The Gandy Dancer
The Official Publication of
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society
May 2001
| The Gandy DancerThe Official Publication of | May 2001
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Dates for the Alameda County Fair are Friday, June 22 thru Sunday, July 8.
The May general business meeting will be held on Friday, May 4th, 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.
A number of members have placed orders for club vests. If you wish to order a club vest contact Dean Lewis. The order deadline is the May 4th business meeting, so that the vests will arrive from the vendor in time for the fair. Please see the March issue for details about the club vests.
We had 969 visitors on Saturday and 641 visitors on Sunday for a total of 1,610 visitors. A respectable turnout considering the weather.
Thank you to the following HO members who participated in staffing the Good Guys show: Gary Lewis, Andy Herrera, Mike Browne, Seth Abrahams, Little Joe, Joe Cancilla, Lee Buckner, Keith Peck, Dan Skinner, Detlef Buescher, Jere Ingram, Cathy and Ken Chrisman. Ed Note: If anyone was left out please accept my apology.
The leads into the diesel shop (Santa Fe) have been reconfigured to eliminate two turnouts and simplify the track layout. The first shop track will be accessed from the old shop lead. The second shop track will now be accessed by means of the turntable.
The terminal building and truck yard have been removed from the Kensington end of the passenger station. A location near the roundhouse has been prepared for the warehouse and related tracks; this replaces the former car barn and track bulb for the trolley. The new REA tracks have a combined capacity of six 72-foot baggage cars. Some track modifications to the passenger yard/engine facility transition area were also required to permit the installation of the new express tracks.
The coach yard tracks and the commissary building have been removed to permit the relocation of the trolley tracks and streets for the Kensington project. The new coach yard and commissary facility are tentatively planned for the former paved area adjacent to the freight yard. The tracks will run past the new icehouses that will be installed prior to the fair.
The following remarks are from the HO Scale Trainmaster.
The HO members have spoken on the subject of DCC.
To put the vote into action Gary Lewis and I reviewed the required list of equipment, then Gary has followed up with vendor contact to confirm our equipment list works for what we desire to do. Gary has collected some decoder costs and other info that we should discuss at our next meeting. I also want to give any member wishing to piggyback on the HO order until then to come forward with their additions.
Bring your wish list and checkbook next business meeting if you want to buy stuff of your own.
On the subject of Kensington, if you want to participate, let Linda know what you might want to do. She has a list of new buildings to assemble and many older buildings to clean and rejuvenate. There is a Drive-in theater to put together, anyone want a job in pictures? Get in there and find a way to participate, there is lots to do; it's only waiting for someone to take the bull by the horns. (As opposed to slinging it)
Also, we need a painter to paint the new storage cabinet in the meeting room and the TV/VCR cabinet. A lovely shade of green in the tower room upstairs, and tower brown on the TV box.
Dean Lewis would like to remind those participating in the "Ertl 1948 Peterbilt truck modeling contest" that their entries are due at the May 4th meeting.
At the May 4th business meeting, all entries will be returned to Dean in a standard Athearn small kit box (like for a 40'car) with the item enclosed in the box. Entries shall not be displayed to any member prior to the March business meeting and will only be opened and displayed at the time of the meeting for the judging. This will ensure that all entries will be judged impartially.
Full contest rules and details are available in the February issue.
The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.
Many thanks to the following O Scalers who operated the layout and took their turns at the front door during the Good Guys meet in March: Greg Coit, Tim (??) (a prospective new member), Len Ferreria, Bill Oborne, Bill Kennerley, Al Estabrook and George Cumming.
We are on our way with the DCC project. Errol Spangler placed the initial order with Rod Miller for boosters, throttles and decoders, and we are looking forward to delivery about the end of April. We will then schedule some weekend workdays to install the equipment at the layout, and provide a clinic for installation of decoders in locomotives. Remember, the deal is that the Club will provide two locomotive decoders to each member who wishes to participate. Additional decoders, and sound system decoders, are the responsibilities of each member. However, we'll do our best to get a club price for these items.
Curly Bellaver has the turntable up and running, complete with indexing. He is working on an operating manual, so the project is Off Limits until that is completed. After that, you must go through a training session before operating the turntable. It is real easy to burn out the indexer (just ask Mr. B!)
--George A Cumming, O Scale Trainmaster
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.
Starting with this issue, the newsletter will be available on the Internet to members and prospective members. The Internet edition replaces email distribution of The Gandy Dancer for the majority of members. Currently, about two thirds of the membership receives the newsletter by electronic means. The other one third of membership receives a printed copy in the mail.
There are a number of reasons for this change. Several members that have email cannot open a file attachment, or do not have the software required to open the file. Those in that position receive a mailed copy by the US Postal Service. Perhaps some of those members will be able to use the online version and reduce the need for printed copies being sent through the mail. In addition, from time to time, there have also been problems with the file attachment getting mangled. There is also a limitation on the inclusion of photographs, in the newsletter, as the size of the file expands rapidly when even small photos are incorporated into the newsletter. This can be quite a problem for those on dialup connections to their Internet Service Provider.
Club members with an email address and internet access, will receive an email to notify them that a new issue is available.
The email message will contain a Hyperlink to connect to the index page for the newsletter. This will permit viewing of the current issue of the newsletter and recent past issues with a couple of mouse clicks. The link in the email will work just like a link on a web page.
Members who do not have email and internet access will still receive the mailed version of the newsletter. The few members that have email without internet access may arrange with the editor for delivery of their copy on an individual basis.
Due to the public nature of the Internet and websites in general, the policy of not including club financial information in the newsletter will continue as it has in the past.
The online version of the newsletter will permit more flexibility in the use of photos and graphic images. Additionally, there will be links to other websites for more information about items covered in the newsletter.
I hope that this change will meet with the approval of our members.-- Bob Johnson, Editor.
White Pass & Yukon railroad ran an all steam rotary plow train on April 8th. The train consisted of steam rotary #1, pushed by locomotives #73 2-8-2 and #40 2-8-0. Although the railroad has ran the rotary in prior years, with diesels, this year marks the first time in many years that the operation was completely a steam affair.
Last month 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 a month ago. To date only three members have expressed a preference of location. 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 Classification Yard is a recurring section of The Gandy Dancer. This area is where members may list items to buy, sell or trade.
A Nokia 21" computer monitor is available for sale. For details on this item please contact Bob Hopkins (HO Scale).
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