The Gandy Dancer
The Official Publication of
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society
October 2002
Happy Halloween
| The Gandy DancerThe Official Publication of | October 2002Happy Halloween |
| Club Officers: | |
|---|---|
| President Gary Lewis |
Vice President Henry Chandler |
| Secretary Dean Lewis |
Treasurer Cathy Chrisman |
| HO Trainmaster ????? |
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 November issue will be Friday, October 25 with a goal of being mailed and uploaded to the website by October 27 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 September 2002 Issue | Return to Gandy Dancer Index | Go to November 2002 Issue |
| General News | HO Scale News | O Scale News | Test Your Word Power |
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Alameda County Fall Home & Garden ShowOctober 5 Saturday and 6 Sunday Good GuysNovember 10 & 11. 12th Autumn Get Together. Hours: Saturday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Sunday 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The club will not officially be open for this event. If one scale or the other decides to be open it will be a scale-sponsored event. GATS - Great American Train ShowNovember 30 & December 1 (Thanksgiving weekend). Hours are 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. |
Two members have completed their required probationary status as of the end of the 2002 Alameda County fair. Jeffrey Brown and Ted Tully were elected to regular membership by a unanimous vote of the members present at the September business meeting. Congratulations to both of our new members for reaching this milestone.
In accordance with the club bylaws, a nominating committee was formed to put together a slate of candidates for consideration by the club membership for the November general election. Club offices up for election are President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The members of each scale select train masters for that scale in elections that are held independently of the general club elections. The nominating committee members are Carlo Borlandelli, Bob Johnson and Dick Stark. The committee will report back at the October general business meeting with their list of candidates. Anyone that would like to volunteer to run for office or that may have a suggestion for a candidate for a specific office should contact the committee with their suggestions for candidates.
The October general business meeting will be held on Friday, October 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. The Nominating Committee will be reporting a slate of candidates for the November Elections for club officers.
At the September general business meeting Carlo Borlandelli officially stepped down as club concessions manager. A great big thank you to Carlo and Lois for providing this service to the club for the past eleven years.
Dean Lewis has stepped forward to take over as concessions manager. He has procured a supply of the staple beverages; Lipton's tea, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Dads Root Beer. Other flavors have been procured and will be replacing some items in the refrigerator as existing stock is depleted. Dean is open to suggestions and requests for additional varieties that you might like to see stocked. Please feel free to contact Dean by E-mail or see him at the club and make your favorite beverages known.
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 October is as follows:
Analog: |
Friday, October 11 and Friday, October 25. |
DCC: |
Friday, October 4 and Friday, October 18. |
(The letter "A", on the calendar, denotes an analog run night. The letter "D", on the calendar, denotes a DCC run night).
The election of a new trainmaster, which is normally held during the September HO scale meeting, was not held. On Friday, September 20, Mike Browne attended his last meeting as HO Trainmaster. Since Mike has relocated to Oregon, the HO Trainmaster office is currently vacant. Until an election can be held to fill this vacancy Cathy Chrisman will serve as acting Trainmaster.
The following remarks are from the Acting HO Scale Trainmaster.
Elections for a new Trainmaster will be on Friday, October 4. Also, during that meeting there will be a discussion and vote on whether or not to run DCC during the Home & Garden show that weekend for both days, one day or not at all. We would also like to get a count as to how many members are capable of running DCC.
Please attend this meeting to have your vote count.
Thanks,
-- Cathy
The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.
The sign-up sheet is posted. Please participate if you can, especially (Nudge, Nudge) those who weren't able to make the Good Guys Show last month. And remember, Sunday would be our regular DCC run day anyway, so bring 'em on down both days and impress the visitors with all that High Tech stuff, struttin' in a scale whose supposed idea of a "kit" is a bar of brass and a big mill file.
The wheels arrived but--Oops!--NWSL sent the wrong kind (Atlas "shouldered" axles instead of the Weaver/Athearn pointy ones we ordered). So, back they went. ETA of the right stuff unknown at this time. Stay tuned, with your checkbooks at the ready.
At our last meeting, we agreed that members--individually or in teams--should do some layout maintenance and finishing. I will rehab the icing platform and ice house. Others should let me know what projects they will take on, so that we can avoid duplication.
I had the good fortune to visit Bill's layout in Lafayette a week ago. Bill and Dick Stark are hard at work on the Oakland roundhouse and on a refinery--the really impressive Plastruct kit, which fills a space of almost 2 X 4 feet in O scale. If you have not seen the layout, it is a real inspiration. Keep up the good work, Bill, and may USC defeat everybody but Cal.
See you in November, as I will be out of town the weekend of the business meeting and the H&G Show (The nerve of this Guy--urging us to attend while he takes a powder!)
--George A Cumming, 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. The answers to these questions will appear in the November issue.
