The Gandy Dancer

Upcoming Public Operation Sessions:

Home and Garden Show - October 4 through 6.

Hours: Saturday 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM and Sunday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Normally we close at five or six depending on the number of visitors, weather and at what time it becomes dark.

Good Guys - November 9 & 10.

13th Autumn Get Together. Hours: Saturday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Sunday 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Start time for the club display is normally 10:00 AM for this event.

GATS   -   Great American Train Show

November 30 and December 1 (Thanksgiving weekend). Hours are 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

General Club News:

Annual BBQ well attended.

The annual club post fair BBQ had a good turnout. Everyone had a good time and there was good food and good conversation. Thanks to all of those who participated and brought in all of the goodies for everyone to enjoy. A big thank you to all of those who took part in the pre-BBQ set up, food preparation and take down of the tables and chairs afterward. To those who were unable to attend, you should have been there.

Open House and Swap Meet successful.

The annual O Scale open house on Sunday, August 4, was well attended with a fair number of swap tables of interesting items. A variety of locomotives and trains were operated on the O Scale layout. A good time was has by all.

Carlo has retired from the concessions business; a new concessions manager is needed. Carlo Borlandelli has stepped down from the position of running the club drink concession, which he has performed for the club since 1991. The club is in need of a new person to assume this position. Duties include purchase of beverages and related supplies and stocking the refrigerator as well as recycling the empty aluminum cans. This position would be ideal for one of our retired members. If no one steps up to the plate for this position we will go dry, as what is left in the refrigerator is all there is to drink.

September Business Meeting:

The September general business meeting will be held on Friday, September 6th. 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. There will be a number of items to discuss at the meeting and the treasurer will be giving her post fair report so please plan to attend.

General Club Officer Elections.

The club Constitution, in Article III, Section 3; provides for the appointment by the club President, of a nominating committee of three voting members at the September business meeting. The nominating committee reports a slate of candidates, at least one for each office, at the October business meeting. Members prior to the elections, in November can nominate additional candidates for club offices.

If you are interested in serving on the nominating committee please contact Gary Lewis and let him know of your interest. If you have suggestions for possible candidates for club office, or are interested in running for office, please contact the members of the nominating committee after the September business meeting.

Hospital Train:

The month of August saw two members laid up due to medical situations. Seth Abrahams had surgery and at last report was recovering and should be back soon. Ken Chrisman was recuperating from some injuries and was at the club on Friday August 23. Best wishes to both members for speedy and full recoveries.

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HO scale news:

Trainmaster election to be held.

The election of a new trainmaster is customarily held in September. Since that time is now upon us, and the current Trainmaster will be relocating out of the area, we must select another person to "railroad" into office (pun intended).

Block 37 returned to service.

The big bridge next to Jamestown has been reinstalled in block 37. The roadbed hump at the uphill end of the bridge has been worked on. Several test trains have been run through block 37 and over the bridge. It appears the track in this area now provides a smoother ride for passing trains.

September 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 September is as follows:

Analog:	Friday, September 13 and Friday, September 27.
DCC:	Friday, September 6 and Friday, September 20.

(The letter "A", on the calendar, denotes an analog run night. The letter "D", on the calendar, denotes a DCC run night).

August 9th Special Meeting.

The special meeting that had been called for August 9th was not held. There was only a small turnout and there were not enough members present to conduct a meeting.

August Good Guys Show.

Based upon the signup sheet the following members staffed the HO display for this weekend event: Lee Buckner, Keith Peck, Andy Herrera, Jeff Brown, Mike Browne, Dean Lewis, Joe Cancilla, Joseph Cancilla, Jere Ingram and Bob Johnson. A big thank you to those who came on down and joined the fun!

A Bachelor Pad. The upstairs meeting room has taken on all the appearance of a bachelor pad. In other words it has become messy again (the junk and trash are piling up). Your Mother and your wife are most likely not members of the club, so they will not be cleaning up after you. In addition, the club does not have maid service, so if you make a mess clean it up. Better yet if you see something that looks like it might be trash, it probably is trash; make use of the trashcan. If the trashcan is overflowing, take a minute to empty it into the dumpster outside. If the upstairs recycling container is full of cans, take it downstairs and empty the cans into the big recycling barrel under the stairs and return the container to the upstairs room. If everyone helps a little bit, the room will look more like a meeting room and not a bachelor pad.

