The Gandy Dancer
The Official Publication of
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society
March 2001
OSH how to fair.
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Saturday, March 3rd 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Sunday, March 4th 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
19th All American Get-Together. Saturday, March 24th 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sunday, March 25th. 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
Signups are available for both shows.
The March general business meeting will be held on Friday, March 2nd. 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.
If you have not yet paid your dues, you are now delinquent, please see the Treasurer or you will be dropped from the membership rolls!
The Home and Garden show was a successful event.We had 1,502 visitors on Saturday and 1,577 visitors on Sunday. That's a total of 3,079 visitors during a single weekend. There were many favorable comments about both layouts and lots of the usual questions.
Last year 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. Union Pacific is one of the heralds available, even though it is not on the web site. Many other heralds are also available. Those with internet capability may wish to visit the vendor website: BC Junction
If you are interested in ordering a vest or want more information about the vests please see Dean Lewis.
New Emergency lights have been installed along the center aisle. One unit is located above the entrance to the locker room, a second unit is near the main HO control panel; a third is located near the front of the building across from the O scale canyon scene. These battery-powered lights will come on automatically in the event of a power failure. When power is restored, the batteries recharge automatically. The installation crew consisted of Gerald DeWitt, Seth Abrahams, Ann Meizner and Bob Johnson.
The freight yard renovation project mentioned in last month's issue is complete as far as track and electrical work are concerned. At present, the yard will not be ballasted. We need to do some running under actual operating conditions to fully test out the revamped yard. Plans are to use some dark colored paint to cover the exposed homasote for the time being.
Participants in the yard renovation were: Gerald DeWitt who did the wiring, switch machines, and the freight panel diagram. Little Joe assisted with the demolition work on the old turnouts, and helped get the ball rolling. Bob Johnson did the track work and labeled the new track diagram on the control panel. As part of the freight yard panel renovation, new lighting was installed in the auto assembly plant that makes the building look active and allows the freight panel operator able to see the controls for the yard.
Remaining portions of the project include the construction of the icing facilities for the new refrigerator car-servicing track. The track is long enough to accommodate eighteen forty-foot reefer cars at one time. Jere Ingram has graciously donated two sections of assembled icing platform and an assembled icehouse to kick off this phase of the project. We are in the process of acquiring the remaining components needed to complete this project.
The new ice reefer-servicing track is accessed from block PYB2. The turnouts at the ends of the track are ganged together, this means that both turnouts throw from one toggle on the main control panel. The power routing is selective depending upon turnout position. Caution is advised in that if a locomotive has been parked on the icing track and the turnouts are lined for that track the locomotive will begin to move if block PYB2 is powered up.
The repairs to the problematic track on block 61 are well along with noticeably improved performance of equipment through the area. Carl Klenk has been working on this project.
The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.
I understand we had a good crowd for this show. Thanks to Dick Stark, Henry and David Chandler, Curly Bellaver and Bob Bunch for operating the O Scale layout. I was out of town, so my apology for not mentioning any other faithful operators.
This year's show was as good as ever, with just about everyone from ACCRS in attendance. Our Club's table attracted several prospective new members, one of whom (Greg Coit) visited us on Sunday and filled out a membership application. We had good crowds at the layout both Friday night and Sunday afternoon, notwithstanding the "usual" rain and snow. If you remember when the golf tournament at Pebble Beach was called "The Crosby," you'll think maybe OSW inherited Crosby weather. Still, based on the amount of barbeque chow consumed, Sunday's open house was the most successful of any to date. We also thank the HO members who attended and operated their layout. Everything looks much better when both sides are in operation.
For now at least, these sessions will be on the First Sunday of each month. Therefore, the next Sunday operating session will be on March 4. We will discuss the cost of adding DCC operating capabilities, and an operating plan. Please attend if you are interested. We would like to get everyone's views on these new directions for the O scale group. --George A Cumming, O Scale Trainmaster
When at the club please use the recycling container, under the stairs, for your aluminum can. Some members have been throwing their can in the trash. The recycled cans are sold; the money supports the beverage fund and covers costs associated with the annual club BBQ. When you throw away a can you are casting a vote to have hotdogs for the meat at the annual BBQ instead of Tri-tip.