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McCloud Railway Steam Specials |
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Shasta Sunset Dinner Train (McCloud Railway -- McCloud, CA) will operate two (2) "Fall Foliage Steam Specials" in October with McCloud River Railroad Steam Locomotive No. 18 (Baldwin 1914 built 2-8-2) in charge.
The McCloud to Burney round trip will board at 8:00 am with departure at 8:30 am both days (estimated return to McCloud is 6:00 pm). Trip will include continental breakfast, lunch, snacks and lots of great views from the train.
For additional information and details (including ticket information), contact:Shasta Sunset Dinner Train
P.O. Box 1199 / 328 Main Street
McCloud, California 96057
Phone: 1-800-733-2141 or 530-964-2142
or Email
Info from Altamont Press website by Rusty Murchison
Trains operate on 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. Departure times from the Sunol depot at 10:30 AM, 11:15 AM, 12:00 PM, 12:45 PM, 1:30 PM, 2:15 PM and 3:00 PM. Fares: (suggested donation) Adults $8.00, Seniors $7.00, Children (age 3 to 12) $4.00, under age 2 free. Additional information: Phone (925) 862-9063 or Email pla_ncry@ncry.org
Sunol Depot
6 Kilkare Road
Sunol CA
Over the past few years there has been ongoing discussion of high speed rail service between northern and southern California. Information on California high speed rail.
There is some discussion in progress about redeveloping the old Denver Union Station into an intermodal transportation center. Amtrak's California Zephyr and the Ski Train currently serve the station. Plans include adding light rail and regional bus service to the depot. Detailed drawings and information about the various proposals are available online. Additional Information.
Ever hear of a train to nowhere? Well it does exist! Photo of train at station.
Just Trains will be holding their annual open house and store wide in-stock sale on Sunday, October 6th. Hours are from 10:00 AM through 4:00 PM. Several members, including some that live near the shop, have been discussing the club having a table and getting the word out about the club to the large group of modelers present at the open house in an effort to recruit new members.
Black Diamond Lines is having an open house on Oct. 26-27 & Nov. 2-3. The Black Diamond Lines is an operating HO scale model railroad club located in Antioch, CA. Black Diamond Lines is located at 425 Fulton Shipyard Rd, Antioch, CA. Additional information.
The South Bay Historical Railroad Society is having a three-day Open House on Friday, November 1, from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, Saturday, November 2 and Sunday, November 3 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM both days. Exhibits include HO and N scale layouts, Railroad artifacts, a 139-year-old station building and a restored Harriman # 4 Interlocking tower. Tours of the Interlocking Tower will be conducted during the weekend. Cost is $ 3.50 for adults, $ 1.00 for youths 6-17 and families $8.00. The station is located at 1005 Railroad Ave., Santa Clara. If you need additional information please call (408) 243-3969.
This report is the second in a series of reports on railroad-related sites and both rail and non-rail related museums visited during the editor's recent vacation. The following article is the second installment of this report.
The next stop, during the trip, was at the Hill Aerospace Museum, located at Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah.
Hill Aerospace Museum is located adjacent to Hill Air Force Base, in Ogden Utah. The museum consists of two large hanger type display buildings, a large outdoor display area, an indoor display room featuring flight uniforms and head gear from the earliest days of flight up to the current day and a gift shop.
The museum collection contains over 100 exhibits including numerous planes from an early Wright design and a Curtis Jenny to modern fighter aircraft. There is a good-sized collection of WW II fighters and bombers as well as a sizable collection of planes from the cold war era.
Bombers in the collection include A-26, B-17, B-24, B-25, B-29 and B-52. Fighters include P-38 lightning, P-40 warhawk, P-51 mustang, F-4 phantom, F-16 fighting falcon, F-80 Shooting Star, F-86 Saber, F-100 Super Saber, F-102 delta dagger and F-111 Aardvark. Cargo planes include a Douglas C-54 Skymaster and a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II. More modern aircraft include an SR-71. Several missiles and helicopters round out the collection. A recent addition to the collection is a B-47, which is currently undergoing restoration and is not on display.
The museum staff includes a number of helpful and knowledgeable docents, many of who flew many of the types of aircraft that are on display. According to the AAA tourbook one should allow a minimum of two hours to explore the exhibits at the museum. During my visit I spent three and a half hours and could easily have spent a longer period of time and still not seen all of the exhibits that are available for viewing. I would definitely say that this museum is worth a visit. Photos.
The museum is located on the east side of I-15 at exit 341. Admission is free, donations accepted. Hours of operation Daily 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Closed January 1, Thanksgiving Day and Dec. 25. Additional information is available by calling (801) 777-6868.
The next installment of the museum report will cover the Gold Spike Historic Site, located at Promontory Summit, Utah.
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