The Gandy Dancer

Upcoming Public Operation Sessions:

Orchard Supply Hardware How to Fair:

Saturday, March 2nd from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Sunday, March 3rd from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Good Guys

Goodguys 20th All American Get-Together Saturday, March 23, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Sunday, March 24, 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Normally our exhibit opens at 10:00 AM for Good Guys events.

2002 Alameda County Fair:

Friday, June 21, through Sunday, July 7.

General Club News:

March Business Meeting

The March general business meeting will be held on Friday, March 1st. Big Bertha, will be fired up for the pre-meeting grilling session, weather permitting.

Home and Garden show a rousing success. The weather for this weekend show was fantastic and we had large numbers of visitors on both days. Saturday saw 1,578 visitors and Sunday saw 1,121 visitors for a weekend total of 2,699 visitors. Many good comments were heard about both layouts throughout the event. Thank you to all members who made the effort to staff our display for this first event of the 2002 club event schedule.

Membership Dues are Now Overdue. If you have paid your dues, thank you. For those who are a wee bit tardy with their dues, please see the Treasurer and ante up! Dues are $24 per year. Club bylaws require that those who don't pay be dropped from the membership rolls. If you don't pay by the April business meeting you will be history!

Club badges.

Distribution of club badges for 2002 has started for those who are paid up members.

Membership Roster Update.

We are in the process of updating the club roster. A copy of the current roster, with space for changes will be circulating for you to check your address, phone and email information. Once this process is complete, copies of the updated roster will be available for all members. We hope to be finished with the updating process shortly after the all of the dues have been collected. An updated roster should be available in May. Please see Bob Johnson, if you have not been contacted to verify your address, phone and E-mail information.

Vested Interests

The last couple of years club members had the opportunity to purchase vests to be worn for shows and other club related functions. We currently have a couple of orders for 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.

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HO scale news:

The following remarks are from the HO Scale Trainmaster.

Just a short note to say, the decoder price issue has been resolved. As soon as all of the decoders have been passed out and it gets warm enough to be outside, we will hold a clinic on how to install and program the units.

Our next show will be OSH and the sign up sheets have been posted.

I am looking for a volunteer to give me a hand in painting the new signal that is at the entrance to the club. I will begin this project when it will be warm enough for the paint to dry outdoors. I think this will happen within the next three weeks. I only need one person. Please let me know if you would like to give a hand.

I would like to give thanks to Gerald and Seth for their work on the simulated smoke generator for the refinery. Great job. Carlo has installed the long awaited counter in the upstairs room. Don has installed a DCC decoder-programming computer as well. Good work all around.

--Mike Browne

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O scale news:

The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.

OSW Report:

Most ACCRS O scalers attended O Scale West, and many (yours truly included) were observed leaving with something "new" for their layouts or collections. I am not sure how much "new" there really is, as there seems a lot of recycling of the same stuff, one hobbyist to the next. But who cares? We also had a nice turnout for ACCRS's open house on Sunday--a little lighter than some years, although I am sure the weather had a lot to do with the turnout. Thanks to Bill Oborne for handling the BBQ, and to all the other members who participated. The DCC and sound operations were impressive, as usual. A tip of the hat to the HO scalers as well; several visitors commented on enjoying seeing your layout "in action."

Showtime:

Please use the posted sign-up sheets for OSH (March 2-3) and the Good Guys (March 23-24). There seems to be only marginal interest in the OSH show; we will run on Saturday if sign-ups permit; otherwise dark. Sunday is our regular monthly DCC operations day, so I expect we will have a full crew. Both days of the Good Guys should be well-attended; it seems those who fancy The King of All Scales are also admirers of Quality Iron. And remember that the per-person donation rate for the GG shows is always among our highest. See you there!

So long, Al:

I had a nice visit with ACCRS member Al Estabrook at O Scale West. He has finally and officially moved to San Diego (Rancho Bernardo area), but promises to keep in touch. Maybe the O Scalers who operate at the Balboa Museum will be the fortunate recipients of Al's hard work and good humor. All the best to you, Al!

--George A Cumming, O Scale Trainmaster

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Test your word power.

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. Many of the terms for this month are courtesy of member Bill Kennerley.

A "snake" is a switchman. "Boob time" is compensation for being over 16 hours away from your home terminal. A "wrinkle belly" is a corrugated sided passenger car. A "yellow belly" is a Daylight locomotive. "Spot" means to park a locomotive or car. "Rocking chair money" is unemployment. A "bullnose" is the coupling on the front of a locomotive. "To big hole it" means to put the brakes into emergency. A "monkey house" is a caboose. A "dynamiter" is a car with a faulty brake mechanism.

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Steam trips scheduled.

With the warmer spring weather on the way the steam season is once again upon us. A number of mainline steam trips have been announced for calendar 2002 in the Western United States. Looks like there will be a fair amount of steam action going on…

Former SP 4-6-2 #2472 is tentatively scheduled to run on a special sponsored by The Northern California Railroad Club and Golden Gate Railroad Museum on March 30. The trip will be a round trip from San Francisco to San Jose and return using the former VRE single level cars and photo runbys are scheduled. The train will leave San Francisco around 1:15 PM, and the return before 5:30 PM. Tickets: Adults $65 each, Children under 12 occupying seats $40. The Northern California Railroad Club is acting as agent for the Golden Gate Railroad Museum and CalTrain and limits its liability to the cost of the tickets. Only if the trip is canceled will refunds be made. Reservation Deadline March 23, 2001. This may well be the only trip for 2472 this year as her flue time will be up soon.

