening person" is late for their shift in the first place. It is understood that it takes some effort to arrive at the club for the evening shift after working all day. On occasion, everyone runs a bit late, but being habitually late is something else.
Members are urged to make every effort to be on time for their shift and to arrive ready to start and allow those who have already put in a full day at the fair to be relieved from duty. Members on the opening shift should try to arrive a bit early, as there are always windows to clean, trash to remove, and floors to sweep. The fair is a very demanding commitment for the club. This requires all members to make some degree of sacrifice to successfully accomplish the task at hand. Please take into consideration that some members are putting in longer hours than you are and may not be very sympathetic to someone who regularly arrives late and unprepared for their shift.
As in all groups there are members who, choose not to participate in events such as the fair. These folks are being unfair to their fellow members as the more members who participate the less of a burden the event is on the other members. If you have not yet signed up for the fair, please avail yourself of the opportunity to participate in the largest event on the club calendar. There is an old saying, which paraphrased reads something like this; "You are not expected to complete the task yourself, but you are not exempt from participating in the task either".
A bit of food for thought as the fair draws near.
ACE Operation Lifesaver Special to Run June 2nd.
A special passenger train will run from Lathrop to Fremont on June 2nd for Operation Lifesaver. The special will stop at the Centerville depot, which is the site of the annual Fremont/Centerville Depot Days celebration. Departure from Lathrop is scheduled at 8:15 AM with a brief stop in Livermore departing at 9:30 AM and arriving at Fremont at 10:15 AM.
A free public train ride will be offered round trip from Fremont to Livermore. Departure from Fremont at 10:30 AM running non-stop to Livermore and arriving back at Fremont at 12:15 PM.
The special is scheduled to depart Fremont at 12:30 PM for the return to Lathrop with arrival there scheduled at 2:15 PM.
Above info courtesy of ACE operations center via Trainorders.com.
Union Pacific all steamed up:
Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 # 3985 made a run from Cheyenne, WY to Laramie, WY and return on May 15, 2001. The run was to check out the work performed on the locomotive and its tender over the past winter in preparation for the upcoming operating season.
Bob Krieger of the steam crew was the engineer for this special run.
Two days later, UP 4-8-8-4 #4023 and DD40AX #6900 were moved, from their display site in Kenefick park, in Omaha. The move was necessitated by a redevelopment project that is in progress in that city. The locomotives are reportedly to be temporarily stored/displayed at the Western Heritage Museum in the former UP passenger station in Omaha.
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