There are no remarks from the HO Trainmaster this month.

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O scale news:

The following remarks are from the O Scale Trainmaster.

Open House:

The ACCRS O Scalers hosted our second annual, and very successful, open house on August 4. This was a hands-on event (the only one we know of) at which visitors can run their equipment on the layout, instead of just watching. Over 50 visitors from all over Northern California attended, including ACCRS expatriates Don Massy (Marysville), Gary Herbeger (Fresno) and Dave Viale (Mariposa). Thanks to all the O Scalers who helped make the open house a great success. Special thanks to Bill Oborne for food purchasing and set-up, and to Carlo Borlandelli for cooking a great barbeque!

Mark Your Equipment:

Will each owner of rolling stock that is more or less "permanently" stationed on the layout please put a sticker on the bottom, with his name affixed? This will avoid mix-ups in case you want to remove any equipment at a later date. (Remember "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," in which Fred C. Dobbs accused his cohorts of "stealing my goods.")

Good Guys Nationals:

Many thanks to the following O Scalers for their time and effort at another successful show: Len Ferreria, Bill Oborne, Bob Bunch, Jim Jorgensen, Dick Stark, Henry and David Chandler, Bill Brisko and George Cumming.

September 6 Meeting:

Please attend the O Scale meeting on Friday, September 6. I would like to discuss a capital budget and projects for the coming year, and I would like to have the input of everyone.

--George 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.

1. A "pie card" is a meal ticket.
2. An "old head" is a railroader that has been on the railroad for a long time (many years).
3. A "wheel monkey" is a car inspector.
4. "Lump oil" is coal.
5. A "lung" is a drawbar.
6. A "harness" is a passenger conductor's uniform.
7. A "fishtail" is a semaphore signal.
8. An "ice wagon" is a refrigerator car.
9. The train that was known as the "Congo" was the Pennsylvania Railroad's Congressional Limited.
10. The railroad was known as the "Model 'T'" was the D. T. & I., which was part of Henry Ford's empire.

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Editorial Notes:  

This month club president, Gary Lewis provides the editorial.

Following the Fair last year we had a bad case of "politics and personalities". I think it affected the HO side the most and caused a lot of bad feelings between several of the members. In addition to the "people" effect, I think it had an impact on enthusiasm for several projects, which basically made little progress the entire year. Club politics can cause members to leave and scare away new members. This is supposed to be a hobby where we relieve our stresses, not develop more. Talking behind people's backs (back biting) does not create a healthy environment. I realize there will always be disagreements in any group but we need to remember to voice these disagreements in a civil manner and when the majority votes, that's the end of the argument (no hurt feelings intended). Disagreement and the resulting evolution of ideas and plans is healthy if done in a positive way. If you have an opinion about a project being discussed or planned, express it in a civil manner. Don't wait until after the plan has been voted on and then criticize it. If you are not at a meeting when a decision is made, that's too bad. We can't all be to every meeting. As an active participant on the HO side, I agree with the suggestion that minutes and results of votes on projects need to be kept, if for no other reason so we all can know what has been agreed to. It would also give a member who missed a meeting the chance to see what they missed.

Enough on this subject. Let's look forward to the coming year with a better start than last year. Besides projects needing attention, we need new members. Linda created a brochure on the Society to have available in the local hobby shops. They should be in place over the next few weeks and then we'll see what happens. Let's go the extra mile to make potential new members feel comfortable and want to participate. I am also in the process of creating a new poster also for the local shops. I think the one in Wolds is about 10 years old.

There has been a lot of discussion and speculation regarding a possible move of our facility. I think we've all known that eventually we would have to relocate. The Fair has some long term plans to replace our building and the other two next to us. Clark's best guess as to when this might happen ranges from 3-5 years. They still have a lot of planning to do and the big thing is finding the $$$$ to do it. We are in their plans and are currently slated to get a larger and better building than we now have. The plan is to give us occupancy ahead of time so we can keep operating at the current location while building a new layout. You may remember that several years ago, we established the "scale" savings accounts so we would have a "nest egg" when and if it came time to move. There were rumblings coming from the Fair at that time concerning a possible move. All this being said, we all know the Fair, so don't hold your breath on any of this. Just keep it in mind and we may not want to spend a lot of money on stuff we can't take with us.