Tickets may be purchased from: NorCal RR Club, 473 Edinburgh Street, San Francisco, CA 94112-2819. Make checks payable to Northern California RR Club. Tickets will be mailed starting March 1.

Former SP 4-8-4 # 4449 is scheduled for a two-day rail excursion on the Columbia-Deschutes Special. Schedule - Saturday and Sunday, March 23/24, 2002. The train will run through the Deschutes River Canyon of Central Oregon. Most of the Canyon is inaccessible except by train or boat with the walls of the Canyon rising 2,200 feet above the tracks. Grades of up to 2% will be encountered and no diesel helpers are planned. The train will overnight in Bend, OR. The trip is sold out. Addtional information.

Former Santa Fe 4-8-4 # 3751 is scheduled for a special excursion train from Los Angeles to Williams, Arizona and return for the NRHS 2002 convention. The special will depart LAUPT on August 19 with an overnight stop in Needles, CA. The special will arrive in Williams, AZ on August 20. August 24th #3751 Railfan Extravaganza on Grand Canyon Railway. August 25th - 26th #3751 Returns to Los Angeles via the BNSF Phoenix Subdivision and the Arizona and California Railroad. Overnight Lodging will be provided in Parker, Arizona. Pre-Registration for the Convention is being accepted until February 15th, 2002. Ticket prices are yet to be determined. Additional information.

Short line steam operations

McCloud Railroad expects to have 2-8-2 #18 in operation this year. The Memorial Day weekend (May 25/26) will feature #18 pulling specials. Tickets for the Saturday all day trip (McCloud to Burney and return)are $129 for adults and $89 for those under the age of 12. Tickets for Sunday (McCloud to Big Canyon and return) are $79 for adults and $59 for those under 12. Package rates are available for both days at $199 for adults and $129 for the under 12 crowd. Addtional information.

The California State Railroad Museum will begin steam operations on the Sacramento Southern and the Sierra Railroad on March 6th. Tickets are $6 adults, $3 youths (ages 6-12), ages 5 and under ride free.

Steam Locomotive and passenger car images courtesy of Central California Rails.

Editorial Notes:

The Gentleman and the Beggar

This story was recently told at de.rec.modelle.bahn and Trainorders.

A gentleman is asked by a beggar "Hey man, gimme a dollar, I'm hungry!" Gentleman: "If I gave money to you, you would spend it at the liquor store." "No man, no liquor store, I promise!" "So you would spend the money for cigarettes?" "Oh no, no cigarettes either!" "And you wouldn't spend the money to buy stuff for your model railroad layout?" Beggar (a bit confused) "No money for model trains, sir".

So the gentleman invites the beggar to his home for dinner. The beggar, angry at first but becoming curious more and more asks "Won't your old lady complain about you bringing someone like me to dinner?" - "Yes, sure she'll complain a lot. But that doesn't matter to me if I get the opportunity to show her what may become of a man who doesn't drink, doesn't smoke and hasn't a model RR layout..."

Humor Junction

For a tongue in cheek look at model making take a look at "Are You a Master Modeler?" This is a humorous look at model making, not particularly model railroading. Note this page is a bit difficult to read due to font and background colors.

Museum Report:

This is the seventh in a series of reports about railroad related sites and museums visited during your editor's recent vacation. This month features continued coverage of The Sumpter Valley Railway, located southwest of Baker, Oregon. This narrow gauge tourist railroad features two operational steam locomotives, several cars and a number of display items.

My arrival at the McEwen station site of the Sumpter Valley Railway was after the last train of the day had departed so it is not possible for me to describe the ride from the station to Sumpter some five miles distant. While looking over the station building and adjacent equipment, I struck up a conversation with Jerry Huck, General Manager of the railway.

Mr. Huck was kind enough to give me a tour of the area around the station and the locomotive shed. Inside the shed was W. H. Eccles Lumber Company number 3, a 1915 Heisler. The number 3 attended the 1999 Railfair at Sacramento and is fully operational. Among the items on the property was a collection of old locomotive boilers. One of the boilers was traded to Roaring Camp for their Climax locomotive. In return the Sumpter Valley received a coffin tank car that originally ran on the Westside and Cherry Valley. The car will require complete replacement of the wood portion of the car.

After the completion of the tour, the #19 returned with its train. Mr. Huck escorted me to the train and introduced me to the engine crew: engineer Greg Peck and fireman Dale Olsen. I was permitted to ride along with the crew as they switched the cars for the next days train, took on water and ran the 19 to the engine shed for overnight storage. The cab ride was a high point of the trip. My thanks to Jerry Huck, Greg Peck and Dale Olsen for making my brief visit most enjoyable.

Departing the McEwen site I proceeded toward Sumpter missed the turnoff and ended up at the abandoned townsite of Whitney. As the light was beginning to fade I headed back to Sumpter which is the location of the Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge. The dredge is preserved as a historical artifact and an element of the Sumpter Valley historical area. I hope to visit the Sumpter Valley again and to spend some additional time exploring this interesting area.

This concludes my report on the Sumpter Valley Railway.    Additional photos of the Sumpter Valley Railway and the Sumpter Gold Dredge.

The next installment of the museum report will cover the equipment display at Hermiston, OR. Home to a display of two rotary snow plows and other equipment.

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Go to Frbruary 2002 Issue

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The Gandy Dancer, A monthly publication of the Alameda County Central Railroad Society, Inc.
Copyright ACCRS, Inc 2002 all rights reserved
Last Revised February 19, 2002
For more information contact Robert Johnson, Editor