The Gandy Dancer

Upcoming Public Operation Sessions:

Orchard Supply Hardware How to Fair:

Saturday, March 6 and Sunday, March 7. Hours are 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM for both days.

Good Guys

Saturday, 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.

2004 Alameda County Fair:

June 25th through July 11th. Fair hours: TBA.

Dates for club events.

Need to know when a particular show is? Want to know the dates of the fair? Just when is the annual post fair club BBQ? Help with these questions is at hand. Check out the club events list. A copy of the list is also posted on the bulletin board at the base of the stairs.

General Club News:

2004 Badges.

Gary has reported the latest information on the badges. "We may have the new Fair badges by OSH. If not, the old ones will continue to be honored. Shouldn't be an issue by the time of Good Guys."

March Business Meeting

The March general business meeting will be held on Friday, March 5th. Big Bertha, will be fired up for the pre-meeting grilling session, weather permitting.

Home and Garden show. We had a fair number of visitors over this weekend. On Saturday there were 660 visitors and on Sunday there were 669 visitors. The total number of visitors for the weekend show was 1329.

Membership Dues are Now Delinquent.

If you have paid your dues, thank you. For those who have not, you have become delinquent! Members that have not paid their dues by the March business meeting will be dropped from the membership roster.

Lock combination has been changed.

Having trouble opening the lock on the club door? The combination for the locks on the doors of the club has been changed. If you have paid your 2004 dues and have not been advised of the new combination, please see Don Pomplun club Treasurer.

Membership Roster Update.

If you have changes in your address, phone or E-mail address please contact Dean Lewis, so that your information is correct on the club membership roster.

Vested Interests

The last couple of years club members have had the opportunity to purchase vests to be worn for shows and other club related functions. The order will be placed, with the vendor, in April. 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:

March schedule for run nights.

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, March 12 and Friday, March 26.
DCC:	Friday, March 5 and Friday, March 19.

(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.

Sign up sheets available.

Sign up sheets for OSH and Good Guys are available upstairs. DCC and analog sessions are indicated on the sign up sheets.

The following remarks are from the HO Scale Trainmaster.

Hello HO Members,

I want to thank all of you who participated in the "Home and Garden Show" recently. We were well manned and our equipment and layout seemed to run smoothly.

Bob Johnson has placed sign-up sheets for the upcoming "OSH How to Fair" on March 6th and 7th and the "Good guys All-American Get Together" on March 27th and 28th. Hopefully, the springtime weather will prevail.

I've heard that we're winding down on the last of the switch machines. We'll have to get an account on how many more we will need along with the custom bases and assorted hardware.

At our next HO meeting, we can access where our priorities lie and get an update on the City Project and Trolley System. Don't forget, we should be firing up "Big Bertha" for those interested in cooking their favorite steak, burger, hot dogs or whatever on meeting night. So, let's keep Model Railroading fun.

--Andy Herrera, HO Scale Trainmaster

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O scale news:

The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.

O Scale West.

OSW was February's big event. I'm told that the table space was sold out, and that the attendance was about the same as last year. Most ACCRS members attended one day or both, and I also saw some of our out-of-town present or former members--Errol Spangler, Dave Viale, Don Massey and Larry Lund. On Sunday, ACCRS hosted our traditional open house and barbeque for OSW attendees. We had about 50 visitors, which was not bad considering the weather was quite iffy. Thanks to all those who helped, including the HO members who operated their layout during the open house.

New Additions.

The chief Club acquisition at OSW was a Lionel operating gantry crane for use in our now-abuilding intermodal yard. This is the big straddle crane used to place trailers and containers on flatcars. We hope to have the yard up and running before the Fair. I also purchased a set of four of the new Atlas "plug and play" block signals. I will try these out on my home layout, after which a similar setup can be considered by Club members. These have modern, 3-lamp heads, but the electronics are also compatible with bicolor and tricolor LED searchlight signals. Atlas appears to have tried very hard to take the mystery out of signaling systems, and we'll see if they achieved this objective.

Open Houses.

The signup sheet is posted for the OSH show on March 6-7. Please help out if you can. The Good Guys meet (details elsewhere in this newsletter) will be our last show before the Fair.

--George A Cumming, O Scale Trainmaster

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Name the Railroad.

Listed below are this month's questions about railroad slogans. The answers to these questions appear at the end of this issue.

Which railroad used the slogan "Everywhere West"? Which railroad used the slogan "Through the Rockies, Not Around Them"? Which railroad used the slogan "Route of the Black Diamond"? Which railroad used the slogan "Nickel Plate Road"? Which railroad used the slogan "Travel and Sleep in Safety and Comfort"?

2004 GATS shows.

The following table lists upcoming GATS shows in California, Nevada and Oregon with dates and locations:

Feb 28-29	California	Daly City	Cow Palace, Geneva & Santos
Mar 20-21	California	Pomona	Fairplex, White Avenue & Mckinley Ave
Jul 17-18	California	San Mateo	San Mateo Expo Center 2495 South Delaware Street
Jul 24-25	Nevada	Las Vegas	Cashman Center, 850 Las Vegas Blvd North
Aug 7-8	California	San Bernardino	National Orange Events Center, 689 South E Street
Aug 21-22	California	Ventura	Ventura County Fairgrounds Seaside Park, 10 West Harbor Blvd
Nov 6-7	California	Pomona	Fairplex, White Avenue & Mckinley Ave
Nov 13-14	Oregon	Portland	Oregon Convention Center 777 NE Martin Luther King
Nov 27-28	California	Pleasanton	Alameda County Fairgrounds 4501 Pleasanton Avenue
Dec 4-5	California	San Diego	Del Mar Fair, 2260 Jimmy Duante Boulevard
Dec 11-12	California	Costa Mesa	Orange County Fairgrounds, 88 Fair Drive

News of the Prototype.

Yolo Causeway Upgraded.

Several years ago the Southern Pacific decided to replace the double track bridges that comprise the Yolo Causeway. The intent of this project was to replace the wooden decking and pilings of the original bridges with concrete and steel. Wood pilings for both tracks were replaced, but capital funds were only sufficient to replace the deck for one track, with the wooden deck for the second track removed. For many years the causeway has been a single-track bottleneck with numerous daily passenger movements and several freight trains using this single-track section on an otherwise double track line.

Installation of the deck for the second track has been in progress for the past several months. Track and ballast have been applied to the second set of bridges. Current reports, on Trainorders.Com by Mococomike, indicate that the second track will be placed into service during the weekend of February 28. The track work necessary to complete the project will require the closure of the Cal-P line between Sacramento and Davis during the weekend. Once the new track is open, it is expected that approximately ten minutes will be shaved off of the schedule of eastbound passenger trains between the Bay Area and Sacramento.

Name the Railroad.

Listed below are the answers to this month's questions about railroad slogans.

The railroad that used the slogan "Everywhere West" was the Chicago Burlington and Quincy. The railroad that used the slogan "Through the Rockies, Not Around Them" was the Denver and Rio Grande Western. The railroad that used the slogan "Route of the Black Diamond" was the Lehigh Valley. The railroad that used the slogan "Nickel Plate Road" was the New York, Chicago and Saint Louis. The railroad that used the slogan "Travel and Sleep in Safety and Comfort" was the Pullman Company.

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Go to Frbruary 2004 Issue

Return to Gandy Dancer Index

Go to April 2004 Issue

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The Gandy Dancer, A monthly publication of the Alameda County Central Railroad Society, Inc.
Copyright ACCRS, Inc 2004 all rights reserved
Last Revised March 4, 2004
For more information contact Robert Johnson, Editor