On the personal side, some of you may remember my oldest son Philip. He got married last August and now he and his wife Emily are the proud parents of a baby boy, Brandon Scott, born on 8/7/02. This makes my wife and I grand parents for the first time. Does this mean I have to go to the "O" side? Does "O" stand for old?

--Gary

News of the Prototype.

Truckee Railroad Days

Fifth annual Truckee Railroad Days celebrating Truckee's railroad heritage. The event is held on Commercial Row, Downtown Truckee on Friday through Sunday, September 7-9. Activities that will last the entire weekend including tours of historic & modern rail cars, handcar races, a chili cook-off, huge model train exhibit, displays and train memorabilia vendors. Call (530) 546-1221 for more information.

Museum Report:

September means the beginning of a new series of reports about railroad related sites and museums visited during this summer. The following article is the first installment of this series of reports. This month we start out in Utah.

Utah State Flag

The first railroad related stop, during the trip, was at the Union Station in Ogden, Utah. Located at 2501 Wall Avenue, the former railroad station, built in 1924, now houses several museums, a performing arts theater, and a fine arts gallery.

There is a nominal admission charge of $4.00 that gets you into all of the museums and is good all day. Hours are Mon - Sat 10-5. Phone: (801) 629-8535.

The Utah State Railroad Museum contains an eclectic collection of railroad artifacts and equipment.

The museum has several outdoor displays with full sized equipment in various states of restoration and some awaiting restoration. The Eccles Rail Center displays part of the equipment under a "locomotive port" (a carport on steroids?).

Equipment on display at the Eccles Rail Center includes UP Centennial 6916, UP GETL (General Electric Turbine Locomotive) 26 an 8500 HP gas turbine, UP FEF-2 (4-8-4) 833, SP GP9 3769, SP SD45 7457. Other equipment on display include SP, UP and D&RGW cabooses, UP and SP 0-6-0 switchers, a former Santa Fe Alligator, a number of freight cars some passenger equipment and some MOW equipment.

The Utah State Railroad Museum collection includes the upper portion of a bent from the old trestle that SP had built across the Great Salt Lake. One display area has windows trackside and houses a peach basket wigwag signal. Examples of water pipe (wood) that was used to transport water to remote water tanks on the 1869 route for the railroad and railroad ties of the period are also displayed. The cab/nose off of a UP GP30 is set up as a simulator of sorts.

The Wattis-Dumke Railroad Exhibit is composed of a number of model dioramas depicting various locations along the Transcontinental Railroad such as the Lucin Cutoff, Dale Creek Bridge, Donner Pass, Corinne, Utah; and Ogden Union Station. Most dioramas have trains moving through them.

The John M. Browning Firearms Museum is located upstairs in the station building. The firearms museum displays handguns, rifles and larger firearms. The displays in this area include original guns or prototypes designed by Browning. Browning designs were used by Colt, Remington and Winchester.

The Browning-Kimble Car Museum is very nice collection of old automobiles (fully restored cars) all but one of which are drivable. The one exception is a 1901 Oldsmobile.

The Natural History Museum has a collection that is also on display, interesting fossils, a 44,000-carat piece of quartz (19 pounds) and that sort of thing. One interesting display features a "dinner" of various ,mineral items including a steak, potato and other items on display actually appear edible, but a trip to the dentist for teeth reconstruction would be required after the first bite.

The fine arts gallery features a collection of some 40 items on display, many of which are for sale.

While spending the day at the museums, hunger may strike. Relief is conveniently at hand at the Union Grill. The nicely appointed dining room has windows, which afford a view of passing trains a short distance away. The menu features a variety of appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, and pastas in addition to a series of specialties of a more substantial nature. A collection of desserts rounds out the menu. I found the pasta and salad combo to be a satisfying lunch. The onion soup is very good also. Union Grill restaurant hours Monday through Thursday 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM and Friday and Saturday 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM.

Rounding out the facility is the Convention and Visitors Bureau and U.S. Forest Service offices. Union Station photo supplement.

The next installment of the museum report will cover the Hill Air Force Base Museum, located in Ogden, Utah. While this is not railroad related, there are many historic artifacts on display at this museum.

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Go to August 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 August 25, 2002
For more information contact Robert Johnson, Editor