The Gandy Dancer The Official Publication of the Alameda County Central Railroad Society

October, 2007

Next Public Operation Session:

The Fall Home and Garden Show

October 6th and 7th, 2007
10AM to 5 PM both days

Upcoming Events:

November Business Meeting and Club Officer Elections:

November 2nd, 2007
Bob Johnson reported in October that he didn't intend to light the BBQ this time around.
Paul Newhouse reports that Dues are payable starting this month, and will become past-due at the February Business Meeting.

Paul continues: "I will be at the club this Friday.
If you pay CASH do not, I repeat,
DO NOT forget to get a receipt.
Remember, my memory is horrible.

$24 for regular and junior members.
$18 for senior members (65 or older)

If you wish to pay your dues via snail mail,

DO NOT MAIL CASH

make your check payable to:

ACCRS

Send the check to:

Paul Newhouse
679 Ruby Rd
Livermore, CA 94550

Please remember to sign your check, put a stamp on the envelope and:

DO NOT MAIL CASH"
So there you have it.

Great Train Expo (previously GWATS, and/or GATS):

Thanksgiving Weekend, November 24th and 25th, 2007

December / Holiday Potluck:

December 7 2007.
Signup sheet to be posted in November

January Business Meeting

January 4, 2008
New officers take office.

February Business Meeting

February 1, 2008
Dues not paid by the end of this meeting will be subject to late fees.

Top of page

HO Scale News:

HO Meeting Minutes for October 5, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 8:12 PM by Assistant Trainmaster Bob Johnson.

1. HO Trainmaster Seth Abrahams is still out of town on personal business.
2. Project Status Reports:
a. Port Project: Gary was out of town and reported by Email. Nothing new to report except some progress on the tedious job of doing the "concrete" around the track work in the container yard. Highway bridge work is starting at home.
b. River Road: Paul. no update, to be finished by Great Train Expo (November show).
c. Block 34/44 repairs John K. The portions of the work area that are easily reachable have been done. Work is continuing, but will require getting on top of the layout to continue. Bill W is assisting John with the project.
d. Lighting Power Supply upgrade: Jim and Ed. Currently we have four districts up and running in plastic boxes. There is adequate power for model buildings, streetlights, etc. The consensus of opinion is that the plastic boxes are not a good solution for housing the power supplies. Replacement metal power supply boxes are being sought.
e. Bad Order Car Box: Carl reports that a box for bad order club owned cars will be placed upstairs soon. Bad order club owned cars are to be placed in the box with documentation detailing the problem.
3. Announcements:
a. For those who have not heard the combination for the locks on building doors has changed. If you have not received a copy of the combination see the Assistant Trainmaster (Bob).
b. Fall Home & Garden show signups are available we can use more member participation.
c. The next show is the Great Train Expo, November 24th (DCC) and 25th (Analog).
d. Holiday Potluck will be Friday, December 7, 2007.
4. Not on Agenda:
a. Dean brought up the idea of having a switch that could be used to prevent power up of the DCC power supplies when the layout is to be powered for Analog only operation. This would reduce the number of power on cycles for the units when the intent was not to run in DCC mode. The idea will be passed along to the electrical specialists for study.
A move was made with a second to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:22 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Johnson,
Assistant Trainmaster./p>

From the Assistant HO Trainmaster:

As we reach the latter part of the year, we also reach the end of the show season.

The Fall Home and Garden Show is the next to the last show. It is worth noting that sign ups for Saturday (analog) were underwhelming to say the least. Sunday (DCC) sign ups were much better. We had several of our regular members that normally participate in shows out of the area, which cut down the pool of available members. We do have a number of members who for one reason or another rarely participate in weekend shows. It would be helpful if some of the less active members could rouse themselves to help with some of the shows. That said, thank you to those who did sign up to staff the display for both days.

Our next show is Great Train Expo, what are the odds that those who only show up for the fair and the train show will once again emerge from the woodwork? As usual, sign up sheets will be posted soon.

We only have six weekend shows outside of the Fair. Funny how certain members can not find the time to work a shift or two during any of the weekend shows.

On Friday, October 5th, we introduced a new HO scale perspective member, A. J. Kirkpatrick. AJ has been involved in the hobby for about five years. When you are at the club, be sure to say hello to AJ.

The vote on purchasing a new PowerPax passed 15 to 0, so a new unit will be ordered as soon as possible.

The annual club pot luck will be held on Friday, December 7th. Sign up sheet will be posted on the fridge soon.

Adjustment of the gauge of the hand laid track in blocks 34 and 44 is progressing with John K and Bill W working on the project. Look for more work on this project in the coming weeks.

Be seeing you at the club,

Bob Johnson

Top of page

O Scale News:

From the O Scale Trainmaster:

George was busy with real life and was unable to comment for this month.

However, your Editor has noticed that the Webbs have been doing a lot of cleaning up both on and under the layout. Linda Bissum has also begun renewing the markings on the main control panel. We owe all three a bit 'THANK YOU' for tackling some of the ugly jobs that need done with no prompting and evident good will. George Engeman and Henry Chandler have been quietly troubleshooting an electrical problem in the dual gauge section right over the dispatch area, which is also a good deed.

Why don't the rest of us get the trolley interchange finished so that Dick Stark can start planning his improved backdrop in that area. . .? If we pull it out the week after GTE, we can work on it through the winter without having to put it back in until March.

For those who are a little commitment-phobic, there are several smaller projects that would increase our enjoyment of the layout: George Engeman has some ideas about making the bench under the passenger yard more useful, and maybe putting the wheel cleaning station on it. . . but he's swamped at work, and doesn't want to undertake another project by himself. Just moving that bench down under the mountain next to the round house would improve it's utility. Overhauling the bench to George'specs should only take an evening or two. Moving it into the mountain might turn out to be a two person job just to clear the way-- but it'd only take an evening or part of a Saturday. Another possibility is to cut the replacement carpet I donated to fit the dispatch area and main crawl-under. Again, a short, ugly, but useful project. Anyone willing to help me?

-Dan

Top of page

General Hobby and Prototype News

Photo Essay

Bob Johnson has put together a photo essay of his recent train-related travels for your viewing pleasure. (THANKS, BOB!)It includes a photo of our old friend, WP 165.
Your editor is off on a trip through the Canadian Rockies, so look for a page on that soon. (If anyone else wants to put up a photo Essay on something train-related that you did recently, see Dan for information on how.)

Top of page

The Gandy Dancer, a monthly publication of theAlameda County Central Railroad Society.

Unless otherwise noted, this web page and all images and information it contains are
Copyright © 2004 - 2009 Alameda County Central Railroad Society. All Rights Reserved.
For more information, email Dan Espinosa at:
steelnomad2002 at yahoo dot com.