Listed below are the answers to last month's questions about American railroad slang. Some terms refer to people and others to equipment, facilities or actions.
A number of mainline steam trips have been announced for calendar 2001 in the Western United States. Looks like there will be a fair amount of steam action going on…
SP&S 4-8-4 # 700 will be pulling a four-day round trip excursion in April. April 20 Vancouver, WA to Spokane, April 21 Spokane to Pasco, WA, April 22 Pasco to Spokane and April 24 Spokane to Vancouver, WA
SP 4-8-4 # 4449 is tentatively scheduled for a two-day roundtrip from Portland, OR to Yakima via Stampede pass on May 26 and 27. A pair of one-day trips from Portland to Wishram, WA is also tentatively scheduled for June 2 and 3.
SLSF 4-8-2 #1522 will be pulling two trips during the NRHS convention in St. Louis in June (21 and 23).
UP 4-6-6-4 #3985 is scheduled to pull a roundtrip excursion trip from Council Bluffs, IA to Sergeant Bluff, IA on June 10th. And another roundtrip for the NRHS St. Louis convention on June 19th from St. Louis to Gorham, IL. The annual Denver Post trip will run with 3985 in July.
Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261 will be pulling several trips in the Midwest this year. No details available as of press time.
Former SP 4-6-2 #2472 is tentatively scheduled to make some break in runs in April and may pull the Gilroy Garlic Festival train from San Francisco later this year.
McCloud Railroad expects to have 2-8-2 #18 in operation this year. Run days are tentatively: May 26th, July 4th, July 21st and September 2nd.
The California State Railroad Museum will begin steam operations on the Sacramento Southern and the Sierra Railroad on March 31st.
The following information consists of some ideas being considered for a major revision to the area of the HO layout known as Kensington. At this point these are some ideas that have been kicked around, but we know that there has to be additional ideas out there. Look at the list and see what else you can come up with. This project would provide ample opportunities to "get involved" in various facets of the hobby.
You may have noticed some changes have already begun to happen. Some buildings have been removed from their locations in Kensington. These buildings have received some rehab, cleaning and detail enhancements.
Kensington Urban Renewal Projects
Construction: Benchwork, Landscaping, Slinging of Plaster
Track No track relaying planned except for tram
Structures Build new, Rework and detail old
Lighting Street, Signs, Indoor
Backdrop
Signs Roadside, Highway, Buildings
Detailing Street lights, Vehicles, People, Junk Fences/walls, Trees/shrubs, etc
Animation ??
Possible Vignettes Church scene - wedding or funeral? Bar scene, Improve the burning store, Park, Film Crew, Movie/Theatre, Drive in - movie or restaurant, Al fresco restaurant Critical Mass, Strike, Hold up at bank
Photographer to record the changes. If this turns out well we could do an article for MR.
We also will need to inventory what we have and get some accurate measurements of the area.
Want to immortalize someone or something? We are on the look out for place names and business names for Kensington. Here is your big chance to show your sense of humor or wry wit. Examples might be "Burnedouts Fireproof Warehouse" or "Miracle Chair Company - If it's a good chair it's a Miracle". Suggestions???
Ray deBlieck of Digital Bay Control Systems visited the club on Friday, February 16th. He demonstrated a number of DCC equipped locomotives, both steam and diesel, and gave a demonstration of several different controllers (cabs), members operated trains with the various controllers. There was a question and answer session followed by member operation of the decoder-equipped locomotives over the HO layout. This was an informative and fun demo with lots of questions and answers. Mr. deBlieck had a number of decoders for locomotives from several manufacturers that were passed around for members to examine.
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